Mantes 1364 after action report

I concluded the Mantes 1364 game this weekend.  There was a total of 92 figs involved, so it used to to stress test Song of Blades and Heroes.  The scenario was adapted from  a scenario published in Graal#18 for Cry Havoc!. 

The background was:  On April 7th, 1364 Bertrand du Guesclin recaptured the town of Mantes from the English by blocking the drawbridge with a cart full of soldiers disguised as wine growers.  

There were four distinct groups and the game was designed for 2-4 players.  it used the medieval town map.  The map depicted a walled town with a citadel.  I adapted the map to suit the terrain in my collection but I was able to closely lay out what was depicted on the map.   

The citadel being inside the town had an old drawbridge that had fallen into disuse could not be raised.  

The four groups were:

The Franco-Bretons led by du Guesclin.  this force was made up of mounted knights and men at arms.

The Rebels are the loyal French who reside in the town and this force was made up of mostly peasants and a few men at arms.

The English who occupied the town were a force of dismounted knights and men at arms.  They were the garrison of the citadel and were the watch on a couple of the city gates walls and towers.

The Collaborators were french who were cooperating with the English occupiers.   there were represented by the Bishop and the Hangman.  The Bishop had an escort of some halberdiers and a crossbowman.  The other collaborators included a couple of dismounted knights and some men at arms.  

In my earlier post I described the opening events in which the soldiers sprung from the cart and battled the guards at the gate.  Du Guesclin and a group of mounted knights rode like hell for the blocked bridge.  

A second group of Franco-Bretons made a dash for the Monferrat gate on the side of the town.  The English Sergeant Tyler moved to block the French whild one of the spearmen moved to close the portcullis. 

As the cry goes up both Rebels and Traitors begin pouring out of buildings around the town and brawling in the streets.  A rebel short bowman  begins to draw  his bow and is cut down along with a peasant by English archers on the walls of the citadel.

        

A  fierce battle raged at the Pilgrim’s Gate blocked by the wine cart.  The defenders rushed to block the knights entering the town and defeat the French soldiers that had sprung the trap with the wine cart.

Traitor peasants emerge from the blacksmith and engage rebel men at arms.

Sergeant Tyler and his men battle French knights at the Monferrat gate and try to close the portcullis.

Sir Tomas rushes past the citadel gate to battle the English halberdiers and Sir Clugney comes out of the citadel to challenge him.  Sir Tomas will pay for his rashness with his life.  Sir Clugney gives him a fallen result and the halberds hack him to pieces.

The French knights gain the upper hand at The Pilgrim’s Gate and ride into the town.  

Battle rages in the town square as the French knights press the attack.   

Sir Lacy and the Bishop muster forces in the courtyard of citadel and prepare to sell their lives dearly.  

Sergeant Martin leads the French as the Traitors counter-attack in the town square.

Du Guesclin gathers knights and contemplates a charge through the gate of citadel.

English longbowmen and a crossbowman fire on the knights.

Clisson rides toward Sir Clugney.   Forward to death or glory in front of the citadel walls!

The English defenders close the Monferrat Gate cutting off French reinforcements.

Du Guesclin decides not hazard his life with a charge into the citadel.  He rides down Sir Clugney and send his head flying.  The English men at arms seeing the gruesome death of Sir Clugney rout and run for The Lady Gate.    

The English are now trapped in the citadel and the French control the town.  The English and Traitors suffered more losses than the French and Rebels.  This ended as a  French victory.

About half way through the game I cut a couple of wooden dowels to make shoot sticks.  I made one for long, medium and short.  They are marked at range, range x2 and range x3.  This made ranged combat much easier.  

I did find it difficult to fire effectively with the longbows.  I have them as Q3,C3.  with the -4 at x3 range they were useless even when taking aimed shots.  For example at range x2 they are -2 vs. but only reduce the target by -1 on it’s Combat, but the -4 was too much to overcome when all the targets were Combat 3 or 4.  

I was really happy with the way the way the game played.  I have used this same scenario with several rules systems and this gave me the fastest game yet.  I anticipate that when used in smaller scenarios Song of Blades and Heroes and my adaptation Song of Lilies and Lions will really shine.         

Song of Lilies and Lions

I have started using Song of Blades and Heroes to play some historical skirmish battles.  I have an interest in the Hundred Years War and like to play games set in that era.  I have tried all kinds or rules sets, and am a new convert to SBH.  I got hooked after Millennium Con in Austin.  Splintered Light was there and I have been mad about Ganesha Games since November.

