Military Modelling – September 1980
Playtest “Neutral Ground” Teaser
C.S. Grant and friends play
out last month's scenario.
I cannot begin the account of this teaser I
without making some general comment on the
game. Of the many and varied teasers that
have been fought but at Dover, this particular
one must surely be one of the most enjoyable,
at times amusing and always exciting, of the
series so far. Should, this fact fail to come
across in this account, then it is the writer and
not the battle that is at fault!
Preparation
The table was set up as described in last
month's Military Modelling and in accordance
with map A. It fell to the late Charles Grant to
control the local population and, as will be
seen later, it was largely this fortuitous, though
obvious, choice that made the game 'work so
well. To refresh your memory, the locations
and nature of the local people are shown
below.
Settlement A - 20 medium infantry
- 10 (bow/spear armed) light
cavalry
Settlement B - 15 light medium javelins
- 3 light cavalry
Settlement C - 15 light medium javelins
- 3 light cavalry
Settlement D - 10 light archers (concealed
in the wood)
With the exception of those at D, the figures
were placed in the houses and about the
villages with the cavalry dismounted. The local
people had a set order of activities starting at
period 1 with collecting a flock of sheep and
continuing up to period 5 after which events
would take their natural course. As will be
seen it did not take long to overtake this plan.
With the game prepared as far as the local
people were concerned, we can turn to the Both sides having been briefed, hostilities
two contending forces. From the north came a could commence. As the two armies
force of Assyrians with a triumvirate com- advanced onto the table from their
mander. These were Peter Sheppard, Chris respective
Longhurst and Neil Simmons. entry-points in the first period, three of the
villagers left village B to bring in their flock
Their army numbered:- B1
Map Unit Strength for the morning. This was not to be
Ref. however.
1. 1 unit of light cavalry 15 The mass of' Byzantine light cavalry P
2. 1 unit of heavy cavalry 10 entering from the south headed straight, for
3. 1 unit of light archers 15 this flock which panicked and ran north.
4. 1 unit of light medium 30 This
javelins upset the villagers at B not a little, but a
5. 1 unit of medium spear 30 party
armed infantry of cavalry with an officer were detached to
placate the village and to attempt to gain
From the south another threesome, Ray some military support by bribery. In period
McGarry, Rob Waldren and Chris Spickett three another group of Byzantine
headed a Byzantine army: messengers were approaching the
Map Unit Strength southern bridge
Ref. with similar motives in mind. The flock B1,
meanwhile, were disappearing into the
P. 1 unit of light cavalry 15
wood
Q. 1 unit of heavy cavalry 10
at D pursued by the villagers who were still
R. 1 unit of light archers 15 intent on getting their livestock under
S. 1 unit of light medium 30 control.
javelins Villagers from C who were dispatched on a
T. 1 unit of medium 30 similar flock collecting task were having
infantry more
success. Both armies could now clearly see
Situation each other and there was little doubt in
Each side was given an identical brief as either's mind that they had a common
follows: objective (see map 1 period 3).
"You are at war with your neighbouring Returning to the first offer of a bribe at B,
country. The conflict has spread into neutral we have two examples of the many
land to the north. This country is populated but 'chance' charts or instant rules that Charles
not hostile. You command a task force which Grant created to decide on the outcome of
has been dispatched during a lull in hostilities the various actions, proposals and
to take an important crossing in the neutral propositions that his villagers received. A
country." small chart, was drawn up with a single die
throw to determine the result of the offered
Aim bribe. The first chart answered the question
"You are to seize the double bridge crossing "If we make you an offer will you aid us?"
during the hours of daylight and secure it for a The answers were as follows:-
larger force." 1. No.
2. No.
The Game 3. Wait a period while it is considered

Playtest “Neutral Ground” Teaser
and throw again.
4. Ditto.
5. Yes - what is your offer?
6. Ditto.
On this first bribe a 5 was thrown. Another
single die throw determined whether or not
this spurious offer was accepted. (These offers
ranged from 2,000 gold coins to a season
ticket for the Byzantine harem).
The second chart was as follows:-
1. Offer accepted - we are now your
military allies and will fight with you.
2. Ditto.
3. Highly insulted by the offer – instant
combat with the messenger.
4. Ditto.
5. Offer refused - we wish to continue in
our peace loving ways, and anyway
your bribe is too small
6. Ditto..
The result on the first table having been a 5
and on the second 4; the villagers were highly
insulted and proceeded to cut a large chunk
out of the messengers who; realising that all
was not well, bolted back to their army across
the plough followed, by irate villagers - so
much for diplomacy! Needless to say, these
charts were retained for further negotiations.
