The Iotan War Part Two

Before we moved house back in March, I had completed a little more of my Petaudia campaign - The Iotan War - and fought another battle. Dragon Rampant rules as usual; here it is:

Before the Count of Ethonia encircled Iota after his victory in battle, the Baroness tried to get aid from her neighbours, the Barons of the South and West March. Although the former declined, the latter agreed and set about raising his army. The Baron of the West March intended to link up with two of the Baroness' lords - Kynehelm of Doricourt and Pynd III of Bonese - whom she had sent back to their lands to raise more men. However, Pynd III, who had managed to gather a large force of his peasants, plus his own troops, along with some men from the Exarchal Church's Priory of Saint Crinis, along with a band of mercenary cavalry, set off for Iota before the Baron of the West March was ready. But when Pynd III and his men reached the river bank opposite to Iota, the Baroness did not believe he and his men could defend the town against a siege and so, fearing for the population if the Count of Ethonia launched an assault, she sent the garrison across the river to join Pynd III and surrendered Iota to the invader. Pynd III and his men withdrew back to his lands and informed Kynehelm and the Baron of the West March - these having moved towards Iota - of the turn of events. The poor Baroness was bound in chains and sent off back to Ethonia and any protest from the inhabitants of her capital was suppressed.

The Count of Ethonia was set on conquering all of the East March, so he sent a force, led by one of his own barons, Arldred of Priscia, across the river to attack Pynd III and his army. Once the latter was defeated, the Count intended to turn on Kynehelm and the Baron of the West March. Arldred reached Bonese and found Pynd III and his men drawn up for battle. The latter had an advantage of numbers, but his peasants would be little match for the better quality troops of Ethonia and their mercenaries.

The opposing sides - Ethonians at the top, East Marchers at the bottom, with Pynd III's peasants off-table, waiting to come on behind the centre.

East March longbowmen and spearmen in their black and yellow colours; to the left, plançonmen - big wooden clubs with spikes in the end - and hammermen from the Exarchal Church; the latter keep their own troops to defend their priories and intervene in conflicts where fellow believers are under threat. In this conflict, that meant siding with the Baroness, as the Ethonians are non-believers.

More of Pynd III's men - spearmen and crossbowmen.

The dwarf allies once more, plus the mercenary light cavalry.

Arldred's left wing - hobilars and mercenary longbowmen and a mixed band of mercenary macemen, axemen and billmen.

The Ethonian centre - pikemen and longbowmen from the Count's own household,

along with ordinary longbowmen. Red and green are the colours of Ethonia.

Arldred's right wing - dismounted knights, mounted knights and men-at-arms.

The random monster element! A forest lizard dwells in the woods around the ponds.

Pynd III's bands of peasants.

Hardly had the Ethonians got moving, than the forest lizard charged out of the woods and attacked the mounted knights. The latter were forced to retreat, unsurprisingly!

The Ethonian commander, Arldred, and his banner bearer.

Pynd III and his banner bearer.

Slow progress by the Ethonians, their right wing in some disarray from the attack by the forest lizard.

And again it attacked! This time the longbowmen, who were also severely handled by the creature, forcing them to retreat before returning to the woods. All this was, of course, much to Pynd III's satisfaction!

Over on the Ethonian left, their hobilars ended up in a long action with Pynd III's mercenary light cavalry, watched by the dwarves.

Realising he was not going to get his right wing into action against the East March force if he did not get rid of the forest lizard, Arldred sent his knights against the monster, but they were beaten off resoundingly.

However, his men-at-arms got in a successful charge and injured the creature enough for it to retreat into the woods to lick its wounds..

Not much success for the Ethonians; in fact, Arldred's troops are all higgledy-piggledy and have not even reached the East March line. 

Hobilars and light cavalry still fighting it out.

At last, the mercenary mixed band clash with East March spearmen, but are repulsed.

And still the hobilars and light cavalry fight it out.

And again they clash between the hedgerows!

Arldred's army still all over the place, the centre well up, but the wings not in support.

And yes, they are still battling away!

Again, the mercenary mixed band attack, but the hedgerow helps the East March spearmen and the attackers win, driving back the defenders, but then fail their morale test and have to retire as well. They were then broken by some good shooting by Pynd III's crossbowmen.

Pikemen and spearmen clashing on the road; the latter, fighting better troops,

is beaten and breaks in rout.

Things looking a little better for the Ethonians, but not much; Pynd III still has all his units and is holding his ground.

A lot of dithering by the Ethonians, in other words, they did not pass their activation dice rolls!

Pynd III throws in his peasants to fill a gap in his centre. Men-at-arms against toilers of the soil? Unsurprisingly, the horsemen routed the peasants with little trouble.

Arldred's left wing is still not getting anywhere; his centre and right are pressing forward, but Pynd III's men are still resolute in defence.

Exarchal Church troops engage the dismounted knights, but get beaten back.

And the forest lizard reappears, this time to Pynd III's dismay, as his Exarchal Church unit is caught by surprise and roughed up by the monster before it withdrew into the trees.

Dusk falling, Arldred decides that he cannot beat Pynd III before night comes on. So he called back his foremost units - the pikemen and men-at-arms, and reassembled his force.

