Charlie Wesencraft's Practical Wargaming (1974)

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7 Medieval Wargame Rules

Although many of the weapons already described under ancient wargames (Chapter 3) were still in popular use, the method of fighting had undergone a change. A knight held land because he was loyal to a certain leader. Rebel against the leader and he lost his land and probably his life as well. When his overlord went into battle, he was expected to collect his own liege men, serfs, men-at-arms, any horsemen he could muster, and lead them to war.

The following rules have been devised in an attempt to re-create these conditions.

Each force will be led by a nobleman, king, duke, earl, etc. A large army may have a number of these characters, controlled by the most senior, with each lesser knight being given command of a 'battle' (a group of men fighting as a unit) during the fight. These will not necessarily be the men he has brought with him, but probably a composite band of similarly attired men drawn from the army as a whole. These formations will vary in size according to the numbers available.

Each nobleman will be expected to bring with him a force based upon his rank. In order that this will differ every time, each noble will throw a number of dice for each type of soldier, dividing the score by 2 for men-at-arms and 3 for peasants in order to arrive at the number of stands he will be adding to the army.

A king, prince, or duke will throw three dice for each of the following soldier types: cavalry, men-at-arms, archers, and peasants. A marquess, earl, viscount, or baron will each throw two dice.

Example. An earl, throwing his two dice per arm scores the following:

Cavalry. Dice score: 4, 6. Total 10. Brings 10 cavalry stands.

Men-at-arms. Dice score: 4, 5. Total 9. Brings 4 men-at-arms stands.

Archers. Dice score: 1, 2. Total 3. Brings 3 archer stands.

Peasants. Dice score: 6, 6. Total 12. Brings 4 peasant stands.

Hundred Years War: French Cavalry charging an English Formation. The men-at-arms of the English Force are massed to receive the disordered French cavalry attack. Archers between these 'battles' give fire support.

NOTE

Fractions are rejected. So this earl will bring on to the field 21 stands. These will be pooled and he may end up controlling the peasant force of the entire army or one of their 'battles' of men-at-arms. He will have with him his personal standard and its bearer in addition.

Before the combat the two armies will be assembled off the table and the breakdown of the units be made. There is no predetermined size to any unit, but it should only consist of one of the four types of troops. If the leader so desires he can order his cavalry to fight on foot, when they will be exchanged for men-at-arms (man for man). This he may do if he considers he is particularly short of cavalry or short of noblemen to command or the terrain dictates. Each unit must be controlled by a nobleman (see 'Morale').