Warhammer Ancient Battles - Normandy invaded circa 1060AD

"Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior."
(Karl von Clausewitz)

We decided that we would play a large game of WAB, 3,000 points with 2 generals aside. The game itself would see a raiding force of Arabs and Vikings entering France in search of gold, booty and slaves, the search for booty would be contested by a force of Normans with a Flemish force. We laid out the table with a Church and a village as objectives to capture. The invading heathens were looking to loot and plunder the village and make of with some slaves. Perhaps there was even a holy relic in the church possibly the holy lance believed to have been wielded by Charlemagne himself.
The game itself was played on an 8”x6” table with normal deployment zones.
This would be a 3,000 point WAB game featuring my Norman’s versus Steve’s Arabs and Ed’s Vikings, using armies drawn up from the lists in the Shieldwall and El Cid supplements. The game itself was played for 8 turns over a table that measured 8”X6.
I would bring my Norman’s and assign control of the Flanders army to PEWC newcomer, Lee. Lee had informed me that his main army were Macedonians and so I felt that a combined force of heavy infantry, light cavalry and heavy cavalry was closer to his usual forte than the shoot and charge tactics of my Norman’s.
Rather than provide a turn by turn account, I have chosen to present this as a narrative.

Army backgrounds

Normans and Flanders
The Normans were descended from Norse raiders who settled in Northern France. The name Norman is derived from the words “North men” or possibly “Norse men”. They were granted a kingdom on condition that they converted to Christianity and swore allegiance to the French King. The Normans quickly adopted the cavalry tactics of the Franks and combined those with the traditional ferocity of the Norse.
Norman tactics relied almost entirely upon the charge of their knights to smash their way through enemy cavalry or infantry. Whilst, such tactics might seem simplistic, they were nonetheless very effective. Norman adventurers campaigned successfully in Italy and carved out a kingdom in Sicily, before invading England. Gripping Beast manufactures the bulk of the infantry, with my cavalry being made by Perry Miniatures. The greatest strength of Norman knights lies in their ability to automatically break an opponent if they win combat after charging, those lances are a great asset as well.
The second army, consisting mostly of infantry, but with some cavalry support was an army from Flanders.

The Arabs
The Arab’s were to develop as a military force following the rise of Islam. Arab armies invaded Spain and by the 9th Century most of Spain was under Arab control. Under the command of Abdul Al Rahmain the Arabs crossed the Pyranees and were stopped by Charles Martel. The army Steve uses is the Almoravids. Originally a fanatical Islamic sect, the Almoravids invaded Spain in the 11th century. The Almoravids were a significant military force before succumbing to Spanish wine and loosing some of their religious zeal. The Arab influence in Spain lasted until 1469 when the last of the Arab cities, Granada fell to a Spanish army supported by mercenaries from all over Europe. In game terms the Almoravids fight in combined formations of archers and spearmen supported by an elite regiment known as the “Black Guard”.
Steve’s Arabs are from Artizan Designs.

The Vikings
Edward fielded a Viking army, following the Danish list from Shieldwall. Viking society remained Pagan longer than the rest of Western Europe: being brought up with tales of the heroic deeds of their warrior gods, it is not surprising that they produced a race of ferocious fighters. Denmark was where most of the Viking activity in the British Isles and France originated and it was one of the most militarised Viking kingdoms, so this represents a more disciplined field army rather than a raiding force. Vikings did not use cavalry in battle, so the force consists entirely of infantry blocks. This limits their tactics: they generally just advance on the enemy in line, relying on the toughness of the Hirdmen to win through. Archers and skirmishers deploy around and in between the blocks to provide some protection against cavalry. The models of this army are all from Foundry.

The Game

It looked as though I failed my unreliable ally test as Lee failed to show. The Norse deployed in line with a unit of javelin armed skirmishers deployed on their right flank. On the left the Arabs formed a solid line with the Berber light cavalry screening the black guard who covered the left flank.
On the left, I deployed the dismounted knights in order to advance and occupy a hill they were supported by archers to their left and a unit of lightly armed spearmen occupying the base of the hill. I kept a unit of mounted knights in reserve and the two units of light cavalry to support the spearmen. On the right I deployed my crossbows with archers in the centre and a unit of mounted Norman knights in close proximity. I deployed a second unit of knights on the left flank with the intention of using their speed to launch a flank charge at the Norse centre.
We flew through the first few turns, with little happening until turn three. A unit of Berber light cavalry shot forward to harass the Flanders archers who had advanced on to a hill. A unit of Puri light cavalry charged the Berber cavalry and broke them in combat, the pursuit by the Puri brought them directly in front of the charge arc of unit of Mercenary mounted knights. True to form Steve’s knights charged, I elected to flee but the knights caught and broke the cavalry, this brought the knights to the crest of the hill directly in front of my own knights.
I bit the bullet and charged them with my own knights.Over on the other side the Vikings advanced in line while their javelin armed skirmishers entered the village. Much to the amusement of the raiders a unit of mercenary archers (Arabs from Sicily) refused to do anything. In Shieldwall some mercenary units are prone to unreliability (rather like Lee who failed to show) and my mercenaries proved unreliable. On unit of crossbow emerged from the woods and proceeded to lay some withering firepower on a unit of the Norse raiders inflicting impressive damage until being charged and electing to fire and flee. On the right flank I turned my knights in order to charge a unit of Vikings who were sneaking around on that flank. My sling-armed skirmishers were shot down by the javelin men in the village and fled. . The knights came under fire from the Norse skirmishers and a single knight was killed.
On the right flank the Flemish archers traded bow fire with the Arabs, with neither side gaining any real advantage. The knights traded blows, at first neither side gaining any real advantage and with the war-horses proving more effective at hitting than their master’s were. Eventually Steve’s knights broke. I attempted to pursue but it seemed as if the knights were riding donkeys, given the low pursuit roll I scored and Steve’s knights escaped and subsequently rallied. (My failure to remove those Knights was to cost me dearly). I charged my Knights at Ed’s Norse. Despite an anaemic performance from my Duke, I was able to wipe out the front rank of the Vikings who were automatically broken (I love the Ferocious charge ability of the Norman knights), and the Normans pursued those Vikings off the table. While this was occurring my crossbows entered the church complex and began to trade bolts with the mercenary crossbows employed by the Arabs. Steve responded by charging in a unit of Tribal skirmishers and his crossbows. Despite a valiant effort my crossbows were driven out.
My own knights then charged into the weakened unit of Vikings who wisely chose to flee and were able to escape the charge, they would continue fleeing for the rest of the game. This exposed the flank of the knights who were charged by the Hirdman despite not taking a single casualty the knights broke. It seemed that most of my horses were actually donkeys as I rolled another abysmal score on the dice and I watched as that unit of Knights was chopped up by those hairy savages.
On the left flank my Knights were charged in the flank by the Black Guard, I elected to flee and escaped the charge. My Knights subsequently rallied but were then charged by the Black Guard and the Mercenary Knights, seeing that the writing was on the wall, I fled and once again the pursuit roll was poor. The Black Guard and Knights broke through into my dismounted knights, the combat was mixed with casualties on either side. The two generals clashed but no wounds were inflicted. The dismounted knights broke were pursed and cut down. At that point there were no doubts as to who had won and so we called it a night.
The game was a lot of fun and we agreed to have a rematch, if any one is interested in sharing command of an army let me know.

George Moraitis