I was always a fan of the old board game Cry Havoc!  I still use the scenarios for much of my medieval skirmish gaming.   I decided to stat out some of forces listed in some of the scenarios and came up with some of the following ideas:

The top of the Food Chain is a mounted knight with a slightly higher defense and offense rating.  There are few of these and they were described in Cry Havoc! and Siege as Barons.  Usually leaders of a force.   I plotted them out thus:

Sir Lacy (Mounted Knight) - Personality
Points 120	Quality 3+	Combat 5
Special Rules	Chivalry, Knight, Heavy Armour, Heroes Horse, Leader, Long Move

Next are Knights of Good Quality.  These may or may not be leaders.  Still a heavy hitter, especially when mounted.  I wrote them up as Renowned Knights from SAM.  

Sir Gaston (Mounted Knight)
Points 80	Quality 3+	Combat 4
Special Rules	Chivalry, Knight, Heavy Armour, Heroes Horse, Long Move

Next were Lesser Knights and mounted squires.  These were given the Lesser Knight profile from SAM.  I did not differentiate between lesser knight and squires.  

Sir Piers (Mounted Knight)
Points 70	Quality 3+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Chivalry, Knight, Heavy Armour, Heroes Horse, Long Move

Next were Sergeants.  These were a special kind of troop type.  The real infantry leaders, these were hardened veterans.  I went with a high quality and solid combat score to reflect this.  I used a home rule of allowing sergeants to act as a leader but only with a short range.  I considered using Champion but settled on this instead.  I placed the point value at 7 for the Sergeant ability, since range was short compared to Leader; and made him a Personality

Martin (Sergeant) - Personality
Points 60	Quality 3+	Combat 4
Special Rules	Heavy Armour, Sergeant

Cry Havoc! and other games often differentiate between classes of Men at Arms.  In Cry Havoc! Halberdiers are a little beefier.  I made them the same as Human, Heavy Infantry in SBH, with the exception of giving them Heavy Armour.  

Wynken (Halberdier)
Points 30	Quality 4+	Combat 4
Special Rules	Heavy Armour, Short Move

Next was the average man at arms, armed with a bill or spear.  These are separate troop types in Cry Havoc!.  I kept them separate for ease of scenario building but they are the same profile.  These troops wear padded or leather armour.  An option could be to allow Shieldwall if model had shield and there was enough present to group them.  

Andre  (Swordsman)
Points  23	Quality 4+	Combat 3
Special Rules

Godric  (Billman)
Points 23	Quality 4+	Combat 3
Special Rules

Hal  (Spearman)
Points 23	Quality 4+	Combat 3
Special Rules

Next was a weaker form of archer called a Shortbowman.  Given his smaller bow and likely less training than a Longbowman;  (typically trained from childhood) I gave him a profile that had a slightly reduced Quality, (average training and equipment).  I kept his combat average since he would be in the battle line and would be expected to fight.

   

Mathias  (Shortbowman)
Points 29	Quality 4+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Shooter Medium

The Pride of England, the Longbowman, was a key figure in medieval warfare.  I used the Human, Archer Profile in SBH to represent these troops.  The high quality allows for a high rate of accuracy and mobility, and he has a nice long range. 

  

Owen  (Longbowman)
Points  44	Quality 3+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Shooter Long

Crossbowman were sort of a conundrum, when trying to figure out a profile that took into account their pros and cons.  Where the English Longbowman was in the battle line most commonly out of necessity, Crossbowmen seem to have been less likely to be used in a hand to hand combat role. Crossbowmen were also specially trained soldiers, sometimes paid professionals such as the Genoese.  I felt that using the Sharpshooter ability provided the balance needed.  I did come up with a house rule that covered the time needed to reload.  I also considered looking at the role of the pavaise, sometimes associated with crossbow armed troops.  I will discuss that later.

Codemar  (Crossbowman)
Points  46	Quality 3+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Shooter Medium, Sharpshooter

Next were Peasants.  These are common working men, not the blind, crippled, lame and lazy.  They were compelled to fight or just joined in the fray.  Since there was some willingness or at least compulsion to put themselves in harm’s way they were given a slightly better profile than a general non- combatant.  Since these rapscallions and sturdy beggars perform better under the watchful gaze of authority, I gave them the Gregarious ability.  This differs from the profile in SBH.  I wanted to reflect their more aggressive nature and account for their array of farm implements.

Smith  (Peasant)
Points  13	Quality 5+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Gregarious

Non-Combatants include people like Merchants, Damsels in Distress, Engineers and innocent by-standers.  They have no real martial ability and are generally in a scenario as an objective or an impediment.  