Meanwhile, negotiations were also taking
place on the south bridge with the Byzantine
messenger and on the north bridge with an
Assyrian. However, these negotiations were
not to go unhindered. The Assyrian cavalry,
who were bow armed, fired on the Byzantine
cavalry by the south bridge. Yet another
random table had the misfortune to show that
the leader of the village was hit while
considering the Byzantine offer. As a result of
this the poor peasants, somewhat confused,
determined to fight both sides. So, before
going further in the account we find that at the
start of period 5 the town A is hostile to both
sides, village B is hostile to the Byzantines
and C has remained neutral and uninvolved.
In the 5th period the Byzantine light cavalry
charged in the direction of the Persian light
cavalry which evaded, firing as they went.
However, the Byzantines were already
wheeling to change direction and instead met
the Persian heavy cavalry who remained
standing. The result of the first round of melee
was marginally favourable to the Persians who
pushed their assailants pack three inches.
Meanwhile, the Byzantine party were engaged
in a brisk fight with the villagers on the south
bridge while more of the latter rushed to
defend the crossing. In the next period (6) the
Byzantine light, medium javelins moved
rapidly towards this bridge supported by their
heavy cavalry. The bees' hive was well and
truly stirred now and, as a result of .the gross
insult earlier, the villagers at B were
assembled and moving out of the village to do
some mischief. The second game period of
melee resulted in another push back for the
Byzantine light cavalry. Byzantine archers
were now firing into the village at A and a
bloody combat was about to take place on the
south bridge.
The Persians were more cunning and less
inclined to accept the status quo. Their forces
drew back a little from the north bridge without
disputing it. A trusty archer then fired a
message onto the bridge for collection by one
of the villagers. This extraordinary message
ran as follows:- . .
"We mean no harm to you and your people.
We offer you the booty of war if you help us
defeat the Byzantine barbarians. We need this
crossing for our main army which is already on
its victorious march to the Byzantine capital.
PS. We will punish the man who hit your chief
or offer you' his head. We also have a doctor
with our main army if you need him."
With this poignant missive, we end the first
phase of the battle and period 6, (map 2).
Middle Period
Game periods 7 to 10 may well be
described as the middle period of the battle.
This was marked by the most extraordinary
length of time taken by the villagers at A to
reach a decision about the strange message
sent by arrow. In fact this delay, though
produced by the purely coincidental use of the
charts and dice throwing described earlier;
fitted in extremely well with the natural wait to
see which way the battle was going before
throwing in their lot with one or other of the
contenders. While they waited for an answer,
the Assyrians sensibly backed off from the
north bridge but continued their fight with the
Byzantines. The latter, on the contrary, were
heavily involved with villagers on the south
bridge. The detachment of light cavalry, having
held the field, were now relieved by the light
medium javelins who charged onto the bridge
to meet the villagers who were still piling out of
the houses to meet this threat. In the narrow
defile of the bridge however, the two sides
were evenly matched. Meanwhile, the
Byzantine heavy cavalry, taking advantage of
the Assyrian's desire to avoid conflict with the
villagers, were moving closer to the north
bridge. This forward movement was not
reflected throughout the Byzantine army,
however. In the third period of combat
between the Byzantine light and Assyrian
heavy cavalry the former, receiving their third
push back, broke and ran, pursued, by the
Assyrians. This sudden set back caused the
Byzantine archers to fall back disorganised.
Now we must leave the main conflict and
turn our attention to a minor yet surprisingly
Military Modelling – September 1980
important incident. You will recall that at the
start of the battle the flock at B1 panicked
and eventually disappeared into the wood.
The villagers sent to collect this flock
already aware that the Byzantines had met
a hostile reception at their village,
disappeared into the wood where, unknown
to anyone outside, they met the woodsmen
D. What took place between periods 6 and
8 was a lengthy debate which resulted in
the action of period 8. At this point the
woodsmen, all archers, appeared oh the
eastern side of the wood. Despite looking
down on the Assyrian javelins passing
below, they opened fire at a target well
beyond - the Byzantine medium infantry.
Clearly they had joined the villagers of B in
their fight against the Byzantines. The
Assyrian archers were able to add to the
fire against the Byzantines by firing into the
heavy cavalry in front of the north bridge.
