SPARTANS vs VIKINGS: Part 3*

A special rule regarding the shieldwall is found and explained in some detail on the bottom half of page 29 in the Extra IMPETVS 2 Supplement, which contains army lists for ‘The Roman Empire,’ ‘The Year 1000,’ and ‘The Crusades in the Holy Land.’ Briefly summarized, in order to create or form a shieldwall, “a Unit must be Fresh, not Disordered, and remain stationary during activation.” Units in shieldwall deny impetus to attacking formations, and they also gain a positive modifier when being fired at frontally (the large shields, the protective stance and etc.). Evidently, a shieldwall can be maintained if the unit becomes disordered or moves. However, “The Shieldwall is lost when the (frontal) Unit is no longer fresh.” 

Revisions to this special rule are found on page VIII of ADVANCED IMPETVS: Amendments, errata, clarifications . . . (Version 1.7, September 2015). The formation can be adopted as a reaction, like evasion, as well as through a voluntary action. Disordered units are permitted to form shieldwall, and the usual denial of impetus and enemy missile fire modifier apply. An exception is made for any kind of artillery that may engage the shieldwall formation. Offensive movement is not allowed when in shieldwall. Retreats and “push backs” are permitted. If a unit is already engaged in melee, it cannot form (a) shieldwall. 

Regrettably and unfortunately, I did not have a chance to fully test these revisions during my third tabletop experiment, as the planned scenario “fizzled” after the first couple of turns. This is why there is an asterisk in the title. Upon review, I think the decision to cancel the solo wargame was the product of a number of variables. Broadly speaking, it was simply a case of “Life getting in the way.” To be certain, there was some “trouble” with the rules as I do not possess a wealth of experience with them, but I would maintain that this was a distant second to the more pressing concerns of work and other commitments. 

In the small hope of salvaging something, or maybe inspiring a reader to pick up this particular gauntlet, I present the few sub-sections that were completed before the Viking longships sailed away or before the Spartan hoplites were carried home on their shields. I close this truncated post with a fourth sub-section, appropriately titled ‘Lesson(s) Learned.’

The Armies

An “army” of Spartans was drafted from page 7 of ‘The Age of Hoplite’ section in Extra IMPETVS 4. There were 4 units of Spartan Hoplites, attached to one of these Discipline A units was the general, who was classified as ‘expert’ which gave him a leadership bonus of +3. There were 2 units of Perioikoi Hoplites and 4 units of Allied Hoplites. All of the heavy infantry formations carried the long spear as their main melee weapon. The Spartan army was completed with the following: a unit of Slingers; a unit of Peltasts; a unit of Helots, and a unit of Medium Cavalry. The Command Structure of the Spartans was rated as ‘Good.’ Adding up the values of these various units and command structure, the ancient Greeks would field an army worth 346 points. Granted, this is nearly 50 points greater than the 300-point cut off for a formation under a single command. 

The Viking “army” was drafted from page 25 of ‘The Year 1000’ section in Extra IMPETVS 2. There was a single unit of Guard Huscarls in which the bearded, brave and broad-chested Viking commander was embedded. Three units of Veteran Huscarls were also a part of this potent force. In the “main body,” there were 5 large units of Huscarls. (A large unit comprises 2 units joined together, with the second unit costing less points than the frontline formation.) There were 4 large units of Hird as well. For a skirmisher “screen,” the Vikings had a single unit of archers. The Viking commander, let us call him Faynir the Fair, was rated, coincidentally, as a ‘fair’ leader of men. The Command Structure of the Viking army was categorized as ‘Poor.’ Calculating the overall value of the Viking force, it was determined that Faynir would muster 318 points of warriors for the coming action. While he was outmatched in a strict comparison of points, the Viking chieftain did have more units to work with. The large formations counted as two units, so the Vikings with 23 units, outnumbered the Spartans who had 14 units. 

The Terrain

With regard to the look of my tabletop, I thought I would see what happened when I borrowed an idea from Jason Monaghan. In the May 1991 issue of Miniature Wargames (yes, I am going back three decades here), he offered an interesting if also too brief account of the competition at ‘VAPNARTAK.’ The third of three provided “Dark Ages” scenarios offered: “A symmetrical battlefield featuring two low hills, two woods and the following objectives: 7 houses worth 10 points each if burned; 6 flocks of animals worth 10 points each if captured, and 6 wagons of loot worth 20 points each if captured.” The wagons and flocks of livestock would count for zero points if destroyed or slaughtered to deny the enemy. This setting was modified slightly for my purpose. The “960 paces”square playing surface (the rules used for this competition were WRG 6th Edition) was adjusted so that a rectangular table measuring 78 inches by 45 inches would serve as the “field of honor.” To add a little bit more of a “Greek flavor” to this scenario, two olive groves and two fields of grape vines were added to the already busy terrain. The number of houses was reduced from 7 to 5. The animal herds of flocks were divided evenly between sheep and goats. As I was employing colored counters instead of traditional 25/28mm scale units, I made the half-dozen flocks 7 cm square; the stone or wood buildings 5 cm square; the wagons of loot 4 cm by 3 cm, and the olive groves as well as the cultivated areas representing patches of grapes measured 16 cm long by 9 cm wide. The woods and hills were comparatively larger features, and were not exactly symmetrical, so in this one aspect, I was departing from the overall design of the original scenario. 

Deploying for Battle

Faynir drew up his bearded and bad-smelling men in a very broad arrow. His unit of Guard Huscarls was the point, obviously, and occupied the slight hill on his side of the chosen battleground. These fierce veterans were screened by some skirmishers armed with bow. To the right and left of his bodyguard, Faynir posted units of Veteran Huscarls. Next to these formations were large units of Huscarls and on the very edges of this broad arrowhead, there were large units of Hird. Across the complicated landscape, King Insolenius arranged his Spartan formations for battle. 

The right of the Spartan line was held by the citizen hoplites. The King was in the ranks of the phalanx one unit in from the flank. A group of Helots formed a kind of reserve to this section of the line. A field of grapes separated the Spartan hoplites from seven units of Periokoi and Allied hoplites which formed the rest of the line of battle. A segment of this formation was screened by a small group of slingers. The far left of the Spartan line was covered by a unit of peltasts. The far left of the line was assigned to the single unit of medium cavalry in the Spartan army. 

Lesson(s) “Learned” . . .

I admit that I am a little bothered by this development, by the way things turned out, of course. On further reflection, I suppose that I could have waited for things to settle down and then proceeded with this third installment of a planned six scenarios. However, I found my solo wargaming interest drawn (and rather strongly) to a modification of Magnesia as well as further exploration of the 1476 battle of Murten. (Ironically as well as disappointingly, these projects did not come to fruition either. The former was discontinued after a decent investment of time and effort; the latter was revised so that it could be presented as a scenario instead of a battle report.) I was also looking ahead to the L’Art de la Guerre version of this ahistorical match. It appears, then, that the fault is more mine than something I can lay at the feet of “Life getting in the way.” Hmmm . . . I wonder if I might be able to salvage something of this idea when I plan and play the To The Strongest! scenario of this counterfactual competition?