The action was declared a draw, although Pynd III's side suffered the most losses, mainly amongst the peasantry. The next morning, both sides were still facing each other, Pynd III bluffing his opponent into thinking he could still beat him. So the Ethonian commander pulled back to Iota, intending to persuade the Count that he needed more men.

By then, the conflict was beginning to widen, as dark forces to the north, from Flamia, prepared to intervene...

As always with Dragon Rampant, a fast and fun game, often in the balance, with rules that are straightforward and ensure a decision to a battle; none of your three turns in four hours and everyone ready to go home, weary from wading through the rulebook or bored from the slow tallying of factors in favour or against!

The Iotan War Part One

This month is my Petaudia campaign's turn for wargaming activity, so I started up a campaign I hope to keep ticking along to a logical conclusion - the Iotan War. Simply put, the Count of Ethonia has designs on the East March, over the Trygon Mountains, and has launched an invasion. The Baroness of the East March, though a weaker power, decides to make a fight of it, although outnumbered. The Battle of Adyda Ridge thus took place - I had a few hours to spare to play it in the week - as she tried to keep the invaders away from her capital, Iota. It was a bit one-sided, but was fast and fun, as with nearly all Dragon Rampant games I have played. Although, to be honest, it was more of a Lion Rampant game, as the only fantasy element was a unit of dwarves allied to the Baroness and they did not even move or fight! Anyway, the Count won the battle, although he only made one of his Glory tasks, which was not to commit his reserves, whereas the Baroness got her single Glory task by making the first assault. Now the Ethonians are sitting outside Iota, laying siege to the town, and the Baroness is trying to rally support from the neighbouring South and North March, but her resolve is wavering as she fears that Iota will be stormed and plundered, to her subjects cost.

Here are some pictures of the battle. Rules were Dragon Rampant with a few home tweaks. The small bases with a flag and foot knight are command bases, which fight as Reduced Model Units as well, but mean they are not tied to one unit like the original rules. My newly-rebased units on their round bases helped speed up play a lot and looked okay to me, even if a bit deep! Table top four feet by three feet, with the East March army on the ridge, Ethonian army attacking across open ground. I tried to play it in a balanced way, with the East March having to hold out until Turn 12 and inflict as many losses as they could, while the Ethonians had to break through along the main road before Turn 12. The East March had about 40+ points of units, the Ethonians about 80+ points.

The Baroness' dwarf allies, deployed in the rocky part of the ridge.

My "normal" human figures are nearly all 25mm Essex 14th and 15th Century, just painted for fictional countries: green and red for Ethonia, black and yellow for the East March.

Knightss, men-at-arms and hobilars form the standard cavalry types for all my human countries.

Command bases represent the various dukes, earls, counts, barons, etc. that make up the feudal hierarchies of the various states. Ethonia has a count with barons; the East March has a baroness with lords.

The longbow retainers and pikemen units at the back are the Count's reserve, which he did not have to use in the end.

The Ethonian left is making progress; the right is lagging behind, owing to poor die rolls to move. This element of Dragon Rampant is very useful when playing solo, as it adds an element of uncertainty.

Opposing knights clash head on.

And then the men-at-arms!

The Ethonian centre is plodding forward, the right wing is still dithering, the left wing cavalry has been repulsed.

The cavalry action went on a while on the East March right flank.

The Ethonian infantry are looking rather disjointed and their right wing cavalry still has not got going! However, the East March longbowmen are fleeing at the bottom of the picture. I like to leave them on the table for one turn, just for the photos! The white counter shows they have broken. Green and black counters are used to show Battered units of the respective sides - Ethonia or East March.

An uphill attack gives the defenders an Armour Class bonus un Dragon Rampant. I use casualty markers, as can be seen here.

The Ethonian left wing cavalry have been defeated, their infantry still cannot get coordinated, but their right wing cavalry has finally got moving, but they face the dwarves in rough terrain on that side of the ridge, which, being uphill as well, is probably going to deter them a lot!

One of the East March commanders throws himself into the fray to hold the line.

Another East March unit has given way and fled in the centre, while their right wing cavalry has pulled back out of sight behind the ridge after being shot at by Ethonian missile troops.

The Ethonian right wing cavalry decided to side-step the dwarves and went for the East March crossbowmen, who promptly repulsed the first group of men-at-arms!

The Eat March right wing cavalry, with Ethonian infantry getting ever nearer. decided on some last ditch charges to try and hold the line.

The Ethonian infantry are getting their act together now, ready for a final surge forward, with the Count back amongst his household reserves confident of success.

Repeated cavalry charges by the Ethonian men-at-arms still could not break the East March crossbowmen!

Matters are now critical for the East March as they are pushed off the ridge to the left of the road and the Ethonian weight of numbers begins to tell.

Two opposing commanders fighting it out on the ridge.

A few last valiant charges by the East March cavalry failed to halt the Ethonian infantry on the Baroness' right flank.

The East March spearmen have collapsed in rout and the ridge is lost, but for the dwarves.

The view from behind the dwarves.

The battle almost at an end. The East March crossbowmen form the rearguard, the rest of the army, bar the dwarves, has now left the field.

End of the game, with only the Ethonians left on the table, the East March crossbowmen having retreated and the dwarves marched off unmolested by the weary Ethonians.

I usually work out sieges using die rolls and tables, but there may be a relief force on the way, if the Baroness can raise some support from her neighbours. But the Count has also ordered up reinforcements as well. We shall see!