Playing Against Warlord Babbage

Part of my series of posts about programmed opponents, inspired by the Playing Against Mr Babbage rules in The Men Who Would Be Kings, I received a request for a variation of the programmed opponent I posted for a Medieval scenario. Basically it is for the Dark Ages rules in One-Hour Wargames rather than the Medieval rules, but the same scenario and for the Red Army (Defender).

Comparing the Dark Ages and Medieval Rules

The table below outlines the first change we must consider: force composition.

'Equivalent' Forces
Dark Ages	Medieval	Differences
3-4 Infantry	3-4 Knights	Dark Ages combat inflicts fewer hits per turn, takes longer to get into battle.
0-2 Warband	0-2 Archers	Warband are slow Knights and more brittle than Men-at-Arms.
0-2 Skirmishers	0-2 Levies	Skirmishers are worse at shooting than Archers, but can move through Woods.
0-2 Cavalry	0-2 Men-at-Arms	You stand a good chance at getting no Cavalry in your force. They are mediocre, but at least move 12".

In the Medieval force, we could rely upon getting at least three Knight units. This allowed the Red Baron to allocate two of those units to come on as reinforcements on turn 3, standing a reasonable chance to reach the hill before the enemy can fully occupy the empty positions. With a Dark Ages army, the odds are only 16% that you will get two units, while being 33% likely you will get none. The Dark Ages army is slow.

The other key takeaway is that the Knights hit hard (+2 in combat) while taking full casualties whereas the Infantry hit normally (+0) and take 1/2 casualties. In terms of combat momentum, Knights will inflict 5.5 hits per turn on average, grinding another Knight unit down in three turns, while an Infantry unit will inflict 2 hits per turn on average, taking a full eight turns to destroy the enemy Infantry unit. This dynamic translates to giving the defender more time to hold off the enemy (if the Infantry are on the Hill), but also means it will be hard to push off a Blue Infantry if they get on it.

Program for Medieval Red Army, Scenario #8, One-Hour Wargames Rules

The first decision to be made by the Red Warlord is deployment.

All instructions will use the following grid reference system.

Please note that I regulate measurements and unit placement using a square grid. The dots shown on the board indicate the grid I use. The grid size is the width of one unit's frontage. More than one foot unit can fit in a square, but one is in front and one in back. Both units must either face the same direction or be back-to-back. Contact (hand-to-hand combat) is defined as being in the same square, so units must have the necessary movement to enter the enemy's square in order to be considered in contact.

Hill Deployment

Force Selection

The Red Warlord will always select two Infantry units to deploy on the hill.

Force Placement

One unit will be placed at D4 and the other at D5, both facing to the South.

Rationale

The hill forces need to hold as long as possible until reinforcements arrive. Infantry take one-half casualties due to their shieldwall and one-half casualties if they are uphill, so they stand the best chance of survival.

Cavalry are the fastest moving unit, so they are the best choice (in this Warlord's opinion) to enter via the road on turn 3, if you have them. They would then make straight for the hill in order to fill any empty positions, or dislodge any enemy that might have gained a hill position.

The unit in D4 must be prepared to shift to the left flank of the hill (D3) if Blue attempts to flank the hill. It will have its right flank protected by the woods from melee and shooting other than from Skirmishers. If Blue does have Skirmishers, you will just have to bear the risk of flank attacks.

Road Deployment

Force Selection

Choose two units from the Red Army forces using the following order of preference: Cavalry, Skirmishers, Infantry, and Warband.

Force Placement

If available, move first with: Cavalry, Warband, Infantry, then Skirmishers.

Rationale

As you have more distance to cover to reach the hill, your fastest units should be deployed on the road.

Cavalry are at the fore so they are not delayed in reaching the hill by slower units.

Skirmishers on the left flank will have more opportunity to engage in shooting as they will be away from the objective. Skirmishers on the baseline have the potential to shoot enemy attacking the left flank of the hill, or those sweeping around. If the enemy engage them, all the better, as that means they are not engaging the units on the objective.

Right Flank Deployment

The two remaining units will be deployed here.

Operating Rules

These guide your decisions on moving and fighting with Red Army units.

1. Once a unit is on the hill, it may not move off. That is the objective. (Because I am using a square grid that means that units cannot charge off of the hill into units at the base of the hill.)
2. If there is an empty position on the hill the Red Army unit that can reach the position the quickest – except Skirmishers – must move to occupy that position.
3. If there is a Blue Army unit occupying a position on the hill the Red Army unit that can reach the position the quickest – except Skirmishers – must move to melee that unit. The closest Skirmisher unit must move to a position where they shoot at the Blue Army unit.
4. Skirmishers may not move off of the South row of squares/more than 6" from the South edge.

Notes

Neil Thomas allows for some variation in the force selection. For example he mentions swapping Infantry for Warband to represent Viking invaders, or swapping Infantry for Cavalry for Frankish armies. King Arthur might see Cavalry get +2 (making them Medieval Knights in quality, but not force selection), and so on.

What you do with the Blue Army is up to you. It is assumed that for this programmed opponent you are using the Dark Ages force selection and unit statistics as written. If you vary from that you may have to modify the program to reflect your changes.

Summary

This should be an interesting variation from the Medieval battle. It is unlikely you will go to 15 turns in the Medieval variant, but I can definitely see the Dark Ages version going the distance. This will be a slow and steady slog, with force selection luck playing much more of a role than