Moving from single battles to a campaign

 Moving from single battles to a campaign

The few battles that I have fought using Hordes of the Things have been a lot of fun but, like most wargamers I have a yearning for something a little deeper.  Something where battles matter, where countries rise and fall, in short a campaign.  Am I ready for full logistics, hidden movement and all of the other interesting aspects of campaigns?  Definitely, not!  The modern world has too much of a hold on my freetime to allow the luxury of these things.  It might be something I build up to in the future, but who knows.  For now, I am looking for a system that will allow me a bit more randomisation of who is fighting whom, and some form of territory loss and again.  I could use the system that is included in Hordes of the Things, but I was inspired by Martin Smith`s Hott Hyborian Skodbac (Simple Knock Out DBA campaign) games.  His games used the system devised by Ian Hayward.  If you would like to learn more about the system please use the following link to Ian Hayward`s website.

https://www.iandrea.co.uk/wargames/DBA/simplecampaign/index.html

The system itself can easily be used with other games with a few tweaks.  One small change that I made was in working out the aggression rating of each army.  Hordes of the Things doesn`t come with an aggression rating for its armies, so I simply rolled a d3 to determine the starting aggression for each of the armies.  

Rather than hand drawing a map I decided to put my limited computer skills to the test and cobbled together a map that showed how each country was connected.  The last thing to do was to roll some dice and determine who would be the attacker in the first year of the campaign.  Right, that is probably enough of a preamble, on with the show.

Campaign year one

After rolling the dice Corinthia was determined as the attacker and Zamora would be tasked with fending off the invasion.

The defence of Zamora

The Forces

Corinthia
King Agis of Corinthia (Spears general)
7x Hoplite Lokhoi (Spears)
1x Helots (Warband)
1x Hippesis (Riders)
1x Minotaur (Behemoth

Zamora
Strategos Zafar (Spears general)
4x Hoplite Lokhoi (Spears)
2x Psiloi (Shooters)
1x Helots (Warband)
2x Hippesis (Riders)
1x Stone golem (Behemoth

Deployment

King Agis believed that nothing could stand in the way of the dreaded Corinthian Hoplites, so he split them into two groups.  One group would attack the right flank, while he would lead the  second group in the centre supported by the Minotaur.  His light troops would try and distract any threat that came from their flank.

After looking at the distribution of the Corinthian forces the Zamorian Strategos Zafar decided to focus most of his troops in the centre.  From this position they could quickly reposition where necessary.  Having the advantage in light troops Zafar unleased them on his right flank.  He planned to overpower the Corinthian light troops and then swing his remaining light forces into the rear of the Corinthian main line.

Battle Narrative

The battle start slowly for both commanders, their troops being relucant to close with the enemy.  King Agis was able to get his Hoplite Lokhoi marching towards the Zamorian forces their silent advance unsettling the defenders.  

The loud braying of the minotaur snapped the Zamorian troops out of their stupor.  The strategos ordered two of his hopltite lokhoi in the centre to support the helots on the left flank, then he moved the rest of the hoplites and the stone golem forwards to attack the centre, and sent his light troops on the right, forward to attack the Corinthians.

The Zamorian advantage soon paid off.  The Psiloi rushed forward approaching the  Corinthian helots on the flank.  The deadly shower of javelins soon sent the helots running.

The ground shook as the two behemoths clashed in the centre.  The sound of their blows rang out across the battlefield, but neither of them could find an opening.

The Corinthian hippesis knew that they couldn`t beat the overwhelming number of light troops facing them, so they broke off and dashed through the middle of the battlefield. They were determined to reach the Zamorian town and sack it.  The fates were not on their side, though.  As they were galloping behind the stone golem it reeled back from a goring by the minotaur.  Its massive frame crushing the horsemen to a pulp.

The centre of the battlefield fell into a stalemate as neither side could get any advantage.  On the Corinthian right flank the hoplites moved forward and attacked the Zamorian defenders.  Their goal to force their way to the Zamorian town.

 The stalemate in the centre didn`t last long as the freed up Zamorian hippesis charged into the Corinthian line.  The horsemen were hoping to smash through and disrupt the disciplined hoplites.  The veteran warriors of Corinthia were not so easily defeated, though.  One lokhoi turned about face and fended off both the light horsemen and a group of psiloi.

The Corinthian hoplites pushed towards their objective with single minded determination.  Their grit and tenacity forcing back the Zamorian hoplites.  But the hoplites` success allowed the Zamorian helots to isolate one of the lokhoi.  The fierce helots charged into discplined ranks of hoplites before they could form up and cut the spearmen down.

The tide of the battle swung further against King Agis and his invading troops with the death of the minotaur.  The two gigantic beasts had spent the battle trading blows with one another.  It hadn`t looked as if either would best the other until a lucky blow from the stone golem`s axe crushed the skull of the minotaur.

Unfazed by the death of the minotaur the remaining Corinthian hoplites tried to continue their drive towards the town.  Seeing the danger the strategos Zafar redirected some of his forces to block their advance.

Jeers and insults assaulted the ears of the Corinthian rearguard.  These usually disciplined troops could not restrain themselves anymore and charged the approaching  Zamorian helots.  In a desperate close combat their fighting prowess couldn`t match the fury of the helots.

King Agis realised that his forces were too depleted to take Zamora from its stauch defenders and sounded the retreat.  Zamora had seen off the Corinthian invasion.