AAR: Moors versus Byzantines

After almost a year of owning the expansion, I finally got around to playing a game using a new army from Crescent and Cross this past Saturday.

1x4 Mounted Hearthguard
1x4 Mounted Hearthguard
1x4 Blackguard (Hearthguard)
1x8 Spear warriors
1x12 Bow Levy

The Byzantines have three warrior units, one armed with bows along with a unit of mounted hearthguard and steppe nomad mercenaries. The warlord is accompanied by a priest.

Below, setup at the start of the game. The Moors are on the left, the Byzantines on the right. I spread out, and my opponent tightly groups his units. I should have saw that as an indicator of what was to come.

Another view, with the Byzantines behind the small hill. 

On my turn, I advance my mounted hearthguard, possibly to use the building as a screen. 

As his steppe mercenaries advance from around the oasis, one my hearthguards wheels toward them. Hopefully they could throw javelin, engage the nomads and allow the Blackguard and supporting warriors to close in. Of course, they are halfway across the board before that can happen, but not before we take two from each unit. Bad news when that's half your unit. 

More bad news for the Moors. I tried to bribe the steppe nomads away from the Byzantines for a turn ("Corruption"). Unfortunately, my opponent took the three fatigue on the Warlord option. Weighing the possibilities, My warlord and hearthguard was within striking distance of his warlord in a couple of moves. Hit 'em while he was down, I thought. These warriors intercepted me - but maybe hearthguard against warrior? Not too risky...However, since his formations were so tight, he drew half the attack dice from a nearby unit (Strategikon). A good roll and four Moors down, taking only two spearmen with them.

Know your opponent's battleboard, folks.  

The Moors fortunes improve. The blackguard hit the steppe mercenaries, taking out all but one with no cost to themselves.  Some great melee abilities are on the Moorish battleboard. A unit of Moorish spearmen do about as well against some Byzantine infantry.

As so often happens in SAGA, it comes down to a battle of warlords. In this case, two battles. The Byzantine warlord moved within distance of the Moorish general, triggering this first encounter. I
only received one hit (ignored) and I put four on the Greek. He saved on three (or was it four?) and took no damage. As the attacker, I was pushed back, and he followed up with a side by side attack with spearmen. I think I took something like six or seven hits and only saved three. The nearby unit of levies couldn't take any of the hits ending the game.

For my first run through on the Moors, I am overall pleased. I like the faction and will play them again. Most of my problems were in my unit composition and not paying attention to the Byzantine abilities. The Moorish hearthguard have javelins, and the lower armor penalty that comes with it. I don't like shooting hearthguard, especially if it is with javelins, a rather poor trade-off in my opinion. In light of bow armed cavalry, the javelins are a weaker weapon with the same disadvantage. Next time, I will go with a full eight Blackguard; they did the job when required. 

All in all a fun game, and a great start to Crescent and Cross. 

Later this week, I will have my review of BBC America's The Last Kingdom

In the City - A Byzantine Urban Skirmish

Very little figure painting was accomplished this past week. Non-hobby related duties took precedence, but I managed to put together a few movement trays.  I did also play a new skirmish game which I think shows some uses for paper terrain for the historical wargamer.

The rule set was a Song of Blades and Heroes variation based on urban violence in the Ancient era - think HBO's Rome TV series.  It did not take much effort to convert some of the character types to medieval Byzantines.

Different characters have different special abilities, and what appealed to us was game mechanics involving the civilian characters.  If violence occurs near civilians, they may either run or join in.  Also, characters with certain abilities can try to recruit civilians to their side.  Buildings can be entered and exited, and rooftops can be an additional combat surface.

As with all of the SBH rules, it is fast moving and easy to pick up.

 In this scenario, an emperor's relative has stopped at a small Mediterranean or Black Sea port and is heading from the market back to the jetty where a small boat can take him to a ship.  Unfortunately, somebody high up wants him dead and the local governor, the Praetor, and some spearmen are to eliminate him.  The town guard (archers on the wall) are not in on the plot, but might be recruited to either side.

The emperor's brother and his Varangian bodyguards at the market:

The two side's assassins pursue each other through an alleyway.  

Shortcut through the alley now that the enemy assassin has been taken care of: 

And, like most skirmish games, strategy and tactics devolves into a melee free-for-all in the end: 

The terrain is mostly from Fat Dragon.  Many of Fat Dragon's PDFs have different layer options so tile roofs and shingles give the buildings the medieval Mediterranean look.  It's not exact by any means, but even with the cost of inkjet cartridges, it is less expensive than resin buildings and streets. On the downside, construction is time consuming and getting an exact fit can be fussy as some of my pics show.

Ganesha Games has Song of Shadows and Dust  as does RPG Now, which is where I bought the Fat Dragon terrain.

Byzantines on the Steppe

The day started with a number of unfortunate events - I lost my new glasses, almost set the kitchen on fire with a mislaid oven mitt - so I probably should have listened to omens and stayed off the field of battle.  But I was playing the Byzantines and good Christians should pay no mind to such superstitious nonsense.  But still...


We had to escort a pair of diplomats across the steppe to a friendly port on the Black Sea.  With us, was a unit each of Khataphracts, spearmen and levy.  We also had two units of archers and a sword for hire unit of steppe mercenaries from my own meager pay to guide us.

The escort pieces are in this case, two diplomats surrounded by bodyguard.  

The Khataphtacts take the left flank and archers and steppe nomads take the left.  Ahead of us, slave foot archers are in the center with warrior nomads at the wing.  The 3 points of warriors are broken into 4 units of 6 

With the heavy cavalry charging forward, a group of toxatoi move between a ridge and the raised road for cover. 

The khataphracts charge the steppe warriors, knowing that they will collapse immediately under 

The targeted unit immediately flees before contact is made thank to The Steppes ability on the battle board. As smart player of this faction will always keep a die on this ability

Next turn, my plan is to load up two activations for the hearthguard, so when one flees, I will hit the other.  However, thanks to the Wild Cats ability, another warrior unit from across the table pops in and I am now surrounded.

The heavily armored cavalry (6 v. shooting) had withstood missile attacks, but a string of lucky rolls from 3 units wiped them out.  

The Warlord and surviving units circle up and spend some defense dice.  At this point two hours in, I had to call it a game because of some commitments later in the day.  Unfortunately, I have no pics of my other archers still on the hill with no casualties, and picking off any models within range.  Possibly, the escorted units could have made it to the end of the road especially with a double activation.  Overall takeaway: if fighting the Steppe Tribes with Byzantines or Normans, have at least two units of hearthguard cavalry positioned to catch fleeing warriors in a pincher.  That, or shut down their activations with the Pagan Rus abilities.  

The Byzantines are Back in Town

When life happens, blogging doesn't.  Honestly though, a month off from the blog does not mean I abandoned the hobby.  So while I was a bit busier with job and family commitments, I have painted a few units and almost finished a fairly massive terrain piece that I will post later this week. In gaming, I played some SAGA and Song of Blades and Heroes, and ordered the Hail Caesar rule book when I caught it on sale on Amazon for 34% off.

In the meantime, I am trying to build up a couple of my skirmish armies into the sizes necessary for more massive battles, starting with the Byzantines and Normans.

Below, are Crusader Miniatures' Byzantine Kataphractoi with spears and maces.  The troops are nicely posed and detailed, but my one critique is that the armored horses had far more flash on the rear legs than on Crusader's other horses.  Whether I got a bad batch, or if its typical of the bulkier barded horses, I cannot say.

Next, are some shots of armored skutatoi and archers.  The variations on leather and chainmail armor kept the painting process interesting, while still maintaining visual cohesion.  Admittedly, Byzantines are a bit of a challenge, as I am more accustomed to painting generic Dark Age Vikings, Saxons and Normans.  Someone coming at them from a Roman Imperial direction would find it standard practice.

Historical Fiction Recommendation

I am not sure if anyone else in the hobby has this compulsion, but I like to read what I am painting.  While painting the Byzantine Cavalry, I read some fiction and non-fiction set in the Byzantine Empire, mostly some Osprey titles, but also this new discovery:

I found Strategos: Born in the Borderlands and Rise of the Golden Heart by Gordon Doherty through a Goodreads group.  The two released books of a trilogy tell the story of Apion, an orphaned Byzantine raised by a Seljuk farmer in eleventh century Anatolia.  From a childhood in slavery, he rises to a commander in the Byzantine army in the years leading up to the Battle of Manzikert. Doherty writes compelling battle scenes and builds the air of conspiracy and danger that gave the alternate meaning to the word Byzantine.  On equipment and tactics, the novels are well researched, but he makes some assumptions about the organization and activity of Byzantine thematic armies that I have not read elsewhere.  It is nothing disruptive to the plot, but it did pull me out of the narrative occasionally as I wondered if it was history or invention.   He also admittedly invents the shadowy enemy pursued by the main character, but it is based on an earlier Roman imperial practice.  Both books are available on Kindle.

Strategos: Born in the Borderlands

Kit Bashing Dark Age Skirmishers

SAGA's push to the east, beginning with the Byzantines and Rus in Varjazi & Basilieus has pushed further into Asia with the release of the new Steppe Tribes board in Wargames Illustrated 311.  It is a welcome move, for it is a time period and location in which I have a a great deal of interest and background.

As I have been putting together levies for SAGA and Hail Caesar lately, my expectation is that cheap (low quality) troops need to be acquired cheaply (low cost).  While there is no perfect, dedicated solution for plastic Eastern European and Central Asia armies in the Dark Ages, there are some acceptable substitutes.

A Byzantine Army was one of the first historical armies I began putting almost ten years ago.  Most of my psiloi were archers and a few slingers from Crusader and Gripping Beast, but no javelin-bearers, as SAGA specifies.  Below is a half-unit of Byzantine skirmishers put together from Wargames Factory Numidian bodies, Saxon and German heads as well as a couple of Gripping Beast plastic unarmored heads.  As with any mod, it is a bit of a compromise.  Byzantine troops with standardized tunics and shields would probably have had better footwear and trousers, but I think it works well enough for a game.

