Strength, Honour and Chivalry

New year and a new project. I will try adapting Strength and Honour to the High Middle Ages, c. 1050-1250. I have read on the Facebook group that there is an adaption for the Late Middle Ages, but the Medieval period was a long one, about 1000 years. During this time, armour, tactics and the ethos of war changed.

Few Changes 

My starting point is that warfare in the High Middle Ages differed from warfare in the early Roman Empire, the period covered by the core rules. However, many mechanisms and troop types could easily be translated to the medieval period. However, differences do exist.

The Main Differences 

The Size of the Armies. 

Numbers are a problem for medieval chroniclers, but the overall impression is the armies were in the low 1,000s. Battles like Hastings and Hattin were the exception. This means that the base will represent a lot fewer men. An infantry base of between 1,000 and 2,000 men is my starting point. This means the battlefields are smaller, which will impact the mechanics, for example, command ranges.

Leadership. 

In Western armies, leadership had a heroic quality. The commander was usually attached to his retinue and led from the front. More Alexander than Julius Caesar. Muslim, Byzantine generals had a more classical approach to the general positioning. This will impact the Command Board and the risks to the general in combat.

Deployment. 

Honour and status had an impact on deployment. The vanguard and the rearguard were positions of honour.

Pre-Battle Sequence. 

Battles were rare. Most generals adopted a battle avoidance strategy. This makes the pre-battle manoeuvring more important. I am currently looking at adapting the Mortem et Gloriam system, which covers this aspect well with a simple set of rules.

Religion & Faith. 

What is the impact of religion - relics for auguries? It may be necessary to have a priest troop type.

Initial Scope

My initial area of concentration is the Crusades from the 1st to the 3rd Crusade because the variety of fighting cultures involved will be a good mechanics test. The main tactical styles will include the Western, knight-based armies with emerging chivalric way of war. Eastern military culture; the Muslims (sedentary, Fatimids and the Turkic ruled Damascus, etc) and Byzantine. These armies were influenced by the tactical doctrines of the Roman and Sassanid empires. Last, the culture of the steppe nomads, wild Turks and Mongols. 

The Battles Covered

The starting point is to get the scale per base correct. This will involve looking at about a dozen battles to ascertain the best scale to get 6-14 elements per side on the battlefield, but it also produces a balanced game.  The current list is; Antioch (1098), Ascalon (1099), Harran (1104), Ramla (1105), Tell Danish (1115), Field of Blood (1119), Ibelin (1123), Inab (1149), Harrim (1164),  al-Babayn (1167), Mont Gisard (1177), Hattin (1187), Acre (1190), Arsuf (1191), Gaza (1239), La Forbie (1244) and Mansurah (1250).

Not all these battles will make the cut, and the several battles fought during the siege of Acre could be turned into a mini-campaign.