The Iron Queen’s War – Taking Ryyne, Part 1

The large Asterian village of Ryyne is a large, growing, bustling village on the banks of the Planetkore River. The main reasons for its size and continued growth are the docks and repair facilities for rivercraft. The village also lies in the path of Nycenae’s 2nd Army on its march to the major port city of Gaithoe.

On December 23rd, amid heavy rain, Dorothea, one of Nycenae’s top generals, arrives with the vanguard of the 2nd Army. Opposing her is Ione Swift Sparrow, commander of the Ryyne brigade of Asteria’s Epsilon Army Group. In addition to her regular army units, Ione also commands Ryyne’s militia.

Warrior Heroes – Warbands

I’ll be using the ruleset Warrior Heroes – Warbands from Two Hour Wargames to play two games – the first game is the Scout battle from the rules covering the scouting which occurs in the morning and the second battle is the Stand Up Fight battle which occurs in the afternoon. The rules can be purchased from Rebel Minis on either their website or Wargame Vault.

House Rules

As with most games, I modified a few rules to better fit the setting and scenario. Nothing major, just a few tweaks.

1. Slippery when wet – Because of the heavy rain, whenever a mounted unit does a Fast Move, roll 1D6; on the result of a 1 or 6, one horse has slipped & fallen; remove 1 figure from the unit for the rest of the battle. The figure is not a permanent casualty & rejoins the unit after the battle.
2. Soaked strings – Again, because of the heavy rain, archers will have a -1 circumstance on the Ranged Combat table due to soaked strings & fletching.
3. No Spear Chucking – Though the Warrior Heroes Warband rules allow Valkae warriors to have throwing spears, they are not available in my games. Here’s why: The Valkae Amazons are patterned on the Ancient Greek Hoplite. When Homer wrote his epics, his warriors were based on the Late Mycenaean and Early Hoplite warrior whose spear was 5 to 6 feet in length & could be thrown. The Classical Greek Hoplite of the Persian Wars & Peloponnesian Wars carried a 9-foot-long spear, which was quite impractical to throw, my Amazons are modeled on this period. Lastly, when we get to Alexander the Great & his successors who would battle the Romans, the spear grew from 14 to 21 feet – the pike. So, my Amazons, based on Classical Greek art, do not have spears that can be thrown.
4. Getting Pelted – There is a Classical Greek warrior type not found in the rules, which I have in abundance, the Peltast. Peltasts were light infantry skirmishers armed with javelins & a shield. I give them the same stats as Archers & Slingers, but their range is that of a hand-thrown weapon. In addition each peltast carries only three javelins.

Army Lists

The task of scouting Ryyne and its surroundings is assigned to Cavalry Brigade Roxane consisting of three units of cavalry.

Nycenaean Force

Unit	Commander	Unit Name	Type	Rep	Size
	Roxane	Taxiarch (C-in-C)	Leader (3)	5	1
1		Theophano	Cavalry	5	9
2		Glyke	Cavalry	5	10
3		Ismene	Cavalry	5	8

Asterian Force

Ryyne’s brigade is in Ryyne during the winter months. In addition to the six units of the brigade, the village has four units of militia.

Unit	Commander	Unit Name	Type	Rep	Size
	Ione Swift Sparrow	Taxiarch (C-in-C)	Leader (6)	6	1
1		Oitane	Sword Maidens	6	11
2		Phryne	Sword Maidens	6	9
3		Kharmion	Warriors	4	7
4		Khloe	Archers	4	9
5		Chloris	Slingers	4	8
6		Arsinoe	Peltasts	4	12
	Militia
7		Lais	Peltasts	4	11
8		Anysia	Peltasts	4	10
9		Periboea	Peltasts	4	9
10		Eriopis	Peltasts	4	8

Turn 1

Though they can move farther, cavalry unit Theophano led by Roxane, moves to the center of section 9 where they will scout until their next activation. Likewise cavalry units Glyke and Ismene do the same in sections 8 and 7.

The three Asterian PEFs move.

Turn 2

The Nycenaean cavalry move and scout the next sections – Theophano section 6, Glyke section 5, and Ismene section 4.

The Asterian PEFs move into sight and are resolved. The blue PEF is peltast unit Anysia, the white PEF is peltast unit Eriopis, and the red PEF is peltast unit Arisone.

Turn 3

This time the Asterians win initiative and move towards the Nycenaeans. The Arisone Peltasts fast move and charge the Theophano Cavalry. The Nycenaeans fired at the charging peltasts, but to no effect in the rain. Though the Asterians won the first round of melee, the Nycenaean cavalry won the next two rounds forcing the Arisone Peltasts to rout.

The Eriopis Peltasts were unable to fast move, so are out of charge range.

Meanwhile, the Ismene Cavalry fires at the charging Anysia Peltasts. The bow fire has no effect in the heavy rain. After five rounds of melee, Ismene Cavalry routs.

Glyke sees the Asterian peltasts running toward her, she orders her cavalry to charge. Glyke makes short work of the Asterians, after one round of melee the Eriopis Peltasts rout.

Turn 4

The Asterian peltast unit Anysia turns and moves back toward the village.

Roxane, at the head of Theophano Cavalry enters the outskirts of the village.

Glyke reforms her cavalry and spots the Anysia Peltasts as she begins her move toward the woods outside of the village.

Turn 5

Roxane’s Theophano Cavalry scouts section three.

Giving in to her bloodlust, Glyke orders her cavalry to charge the outnumbered Anysia Peltasts. After two rounds of melee, the Asterians rout.

With no further resistance, the Nycenaeans complete their scouting mission.

Summary

I already hear the comments, “why did you charge into melee with missile units instead of just setting back and shooting?” The answer is simple, the ranges of javelins and mounted archers is much shorter than the movement distance of figures. When they did shoot, the fire was not very effective compared to the casualties inflicted by melee.

I don’t know yet, if I will implement a house rule for the range issue. One option in other Two Hour Wargames rules is to allow an active unit two actions instead of one. Another option would be to increase the range of ranged weapons. It’s the movement – in other games your typical infantry normal move is four inches, in Warrior Heroes Warbands, it is eight inches. Anyway, I’ll sleep on it and make any changes in the next game or just leave it as is. I have to admit, not having much missile fire did speed up the game.

But, please, let me know your thoughts on ranged weapons in games. Your comments are always welcome.

The Iron Queen’s War Series

If you’ve missed some of the previous posts covering Queen Celeste’s war on Asteria, here’s the list so far:

1	Making a Darn Good Game More Complicated
2	The Outline Map
3	Adding Terrain to the Map
4	Armies and Navies
5	Campaign Mobilization
6	The Iron Queen’s War, Part 1
7	The Iron Queen’s War, Part 2
8	Battle of the Planetkore Delta