The Arabs were driven from the field.  The Byzantine Extra Heavy Cavalry (EHC) rallied from their pursuit of the broken infantry units unmolested, and used their ability to shoot (bows and darts) and charge to inflict just enough casualties to break the Arab Heavy Cavalry (HC).

This bad photo’s perspective is from East to West representing (in a crude manner) the penultimate stage of the battle.  The Persians EHC are at the bottom of the shot;  the Byzantine Super Heavy Cavalry (SHC) engaged in the center, with two Byzantine EHC units to the North.  One is engaged and the other waiting to wheel into a flank attack .

The Arab HC shown to the top of the preceding photo is now flanked, with the center Arab HC broken and pursued by the Byzantine SHC. The Arab Commander-In-Chief, along with his Bodyguard is waiting to aide one of his units, while the poor bastard manning the bolt thrower is standing slack jawed, immobilized by the spectacle.

The former Arab HC unit will break and outdistance its pursuers, while the Persian EHC will fight  their Byzantine counterparts to a standstill.

At this point the Arab Commander-In-Chief ordered a general withdrawal, saving himself , his bodyguard and his cavalry for another battle.

Will post up final thoughts, observations, and other inane musings in a follow up before setting up Husaria.

The Byzantine Extra Heavy Cavalry (EHC) have gone to work, breaking the Arab infantry units to their front.  Problem is, when the EHC tried to rally, they went impetuous.  No stopping them now, that is until the infantry’s movement rate goes to zero.  Then the EHC can try another rally attempt.

That’s what the Arab cavalry is waiting for.  Their best chance is to hit the Byzantines while rallying and disordered.  However,   the Byzantine Heavy Cavalry (SHC) are in reserve and moving forward with their general.

Unfortunately for the Arabs, there’s  no help from their flanks.  These infantry units either broke (right flank), or became shaken (left flank)  after seeing their companions in the center of the line break.  The remaining Byzantine light troops continue to pressure these flank units, forcing them to take reaction tests under unfavorable conditions.

It will be quite the scrum in the center.  A quick ugly pic of the situation.

In the latest WRG thread, I whined about not being strong enough to put together a workable synopsis/cheat sheet for the rules I find most challenging (read obtuse).

I channeled a TardMuse, and put one together.  Here are  the links to this work in progress.   Any corrections, other ideas are welcome.

Page 1       Page 2

Just click on the small(ey) images and the normal ones will appear.  Jeez… another thing to figure out.

Now in Turn 10 of my latest WRG 6th Edition game.  As hoped for, the going is smoother.  Not just rules knowledge, but my tactical sequencing has improved.

By this I mean the staged use of troop types.  Light infantry is given time to skirmish, heavier infantry deploys methodically and, most importantly, the cavalry (especially the Byzantines) wait for the proper time to advance and charge.  I know, basic stuff, but that’s what I lose sight of when grinding through a new rules set.

This sequencing seems especially important with WRG 6th Edition.   If you miscalculate distances between those three troop types, you wind up with units stacked up, without room to maneuver.  The results are ugly and, to paraphrase Dean Wormer “Disordered, Shaken, Burst Through and Routed is no way to go through a WRG 6th game.”

This crummy photo from my first game illustrates what can happen.

I kept the ruler in the photo (all how-to-do-it references for wargame photos stress not to leave game paraphernalia out of any shot – which I don’t get because any table I’ve played on is covered with rulers, dice, tables, charts and rule books) spatial reference.

The Arabs are at the top of the photo, Byzantine cavalry at the bottom.  The light infantry has evaded through the heavier infantry and cavalry , with the infantry now blocking any cavalry response without disruption, either by a countercharge or rout.  And, what the hell will the body guard at the very top of the photo do?

For better or worse, 6th Edition RAW (Rules As Written) won’t let you just slide units all over the battlefield.  No “fast and furious” here.  Sloppiness has its consequences.

As mentioned in my earlier posts, these rules are difficult.  At this point on my learning curve the big problem is that answers to tabletop situations are often spread out through two or three rules sections.  This is especially true for rout, pursuing, and rallying.  While there are sections focused on each topic, the nuance is buried in movement, or dicing for arrival or some other sections.  If I was a stronger person, I’d track all of this down and consolidate into a situation-specific write-up.

Anyway, I’m fortunate that I can enjoy the game at a leisurely pace and not pressed to finish in, let’s say, an afternoon.

Now in my 12^th turn of my first real WRG 6^th game. This is where all the shortcomings become apparent. Rules problems effecting play, various combinations of errors of omission and commission, bad tactics, a record keeping system that is not effective, and the creeping feeling that I’ve had enough and need to either reset or try something else.

The latter is, to me, the real challenge in wargaming. Who wants to slug it out, pay attention to logistics, grind through an attritional slog, go to the rulebook one more damn time? Too much like real life.

But, right now, is when you really start learning a game. You have to dig through those rules and read them very, very carefully; looking for nits, buried fractions, lengths and percentages.

Hopefully, this will all make the next game a lot more fun. Because, this one is now dragging

Regardless of this low pitched whining, it is a fun game. Light units have skirmished and scattered, the Byzantine Heavy Cavalry is blasting through the enemy infantry, just about to come into contact with their Arab counterparts. Their Super Heavy supports lagging behind, with Arab light cavalry lurking on exposed flanks.

It’s mayhem that should end in about four turns.

Here’s a representational photo.

Finally have the WRG 6^th edition armies discussed some time ago on the table. As usual, the process was not smooth.

I’ m older than when I first started playing this system, but not wiser when it comes to matching up figures and economically compiling an army list. Always was problem. Neat listings very quickly rendered illegible with cross outs and scribbled notes.  Thought I had these things worked out when I ordered the new figures. But, once based and consolidated into an army list using the finished painted figures, the results were less than optimal. Workable, not not approaching optimal.

 Of course, I had the immediate wargamer reaction that the solution was  buying more figures, expanding what I had. But, that was madness given cost and shipment time. Also, the thought of another larger scale painting project just makes me cringe. So, instead of that, it was back to rebasing and finagling the unit mix.

Fortunately, I came up with a very satisfactory mix for each army, minimal figure wastage (only 4 painted figures not used) and a workable 1,200 or so point total for each side. Just right for a game with each side commanded by a single general.

In between sessions of rebasing figures – which for me always includes the nerve wracking prospect of an Xacto knife blade snapping and flying into my eye – gluing and re-flocking, I found time to really dig into the rules.

When you Google up “WRG 6^th Edition Rules” the narratives are not positive. There is some feeble recognition that this rule set was once state of the art but the emphasis is on complexity and the availability of newer rules.  However, I find the procedural nature and author Phil Barker’s mannered and arcane presentation (with critical elements of information sometimes taking the form of a single buried sentence) oddly soothing. These rules whisper “Take your time, there’s no hurry, this action doesn’t have to be ‘fast and furious’”.

My first walk through lasted 3 turns on a terrain-less surface. Lessons were learned, some figures rebased (again), lists reorganized and I re-set, again without terrain. I ginned up  army rosters to keep track of orders, casualties, and other miscellany.

Now, three turns into my second game, I’m impressed on how smoothly the system plays.  Especially when there are no Rules Lawyers to deal with – and in my distant memory this system was notorious for attracting/creating them.

Sure, the checklists of reasons to test Reaction, and those for Shooting and Combat modifiers are lengthy, but not so onerous that a quick glance through takes care of any adjustments that need to be made.

All in all, I’m glad to playing WRG 6th again. No need to find a “better hole”. For Now.