Stormin' Normans

Anjou Brittany France Italy England Scotland Ireland Sicily Africa Byzantium Antioch Jerusalem

I used the Normans as a tournament army throughout DBM 1.x, and as my main gaming army too. They are enormous fun to use, and I have listed their many battles and the experience I have of using them (and my other fast Knight armies) in the Lore of the Fast Knight. The Norman army morphs into every other contemporary "kite shielded" army, most with very little work. Feudal Spanish and Sicilian are a bit more exotic, I like Spanish due to the El Cid connection and that it gets Light Horse and Cavalry without needing a Breton ally, as well as Bidets post 1150. also, the Andalucian ally is a straight adoption of the Norman's Aghlabid ally. For your delight here are:

There are in my opinion two armies which are especially interesting morphs of the Normans as they are very different in character:

We re-fought Civitate in 1997. For those who need their Feudal neurons a'firing, this was in 1053 AD, the "Italian Hastings" where Pope Leo IX, the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Italian duchies and the Italian cities combined to throw the Normans out of Italy, lost badly, and thus set up the conditions for the Norman conquest of Italy and Sicily, and also England (the Pope by 1066 being under Norman "protection" couldn't *not* give William the Papal Seal for the invasion, now could he?). The Norman army was the entire male Norman population in Italy, about 3,000 horsemen, an unknown number of Calabrian foot, and an again unknown number of archers and crossbowmen. The Papal/Holy Roman/Italian/Italian allied army was a bit larger, with much more foot and some 700 Swabian knights, who fought on foot. The Byzantine army was due to unite with the Italians, but Civitate was fought a day before they could join up and they withdrew.

Normans:

Left Flank Command C in C Humphrey de Hauteville Irr Kn(F)

Norman Milites 7 Irr Kn(F)

Norman Yoofs 3 LH(O)

Norman foot 6 Bw(I), 6 Crossbow Ps(O)

Right Flank Command Richard d'Aversa Irr Kn(F)

Norman Milites 7 Irr Kn(F)

Calabrian foot 6 Irr Ax(O)

Italian/Norman foot 4 Ps(O), 2 Ps(S)

Reserve Command Robert Guiscard Irr Kn(F)

Norman Milites 5 Irr Kn(F)

Norman Foot 2 Ps(O)

Papal Army:

Papal (Right Flank) Command CinC Papal Commander Reg Kn(F)

Papal Knights 3 Reg Kn(F)

Swabians 8 Irr Kn(I)

Papal psiloi 2 Ps(O)

Papal archers 6 Bw(I)

Infuriated Peasants 4 Hd(F)

Italian (Centre) Command A-G Reg Kn(F)

Italian Knights 4 Reg Kn(F)

Feudal Kn 1 Irr Kn(F)

Italian foot 8 Reg Sp(I)

Italian archers 2 Reg Bw(I)

Lombards (Left Flank)

Command: A-G Irr Kn(F)

Lombard Knights 4 Irr kn(F)

Lombard Archers 6 Bw(I)

Civitate on the centre rear section of the allied deployment, varied rough going on the far Norman left & Italian right.

The Italians (defending) deployed the Lombards on their left, the Bw(I) on the river, the Kn next to them. Next were placed the Italian Kn, then the Italian foot with their Bw (Civitate was behind them) , then the Swabian Kn on foot, then the Papal Kn, then the papal archers. The Peasants hid in scrub on the far right. The Normans Right deployed with Richard d'Aversa's Kn facing the Italian and Italian Kn, the Calabrian Ax connecting them to the river. Humphrey de Hauteville's Kn faced the Swabian and Papal Kn, the Norman LH on the extreme left. Ps were used to screen the Kn wherever opposed by Bw. Robert Guiscard formed up behind Humphrey.

