Conference Special: The Sword of God - Khalid ibn al-Walid (part two)

Khalid ibn al-Walid ... strategy, tactics, battles

Picking up where we left off in Part One ...

  ... Mobility and use of concealing terrain were signatures of Khalid's generalship, and he would regularly find himself outnumbered.  Using what you might call an army-level version of traditional Arab raiding tactics, he would often attempt to pin the enemy into position without fully engaging ... in order to outmanoeuvre and envelop the enemy - compensating for numerical weaknesses with local advantages.  We see this in the Arab civil wars, and in the wars against Persia.  It should come as no surprise that this is what we see at Yarmuk ...

Early career: Uhud ... the battle of the mountain ...

March 625 ... the Arab Wars: the Muslims were fighting the Meccans for supremacy.  Khalid is commanding the Meccan cavalry wing.  A lot of the details of this battle seem mythical, but it is clear that, though outnumbered, the Muslims were able to drive the Meccan main divisions backwards.  The Muslim left flank was held by a body of archers on a hill.  As victory neared, those archers, rather than hold their position guarding the flank, instead chose to take the opportunity to raid the Meccan baggage, leaving the flank open.  Khalid was able to move his cavalry unseen and unopposed around the flank and fall on the rear of the main body.

Legends recount how, before this battle, a number of duels occured around the Meccan standard bearers, costing many of them their lives.  The victories of their champions bolstered the morale of the outnumbered Muslims - and dulled the enthusiasm of their enemies.  It is evident from the accounts of battle in other theatres in this period, as well, that the duels were more than just romanticisations by story tellers.  The men in the ranks were clearly affected by these challenges such that commanders could not simply pass over them (it seems a challenge had to be responded to ... and that the outcome was important).

I have borrowed this plan from Wikipedia.  As above, the accounts of the battle don't allow me to verify much of the detail on the plan, but it may help you understand the broad position ...

 

 

... it probably means that Khalid left a gap in trying to gain an outflanking position - and the archers obligingly rushed through it.  How deliberately this came about is not clear, however, I suspect Khalid saw something happen that day that informed many of his later battles.

 

Arguably, Khalid should have fallen on the archers and protected his own army's rear zone - but he was clearly (then and later) prepared to sacrifice the camp for the chance of taking a battle-winning position beyond/through concealing terrain into the enemy's rear..

 

The key elements: a large mobile cavalry reserve/wing; the opportunity to attack/loot the camp pulling the enemy out of position; pre-battle duels taking out enemy commanders; willingness to expose the camp; encirclement hidden by terrain; victory out of the jaws of defeat.

In 627, Khalid embraced Islam and was given high command in the Muslim armies.

In the subsequent Meccan campaign, he commanded the Muslim Bedouin contingents, which probably gave him the opportunity to to perfect his art of rapid movement, especially in barren and desert areas with minimal supply. Mobility and supply was enabled by large numbers of camels ... the Arabs then dismounting or transfering to horses for battle.

 

The Destruction of Persia

 

The battles of Khalid's campaign against the Sassanids are marked by his clear superiority in manoeuvre over larger but more ponderous enemy forces.  Swift movements allowing Khalid to choose either to hit unexpectedly or to draw battle out over several days to wear the enemy down and strike when the advantage was secured.

At the Battle of the Chains (so called, because we are told that the men of the Persian centre were linked together by chains), April 633, Khalid made a series of marches and counter marches in the days before the battle in order to tire and confuse the enemy.  Marked by Kazimah on the map, battle was joined only when Khalid was satisfied with the propects for victory.  As he would do in later battles, Khalid deployed with the desert forming a safe zone behind him, and repeatedly attacked the fatigued Persian flanks until they were forced to withdraw, exposing the immobile centre.  The centre was destroyed.

Next, at the Battle of the River (near the Euphrates at Uballa), April 633, Khalid was able to strike more rapidly than the Persians expected as they assembled a new army in the aftermath of defeat at the Chains.  The Persians had the river to their rear, on which they were transporting recruits and supplies for the army.  Khalid moved quickly to battle this time while he had the opportunity to trap the enemy against the river.

