Neil Thomas - Ancient & Medieval Wargaming

ANCIENT &
MEDIEVAL

Wargaming

ANCIENT &
MEDIEVAL

Wargaming

NEIL THOMAS

First published in 2007

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

Neil Thomas, 2007, 2013

The right of Neil Thomas to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 9611 5

Original typesetting by The History Press

Acknowledgements

I would like to start by thanking my father, Kaye Thomas, for typing the manuscript of this book. Also to everyone at Sutton Publishing for their efforts, especially Nick Reynolds, Julia Fenn and Jonathan Falconer.

This book has benefited greatly from the magnificent colour photographs that grace the plate section. The battle scenes were provided by Miniature Wargames magazine, for which I would like to thank editor Iain Dickie and photographer Richard Ellis. I am also very fortunate to have been supplied some images by master figure painters Kevin Dallimore, Paul Baker (Brush Strokes) and Gerard Cronin (GJM Figurines).

Finally, any writers on Ancient and Medieval wargaming must record their debt to Phil Barker and other members of the Wargames Research Group. Without their pioneering work over the last forty years the hobby would be sorely diminished, both in size and in scope.

Key to Symbols

The illustrations of unit deployments in the army lists and battle reports, utilise various symbols to depict different troop types. They are defined below:

Introduction

T his book represents a sequel to and development of my earlier work, Wargaming: An Introduction (also published by Sutton). While my previous book covered all periods of wargaming by providing rules and an appropriate selection of army lists, this one specialises in the Ancient and Medieval periods. The aim is to provide a much more comprehensive examination of one of the most exciting epochs of wargaming, by greatly expanding the numbers of army lists, and providing some historical perspective.

One major change from my last book lies in the number of rulesets. I felt that the nuances of this epoch are best covered by four different sets of rules for each defined period: the Biblical age (3000 BC 500 BC ); the Classical age (500 BC AD 300); the Dark Ages (3001100); and the Medieval age (11001485). However, the reader should rest assured that the rules systems for each period are essentially identical to that printed in Wargaming: An Introduction; all use the same core concepts, and are intended to be both simple and playable. However, the use of four different sets of rules allows for the subtle variations in each period to come to the fore (it also effectively prevents the contests between Ancient Egyptians and Wars of the Roses English armies, that are a lamentable feature of the many wargames competitions that use a generic ruleset covering the entire epoch from 3000 BC to AD 1485).

Each period is allocated five chapters. The first of these provides historical perspective; it outlines the major military (and occasionally political) developments. This should give any wargamer some useful contextual information, and hopefully give him or her the encouragement to pursue an interest by consulting the reading list provided. All wargamers should appreciate that there really is so much more to this hobby than playing games; the history of each individual period is absolutely fascinating, and an understanding of it will enrich the gaming experience immensely.

The second chapter in each section explains how I interpret the historical background in the wargaming context; in particular, I define the troop types that perform on the wargames table. The rules themselves form the third chapter.

The fourth chapter covers the army lists for the relevant epoch. Devoting an entire book to the Ancient and Medieval period allows me not only to cover a large number of armies, but also to greatly expand the format of each list. Every wargames force therefore contains far more than just the composition of each army and a brief interpretive paragraph. I am also able to include a set of special rules for each force; a diagrammatic representation of how armies can deploy on the wargames table; a guide to the availability of figures and their suitability for use in other wargames forces (with the best will in the world, no wargamer could possibly collect all the armies in this book: the opportunity of having units serve in more than one force does, however, allow for the rapid acquisition of extra wargames armies); a reading list; and finally some snippets of historical information and (where possible) a primary source quotation.

The final chapter of each section covers a wargames battle report. Each of these is based upon a famous historical battle. I start by stating what happened in the real life engagements, and then describe the events that ensued when the encounter was reproduced as a wargame. Hopefully, the reader will feel encouraged to follow suit; either by reproducing the battles described or (even better) research other momentous encounters and wargame them.

I end the book with some appendices covering wargames figures: the sizes and scales available; current prices (these are inevitably likely to change, and are only included as a general guide); and a list of useful addresses.

Having bought this book, the reader is about to sample the wargames period with the greatest variety of armies, and some of historys more fascinating personalities now you too can be Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Queen Boudicca, King Arthur, William the Conqueror or Henry V. Who could possibly resist such a temptation?

Chapter 1

Biblical Warfare
3000 BC 500 BC

KEY EVENTS