Leopold (Non-Combatant)
Points 1	Quality 5+	Combat 0
Special Rules

Other Troop Types (experimental)

Pavaisiers are troops assigned to protect crossbowmen.  They carry large wooden shields that are planted in position.  They would carry spears or pole arms to fend off attacks directed against the crossbowmen.        

Gianni  (Pavaisier)
Points 21	Quality 4+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Protect, Shieldwall*

*Not required to group, may not move for ability, benefit extends to crossbowman in base contact directly behind Pavaisier.

Some crossbowmen carried their own pavaise into battle or wore it on their back; somewhat cumbersome they have the Slow ability in which case they would have the following profile:

Leonardo  (Crossbowman with Pavaise)
Points  38	Quality 3+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Shooter Medium, Sharpshooter, Shieldwall,* Slow

*Not required to group, may not move for ability.

Gunpowder weapons were a new addition to the battlefield.  Handgunners should be rare and exceptional troops in a warband,  The profile was created with that in mind, and with a desire to use abilities already in play, without creating any new ability.  

The high combat rating reflects the power of the handgun and it’s psychological impact, boosted by the Sharpshooter ability.  The Assassin ability reflects it lethality and penetrating power.  This is balanced by the 4+ Quality which reflects the unreliable nature of these weapons.  Being a Personality, along with the cost, and limited role, ensures that these troops will be in small supply in a warband.

Enzio  (Handgunner) - Personality
Points  65	Quality 4+	Combat 4
Special Rules	Assassin, Shooter Medium, Sharpshooter

Next is two types of skirmishers occasionally found in some armies during the Hundred Years War.  These are Breton Javelins and Navarrese Slingers.  I used the Human, Light Infantry profile from SBH for these.  The good Quality rating reflects their  maneuverability and skirmish role, with a weaker combat rating.  

Henri  (Breton Javelin)
Points  28	Quality 3+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Shooter Medium,

Carlos  (Navarrese Slinger)
Points  28	Quality 3+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Shooter Medium,

  

Mounted Hobilars were another troop type that saw action during this period.  I used the profile for Human, Light Cavalry from SBH to reflect these troops.

Ranulf  (Hobilar)
Points  60	Quality 3+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Mounted, Long Move, Shooter Medium

The Navarrese armies might also have light cavalry armed with javelins called Jinetes.  I can only speculate that throwing a javelin from horseback is not an easy task.  I have used the Human, light cavalry Profile from SBH but have made it a Shooter Short.  I felt like the range for a javelin should be shorter, and it gives a variation.

Henri  ( Jinete)
Points  28	Quality 3+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Shooter Medium,

The pike did not come into widespread use until the latter part of the Hundred Years War but was sometimes used by allied troops.  The use of the Dashing ability represents the initial danger in closing with a long pike, but afterwards it is less effective. To reflect this, I use the house rule that pikes are Dashing in the first round of combat when attacking or being attacked.

Bertin  (Pikeman)
Points  27	Quality 4+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Dashing*

* Dashing when attacking or being attacked.

A Few House Rules and Notes.  

Reloading:  Crossbows and handguns required time to reload.  Shortbows, Longbows, and Slings could be reloaded relatively quickly.  To add balance and to reflect the time needed to reload the following rule can be used.

Weapon	Actions to reload
Longbows, Shortbows, and Slings	None
Crossbows	1 action
Handgun	2 actions

  This rule has several effects, it forces a player to choose between aimed shooting, or moving , or rushing to reload.  It also makes other missile weapons conceivably have a higher rate of fire.  

Once fired the figure should be marked to indicate it needs to reload, using a counter or marker.  Once the reload action is complete the marker is removed.  

For example a crossbowman could choose three actions Aimed fire and reload but would take the risk of three dice.  He could rush the shot and reload only using two actions, or aim fire using two actions and remain unloaded till he activates next turn.

A note on Armour:  Throughout the troops listed above there are several that have been given the Heavy Armour ability.  This differentiates those troops who wore Mail and plate from the majority who wore only padded or leather armour.  In later periods the distinction can be made between those wearing full plate being given Heavy Armour, and those wearing chainmail and other lesser armours not granted that ability.  Sort of a sliding scale as armour improves over time.  

The only troops wearing Heavy Armour and having the Short Move ability are the Halberdiers,  I went with the thinking that Knights were trained in arms since childhood and sergeants were hardened battle veterans.  Others wearing it would would lack such training and experience and would find it cumbersome.    

I decided to put Chivalry into the abilities used for campaign purposes.  It allows Knights to develop a reputation good or bad and adds to their personality. 

Many other abilities are suitable for play during this time period.  Great examples of this can be seen in the rosters in SAM.