The duels that preceded the battle are interesting to consider ... all 3 Persian commanders were apparently killed .. Against the commander of the enemy centre, Khalid allowed his place to be taken by a champion swordsman*, following his victory, the commanders of the wings rode forward and, again, we are told both the Persian leaders fell.  Assuming the stories to be true, and judged with knowledge of the outcomes, to describe this bravado by the senior Persians as foolhardy seems an understatement.

The Battle of Walaja: May 633 .. the Persians were able to regroup, and massed 2 armies to defeat the Arabs ... each nearly twice the size of Khalid's expedition.  Khalid moved quickly to prevent the armies combining - intending to take out the army at Walaja first.

Realising that he needed to anihilate the force at Walaja, Khalid risked weakening his outnumbered force by separating 4,000 of his best cavalry from the army, 'disappearing' them into the undulating landscape so that when he had drawn the Persians into an attack, they could appear from concealment behind the enemy's flanks.  A hybrid double envelopment by ambush, if you like ...

 

(Map by Mohammad adil at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

This mastery of the landscape seems remarkable, given that Khalid was operating on enemy territory (however, the Walaja army was arriving by ship, so may largely have been, in reality, no more 'local' than the Arabs are) ...

As the battle pressed on, Khalid is said to have ordered the centre slowly to fall back, while the wings held their ground, drawing the Persians into a killing zone.  This is very reminiscent of Hannibal's tactic at Cannae ... It is normal to wonder whether such subtle movements are really so controlled - or whether fortuitous effects are recorded as planned and commanded with victor's hindsight.  However, allowing the enemy to press forward, feeling they are on the brink of victory does seem a Khalid trademark.

Three further battles were fought in this phase of the conquest of Persia before Abu Bakr recalled Khalid and deployed him against Byzantine Syria/Palestine.  At the battle of Ullais, Khalid defeated and killed Christian Arab tribal chief Abdul-Aswad in a duel.  Reports suggest that thousands of Persian soldiers were beheaded when they were trapped by the river as they fled.

With Khalid sent West, the final victory over Persia would not be until 651 and the death of Yazdegerd III (grandson of the great Chosroes II)

SYRIA

Abu Bakr died in 634 and his successor Umar seems to have confirmed Khalid as supreme commander over the forces in Syria.

After a march through the desert and a decisive victory at Ajnadayn, where he united his force with several other, including Amr al As, Khalid finally attacked and conquered Damascus on 18 September 635.  Learning from spies that the Byzantines were massing two huge armies to recover the lost teritories, in the Spring of 636, Khalid withdrew into the desert plateau above the Yarmuk river ..

Yarmuk

We have discussed Yarmuk previously, so this will be a summary.  Although, evaluated on its own, Khalid's victory seems unusual, surprising, very fortuitous etc. I believe, in the light of Khalid's previous victories, we should probably attribute more to judgement than to luck.

(my map of Yarmuk from the Great Battles of History book)

The pattern has a familair ring ... having drawn the enemy to a battlefield he has chosen, the fighting itself is drawn out over several days.  Although the Byzantines try to avoid being pulled out of position, they find the battlefield opening up and are able to attack the Muslim camps, which pulls them forward.  Fighting with the open space of the desert behind him, only when the Byzantines are fully committed, does Khalid deploy some of his reserve to hold the line.

The battle is preceded by a number of duels which go the Arab way, and in which the Byzantines lose a number of high-ranking officers.  Khalid allows this to go on, and it forces the Byzantines to attack.

Although heavily outnumbered, Khalid had massed a significant proportion of his cavalry into a mobile reserve under his direct command.  After several days of intermittent fighting, duelling and repositioning of forces, the mobile guard somehow disappeared into the landscape, and when the enemy was fully committed, they reappeared behind the enemy's open flank and were able to engulf them, isolating the infantry centre.  

Attempting to withdraw, the mass of the Byzantine army found that Khalid's men had taken the key passages across the Yarmuk and have trapped them against the river (in this case, the steep ravine edge that descends to the river). 

The road back to Damascus was open ... the Byzantine armies were smashed, as was the empire in the Levant.  

Shortly after his epoch defining victory, Khalid was removed from command and, effectively, retired by Caliph Umar - apparently for fear of the development of a personality cult around the veteran war leader.

Khalid died in 642, and had remained undefeated in over 50 battles ... his victories were cornerstones of the rapid expansion of Islam in the Middle East and around the shores of the Mediterranean.

* according to legend, Khalid spurred up his horse to accept the challenge, but Maqal bin Al Ashi charged forward determined to get there first - recognising both his zeal and his status as a swordsman, Khalid chose not to recall him.  Which seems very prudent ... especially if Khalid made enough of an effort for it to be clear to the soldiers that Maqal got there first due to his exceptional courage and fervour, rather than any reticence on Khalid's part.  Or am I starting to sound cynical? At Walaja, Khalid himself is said to have fought the main duel, and won ... so he was clearly capable in this respect.  I imagine, at Walaja, that Khalid was happy to run the clock a bit, in order to bring his flanking forces into play ..

Conference Special: The Sword of God - Khalid ibn al-Walid (part one)

 PART ONE: FLATS, BATTLES and PROJECTS

(slides from my SoAC talk)

My fascination with Khalid started some years ago, with the arrival of some new recruits to my ancients collection. 

  

(The Phil Barker flats unpacked)

Phil Barker had joined in one of the Tony Bath sessions I had put on using the 'Derryck Guyler' flats*, and, appreciating my interest in the origins of the ancients wargame, offered to add his 1960s flats to the collection (they were, by then, just stacked away in shoe boxes, and he was aware that I would get them onto the wargames table).

In addition to a large number of Tony Bath originals**, the bulk of Phil's donation was, as we see in the picture, an Early Imperial Roman army.

 

(the Romans, on show in Reading)

But in amongst them were a fair number of what I would consider (what today we would probably identify as) Byzantines, Sassanids and Arabs.

 

(refurbished - the Arabs and Byzantines)

 

I would configure the Romans and related figures into a Bath rules wargame - but it was obvious to me that I had a second project here: a Dark Age/Flowering of Islam collection ... maybe another DBA spin off (just as the Guyler flats spawned both the Plataea game and Lords of the Nile, this new addition would give me a classic Bath rules Roman game and a clash between the Byzantines and Arabs.

 

(Lords of the Nile: a DBA V3 sample game at Vapnartak)
  

The Lords of the Nile was a game we took to shows as a participation game while V3 was being playtested (I had declined to be a playtester but had told Phil that I would be happy to receive development versions and use them at shows so that people could see how things were going).  

 

It went very well, so I was looking for a Byzantine-Arab battle that would make a suitable scenario which could replicate the LotN effect for the later period.  Ideally a battle a flat open battlefield from the Rise of Islam featuring Arabs, Byzantines, Sassanids etc. Well, something like Byzantines, Armenians, Persians and Arabs on both sides - that would be Yarmouk, perhaps.

 

(the DBA V3 Yarmuk game in the hands of Society luminaries Paul Stein, Duncan Head and LVP Matt Bennett)

To understand Yarmuk, you need to know more about Khalid, and that is where my journey began. Yarmuk is conventionally described as a collossal battle fought over 4 or 5 days in which a vastly outnumbered Khalid manages to rescue his army from the brink of deteat - repeatedly - until finally being able to pull off a stunning victory (appearing behind the enemy's lines and swallowing the whole army up).  It is a lot to get your head around.

    

(cavalry action at Yarmuk from SoaC 16: the Arabs are driven back onto the line of their encampments)

An  analysis, though of Khalid's career and previous battles can make sense of this.  Mobility and use of concealing terrain were signatures of Khalid's generalship, and he would regularly find himself outnumbered.  Using what you might call an army-level version of traditional Arab raiding tactics, he would often attempt to pin the enemy into position without fully engaging ... in order to outmanoeuvre and envelop the enemy - compensating for numerical weaknesses with local advantages.  We see this in the Arab civil wars, and in the wars against Persia.  It should come as no surprise that this is what we see at Yarmuk.

KHALID IBN AL-WALID  خالد بن الوليد بن المغيرة المخزومي

Khalid was born in Mecca of the leading clan of the Quraysh.  He opposed the preaching of the prophet, and had lost many relatives in the struggle.  However, in around 629, Khalid and Amr ibn al-As convert to Islam and join the Prophet.  Khalid took control of the army in Jordan and was rewarded by the Prophet with the title Sayf Allah - the sword of God.

Khalid led the Arab armies for 9 years on all fronts and was undefeated in over 50 battles.  A career warrior, he died in his bed in Medina in 642. 

The following slide shows how his life and times fit within the context of the Middle East:

His major victories were .. 625, Uhud;   629: Mu’tah;   630: Hunayn;  632: Buzakha, Yamama;  633: the battle of the chains, the battle of the river, Aqraba, Ullais, Walaja;   634: Marj Rahit, Bosra, Ajnadayn, Fahi;   636: Yarmuk,  637: Quanasrin.

In the second part, we will look at what we can learn from these battles.

(the battle of Uhud from a later Ottoman manuscript volume)

* the first collection of flats, coutesy of Steve and the Salford friends (Gentlemen Pensioners), which had originally been bought from TV star (and former SoA President) Derryck Guyler.

** i.e. unlicenced copies Tony had made for himself in plaster moulds.

DBA Special: III/25b Arab Conquest (30mm flat Zinnfiguren)

DBA Book III List 25b: Arab Conquest 639 to 660 AD

This is the army that fought the Byzantines at Yarmuk in 636.  Yes, there is an anomaly with the dates ... list b starts in 639, but Khalid's army at Yarmuk in 636 matches the later list, particularly in respect of the regular cavalry contingent (known to Arab historians as Khalid's Mobile Guard) who went on to win the battle.

The figures are 1960s flats originally painted by Phil Barker to play the Tony Bath ancients game.  They pre-date WRG.  I refurbished and rebased them for the Battle of Yarmuk project (for the DBA3 Great Battles of History compilation).

At the time, the DBA armies page didn't exist and the 2 command/24 element armies for the project vary from standard (to simulate the armies present for the battle).  For this gallery, I have extracted into a single command 12 elements that match the orthodox list.

 

(Islam's finest commander - the Sword of Allah)

Known as the Sword of Allah (in Arabic سيف الله), Khalid ibn Al-Waleed was arguably the greatest general of his age and, whatever the odds, was never defeated.  He commanded at the Yarmuk.  He was a master in the rapid use of cavalry to outflank and encircle the enemy.

 

(vintage 30mm flats: quintessential Arab lancers) 

 (Arab archers)

The infantry had to draw in and hold the enemy while the cavalry did their work.  They were stoic fighters, rated by DBA as swordsmen (4Bd) but had camels (at least, to aid mobility in the desert) and at Yarmuk, were partially re-armed with spears to enable them better to protect their archers (hence my improvised mix of swords, spears, camels and bows) ...

 

(although DBA's notes emphasise straight Arab swords, these vintage figures carry the trademark curved scimitar) 

Yarmuk is another of those battles where the engagement went right up to line of the (Arab) encampments.  This was either an indication of how close Khalid came to losing the battle (the traditional explanation) or (as I believe) shows him using a deliberately weak and vulnerable deployment to draw the enemy forward in order to trap them.

Either way, camps are fought over in this battle and are not just decorative.

 

(the last line of defence at the battle of Yarmuk) 

This army pairs with Maurikian Byzantine

DBA Special: III/17 Maurikian Byzantine (30mm flat Zinnfiguren)

 

DBA Book III List 17: Maurikian Byzantine 575 to 650 AD

This is the army that fought the Arabs at Yarmuk in 636.

The figures are 1960s flats originally painted by Phil Barker to play the Tony Bath ancients game.  They pre-date WRG.  I refurbished and rebased them for the Battle of Yarmuk project (for the DBA3 Great Battles of History compilation).

At the time, the DBA armies page didn't exist and the 2 command/24 element armies for the project vary from standard (to simulate the armies present for the battle).  For this gallery, I have extracted into a single command 12 elements that match the orthodox list.

 

(30mm flats: Maurikian Byzantine general's element)

The bulk of the force is heavy cavalry (indeed the options allow an 'all horse' army if you choose that route) and the player must choose either 6Cv or standard Cv (of which the latter would ordinarily be my choice) ad I chose the 6Cv variant because it allows the Byzantine army to use a very specifically Byzantine troop type (which you don't see that often).  It also makes more of the differences between the armies for Yarmuk - and (not insignificantly) Phil's collection had enough figures to do it.

 

(Double-ranked Byzantine cavalry en masse)

.. and a splendid sight they are.  You seldom such a wall of cavalry on the DBA table.

The figures are mostly Ochel's Kieler Zinnfiguren (although the weight of them suggests they may be copies for which Tony Bath gained some note) and are occasionally available today (the moulds still exist and the 3rd generation company will do production runs according to interest) ...

 

The basing is on 60mm frontages, and I have used the normal quantity of figures except the cavalry and 3Kn are 4 to a base, cataphracts 5 to a base, and  for the 6Cv I have used 7 figures (because they fit better and it looks right).

 

The simple camp features a tree and a natural spring.

 

 (DBA Byzantines from the Yarmuk campaign)

This army pairs with Arab Conquest

Kenilworth, 14-16th October

The Society of Ancients Conference

Hopefully the first of a new run - the first of many.

Very pleasing to me to see the return of the Conference ... part of the lively SoA mix in the 1990s I was, unfortunately, the Committee member back then who had to cancel the last of them (SoAC VII, I think ... maybe VIII) due to price hikes at our traditional venue.

The cancellation was only ever meant to be temporary but the old style Committee was always reluctant to underwrite what it thought was a minority interest, so getting it back up and running was daunting.

So a big thank you to Richard L for getting it to happen.

I'll doubtless do some features, and Slingshot will, I am sure, have some games, articles and scenarios - so this will just be a round-up that doesn't steal all the thunder.

What happened?

Around 4 talks and 8 or so games sessions (usually with 3 or 4 games to choose from in each slot), an annual dinner and lots of social mingling/bar time.

Few ADGs, very little workshopping ... nothing outdoors ... a big Tactica session that ran all weekend.   So somewhere between a 'wargames holiday' weekend and CoW.

Some sessions dovetailed with plenary talks and current topics (above, Matt Bennett on 1066 and a Hastings game using Armati II)

(detail from Matthew and Roy's Hastings game - because in the end I know you want pictures)

Some were stand alone

(Simon MacDowall's lavish Commitatus game) ...

The dinner was excellent - nice to sit down together at the end of a full Saturday ... the food was very good and the speech by SoA veteran Will Whyler reflecting on the last 50 years was bearable (actually very good ;) but Will is a long-standing friend and you wouldn't want me to go over the top).

After the dinner we did manage to get a few games of David and Goliath played in memory of the late Andy Gittins ... former President and a Conference regular ...

... and, yes, that is the originl D&G set (with one or two loving repairs by me to make it Conference ready) ...

(1980s classic ... David and Goliath show game ... as we did back then with hand written rules)

I had volunteered to provide Richard with a backbone of games sessions on the theme of wargaming historical battles so here's a summary of what I got up to over the two days ...

Saturday: Bosworth and Bouvines - 2 medieval battle compared; Sunday: Yarmuk - a DBA GBOH scenario explained and run.

(Bouvines ... a full 6-player BBDBA treatment of the epoch defining 1214 battle) 

In this play through, Ferdinand count of Flanders very nearly pushed up to the bridge but ran out of supporting troops - eventually succumbing (captured on the field of battle as his historical antecedent) ... Elsewhere it was an attritional battle in which the allies could make little headway.

(Bouvines - from the North before the lines clash)

Bosworth, of course, was fought on very different lines to Bouvines ... the combat being more deadly and the traditions of chivalry being no barrier to the political benefits of killing your enemies on the battlefield.

This was also a different style of game: 54mm figures and just the conventional 12 elements per side (well 12 for Richard, 11 plus the hope of Stanley for the Earl of Richmond) ...

(DBA V3: Richard III on the field of Bosworth at SoAC 2016)

Richard narrowly lost this battle having dashed amongst the vanguards on a 'death ride' that took him from the marshy end of Fenn Lane and the likely Stanley trap.  It gave us food for thought.

I think it vindicates the modern interpretation, however.

I played all these battles with DBA despite having run Bouvines with Armati and Basic Impetus previously.  I decided that my theme of translating long-lost batles into playable wargames was best illustrated by using a common platform, rather than asking players to switch horses game-to-game.

(SoAC 2016: the Battle of Yarmuk)

The third battle I looked at was Yarmuk ... this was my main contribution to The Great Battles of History project by the DBA contributor group.  It features original flats from the collection of DBA author Phil Barker - the ancients collection he once used with Tony Bath and friends in the 'pre-history' of the modern game.

(30mm flats)

I have to say I still think they look splendid.  Of course, today's wargame plays using the base as the component - the figures sit on top and tell you what the base is and what it does.  30mm flats (or indeed, in the case of the Bosworth game, 54mm solids) do just as good a job and have a unique, timeless, charm.

(Byzantine cavalry - originally by Phil Barker, refurbished and based for DBA by Phil Steele)

... and then the players proceeded to destroy each other in the most monumental battle of attrition this scenario has yet produced.  Actually not unlike the original battle as afra s we can reconstruct it with confidence.

Sunday Afternoon

Richard wanted to schedule a look at reviving the old SoA incentive games so as a light-ish end to the Conference I ran the show version of Greyhounds in the Slips ...

Although we were tight on time, we ran through twice, as, for the first time in hundreds of games (and not without a little player hubris), Henry got himself killed in the very first action of the game: jumping out of the trenches to deliver his Greyhounds speech and immediately shot dead by a crossbowman on the battlements.

I guess the last thing he heard was my cautioning: don't assume you won't immediately be shot at ... (tailing off ... ) ...  We reset the game.

(Greyhounds in the Slips: Henry V in the rubble of Harfleur)

It wasn't to be his day, however ... and he was last seen battling into the town at the head of his men - as they fell around him, the Captain of the French garrison administered the coup de grace.

... and then we were all packing up and the event was over ...

What a splendid event.  See Slingshot for details and don't forget to book for next year.

Great mix of old friends and new faces ... thanks to all the players ... thanks to Paul for an inspiring talk on Shakespeare's treatment of Roman politics, and to Matt for getting the Arsuf agenda up and running.

- BattleDay 2017 - Arsuf 1191 - it starts now - watch this space

A big welcome to Great Battles of History

Congratulations to Joe Collins and the team for getting the Great Battles of History for DBA 3 completed and published.   What a massive effort.

It includes 2 chapter from the Shows North stable, Yarmuk and Bouvines ... both games we developed and played as participation projects at various shows over the last couple of seasons (so they are genuinely projects to which everyone has made an input) ...

(left: Yarmuk played with classic 30mm flats; right: Bouvines played with more modern 15mm solids)

See our threads on them here (Yarmuk, Bouvines) ...

You can buy a hardcopy version of the book in all its splendour from direct from Lulu now, or if you just want to down load the files and don't mind waiting, they will be available for free (there is a delay while file sizes are reduced from the print version so the download is manageable) ...

Meanwhile, sample chapters are being made available individually - and I am very pleased Yarmuk has been chosen as the second offering (PDF here)

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the Yarmuk and Bouvines project ... and I hope the GBoH book goes down well with you all (I know many contributors are already assembling material for the next volume) ...

NB any profits from the hardcopy version (the one you have to pay for) go to the Society of Ancients as a mark of how important the Society has been to Phil and Sue over the years and how highly regarded they are within the Society.

Click here for Keith McNelly's synopsis of what's in the book.

10th - 12th July Knuston Hall, Northamptonshire

WARGAME DEVELOPMENTS - COW 2015: The Conference of Wargamers

My COW started immediately after the Eleanor Cross ceremonies with an attempt to identify enemy vehicles from a command post (we did OK but got no special commendations or promotions) - but the first session I presented was after breakfast on Saturday morning.

Bouvines 1214

This was a session marrying the Bouvines talk I had given at the June NBS meeting with the game I ran at WMMS.  We had just about half the session on the history and half the session on the wargame.

The historical context can be illustrated in this version of Emperor Otto IV's arms ...

This is, of course, dimidiated, the arms of England and the arms of the Empire.  It symbolises France's Western enemies and her Eastern enemies in one person.  

Otto was descended directly from Henry the Lion of Saxony and Henry II of England - he was Richard's nephew and protégée and was brought up at the English court before winning the Imperial crown for himself.  He was a career enemy of the King of France.

Otto's allied army included the count of Flanders and his low country vassals, so we can include France's Northern enemies in the mix.  Indeed, France was surrounded and the allies planned to squeeze the life out of her.

But we only need to look at the map of France before and after the battle to understand the impact Bouvines had on European history ...

 

Not only are we looking at the collapse of the Angevin Empire and a massive expansion of the authority of the King of France ... we are looking at the geographical realisation of what we can call modern France.

 

Responding to Otto's invasion, King Philip headed North East via Lille to Tournai, crossing the small river Marque at Bouvines - but realising it had all but 'missed' the enemy (and might be committed to fighting in less than ideal terrain), he ordered his army about and fell back on Lille via the crossing (intending to establish his forces further North and in good cavalry country).

 

(putting Bouvines into context at COW 2015 ... photo by Kiera Bentley)

 

The allies realised what was happening and, despite it meaning battle on a Sunday, sent a flying column under the Count of Flanders to catch the French before they had completed their crossing.

 

Meanwhile Otto would make a steadier approach via Tournai and expected to find the French in disarray when he arrived in support of the fixing attack.

 

(Bouvines at COW - the heat is on and the allied commanders assess their options)

 

In fact, probably due the shrewd actions of Philp's advisor, the Crusader veteran bishop Guerin of Senlis, the French had marched with a strong rearguard which was able to repel the repeated attacks of the count of Flanders while key elements the main army were called back and deployed for battle.

 

So, it was the allies who arrived piecemeal - and found the French arrayed in good order and on favourable ground.

 

(Basic Impetus Bouvines ... the French command post)

 

(Basic Impetus Bouvines ... the Imperial command post)

 

The battle was decided by the mounted nobility of both sides in a fierce battle of charge and countercharge ... so I opted to recreate it with modified Basic Impetus.   The figures are 15mm from my Feudal collections (a wide range of manufacturers) with some special pieces added to represent the commanders and their prominent battle standards.

 

(Bouvines at COW - in the centre King Philip charges forward with the Oriflamme but nearer to us, the count of Flanders is prevailing)

 

In our game, the battle went much more to the allied plan ... repeated attack under the count of Flanders pushing the French rearguard back into the outskirts of the village by the end of the afternoon.

 

We ended up with something like an honourable stalemate in favour of the allies.  Of course this is substantially different to the historical outcome and the most favourable to the allies of the refights I have staged.

 

It certainly does vindicate the allied plan - but also perhaps vindicates Verbruggen's suggestion that after their forced march to the battlefield and the disordering effects of filing up the road, the Flemish knights may not have been in the best condition for battle (and I had not so handicapped them).

 

Historically, although most of Otto's leaders were captured, he escaped - but within months was deposed by Frederick II who restored the Hohenstauffens.  And so, as well as defining Anglo-French history, the battle at Bouvines changed the course of history in central Europe and the Mediterranean.

 

I had a good number for this session, and they seemed to enjoy the mix of history and game play.

 

Saturday ADG ... Sink the Bismarck ... David and Goliath ...

 

Other ancients games going on over the weekend included the latest version of Trebian's Rapid Raphia Hellenistic card game, a return by Ian Russell Lowell to his Rein-Bow Warriors stable and my Yarmuk game (below) ...

 

(COW 2015 ... the sheer variety of game periods and styles)

 

(IRL's Rein-Bow Warriors ... 2015-style)

 

My own contribution to the After Dinner phase was a 5 player participation game of Sink the Bismarck using some simple new rules I have been working on and the old Airfix 1:1200 set of waterline battleships.

 

(Bismarck takes a critical hit)

 

That's all for another blog - but watch out for some good stuff if you like simple rules.

 

We wound the evening up with a few games of the innovative W1815 quickfire boardgame, a Waterloo anniversary singalong and some late games of David and Goliath in memory of the inimitable Andy Gittins.

 

(more COW: you miss as much as you see, inevitably)

 

 

Yarmuk 636

 

Sunday morning I was back on station, presenting a wargame approach to ancient and medieval history ... Some of you will already have seen my Yarmuk project which combines Phil Barker's oldest figures with his newest game in an exploration of one of the pivotal battles of Islamic history.

 

(Yarmuk at COW: another ideal number which included DBA's author Phil Barker - who also donated the splendid vintage figures)

 

I was very pleased that Phil and Sue were able to attend this session, and I hope they enjoyed seeing the old figures in action.   They suggested I take on these old figures (Phil's first ancients, which he painted to play ancients with Tony Bath) when he saw my Lords of the Nile project which featured refurbished flats from the Deryck Guyler collection (though the majority were by Tony, not Deryck).

 

(Yarmuk at COW: an excellent bit of 'point and shoot' as the armies close)

 

Yarmuk was a huge battle East of Damascus where the largest army Eastern Rome could muster was drawn forward into a protracted battle of envelopment by a much smaller Arab force under Khalid ibn Al Waleed.  It is another little known battle which changed world history.

 

(Yarmuk 636: Khalid ibn Al Waleed under the shade of a palm tree)

 

In the version of the game we played, some striking early die rolls were cancelled out and all commands in the game suffered losses.  Eventually Vahan broke Amr's main line while Khalid broke Quanateer's left flank setting up something like the historical final day showdown.

 

In fact, something of a rarity, we decided to leave the battle at that point as coffee and biscuits were being served in the hall and honours were about even.

 

(Yarmuk at COW: on the far side Quanateer struggles to face Khalid while - foreground - Amr counter-attacks vigorously)

 

Also a rarity, the majority of players were new - or relatively new - to DBA ... needless to say, they were playing freely within a few turns: Phil and Sue were able to enjoy the action while I just had to help with the combat maths and keep the players on the turn sequence.

 

Thanks to everyone who attended these sessions - they seemed to go well (I hope you enjoyed my take on historical battles) ...

 

We acknowledged the Society's 50th birthday, Andy's parting, played DBA and Gladiolus and sold some Society games.

 

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As an innovation in memory of Paddy Griffith and his irreverent take on military history, there was a ballot for the Flaming Pig award (who made the best contribution to the Conference) ... Bob (Wargaming Miscellany) Cordery deservedly won but I was honoured to get a nomination.  Thanks, whoever it was ...

 

If you want to come to COW next year, book early (it seems to sell out earlier and earlier these days)