Steppe tribes used slaves, captured enemies and even women and children as foot skirmishers.  A favorite tactic of the Khitans and Mongols would be to drive captured enemies towards their own city's walls to create confusion and hesitation among the besieged.  With that in mind, these steppe skirmishers were meant to be a diverse and poorly clad lot that could have come from anywhere between Kievan Rus and Mongolia.  Again, the bodies are Wargames Factory Numidians and Gripping Beast heads.  

More brightly adorned and better equipped are the archers pictured below.  They were intended to look like city militia or merchant guards for the Silk Road cities, such as Samarkand or Bukhara.  These bodies are from Wargames Factory's Persians along with various German and Viking heads.  

Thanks for stopping by, and my next post will be some historical fiction recommendations for Byzantium and steppe tribes before the Mongols.

SAGA Battle Report: Byzantines versus Normans

This kitchen table match up was a quick 4 point variation on the Escort mission scenario.
It was my first playtest of the increased armor and shooting abilities for the Byzantine hearthguard.

The Byzantine army consists of a unit of 8 Khataphractoi, 8 skutatoi, 8 armored archers, and a warlord (general with guards). 

The objective is to escort a Byzantine diplomat and his letters back to Constantinople in the winter of 1081.  The road runs between a farm and small hill.  The end point is the Roman ruins at the end of the table. 

On the other side of the hill, a group of Normans appears, consisting of 8 mounted Sergeants, 4 Knights, 8 spearmen and 8 crossbowmen.  

The mounted units are trying to flank the escort troops, while the foot soldiers are going over the hill (rough terrain).

Best roll of the night.   

The Byzantines make it to the end, with the diplomat, warlord, 3 archers, and 1 Khataphract. 

Conclusions: increasing the armor and adding the shooting rule for the Khataphractoi probably made a difference.  In previous match ups against the Normans, the Byzantines were 0 for 3.   Shooting with two units almost halved a unit of Norman warriors before they charged into the Byzantine infantry. A terrain layout that favored the Greeks also proved advantageous.  

Time to Focus

Like most miniature collectors and games, I have a mountain of figures that seems to grow faster than I can paint it.  Currently, my unfinished projects are...

1. Some stray Norman and Byzantine infantry for SAGA:

2. The 37 figure Skraeling set for SAGA:

3. 16 Scot warriors from Crusader Miniatures purchased on impulse when I was reading King Hereafter months ago:

4. A few units of Song Chinese ordered from The Assault Group. I would like to do some skirmishing on China's western frontier with Chinese, Tibetans and steppe nomads.

Add to that the soon to be released plastic Norman infantry from Conquest Games - two boxes, definitely.

Byzantine Kataphractoi

One of the reasons I prefer SAGA and other skirmish games is that they cater to my budget and my diverse interests.  Napoleonic war gamers can build a two thousand plus figure army, all meticulously based and painted, and they are focused on that army for years.  For me, the appeal of SAGA is collecting 40-60 figures and researching that particular corner of the Dark Ages for a couple of months.  Then I can run them in some games, and then build an opposing army.

These cavalry bring my Byzantine army to a completion.  The Byzantines of the tenth and eleventh century fielded a far heavier cavalry than contemporary armies in Western Europe.  Byzantine warhorses were protected by quilted or scale armor, and the heaviest kataphractoi wore lamellar and scale armor beneath a quilted coat.  According to Anna Comnena, her father Alexius was struck by multiple Norman spear at the Battle of Dyrrachium in 1081. The spear embedded in his armor and he cut them off, and the emperor was then able to escape his pursuers.

The development of Byzantine heavy cavalry was an obvious response to the heavy cavalry found in late Roman Empire's allies and enemies.  The Sarmatians and Persians deployed heavily armored cavalry well before the Romans.  Also, the wealthier economies of Eastern Mediterranean states and the flatter geography made heavy cavalry a more viable option than the poorer kingdoms of the west.

The eight figures below are two packs from Gripping Beast.  The unit in the rear is a command unit, and the group in front are mace bearers.

Part of the reforms and policies of the Emperor Nicephorus was to standardize equipment for the Byzantine army.  Part of this was to insure that the cavalry carry multiple weapons; in case of breakage or loss a khataphract might carry two swords and two maces into battle. 

The command unit, in which the horses heads are covered by an iron plate instead of scale.

The full Byzantine band, consisting of 5 points of hearthguard (8 Khataphracts and 12 Varangians), 2 points of warriors (8 spearmen and 8 armored archers) and a general.  I might like to add a unit of levy archers later, but there is really no justifiable place in a SAGA warband for the most exotic unit available to the Byzantines: a Greek Fire crew:

...but I still want one.

Recommended Reading

The Alexiad by Ana Comnena. The Byzantine princess' account of her father's reign is praised for its forward looking approach to historical methodology.  That said, she worked to portray Alexius in the best possible light, especially in the aforementioned battle of Dyrrachium, a devastating loss for the Byzantines.