Where to Start with Ancient Wargaming

Ancient Wargaming is the most diverse of any wargaming period, in that it attempts to cover warfare from pre-history to the advent of gunpowder. Wargaming the period can therefore pose a huge challenge to the beginner. Wargames Journal with the help of Robert Avery presents an introductory guide.

Introduction

There are a myriad of different armies and troop types, many with strange and exotic names. There are hoplites, peltasts, ashigaru, lanciarii, fyrd and huscarls to name but a few. Weapon technology also changed: including the move from the use of sticks and stones to bronze, to iron, to steel, and the development of the horse as a weapon of war.

The situation is further confused by the large numbers of different sets of wargaming rules available for the period.

There are the two biggies, the De Bellis family of rules (DBA and DBM, together known as DBx) and Warhammer Ancient Battles, each of which takes a radically different approach even to such fundamentals as basing the troops: the former uses element-based figures, the latter recommending individually-based figures. After these, the Society of Ancients lists no fewer than 30 other sets, including my own Vis Bellica rules.

What this article will try to do is to give the beginner a basic guide to the tabletop tactics that can be used when wargaming the Ancients period. In other words, what you should be trying to do with your figures when you’re actually playing a wargame, and what your opponent will be trying to do you!

A Body of Knowledge

Rather than rely wholly on my own research and opinions, a request for other people’s ideas and opinions on the subject was posted on two of the wargaming and Ancients wargaming forums. My thanks to all those people who took the time and trouble to respond: they are credited where appropriate.

Gross Over Simplification

As has already been stated, the Ancients period is about as diverse as you can get in wargaming terms so, in order to simplify matters for the beginner, I've divided the armies of the period into five extremely approximate stereotypes.

These are:

The Charioteers

Mass light or heavy chariots supported by infantry

New Kingdom Egyptians; Assyrians; Hittites

The Regulars

Drilled or regular foot supported in a 'combined arms' way by smaller numbers of light troops and horse

Hoplite Greeks; Macedonians and Successors; Imperial Romans

The Warbands

Any irregulars armed with light spear and shield!

Celts; Norse; Saxons

The Cavalry

Heavy, extra heavy or noble cavalry supported by light cavalry or horse archers, with maybe the odd infantryman to rally behind

Mongols; Ayyubids; Turks

The Knights

Heavily armoured knights supported by peasants who deserve to be ridden down, except for those lovely English long-bowmen

Medieval French; 100 Years War English

These choices did cause some controversy from contributors, despite my requests for tolerance!

Comments such as “I can't even agree with your 'extremely approximate' divisions, so I can't make any specific comments here” and “historical tactics for one army that might fall within one of these ‘types’ may never have been used by other armies within that type” whilst not being particularly helpful do serve to illustrate the potential difficulties involved.

However, what follows is a summary of my own and others’ opinions of the following questions:

a) What tactics are historically accurate for each type of army?

b) How are those tactics simulated in the various sets of wargaming rules used?

c) How well do those simulations reflect history?

d) What tactics ACTUALLY work for that type of army under the various rules used?

The Charioteers

Chariot armies have at their disposal light chariots and/or heavy chariots. These are supported by average or poor quality infantry and, for later armies, average quality cavalry as well.

Despite looking fantastic and awe-inspiring on the table, relying on a panzer division of chariots alone is not going to win battles. Part of their attraction for the Ancients period general was as a strategic transport for his men: they would arrive on the battlefield more rested than if they had walked all the way there themselves. This explains their predominance as much as any of the tactical strengths that they possess.

The key to winning on the tabletop with a charioteer army is to use the chariots to disrupt the battle line of the enemy force to such an extent that your infantry can win the day. Note that you may need to clear enemy chariots from the field before you can do this and, under the DBA rules system, this can often lead to the end of the battle as your general is usually in a chariot and if he goes, so does your whole army.

Assuming that your chariots have cleared any enemy chariots from the field with some form of mass attack, light chariots and heavy chariots should be used to soften up the enemy line.

Light chariots are for skirmishing, not for close combat. They should use their mobility to get round the flanks of an enemy force and pour missile fire into them. Once the enemy battle line has been sufficiently disrupted by this, either due to being shot down or being demoralised by flank fire, attack frontally with your infantry.

Many rules systems, including Vis Bellica and Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB), simulate this tactic by giving chariots a stability bonus for missile fire over other mounted archers: presumably for providing a relatively stable shooting platform. Watch out, however, for foot bowmen, who can probably outshoot chariots on a frontage-to-frontage basis.

In DBA, however, the missile firepower of chariots is subsumed into their general melee factor: so contacting the enemy’s flank is the thing to do. Being pushed back or removed from the table can here represent withdrawing to regroup rather than being physically destroyed.

As for heavy chariots, many rule systems, including Vis Bellica and WRG 6th, make a mass of heavy chariots frightening to enemy morale but not quite as effective in combat as an infantry unit of the same size. They move faster than the infantry however, so one use is to position your heavy chariots behind your main line as a comparatively fast-moving and reasonably combat effective reserve. They can also be used as the expendable tip to a rapid thrust at the enemy line: denting the line enough for your main force to punch a way through the weakened spot. They provide a bit of extra “oomph” for your troops: not your main strength.

In conclusion, your first task is to clear away any enemy chariots: probably with a massed chariot charge of your own. Stay away from the enemy infantry until this is done. After that, if the battle is still continuing, divide your chariots into groups of small numbers and use light chariots as skirmishers, with heavy chariots either forming a reserve or being used as expendable shock troops to be committed just before your main infantry battle line attacks.

The Regulars

Various contributors pointed out that this army type should really be divided into two sub-types: those regular, drilled, close order troops whose prime aim was to melee and those whose prime aim was to blow the enemy away with concentrated missile fire.

This is a fair point, so let’s deal with each in turn.

For those Regular armies whose main strength is melee, one basic principle emerges: get stuck in to the main enemy force as soon as possible. This holds despite the fact that the tactics used by the Macedonians, Romans and Hoplite Greeks were all slightly different. Alexander used his heavy infantry to pin enemy units, then smashed his shock cavalry into the critical point of the enemy line.

The Romans used their heavy infantry as a grinding force that wore down an enemy army through its ability to replace units in close combat, and also used their flexible system to allow them to reinforce weak areas or exploit gaps in the enemy’s line. Hoplite tactics were pure grind: trying to break an enemy’s line by continual pressure.

Whatever the actual army used, the wargaming application is largely the same. If you are fielding an army whose strength is drilled 'heavy' infantry (Regulars/Melee) then your tactical aim must be to engage your opponent’s main strength with yours as fast as possible: either to pin them to allow your combined arms forces to strike elsewhere (Alexander but not necessarily other pike leaders), or to grind them down (Romans, Hoplites).

Don’t forget that you must be careful to protect the flanks of your valuable infantry as you advance them into combat: and that this will usually involve countering enemy skirmishers or cavalry. Players must also remain focussed on the tactical aim of entering close combat with the main enemy body, and not fritter away their Regulars/Melee on other battlefield tasks. That’s what the Auxilia are for. Finally, only commit them when you have identified where the enemy main strength is on the field.

Note that there are similarities between the tactics above and those previously described for Charioteer armies: the main difference being that Regulars/Melee do not necessarily need to soften up the opposition before seeking contact.