The result of this fire was that the heavy
cavalry added to the backward movement
of the Byzantine forces by falling back in
some disorder taking further casualties from
javelin fire as they went. A second period of
melee on the bridge resulted in almost
equal losses.
In the 9th period, the Assyrian heavy
cavalry rallied back after one period of
pursuit, but casualties inflicted by the
Byzantine medium infantry as they passed
caused their rearward movement to turn to
disorder and they broke. The Byzantine
light cavalry relieved of pursuit, rallied on
the south east hill though the archers
continued to retire. While the Persians
waited impatiently to see the result of their
message to the villagers, their light cavalry
and medium javelins moved tentatively
forward. Now was the time to take
advantage of the Byzantine set backs but
they did not want to provoke hostilities from
the villagers. To make matters worse, the
local archers from D, having seen the
Persian heavy cavalry break, had second
thoughts and retired back into the wood.
Period 10 seemed to bode better for the
Byzantines. With the archers from D retired
back in the wood, the rallied Byzantine light
cavalry moved forward again. However,
things were obviously coming to a head in
the discussions in the village and an
Assyrian officer had gone forward to the
north bridge to see what the decision was
to be. The combat continued on the south
bridge but the Assyrians were pressing
forward and the Byzantines would soon be
fighting on both sides of the bridge. If this,
were not bad enough, the light .javelin-
armed villagers from B were now across the
plough, (map 3).

Playtest “Neutral Ground” Teaser
The End Period
The battle, one could say, was resolved at
the start of period 11 though it continued for
several more periods. The end was heralded
by the advance of the villagers' light cavalry
over the bridge in the direction of the
Byzantines with an Assyrian officer at their
side. A decision had been reached at last and
everyone seemed to be against the Byzantine
army. (Once again the villagers' answer had
been arrived at using the impromptu chart and
die). At the same time, the Assyrian light
medium javelins charged the rear of the
Byzantines' engaged on the bridge while the
medium infantry charged their Byzantine
counterparts. The pressure on the Byzantine
light medium javelins was too great for them
and assailed from both sides, they broke and
ran leaving dead and dying on and about the
bridge. The Byzantine medium infantry met the
Assyrian medium infantry at the charge and
came off slightly better pushing back the
Assyrians. The villagers from B, now closed on
both flanks of the Byzantines, scored
casualties among both heavy and light cavalry.
The next period saw disorder run riot in the
Byzantine forces. The rout of the light medium
javelins from the bridge carried the Byzantine
archers with them. The village light cavalry
charged in on the medium infantry combat and
helped to break up the Byzantines, putting
them to rout. Nothing was left for the
Byzantine cavalry but to cover the withdrawal
of their infantry as the commanders tried to
rally them.
The crossings were now in the hands of the
Assyrian victors and their local allies.
Conclusion
As I said at the start, this proved to be a
first rate game and I hope that some of the
excitement and uncertainty has come over in
this account. The credit must go to my late
father, Charles Grant, for the excellent play
with the locals. It was this that made the game
come alive and gave it the realism that it had.
It is worth noting that a bit of common sense
and ingenuity can produce rules for any
likelihood, and that one should not be afraid to
experiment in making up ones own rules when
the situation requires it. In the case of a
random choice, be it wind direction,
acceptance or otherwise of a bribe, direction
of a panicking flock of sheep or almost
anything else, a simple chart and single die
throw will provide the answer.
In the next teaser, with the editor's
permission, we will be looking at another
aspect of local activity - until then - "Good
War-gaming!"
MAP 1 (Period 3)
Military Modelling – September 1980
Both sides arrive on the table. Local
activity is normal with parties B and C going
to collect flocks. The Assyrians approach
the north bridge while the Byzantines
approach the south bridge and village B. All
are met by local representatives.
MAP 2 (Period 6)
The Byzantines are fighting the locals
from A on the south bridge and have 'upset'
the villagers at B. Assyrians stand back
from the north bridge hoping to come to
some arrangement with the locals. The
Byzantine Light Cavalry are engaged in
melee with the Assyrian Heavy Cavalry.
MAP 3 (Period 9)
No further action at the north bridge but
fierce fighting continues on the south
bridge. Local archers from D have come out
in support of the Assyrian but are now
retiring.
MAP 4 (Period 11)
The tide turns in favour of the Assyrians.
The locals at A come pouring out to their
aid, while those from B make life
unpleasant for the Byzantine flank. Both the
Byzantine infantry are breaking.
MM