D'Aversa's Normans marched rapidly forward on the right leaving the Calabrians behind, (as happened historically), the left moving up to pin the Papal army and the LH going wide onto the Papal flank. The Italians and Lombards charged the Normans in their turn, with little result. Next Norman bound the Italian Reg Kn(F) were alamost wiped out, the Lombards however broke through the Normans on their side. The Lombards then raced past the Norman Kn to the Ax to get easy kills. The Norman Kn went inpetuously into the Italian foot, breaking the Italians in 2 bounds. However, by now the Lombard had hit the Ax, and attained the casualties needes to demoralise the Norman command. The Lombards could not quickly cut from the far left through the routing Italians and Normans to reinforce the Italian right, however, leaving the Pope to face the de Hauteville brothers (Hunphrey and Robert Guiscard) alone

On the Norman left, the LH went wide and were ambushed by the peasants and attacked by some Italian archers, some fled but others attacked and ran down the peasants. The Normans then advanced, the Papal Kn charged some of the Normans, and the remaining Normans then charged the Swabians. The Swabians were quickly ridden down (Thats them on the left, ready with big swords), and rapidly vanishing outnumbered Italian Kn were then hit by Robert Guiscards fresh command and killed off, the Papal command then routing. With that, the Normans secured the a 9-1 victory.

At Civitate, d'Aversa went straight through both Italians and Lombards, but the de Hauteville boys fought a long and hard fight against the Papal and Swabian troops until d'Aversa's Kn returned, and then wiped out the Swabians to a man. The Civitate citizens handed over the Pope to the Normans, who offered him their..er..."protection", for which he was obviously so grateful that he gave them Huuuuge tracts of land. All in all a fun battle, but in DBM, two difficulties are apparent:

1. Normans and Lombards are both Kn(F), but this does not describe the difference in quality. The Lombards should have been re-classed as Kn(I) in this battle.

2. The Swabian Bd(O) were quickly bowled over using v1.2, even 2 deep, which seems wrong. I think v1.1 had it better, with a long slogging match.

3. The Demoralisation rules are inadequate, as it was the Italian player's (me ) cynical attack on the Ax(O) to get casualties that broke d'Aversa's Normans.

It is highly unlikely in reality that the Normans would have broken off a stormingly succesful rampage because a few peasants in their rear had been run down, IMO.

2. Don't bother with Bd(O) vs Kn(F) on the flat - they die sooner or later (usually sooner), even 2 deep. In my Hastings re-fight , the Huscarl were uphill and much better value.

3. Hd(F) are a pain, as they are impetuous and nearly useless, so cost pips to manage and count towards demoralisation.

In the UK, Warfare '95 ran a 400 point Book 3 DBM theme. I decided to take a 1066 "pre-conquest" Norman army of Duke William the Bastard . The Normans fought Abbasids, Early Byzantines, Samurai and Magyars. The Norman army after some play-testing now consisted of 4 commands, and this basic structure pretty much remained over 2 years' gaming (except that I increasingly used the Hastings order of battle, where Odo commanded the small force as a rearguard and the second major command was taken over by Eustace of Boulogne)

Duke William Kn(F), 9 Norman Milites Kn(F), 6 Crossbowmen Bw(O), 6 Archers Bw(I), BP = 8. The Bw are usually combined into a 12 element unit ("the Battery"). This gave the force a two-trick play - a big Kn charge and a mass archery capability. This archery was capable of turning battles on its own

Bishop Odo Kn(F), 7 Norman Milites Kn(F), 6 Archers Bw(I), 3 young squires LH(O) and 2 pages and youths Hd(O) (apparently Odo liked that sort of thing). A second Kn(F) force with firepower, it was usually given the task of covering an enemy wing, where its knight combined with archery and light horse could stop most attacks. It was also used as a "forlorn hope" to crack enemy frontally, breaking holes for the main comman to exploit.

"The Italians" - 1 sub-general Kn(F), 4 Milites Kn(F) with 10 associated Hd(O) hangers on, to give these Italian Norman mercenaries a suitably desperate look. This small force is a "catch all" and was to give the Normans a real step-up in flexibility

Breton Allies - Sub General Cv(S), 7 Breton Milites Cv(O), 3 Breton LH(O). The Bretons are the other secret of the Norman army - a good multi-role unit, it was mainly used for skirmishing against foot or knights the Normans did not want to face, or pursuing light horse.

After Warfare, the standard deployment was William (centre), the Bretons and the 2nd Knight command on either wing, the small reserve command in reserve in the rear centre, all the Horde packed around the baggage.

The Normans attacked (as usual). I put the Bretons in the centre, to skirmish with the expected Arab Sp/Ps blocks while my Kn went for the wings, Odo on the
left, William on the right, The Battery on the extreme right of the line. The Italians were in reserve behind them. The Abbasids deployed with Sp/Ps in the centre, but combined it with Bw and Cv(O) (dirty dog!). Ghulam Cv(S) and Arab Cv(O),LH(O) and Wb(F) deployed on the Norman right, and Cv(S) and(O) on the left. Odo's Normans attacked on the left wing first, while an Arab attack on the Norman right wing was beaten off by the Battery, and the Italians swung far right to threaten to outflank the flanking Arabs. In the centre the Bretons were hard pressed by the (unexpected) Arab horse and archery until William's right wing, now in full advance, swung some knights into the Arab centre and broke it.

The Norman hack and shoot show now steadily gained the ascendency on the flanks, a large hole had appeared in the Arab centre, and the Italians were now ready to charge onto the arrow-swept Arab left flank. It looked like a glorious Norman win. However, it was soon my last bound and both Odo and William had failed to ride down enough enemy for a second demoralisation and 10-0. My heroic opponent, by lucky (I thought so anyway) shooting from his demoralised archers broke the Bretons who had been weakened by his previous shooting, and by Allah's grace somehow survived the tender attentions of Kn(F) everywhere, and was rewarded with a 5-5 draw for his bravery. This was a frustrating outcome, as my losses were negligible whereas both surviving Abbasid commands were now one element from demoralisation. Oh well, C'est la Vie, as the Normans would say.

The Normans were on the defensive - a very rare experience, and lined up across the table one rank deep with Odo on the left-centre, William on the right-centre, the Bretons on the right and the Italians in reserve behind Odo. The Byzantines packed three waves on the Norman left flank, the first wave was Cv(S)/ LH, the second Herul Kn and the third more Cv(S) with Belisarius and the Boukellaroi. The Byzantine centre was held by a large contingent of poor infantry behind stakes and ditches. Their left was a large piece of DGo, populated by a lonely Ps and LH element. The 3 Byzantine waves raced up my exposed left flank at full speed. Merde! This was serious, we were totally outmanouvered and could easily be rolled up.

The Italians moved in front of the Byzantine first wave in a suicidal attempt to hold them while Odo's command wheeled to attack them. William's command also wheeled to meet the threat. In the end, the fastest way to get all the Knights across the table was to let them all go impetuous - freeing up pips to move the Bw quickly. The sight of 20 odd knights steaming diagonally across the table impetuosly was quite impressive, and took the Byzantine by surprise! The Italians held up the Byzantine first wave just long enough before breaking for Odo's Bw(I) and the Battery's Bw(O) to get in range, and the effect of the raking fire of 12, later 18 Bw stopped the first Byzantine command in its tracks. Behind the crumbling first wave the Heruls wheeled sideways and charged the first elements of Odos's Kn as they came into range, pushing them back. The rest of Odo's knights then thudded into the Herul line. Belisarius's 3rd line, trapped behind the pincushioned Byzantine first line to front and the disorganised mass of Heruls and Normans to side, tried desperately to get into action, while William's knights crashed one by one into the increasingly large, messy, heaving, no holds barred maul.

The impetuous Normans were better at getting in than Belisarius's biscuit eaters, but tended to lose it all by rash advances into 3 on 1 fights. The Byzantine first wave, which had taken casualties before routing the Italians and then steady losses from the archers, now broke. 5-5 again. Now, could the Normans hack through the outnumbered Heruls in time, before the Boukellaroi really got into action? No - the game ended with the scrum in full progress, and poor Odo being killed by peasants swarming all over him, for a good old nail biting, gory 5-5. Our long suffering umpire was amazed by the carnage surrounding a lowly draw. I was very lucky to have drawn this one (the Bw having saved the day), and was quite impressed with the way impetuosity had allowed a low pip cost mass movement of elements to let the Normans claw their way back into the battle.

The Normans attacked. This was the first game where terrain made a difference. On the Norman left was a mix of DGo and hills. This meant I did not put any of my Kn on that flank, deploying Odo's LH and Bw and all the Horde in it, his Kn on the open ground to their right and William in the centre. All the Kn were dismounted (I had spent several late nights painting up 24 elements of dismounted Kn before Warfare, and was gratified to have an opportunity to use them). The Bretons were on the far right beside the Battery, the Italians were mounted in reserve in the centre. The Samurai deployed on hills almost on their baseline with a Cv(O) formation on the Norman right facing the Bretons and Battery, next a huge centre command with a large number of Bd(F) and Ax(X) on a gentle hill, then a line of Bw(S) backed by Bd(F) facing William, more Bw(S) and Cv(O) facing Odo, and a command of Warrior Monks Bd(F) facing the Norman extreme left in the DGo. It was really frustrating not facing these monks with Knights.

The Norman attack was subtle - a dismounted walk straight across the table, one line deep, as fast as possible - which with Irr Sp(S) is a slow process. The Warrior Monks proved unreliable at first , allowing the Norman Bw and LH to get uphill in the DGo on the left. On the Norman right, the Samurai Cv hurriedly dismounted as Bw(S) (The Samurai was no fool - he knew that if he remained mounted I would rush 12 Bw forward to shoot them up - which is no fun for Cv(O) - and then hit them with Breton Cv). Neither the Breton Cv(O) or the Battery wanted to face Bw(S), so the 3 Breton LH(O) were sent far forward to delay them, which they did successfully for the rest of the game. n the Norman left the Monks recovered their courage, yelled Banzai! and charged forward. The Norman LH moved out to delay them. This flank could develop into the weak point, so the Italians wheeled and marched to cover it, stopping as they met the DGo.

Now, how was I going to get 5 Kn(F) in line across the DGo quickly? Impetuosity was the solution, and 5 elements of Kn thundered across, for no pips. The LH were now in combat and the Bw were about to be charged, thus the arrival of the Italians in 7th Cavalry style prevented the destruction of Odo's whole command. In the meantime Odo's Sp had made contact with the Cv(O) which had come to delay them reaching the Samurai Bw line, and were causing some to flee. In the centre, things were getting....boring. By the time the Normans had marched over to the Samurai deployment area (abysmal Norman pip dice) it was almost time-up. The Samurai moved his Bd(F) and Ax(X) forward to prevent the Normans charging the Bw. I never got enough pips to both control and remount the Kn facing the Ax , so the only real excitement was while attacking up the hill, a Samurai Bd(F) destroyed the element on one side of Duke William and then flanked him, threatening a kill if bettered. A general's element of Sp(S) is quite tough and survived the onslaught, much to my relief. By now it was again last bound.

The Italians were now hacking down Monks, some of Odo's Knights had re-mounted to attack the Samurai Cv that had not fled, and William's Spearmen had finally broken through the Bd(F) and Ax(X) - but were nowhere near reaching the Bw(S) or the number of casualties needed to break the command. Game over, and a very frustrating 5-5 draw. In hindsight, I had been far too slow with getting the Italians into the Monks, but at most this would have given a 6-4 win.

This was against the redoubtable Jer Morgan, king of the LH(F) army, and owner of a big Tower of Skulls. This was the second game where terrain had a major influence, in this case a long, narrow wood that ran from nearly one deployment area to the other, placed about 1/3 of the way along the left of the Norman position. The Normans were defending, so I placed Odo's Bw in ambush in this wood, facing left. On the far left , butting onto this wood on their right flank were the Bretons. In column behind wood were the Italians. Odo's Kn butted onto the right of the wood, then William's Kn, the Battery taking the far right, and resting its rightmost flank on an orchard on the far right of the table.

The Magyars placed the CiC command facing the Bretons, two smaller commands in the centre, and a large command on the far Norman right facing the Battery The Magyars opened by racing down the Norman left flank against the apparently vastly outnumbered Bretons, and down the right flank against the Battery. The advance on the Bretons was stopped by the first volleys of arrows from the ambush in the woods, which sent the Magyar LH fleeing back, and the Cv retiring. This flank would be a standoff for the rest of the game, as the Magyars could not advance for fear of shooting, and there were too few Bretons to attack them. This was fine by me, so I moved the Italians to the right of the woods to join Odo's knights in the centre. To counter the other flank's Magyar force aiming at the Battery. Williams Kn advanced in a long column until the rear of the column was clear of the Bw.

The Magyars fell into the trap, galloping past the Norman column towards the Battery. It is at this point, gentle reader, that I must introduce you to the Norman Mounted Display Team manouevre, where a column of Norman Kn are encouraged to go impetuous, and seeing their closest enemy is to their flank, immediately turn 90 degrees and charge the surprised foe (in this case the Magyar Cv(S)), causing carnage and mayhem. Since this is all free pips, the Norman commander can use all his pips on other projects such as marching a 12 element archery battery into range and commencing shooting, killing the Magyar sub general and demolishing the command in short order. At this point I thought a real victory was finally mine, all I had to do was manouvre the Bw in the forest to shoot out the Magyar CiC, advance in good order in the centre and wait for William's victorious command to close in on the flank, and it was over. Then I threw 4 1's for command pips. The result was chaos, as to maintain order Odo and the Italian knights had to bound forward, exposing their wood-side flank, and all William's units went chasing after the remaining routing Magyars.

The Magyar centre's LH(F) needed no encouragement and swooped onto the exposed Italian flank, routing the Italians and taking a swing at Odo's command before some of William's knights, desperately forced marched, arrived to stabilise the situation. I have never seen a game swing so quickly, and was extremely impressed with the ability of LH(F) to exploit gaps and open flanks in the hands of a capable general.

At any rate, after this scramble we were again running out of time. I had demolished a large Magyar command, but my small Italian command had also routed. There was a standoff on the left, and the centre was looking like a long, messy slog as William and Odo's Kn(F) slugged it out with the MagyarCv(S) and LH while the Battery puffed up. Another 5-5 draw was the result, though with significantly more damage to the Magyars.

Results

For the record, the Dark Age tournament was won by Thomas Bodley Scott with Qarakhinids. All my opponents finished higher than me. I finished 9th out of 14, on a score of 20, but I would never have believed that a Norman army could draw a battle, let alone 4!

So Why Aren't Kn(F) Armies used in Tournaments?

Normans seemed to be a match for their more fashionable opponents, even though I am a pretty average player. What could a good, experienced player do with Kn(F) I wonder? If this posting can persuade more people to take Kn(F) to tournaments, then it has served its purpose well. As for me, those Normans are going straight into the next tournament I can get to. They are pure Fun! The only warning is of a dreaded affliction called Norman Back, which you get from spending 2 days bending over with your entire army in the other guy's half of a 6x4 table.

Total Results - 7 Wins, 4 Draws, 4 Losses, 1 Bye. I believed this is the highest efficiency rating ever attained by an Irr Kn(F) army in tournaments in the world, but Martin Ossa-Bordes of Australia has achieved 9 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses.