May/June 2000Volume XV Issue 5

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2 May/June 2000

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Table of ContentsFrom the Editor ..............Page 3

Letters to Spearpoint ..............Page 4

The Lombards ..............Page 6

DBM 3.0 Release ..............Page 15

Warhammer Ancient BattlesReview and Battle Report ..............Page 16

Election Results ..............Page 17

Historicon 2000 Schedule ..............Page 20

NICT Qualifiers ..............Page 21

Historicon 2000 Themes ..............Page 23

Regional Tournament Results ..............Page 25

3Volume XV Issue 5

SpearpointThe Official Journal of the North AmericanSociety of Ancient and Medieval Wargamers

SPEARPOINT STAFF

EDITORDan Hazelwood3372 Gunston RoadAlexandria VA 22302ASST. EDITORSScott HolderDarrell SmithDISTRIBUTION MANAGERRichard WrightADVERTISING MANAGERScott DicksonILLUSTRATORPaul DobbinsPHOTOGRAPHERBob Nedwich

NASAMW ELECTED OFFICERS

PRESIDENTDarrell J. Smith2210 Lehne Ct.St. Louis, MO 63031-8547(314) 837-7366darrell.j.smith@boeing.com

VICE PRESIDENTChristopher Damour348 Parkway Court EastMartinez, GA 30907(706) 855-1169damour@enrmo2.gordon.army.mil

LIFETIME VpsScott HolderKruse Smith

SECRETARYLarry Essick346 Parkway Ct.Martinez, GA 30907

TREASURERScott Dickson590 Woodend Dr, SEConcord, NC 28025(704) 782-1099scott-rex@attglobal.net

NASAMW OFFICIAL WEBSITEhttp://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/7024/WEBMASTERSChris Damour

NASAMW: NASAMW exists to promote thehobby’s interests of “miniatures” wargamers; thatis people who recreate historical (and many timesahistorical) battles on a table using painted metalfigurines.As the name implies, our membership is primarilyinterested in warfare from the dawn of recordedhistory until the Age of Discovery (most of ourrule sets end somewhere between 1450-1500

From the Editor

Victory is mine. The offeringsto Athena Nike, Goddess of Victoryhave paid off. Having climbed thegreasy pole, I have won the exaltedrank of Editor-in-Chief ofSpearpoint. I think that ranks some-where near the Tribune of the Plebesand night soil collector in the Romanhierarchy.

In celebration of this gloriousevent, a mad burst of ego will gorushing to my head. That and maybesome better luck with the dice is all Ican hope for.

Also the victory laurels can beheaped on our new board. Congratu-lations to them.

Taking over Spearpoint, I wascharged with a getting it out on aregular schedule. I have a fewthoughts. First, I hope to get awayfrom being just a recording device fortournament results. I hope to providecontent not found on the web. Lastly,I can get up on my soap box on afew of my cherished issues.

Among those issues are terrain.I think we need to better looking ter-rain in our games — especially intournaments. It adds to the look in avery positive way. I am no less guiltyabout using felt to define every partof the battlefield. And while it’s func-tional, we should do better.

I’ve played more than one gamewith a set of rules I regarded as lessthan ideal. But the figures and ter-rain have created the feel of the battle

that compensated for them and theoverall affect was I think well worthit.

A few other points that havebeen made to me in my new role. Weneed to strive to be more than a DBMonly publication. I think WarhammerAncient Battles is getting a fair shakein these pages. But other rule sets, Ineed your assistance.

I’d like to send out another callfor articles. As a group, we are notshy of opinions, but more importantlywe have quite a lot of knowledge ofhistory. Please take a moment toshare some of your research.

Another area of common inter-est are either interesting scenarios ordeployment methods. Not everybattle must be setup straight on tour-nament style. Whether they are cam-paign rules that take a year or a day,we all benefit from the new ideas andoptions.

Finally, I hope to start a newsection, “I didn’t read it on the web.”This section will highlight books ofpossible interest to our fellow histori-cal gamers. So send in your submis-sions and paragraph summaries.Recently I read, The CrusadeThrough Arab Eyes by AminMaalouf. It is not a new book, ex-cept to me. As the title suggests thisis entirely based on Arab sources,which are both plentiful and color-ful. The intrigue and diversity on theArab side is great. Lots of color fromthe blond-haired Franj invaders; toSaladin’s tears; to the Mamluk over-throw of the Ayyubid Caliphate ofEgypt; to the perceived Mongol-Oc-cidental alliance against Islam. Greateasy reading from a new perspectivefor some of us.

Thanks and see you on thebattlefield.

— Dan Hazelwood

4 May/June 2000

A Reply to ChariotsDear Spearpoint,

An interesting article on Chariotry from Paul Dobbins, whichI will send on to Nigel Tallis, the other author of Armies of theAncient Near East. He is still working as a professional Assyriologist,has been involved in building chariots and was the bane of my lifewhen rewriting the DBM Book 1 lists. He also argued convincinglyin Slingshot for the DBM status quo of classing heavy chariots asKnights and for their use as shock troops.

I agree with Paul that heavy chariots were not capable ofcharging successfully into steady infantry. They were destroyed charg-ing hoplites when the Carthaginians tried it in Sicily. Where I differ isin the ability of the infantry to remain steady. It would take very goodmen to hold in place when driven at by 4 half-ton horses, a heavy cartand 3 or 4 armoured men shooting at you. You will know they weresteady after the dice is thrown.

I’m afraid some of Paul’s sources are a little dated. I don’tthink the use of bows in Hittite chariots is now seriously disputed andthe Hyksos’ conquest of Egypt cannot now be ascribed to massedchariotry. The first Hyksos ruler established his capital at Avaris inthe Delta 1645/4 BC. Massed chariotry arrives with the MitannianEmpire created after the fall of the Amorite kingdoms of Syria andOld Babylon to Mursilis’ Old Hittite kingdom in 1595 BC, 50 yearsAFTER the Hyksos conquest. I’m using the (probably flawed) con-ventional dating of Grimal, Baines and Malek for Egypt and Brinkmanfor Mesopotamia; Nigel Stillman has adopted the radical new datingof James and Rohl (attractive but hotly disputed). Only more goodradio carbon dates (and possibly the death of some prominentEgyptologists) will end the dispute.

Phil Barker

Another Reply to ChariotsThe recent article on chariot development and tactics by Paul

S. Dobbins (volume XV, #4) was an inteesting and very informativediscussion of what is known about how chariots were built and used.Despite a possibly inaccurate concept of how shock really works ona battlefield, he makes a fairly convincing argument to this laymanand ancients wargamer that chariots were a skirmish and pursuitweapon rather than a shock weapon and that their increasing size andcrew were a defensive response to true cavalry rather than an offen-sive enhancement against infantry. While he was not so bold as toattempt to translate his views into new rules for existing rules sets, Ibelieve that they could be implemented fairly easily and with littledisruption in the DBA/DBM system.

To begin with, DBA and DBM arequite clear in considering Cavalry (Cv)and Light Horse (LH) to be primarilymissile-using troop types — the distinc-tion between them being a willingness byCv to charge home if the enemy was wa-vering. Their shooting is considered to oc-cur at such close range that it can betreated as close combat and their relativeinvulnerability to most foot troops makesit practical in game terms. Paul suggeststhey shot at 15 yards range (others sug-gest somewhat more) — a distance con-sistent with the authors’ commentsconcerning the actual space around troopsrepresented on a movement stand. Giventhe foregoing, creating a new troop typefor chariots should not be necessary; giv-ing them a distant shooting capabilitywould open a HUGE can of worms. Othertypes of Cv and LH would logically haveto be able to shoot as well. If these areallowed distant shooting, then why notall Psilol (skirmishers), most Auxillia(light infantry), and even some Blades(such as Roman Legionaries)?

Such a situation would have a con-siderably adverse impact on ease andspeed of play in both DBA and DBM.The problem can be avoided, however,by employing a more simple fix; re-typ-ing Knight-class chariots as Cv and Cv-class chariots as LH. Grading could beas follows: Armored archer and horses -(S); Unarmored archer and/or horses -(0); Javelinmen and/or other equids - (1).

This re-typing should find chariotsperforming in ways more like those Paulhas in mind, while avoiding the additionof a new troop type and lots of additional,tedious distant shooting. LH do not standup well to Cv in DBA or DBM — fittingwell with Martin’s argument. Whilechariot-mounted cavalry would be at nodisadvantage against other cavalry inDBA, they would be disadvantaged inDBM because the non-chariot Cv can getrear support from a second rank of Cv.

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5Volume XV Issue 5

Regional RepresentativesIf there are any changes or questions pleasecontact: Darrell Smith(314)-837-7366darrell.j.smith@boeing.com

#1 Canada (Ontario)Chris Goldsmith: chris.goldsmith@sympatico.ca

#2 West Coast(California, Oregon, Washington)Kevin Donovankdonovan@socrates.Berkeley.EDU

#3 Southwest(Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi,Arkansas)Chris Tebo15907 Watering Point DriveSan Antonio, TX 78247-5624(210) 490-8741 Htebo.chris@heb.com

#4 Great Plains(Colorado, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska)Jocob KovelEaglewars@aol.com

#5 Upper Midwest(Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa)Chris Cornuellebob@math.umn.edu

#6 Mid-America(Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky)Rich NovakRnovakJr@aol.com

#7 Ohio Valley (Ohio, West Virginia)Richard Hartley5538 Cary Ln.Columbus, OH 43232(614) 860-1198randjhartley@earthlink.net

#8 Turnpike (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, N. Y. City)Bob Nedwichnedwich@aol.com

#9 Deep South(Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina,Georgia, Alabama, Florida)Tom ThomasTomAndKate@aol.com

#10 South (Virginia)Rob Cunningham216 Charing Ct.Sterling, VA 20164(703) 444-2264

#11 Capitol (Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia)John ShireyGalleo@aol.com

#12 Central New York(New York -less NYC)Jeff Zornjrz3@cornell.edu202 Pine Tree Rd.Ithaca, NY 14850607-273-3168

#13 New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts,New Hampshire, Rhode Island)Todd Kaesertnkaeser@ici.net

This rear support is not currently thecase in DBA, but can be rationalizedby pointing to DBA’s larger scale.While Knight-types would now be-come more vulnerable to light chari-ots — by virtue of their eliminationif beaten by LH, whether their scoreis double or not — such matchupsare pretty much ahistorical anywayand should not be a big concern. Thepoint system was designed to dealwith this.

While Phil Barker and RichardBodley-Scott may not agree withPaul’s argument, or may agree buthave come to the conclusion too lateto do anything about it, it should beeasy for players to adopt my sug-gested fix in non-competition gamesof DBA or DBM. Comments andquestions are welcome by mail or bye-mail at rccun@juno.com.

Rob Cunningham,216 Charing, CourtSterling, VA 20164

A Banner for NASAMWBy Glen R. Boise

NASAMW has had a presenceat many wargaming conventions foryears. Yet, rarely was our Societyname visible anywhere, except in theconvention program. The U. S. Pikeand Shot Federation has had a ban-ner for several years. It was time forNASAMW to have one. With thisgoal in mind, I discussed with DarrelSmith, last year, about organizingcontributions toward purchasing abanner. With his support, I askedmembers, participating at the ColdWars 2000 tournaments, to contrib-ute money toward purchasing a ban-ner. Their reaction was gratifying.Twenty-three supported the idea withdonations totaling $156.00. The con-tributors names are listed below. Inaddition, the Executive Council votedto support the idea and on the basicdesign and colors.

It was time to produce the ban-

ner. Fortunately, one of our Chicagogamers had mentioned one of theirgroup worked for a sign company.He put me in touch with Rich George.Rich took the basic design and cre-ated a very nice banner design. Thebanner was printed by the displaysigns & design company (yes, it isall in lower case). It cost much lessthat I had originally thought. (Allremaining funds were donated toNASAMW.)

The banner is eight foot wideby three foot tall. It has the our soci-ety named spelled out in three linesin a nice carved looking serif font onthe right side. On the left is theNASAMW cataphract. A framestrip surrounds the whole banner.The printing is blue on a parchmentyellow background. I think it turnedout well. I hope the members, whosee it, will agree.

Members contributing to theNASAMW Banner: Jon Cleaves,Tim Grimmett, Chris Damour,Danny Weitz, John Shirey, JimBisignani, Allan Brown, Ed Harding,Mark Huml, Jeff Hady, Rich Hartley,Dave Ray, Wayne Carter, Jeff Zorn,Todd Kaeser, Chris Goldsmith, MarkHassam, Thomas T. Thomas, ScottDickson, Darrell Smith, LarryEssick, and one anonymous contribu-tor.

My thanks to all who contrib-uted to creating the banner.

Send your letters to Spearpoint viae-mail at tcsqd@aol.com or via

US mail to: Dan Hazelwood, 3372Gunston Road, Alexandria VA22314.

6 May/June 2000

By Darrell Smith

The following story is the inspiration for my building the EarlyLombard army in 25mm (DBM book 3 list 2) using Ral Partha Im-port (Citadel) and Irregular Miniatures figures. If it does not inspireyou to drop everything and build the army, I hope it will at leastprovide some background to the army lists. The early history of theLombards nation is one of endless huge victories over their enemiesand some legendary leaders worthy of a personality model on thetabletop. They perform well against historical opponents although Ihave trouble with them at tournaments.

Chronology470 Defeat of the Suebic tribes including the Lombards by Goths in

Pannonia

486 Rugians defeated by Odovacar, Barbarian King of ItalyLombards occupy Rugian lands near modern Vienna

488 Ostrogoths vacate Pannonia and invade Italy

505 Heruli masters force the Lombards to migrate to Hungarian Plain

508 Lombards break the Heruli in a great battle

526 Lombards defeat and subjugate remaining Suebic and Herulitribes in Noricum

510—540 Reign of King Wacho510 Lombards become Roman Federate Allies

540—565 Reign of King Audoin548—551 Revolt of pretender Hildigis

552 Lombard Allies aid Roman victory over Goths at Taginae

552 Defeat of the Gepids in the Battle of Asfeld

554 Avars migrate onto Hungarian Plain, East of the Gepids

565 - 573 Reign of King Alboin

566 Defeat of the Gepids in battle. Gepid king slain by Alboin

567 Gepid nation annihilated by Avars and Lombards

568 Invasion of Italy

571 Capture of Pavia, new capital of Lombard Kingdom

573 Assassination of King Alboin

573—574 Reign of King Cleph574—584 Inter-regnum with rule by Ducal

Assembly under the Zaban575 Lombards destroy Roman field army near Ravenna

584 An invasion by an army from the Frankish Kingdom is brokenby disease

584—590 Reign of King Authari588 Authari meets and completely destroys an invading Frankish

army

Ancient OriginsThe Germanic race of the Lombards

(or Langobards), originated in the lowerElbe Valley near the mouth of that riverand close to the lands of the Angles andSaxons who eventually invaded Britain.They were a typical tribal grouping at thattime and were mentioned by Tactitus inhis Germania as one of the many tribescollectively known as the Suebi. Theirname “Langobard” and later “Lombard”comes from the traditional long beardworn by the upper class noble warriors.Tacitus noted that they were small in num-ber and hemmed in by more powerfultribes. As the Suebi migrated South to-ward the glitter of the Roman Empire,the Lombards migrated with them. Theirreward for these efforts was defeat alongwith the other Suebic tribes at the handof the Emperor-to-be Tiberius in the FirstCentury and again by the EmperorMarcus Aurelius in the Second Century.Having uniformly failed to encroach uponthe Roman frontier, the Lombards are notheard from again until the Fifth Century.

Along with the other Germanictribes of the region, the Lombards wereincorporated into the huge Hunnic Em-pire until the battle of Nedao in 454 wherethe Western Germans rose up and crushedthe power of the Huns and their Gothicminions. Although they had sided withthe Huns during the Germanic revolt, theOstrogoths ended up being the mainpower in the post-Hun Germany. TheSuebic tribes drew the anger of the Goths,and this resulted in a military defeat in470, after which the bulk of the Suebictribes migrated westward into RomanGaul. The Lombards and a few othersmall Suebic tribes remained behind inthe forests north of the Danube in presentday Bavaria and Austria (Noricum andPannonia to the Romans). The Lombardswere not exceptionally numerous nor

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7Volume XV Issue 5

wealthy and consequently, they endedup being subservient to the Heruli, aGermanic tribe that had been a verypowerful force in the Hunnic Empire.Thus, around the turn of the 6th Cen-tury the Lombards found themselvesamong the woodlands and glens ofWestern Noricum with their Herulimasters to the East, Slavic tribes tothe North, Ostrogoths, Rugians,Sarmatians, and Gepids along theDanube and on the Hungarian Plainto the South and Southeast.

In 486, after Odovacar, theGermanic King of Italy, destroyed theRugian German tribes in EasternNoricum and Pannonia, theLombards took the opportunity tomove into the vacated territories. Thisbrought them lands on the banks ofthe Danube for the first time. It wasduring this period that the Lombardsprobably evolved their horse warriortradition. Whereas the Suebic tribesfought primarily as infantry in mas-sive tribal formations, the Lombardsadopted the mounted shock cavalrytactics and weaponry of the Gepids,Heruli, and other Germanic tribes ofthe plains. Although the lower classesof Lombard society went to war asinfantry (primarily as foot archerswith maybe a few spear armed in-fantry also) the noblemen, their re-tainers, and the gentry went to warequipped as heavy cavalry with metalarmor, lance, shield, and sword - notunlike the Sarmatian noble cavalryof previous centuries. Unlike theSarmatians, however, the Lombardnoblemen showed time and again thatthey were more than willing to getoff their horses and fight just asfiercely on foot alongside their lowercaste infantrymen.

Struggles on theHungarian Plain

Early in the Sixth Century, theLombards, under orders from theirHeruli masters, moved into Pannonia(part of modern Serbia) where theyestablished themselves as a power-

ful presence. The Heruliyoke was not endured formuch longer and in theyear 508 the Lombardsstruck. The Heruli weresoundly defeated in openbattle and their hostswere either absorbed intothe Lombard ranks, fledto the protection offriendly German tribes,or were exiled to Romanlands to serve as merce-nary settlers to that mas-ter in Constantinople.The defeat of the Herulibrought further lands, booty, andprestige to the Lombards. Up untilthis point in time, the Lombards hadbeen ruled by numerous princes andpetty kings, The victory over theHeruli acted as a catalyst for unifi-cation. The Lombard nation cameunder the control of one of the noblefamilies which was given credit forthe victory.

By 510 AD the leadership of thisnation had successfully been

concentrated under King Wacho whofostered friendly relations with theEastern Roman Empire. Wacho ne-gotiated a federate ally status withthe Romans. In return for protectingthe Roman frontier from other Ger-man tribes, the Lombards received apeace treaty, subsidies, and the for-mal recognition of their right to theirnew lands in Pannonia. It was at this

time that the Lombards converted tothe Arian form of Christianity. (TheArian “heresy” was popular amongthe Germanic tribes of the migrationperiod. It espoused the pure humannature of Christ and rejected the HolyTrinity.) Unfortunately, the move intoPannonia also resulted in an instantenmity with the other major tribe ofGermanic settlers on the HungarianPlain - the Gepids.

The Gepids were a Germanictribe which had provided the Hunsunder Attila with the largest of all his‘allied’ contingents and were the mostfavored of all the great Hun’s vas-sals. They proved staunch allies andformed the right wing of the Hunnicarmy at the Battle of Châlons in 451.But unlike the Ostrogoths, the Gepidsproved less than loyal in the long run.After Attila’s death, it had been theGepids who led the alliance of rebelGermans and Sarmatians that over-threw Hunnic domination and drovethe Huns out of Hungary back Eastafter the Battle of the Nedao in 454 .This victory provided the Gepids witha homeland in the EasternCarpathians and on the great Hun-garian Plain as nominal allies ofRome and also gave them supremacyover the other Germanic tribes of thearea. By 504 the Gepids had ex-panded across the lush Hungarianplain and ruled from the once Romancity of Sirmium in the Danube Val-ley.

8 May/June 2000

The Lombards attempted to get along with their Gepid neigh-bors. King Wacho went as far as to marry an exceedingly ugly Gepidprincess in order to strengthen the bonds between the two peoples.The effort was for naught. Hostilities between the Lombards andGepids could not be avoided and each year saw an escalation of theviolence over the previous year.

Wacho died in 540, and he was succeeded by Audoin. Sometime shortly after his succession, Audoin re-negotiated the Lombardtreaty as federates of the Empire. Under the terms of this renewedagreement, the Lombards were to protect the Roman border from theexternal German threat, most specifically the Gepids. The treaty alsorequired the Lombards to assist Emperor Justinian in his wars againstthe Ostrogoths in Italy and the Frankish tribes who had a habit ofvisiting Italy in huge numbers. The Eastern Romans were deeplyembroiled in a war with the Ostrogoths in Italy during the 540’s and550’s. During this time, especially after 550, many Lombards wererecruited to fight for the Romans.

Desultory skirmishes and border warfare with the Gepids wasconstant. The Gepids were less than ideal neighbors to both theLombards and the Romans. The Romans had become increasinglyfed up with the incessant Gepid border raids and extortions. In 546 ,the Romans employed their Lombard allies, under Audoin, to drivethe Gepids out of the strategically important region along the Danubeshoreline. Escalation to open and unfettered warfare between theLombards and the Gepids was the result.

To add to the complications, in 548 a pretender to the Lombardthrone, named Hildigis, rose up in revolt against the Lombard King.Hildigis was the son of a former petty king and claimant to theLombard throne. The suspicion is that he was egged on by the Gepids.Hildigis gathered up an army that included 300 Lombard cavalry-men and 7000 Gepid and Sclaveni mercenaries. After several incon-clusive attacks and increasing pressure from loyalist Lombard forces,Hildigis fought his way through to Italy and was expected to join theOstrogothic Army then fighting the Romans. For some unexplainedreason, Hildigis had second thoughts and turned back to resume his

fight for the Lombard throne. Things didnot go well, and by 551 he had been runto ground and killed by troops loyal tothe Lombard King Audoin.

Gathering all his strength after thedefeat of the rebels, Audoin marched onthe Gepids. At the Battle of Asfeld in 552,the Lombard army clashed decisivelywith the Gepids. The Gepids were crushedand fled to the eastern end of their do-main. The victory came at a considerablecost in lives to the Lombards. That sameyear saw the Battle of Taginae where theRoman general Narses defeated theOstrogothic army in Italy. A Lombardally contingent of dismounted noble cav-alrymen formed the core of Narses’ cen-tre at that battle and the victory went farin establishing a reputation for theLombards among the civilized folk ofItaly and the Roman East.

As enhanced as the Lombard reputa-tion was, the reality of the situation

was that the Gepid war in combinationwith the support for the Roman campaignin Italy had exhausted the Lombard na-tion. Audoin made several attempts tofinish off the Gepids, but was not suc-cessful. Just when the Lombards wereabout to admit they were not gaining any-thing in continuing the campaign againstthe Gepids, events on the Black Sea shoreat the mouth of the Danube provided anopportunity to renew the fight. In springof the year 553 a horde of Turko-Mon-gol horsemen from Central Asia calledthe Avars migrated into the Danube Val-ley. They quickly pushed into the Hun-garian Plain on the Eastern flank of theGepids. Audoin wasted no time makingan alliance with the Avars and as theLombards renewed pressure on the West,the Avars struck from the East. Remem-bering what a royal pain the Gepids hadbeen, the Roman Empire to the south re-fused to aid the Gepids. The struggles ofthe Gepids would last another 14 yearsbut their fate was sealed.

Albion, Hero and KingThe greatest hero of Lombard leg-

end was Alboin, the son of King Audoin.As a youth, Alboin served under his

A Lombard ally contingent of

dismounted noble cavalrymen formed

the core of Roman general Narses’

centre at the Battle of Taginae and the

victory went far in establishing a

reputation for the Lombards among

the civilized folk of Italy and the

Roman East.

9Volume XV Issue 5

father’s standard against the Gepids.He continually wowed the crowdswith feats of bravery, the most no-table being skewering a Gepid princewith his lance on the field during theBattle of Asfeld (552). Although hewas praised for these apparent mer-its, a Lombard prince was not per-mitted the full recognition ofmanhood unless he received hisknighthood from a foreign prince. Tosolve this problem, Alboin selected40 companions and boldly set out forthe royal court of the Gepid KingTurisund!

Alboin and his companions imposed upon the Gepids by us-

ing that tribe’s rules of hospitality andthe aging Gepid king reluctantly em-braced and entertained the Lombardwho had killed his son. Alboin andhis companions survived insults andinstigations from the Gepid crownprince, Cunimund, who was attempt-ing to lure the Lombards into break-ing the rules of hospitality. If theLombards were to break the rules,then the Gepid warriors could killthem. Mindful of his role as host,King Turisund protected theLombards, and, after the solemn ritesof investiture, gladly dismissed thestrangers. Alboin returned in triumphwith two things: his required confir-mation in manhood from a foreignprince, and an obsession for thegranddaughter of the Gepid king.During his visit, Alboin had seen andwas smitten by Rosamond, the youngdaughter of Cunimund. Although hewas already married, Alboin begana long obsession that would lead tothe ruination of a people and him-self.

In 565 Alboin’s father died.Shortly thereafter Alboin’s wife,Chlothsind (daughter of Lothar, Kingof the Franks) died which freed ourhero to openly pine for the GepidPrincess. He had high hopes of pos-sessing the fair Rosamond. For manyfruitless years, Alboin attempted tocontract a marriage to Rosamond and

corresponded with her father, nowKing Cunimund, who had also re-cently succeeded to the Gepid throne.But the Gepids had no interest inmarriage ties to an avowed enemyand rejected Alboin’s suit with con-tempt. Angered and insulted, Alboinrealized that the only way to getRosamond was to completely defeat

the Gepids and grab Rosamond aswar booty. Although his hostilityknew no bound, Alboin knew hisLombard army would not be able totriumph without help. Once again, thesolution was to bargain with theAvars. Alboin bargained for the for-midable aid of the Avar khan or“Chagan”. The Avars and Lombardssettled on a deal that provided theAvars with control over all liberatedlands, half the loot, and to seal thebargain, a down payment compris-ing a huge number of the Lombard’scattle herd. The Lombards got halfthe loot, but the agreement allowedthe Lombards to select the choicestitems for themselves. Alboin wasmaking sure that Rosamond wouldnot accidentally end up in an Avartent. Both the Lombards and theAvars recognized that their alliancewould allow them to rub out theGepids and then nothing would bestanding in the way of their combined

might. They would be able to rollacross the border into Roman landsat will! Being much less astute, theRoman Emperor Justin was focusedon his dissatisfaction with the ingrati-tude and perfidy of the Gepids, andhe abandoned the Gepid people totheir fate, and remained a spectatorof this unequal conflict.

Cunimund the Gepid lookedupon these developments with de-spair but quickly turned to anger andswift action. In the late spring of 566,when he was informed that the Avarshad entered his territory, Cunimundmobilized all of his forces and struckagainst the Lombards. Cunimundwas working on the hope that afterthe defeat of the Lombards, the Avarinvaders would easily be repelled.The Gepid king rushed forward toencounter Alboin, the bane of hisexistence and implacable enemy ofhis people. He was met by theLombard army which had linked upwith allied contingents from the Avarallies and some Franks looking for apiece of the fun. The battle was ter-rible and in the end, the courage ofthe Gepids could secure them nomore than an honorable death. Thebravest warriors of that nation fell inthe field of battle; thousands of pris-oners were taken by the Lombards;and King Alboin was presented withthe severed head of King Cunimund.In an old tradition of the barbariansteppe, Alboin had the skull ofCunimund fashioned into an ornatedrinking cup which he in future usedto slake his thirst and the hatred ofso long an enemy.

After this victory, there was noobstacle to impede the progress

of the allies and they faithfully ex-ecuted the terms of their agreement.The Gepid lands which correspondroughly with present day Hungaryand Romania were occupied withoutresistance by the Avars. The nationof the Gepids was dissolved and thepeoples of that nation were splitamong the victors as so much loot.

The bravest

warriors of that

nation fell in the

field of battle and

King Alboin was

presented with

the severed head

of King

Cunimund.

10 May/June 2000

The share that fell into the clutches of the Avars and enslaved wereless fortunate than the captives of the Lombards. The Lombards’animosity was assuaged by the victory and the Gepid captives wereintegrated into the Lombard nation. The material wealth split amongthe victors was considerable - in the camp of Alboin was more wealththan a barbarian could readily compute. The fair Rosamond was per-suaded, or compelled, to acknowledge the rights of her victoriousLombard suitor and was wed to Alboin without delay.

The Avars wiped out what small pockets of Gepid resistanceremained after the battle. By late in the year 567, the Avars were incomplete control and now had succeeded the Huns as the rulers of theEuropean Steppe and the latest menace to all of Europe. The destruc-tion of the mighty Gepid kingdom established the fame of Albointhroughout the German world. As late as the days of Charlemagne,all the peoples speaking Germanic languages - including Bavarians,Saxons, and Franks, still repeated the legends and songs which de-scribed the heroic virtues, the valor, liberality, and fortune of Alboin,King of the Lombards.

Italian InvasionThe victory celebration was short lived. The Avars proved no

better a neighbor than the Gepids had been. The Lombards cast theireye at Italy across the mountains of Istria. Many of the Lombardswere quite familiar with Italy. It was during their campaigns as mer-cenaries for Justinian that many Lombards became familiar with thePo Valley and its incomparable fertility. Not fifteen years had elapsedsince Lombard warriors, in the pay of the Roman General Narses,had visited the pleasant climate of Italy. The mountains, the rivers,the highways, all were familiar to their memory. These Lombardwarriors, remembering their recent success against the Gepids andviewing the spoils of war, were full of enthusiasm for another adven-ture. After extensive deliberation, Alboin and his council decided thatthe best hope for his people lay in Italy itself; the lands which theyhad recently helped the Empire to re-conquer from the Ostrogoths.He encouraged his court of noblemen by the spirit and eloquence ofhis speech. He also spoke to their senses by serving at a royal feastthe fairest and most exquisite citrus fruits, olives, dates, and wines.These fancy foods along with the fond memories of those who hadmarched all over Italy did the trick. No sooner had Alboin erected hisstandard, than the native strength of the Lombards flocked to him.Word spread quickly and Alboin’s forces were multiplied by the ad-venturous youths from all over Germany and places East. The forcesswelled with Gepids, Sarmatians, Hunnic Bulgars, and minor Suebictribes throwing in their lot with the Lombards. In a sinister develop-ment, young Queen Rosamond wasprotected by a personal bodyguardof Gepid warriors who had remainedloyal to the house of Cunimund.Other adventurers, amongst themBavarians, 20,000 Saxons,Thuringians, and Taifali, joined theinvasion en route. The Lombard war-rior caste itself was modest in num-ber. The addition of all these

adventurers and their families, livestock,and chattel swelled the host significantly.In addition, the robust once-Roman peas-antry of Pannonia and Noricum, whichhad resumed the manners of their bar-barian hosts, was mobilized as part ofthe host. These part free or enslaved min-ions further swelled the size of theLombard migration although they addedlittle to its fighting ability.

In order to facilitate the prepara-tions for an Italian invasion, Alboin con-cluded another deal with the Chagan ofthe Avars. Committed to the enterprise,the Lombards looked for a way to calmthe border disputes with the Avars longenough to pack up and get away. Theagreement made declared that the Avarswould wait for the Lombards to leave,would take title to all the Lombard landsin Pannonia after they were gone, and anew border would be established at theDinaric Alps, separating Italy fromPannonia. The Avars even sheepishlysmiled when signing up to a provision inthe agreement that should the Lombardinvasion prove unsuccessful, the Avarswould give back to the Lombards theirold lands. Luckily for the Lombards, theywere never in need of testing that con-tract item.

It was an incredibly diverse host thatAlboin found himself leading. Within

the host, every mode of religion was freelypracticed by the variously faithful. Theking of the Lombards and his people hadbeen educated in the Arian heresy as pre-viously stated. In addition, his forces in-cluded worshipers of the Catholic faithwho prayed for Alboin’s conversion,German tribesmen faithful to Woden’spantheon who made blood sacrifice for asuccessful invasion, and followers fromthe steppe of various animistic religionswho sacrificed she-goats and studied theentrails for signs of coming success. Whatunited this dangerously diverse horde wasthe charisma and foresight of KingAlboin. This common attachment to achief, who excelled in all the virtues andvices of a savage hero, provided the co-hesive force among all these differentpeoples. That cohesion was strengthenedwith ample preparations since Alboin

11Volume XV Issue 5

made certain all were fed, clothed,and arms supplied to those who wereto march into Italy with him. Thecaptured wealth of the late Gepidnation funded the expedition’s prepa-rations. What was left over, alongwith all of the portable wealth of theLombards was packed into ox cartsand attended the march into Italy.

After lengthy preparations, inApril 568 Alboin fulfilled his bargainwith the Avars by launching his fol-lowers on their mass migration south-westward into Northern Italy, leavingPannonia for the Chagan. As theyadvanced, the vacuum left behindthem was filled by Avars and theminions of the Avars - the Bulgarsand Slavs. Lothar, King of the Franksleapt at the opportunity to expand hisdomain and after sweeping up theremnants of the Suebic peoples hesettled them in what had been thewestern end of the Lombard domain.These Germanic folk occupied theforestlands and pastures of Bavariawhich was named for them - Swabia.

Alboin could not have chosena better target for his invasion. Italywas exhausted and devastated fromthe recent campaigns of the EasternRoman Empire which had liberatedthe peninsula from the rule of theOstrogoths. The Roman occupationforce that was left behind when theRoman armies departed were feeble,underpaid and poorly led. The Ro-man forces were distributed in pennypacket garrisons in the major townsacross the country. This was neces-sary to address the threat of civilunrest among the Italian populace -caused mainly by the Roman tax col-lectors who had returned with the re-stored Roman rule. The populationwinced at their demands after gen-erations of much more friendly treat-ment at the hands of the Goths. Ontop of these problems was the addedfactor of political turmoil. The newRoman Emperor, Justin, was an idiot.His wife really ruled for him and shefoisted a progression of incompetentgovernors on the Italian province.

Narses, the hero of the reconquest,had been cast aside and had retiredto Naples. Under threat of being in-dicted for embezzlement, Narses wasresigned to never return East. His re-venge upon the Empire was theLombard. From his haven in Naples,Narses fed information and encour-agement to the Lombards during theirinvasion until his death shortly there-after. The Italian populace was notdisposed toward the Lombards, buttheir complete demoralization underRoman rule coupled with the terrify-ing reputation by now attributed tothe Lombards meant that there wasno active resistance to the Lombardinvasion. Garrisons would passivelyattempt to hold out, but the Lombardswould not see a Roman field armyfor years to come.

Alboin quickly seized Friuli,Aquileia, and much of the Ve-

netian plain. The only Roman fieldarmy, a withered force based atRavenna under an inactive com-mander did not attempt to stop theLombard incursion. Residents of theItalian countryside fled at theLombards’ approach. Some retreatedto the barrier islands along the shoreof the Northern Adriatic Sea, wherethey became part of the urban devel-opment which was to become the city

of Venice. By September of 569,Milan and the other large cities ofNorthern Italy had fallen. Pavia,equipped with a well-drilled militiaand defenses fortified by the Goths,held out against the Lombards forthree years. While the rest of North-ern Italy was subdued by detach-ments from the main army, KingAlboin and his main force was en-camped before the Western Gate ofPavia. The courage of the citizenryof this city provokes the fury of theLombards and Alboin had boundhimself to an oath that when the cityfell there would be no quarter shownto any inhabitants. The aid of fam-ine at length forced the city to yieldand enabled Alboin to execute hisbloody vow. The legend says that asAlboin entered the gate his horsestumbled, fell, and could not be raisedfrom the ground. One of his atten-dants interpreted this miraculous signof the wrath of Heaven. This causedAlboin to pause and consider. Hesheathed his sword and peacefully oc-cupied the palace of Theodoric. Heproclaimed to the trembling multitudethat they would live if they sworefealty to the Lombard crown. De-lighted with his victory, King Alboinestablished Pavia as his capital. Thiscity was to remain the capital of theLombard Kingdom for the next two

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centuries. With the gain of Pavia, Alboin was largely in control of thePo Valley. He swept southwards into Tuscany and by 573 had reachedthe walls of Rome itself. North of Rome, only a few fortified cities(foremost, Mantua and Padua) and mountain strongholds remainingin Imperial hands. Italy had no government in the proper sense of theword and the Emperor was powerless to intervene. Justinian’s tri-umph in having re-conquered Italy was exposed as a terrible error injudgement; all he had achieved was to replace the stable and rela-tively friendly Kingdom of the Ostrogoths with a Lombard barbariananarchy.

Alboin’s efforts were continually focused on conquest and he madelittle effort to consolidate the gains into any sort of order. The

resistance was just too weak and the lure of further conquest provedtoo overpowering - there was always one more city to capture. Alboinretained a central authority based upon his powerful field army thattraveled everywhere with him. He supervised the distribution of wealthand titles, making his nephew Gisulf the Duke of Friuli and appointedother military leaders as dukes in each city or town he subdued. SomeLombard chiefs continued on their own, bypassed Rome, and invadedlower Italy to establish there the independent Duchies of Spoleto andBeneventum.

Being a culturally Romanized section of the Roman army, theLombards naturally adopted the Mediterranean cloak fastened with afibula marking the owner’s wealth and status.

Alboin was murdered in 573. He had forcibly married the Gepidprincess, Rosamund, daughter of King Cunimund, and it was shewho had him killed, after he had made her drink from her father’sskull.

King Alboin’s glory was to end before seeing the reduction ofthe city of Rome. In a captured palace near Verona he feasted withhis companions and had too much to drink. After draining many bowlsof wine, he called for the skull of Cunimund, the most precious orna-ment of his sideboard. After drinking toasts to his men, Alboin wentbeyond the pale and forced his queen to drink from the cup madefrom her father’s skull. Rosamond did as she was bid but then andthere resolved to wash away this insult with the blood of her hus-band. Alboin had let Rosamond maintain a personal guard of loyalGepid warriors. With their protection she had fostered relationshipswith two lovers who she now resolved to employ to kill the king.

Helmichis, the king’s armor-bearer, wasone of her lovers but he was afraid of theKings strength and his own disgrace forsuch an act. Rosamond knew he wouldneed help. Peredeus, her other lover shecoerced into action by a threat to informthe king of his disloyalty. In this alterna-tive he chose to be the queen’s accom-plice than her victim. She expected andsoon found a favorable moment, when theking was again drunk. She drugged him,comforted him until he dozed off, tied hissword in its scabbard, and then let in herassassin lovers armed with spears.Startled awake by the attack, the warriorking grabbed a stool and held his ownuntil the drugs and many wounds tooktheir toll. Rosamond smiled and buriedhis body under the staircase of the pal-ace. The Lombards left him there afterthey discovered the treason, revering forposterity the tomb and the memory oftheir victorious leader.

Initially the ambitious Rosamondhad the audacity to try and reign in thename of her lover backed up by theVeronese citizenry and her Gepid body-guard. But the Lombard chiefs collectedtheir forces and called for the life of thequeen and her conspirators. As her lastresort, she fled with her loyalists and herdaughter (Alboin’s only heir) to the EastRomans at Ravenna. She quickly movedinto the Roman governor’s bedroom andattempted to eliminate her lovers whowere now a liability. When she poisonedHelmichis’ wine, he suspected foul playat the taste and forced her to drink theremainder. Alboin’s daughter andRosamond’s other lover, Peredeus (whowas blinded by the poison but survived)were sent to Constantinople for safe keep-ing.

After AlboinAlboin’s successor, chosen by ac-

clamation of the Lombard dukes, wasCleph. A relative of Alboin, he was torule but a year and some few months be-fore being also murdered. Cleph was con-fronted with the dual problems ofmaintaining the cohesion within theLombard army and organizing his king-

13Volume XV Issue 5

dom. In order to continue to providegrants of money and lands to his fol-lowers, King Cleph turned upon theremaining Italian landholders andmunicipal governments. He merci-lessly stripped wealth and privilegefrom the his Roman subjects, eventhose who had sworn allegiance.Those that protested were put to thesword without hesitation. Pope Gre-gory, writing of the Lombard occu-pation, said, “On all sides we seewar, on all sides we hear groans. Ourcities are destroyed, our strongholdsrazed, the countryside desolate.There is no one to till the fields; noone almost to keep the towns… Somehave gone into slavery, some are leftlimbless, some slain.” These expe-dients provided Cleph with the abil-ity to reward some minions but it wasnot enough. These gifts to the noblesdid not offset the growing unrestamong the dukes because of theKing’s attempts to centralize controlof the realm. The Lombard Dukescontinued to conquer individual Ro-man towns: in 578 the port of Classisfell to the Lombards and in 579 Romeitself was besieged.

Although there was only a one-sided brutal sort of social inte-

gration going on in this early period,the Lombards were affected by Ro-man culture none the less. Through-out the invasion period and earlykingdom covered by this article, theLombards retained their traditionaldress of colorful horizontally stripedtunics and white leggings. Their ar-mor of iron lamellar or scale, ironspangenhelm headgear, and colorfulsegmented round shields also re-mained largely unchanged. TheLombards did however adopt Byz-antine armor components, swords,gold inlay on the cuirasses and or-nate helmets. The Lombards alsoadopted Roman hairstyles , slowlyeliminating the long beards for whichthey were so well known. Romanitems of civilian dress also werequickly adopted such as cloaks,broaches, belts, and shoes. These

changes are not surprising when youconsider the general impact of arough barbarian culture when con-fronted by elegance. The fact thathuge quantities of these items were

taken as booty would be a major fac-tor as well.

One of the challenges to hisplans to form a homogeneous nation,Cleph was confronted by the largecontingent of Saxons which had mi-grated with the Lombards. These folkwished to establish their own littleSaxony-away-from-home completewith king, law book, and indepen-

dence from the Lombards. TheLombard king insisted that anyoneliving within the Lombard realm sub-scribe to Lombard law and owe fe-alty to the Lombard king. Dissatisfiedwith this answer and unable to find aplace for themselves, the Saxons gaveup in disgust and marched out of Italyintent on either returning home orfinding a more suitable home. Theynever made it. Once across the Alpsinto Noricum, the Saxons fell uponthe newly established Frankish prov-ince of Swabia and began to man-handle the locals. The Frankish KingLothar marched out and destroyedthem for their efforts.

Cleph had much less success inreigning in his Lombard dukes.

The Lombard nobility were unusedto central control and the evils oftaxation, law courts, or royal decree.They did not take well to Cleph’s at-tempts to bring order to Italy. In shortorder, there was a conspiracy, one ofthe exasperated noblemen volun-teered, and Cleph was assassinated.

In 574, after the short rule andmurder of King Cleph Lombard rulefell to an alliance of the major dukesand princes. These noblemen did notwant a tight central control and de-cided to set up a decentralized DucalAssembly. Lombard tradition

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King Cleph

mercilessly

stripped wealth

and privilege

from the his

Roman subjects,

even those who

had sworn

allegiance.

14 May/June 2000

records that there were thirty-five dukes and they formed a looseruling council that met twice a year. This federation was nominallyunder the overall command of a single battle leader known as theZaban who ruled from Pavia. In reality, the Zaban could not countupon any more resources than were at his personal command unlesshe wasted a lot of energy convincing the council that a combinedresponse was required. Just such an event occurred during the year575 when the Romans finally put together a field army and chal-lenged the Lombards in open battle. Although the Romans had nego-tiated a three-year peace treaty with the Lombards, the Emperorassigned his son-in-law, Baduarius to build an army and defeat theLombards. Baduarius was provided forces freed from the Avar fron-tier (they had a three-year peace treaty also) and additional Germanallies (most likely Heruli). The Lombards were quick to recognizethe danger and united under their Zaban they marched out to meet the

Roman counter offensive. The anarchy of the Lombard kingdom hadnot lessened their fighting ability and the Roman army was annihi-lated and its commander killed. That day of battle showed that theLombard army formation could not be easily dealt with by the Byz-antine military doctrine. The Lombards used their tried and true for-mula of two cavalry lines (most heavily armed nobles up front backedby a line of lesser well armed retainers and gentry) supported on bothflanks by large numbers of footmen equipped with bow, sword andshield. The impetus of the Lombard cavalry line could not easily beresisted and the capable archers proved sure protection on the flanks.

The Ducal Assembly refused to address any rules for the orga-nization of the kingdom and for the next ten years the Lombardsbehaved in the worst traditions of barbarian conquerors; murderinglandlords and seizing their lands, plundering the countryside and tak-ing the towns for themselves. The lack of centralized control meantthat a lot of the Lombard potential was lost to internal squabbles anddelay. As these years went by, the Lombards dukes were increasinglyindependent and consequently at the mercy of the well-organized pow-ers in the region — primarily the Frankish Kings. The Franks in-creasingly intervened, acted as agents for the Roman Emperor or thePope, and were well on the way toward making the Lombards tribu-tary to the Frankish crown. The Lombards brought much of this onthemselves since those Lombard dukes near the Gallic border feltfree to raid the Frankish Kingdom at will. The problem came to ahead in 584 when a Frankish army, funded by East Roman and Papalmoney, was dispatched by King Childebert to eject the Lombards

from Italy. The Lombards were disunitedand bickering and thus incapable ofmounting any kind of cohesive defense.Luckily for the Lombards, the Frankisharmy was struck by disease and forcedto retire. This incident and the recover-ing Eastern Roman forces at port citiesconvinced a powerful faction within theDucal Assembly that it was time to re-store the monarchy and build a LombardKingdom that could defend itself fromoutsiders. Under this threat, and with thepresence of hostile Slavs and Avars inIstria, and a new very competent RomanEmperor on the throne (Maurice) theLombards re-established a unified mon-archy under Authari son of Cleph.

Authari and the LombardItalian Kingdom

Under Authari (584-590) and hisstepson Agilulf (590-616), the embryonicLombard kingdom began to mature. Theautonomous duchies were reorganizedinto an army-controlled system of terri-tories, each still ruled by a duke but un-der strong requirements to provide troopsand taxes to the king. Only Spoleto andBenevento were not effectively integratedinto this new system. The years of wan-ton predations upon the Italian populacehad led to the destruction of the old Ro-man landed classes and the last shreds ofRoman law. During Authari’s reign, thepolitical and legal vacuum was filled byLombard law. Thus, unlike the GermanKingdom of Odovacar and the ItalianKingdom of the Ostrogoths, both of whichruled with a dual system of German lawsfor Germans and Roman laws for Ital-ians, the new Lombard order establishedone system of law for the whole popu-lace which was a German system of lawthat increasingly included Roman fea-tures.

With restored military might, KingAuthari proved to be a great warrior kingand began the recovery of lost territories.The Lombards had lost all but Pavia andMilan to Frankish forces before the im-pact of plague had caused the Franks towithdraw. In a series of campaigns andmilitary demonstrations, the Lombards

The anarchy of the Lombard kingdom

had not lessened their

fighting ability and

the Roman army was annihilated

and its commander killed.

15Volume XV Issue 5

convinced the Frankish garrisonsone-by-one to return home until theLombard Kingdom was restored.When a Frankish army showed up in585, Authari negotiated a withdrawalby the enemy whose hearts were notin another campaign like the previ-ous year and whose ranks were tornby animosity between the regionalcontingents within the Frankish army.As part of his effort to protect him-self against the Franks, Authari mar-ried Theudelinde, daughter of DukeGaribald of Bavaria. By this movehe neutralized that border as a av-enue of Frankish invasion and estab-lished a potential ally if operationsagainst the Franks were called for.When the Frankish treat again mate-rialized, the Lombards were ready forthem.

In 588, the Frankish KingChildebert II sent another Frankisharmy into Italy. The threat was mademore serious by an East Roman armythat took the field and besiegedModena and Parma. Childebert wasresuming the effort for the East Ro-mans that was promised by his fa-ther to eject the Lombards from Italy.The results this time were very dif-ferent. The restored Lombard armyled by King Authari cut the Franksto pieces while the valiant defendersof Modena and Parma held up theEast Romans. Most of the troops inthe Frankish army were either cap-tured or slaughtered, the remnants oftheir army fled in small groups backacross the Maritime Alps . Geoffreyof Tours reported that “The destruc-tion of the Frankish army was suchthat nothing like it could be remem-bered.” The East Romans stormedthe two cities they were besieging butabandoned them when they heard thatthe franks had been defeated. Autharilaunched a pursuit of the Romanarmy and chased it sport-like all theway to the toe of Italy. Authari’s pur-suit, having turned into a looting ex-pedition, took him all the way toImperial city of Rhegium.Constantinople was so traumatized

by the incursion that no East Romanarmy took the field against Lombardyfor a generation.

Under the influence of the Bavarian princess, Theudelinde (al-

ready related to the Lombard royalhouse through her mother, and thewife first of Authari, then of her step-son, Agilulf), the Lombards gradu-ally began to convert to Catholicism,although the king initially resistedthis. When Authari died unexpectedlyin 590, his queen, Theodelinda ne-gotiated with the dukes to select assuccessor the man Authari wished toinherit, his stepson — the ThuringianDuke Agilulf of Turin. Agilulf’s reignbegan a period of stability in theLombard Kingdom and a period ofpeaceful relations with the Franks.The groundwork laid by these earlyLombards resulted in a powerfulkingdom that ruled Northern Italy for200 years and still provides the nameof that region on the Italian map.Even after the Lombard Kingdomwas absorbed into the kingdom ofCharlemagne, the southern LombardDuchies of Spoleto, Benevento, andLater Salerno and Capua were tokeep Lombard culture alive until theend of the 11th Century.

BIBLIOGRAPHYBarker, Phil and Scot, R.B. ArmyLists for use with DBM WargamesRules Book 3: 476 AD to 1071 AD

Bury, J.B. The Invasion of Europe bythe Barbarians (1987, reprint -TheNorton Library 1967)

Duckett, Eleanor S. The Gateway tothe Middle Ages: Italy (Dorset 1938,1966)

Furnival, Mark. Dark Ages web siteat mark.furnival@btinternet.com(1999)

Gibbon, Edward. Decline and Fall ofthe Roman Empire (1776)

Grant, Michael. The RomanEmperors (Weidenfeld & Nicolson,1996)

Gregory of Tours. The History of theFranks (Tr. L. Thorpe, Penguin, 1974)

Heath, Ian. Armies of the Dark Ages600 - 1066 (WRG Publication, 1980)

Llewellyn, Peter. Rome in the DarkAges (Dorset ,1993)

Norwich, Lord J.J. Byzantium: TheEarly Centuries (Guild, 1988)

Tacitus, The Germania (Tr. H.Mattingly, Penguin, 1948)

The Times Atlas of World History(Guild, 1978)

Wolfram, