Byzantine encircled - a scenario from A Viking in the Sun

Last night was the inaugural game for Luca’s new Byzantines against my Normans in 11th-century Southern Italy. 

 The scenario we played was “Massacre by the River Olivento”, taken from A Viking in the Sun, an expansion of the Lion Rampant ruleset by the History & Games Lab at the University of Edinburgh, led by Dr. Gianluca Raccagni and dealing with Hardrada deeds around the Mediterranean before the Crusades. In the game, the Byzantines had to escape across a river while pursued by Norman forces. 

After several cavalry clashes in which the heavier Normans, supported by archers, routed the Byzantine duke and his koursores, the Varangians broke the encirclement, eliminated the Norman commander, and opened a gap that allowed the rest of the Byzantine troops to escape the trap. Norman infantry followed the enemy, but tired from the long pursuit, failed the last-moment charge. It was a hard-fought battle with a fun and original scenario, ending in a 6-4 victory for the Byzantines.

A furore Normannorum libera nos!

A short Lion Rampant AAR to present my new purchase: painted 28 mm Normans!

Last week I met with Paolo to give my new army its first go.

I recently purchase some painted 28 mm Normans. Actually I bought only knights and foot shooters, so anyone wishing to sell me 24 painted foot sergeants/yeomen could contact me. For this game I recruited some Irish mercenaries from Paolo's strategic miniature reserve and started an invasion of Byzantine Southern Italy!

a close up of Irish mercenaries

The scenario was Bloodfeud:  Paolo aim was to kill my leader, mine to keep him alive! The game ends also when less than 5 units remains on the battlefield and a greater value is scored on 1D6 roll.

Normans (leader: insipid)

2x Mounted Men at Arms* @6 points each

1x Crossbowmen @4 points

2x Foot Yeomen (Irish mercenaries) @3 points each

1x Bidowers @2 points

Byzantine (leader: rash)

1x Mounted Men at Arms (Cataphracts)* @6 points

1x Mounted Sergeants @4 points

2x Foot Yeomen + mixed weapons @5 points each

1x Mounted Yeomen (Pechenegs mercenaries) @4 points

The fight ensued with my infantry deployed as a screen in front of my leader units (which, being mounted men at arms, has the "wild charge rule"), the other knight unit in reserve.

My bidowers took shelter between the ruins of a Roman temple (quite a common feature in Southern Italy), but during the game their firing was ineffective.

Paolo used his mounted yeomen to harass my infantry line which quickly deteriorated. My crossbowmen repeatedly failed their shoooting activation, but at the very end they routed a mounted sergeants unit in close combat!

The game was turning bad for me, since I had only the leader unit and the bidowers left against Byzantine heavy cavalry, mounted yeomen and one foot yeomen unit, but luckily I rolled 6 on the roll for ending the game: in his last activation Paolo failed to inflict any damage at my leader unit with his cavalry. His heavy cavalry was too far, having failed a morale roll on a (otherwise successful) close combat against my foot yeomen (which routed) the previous turn. So I won!

We had a lot of fun and found the game very balanced till the last turn. Glad my Normans had their fire baptism with a victory! Now I just need some infantry!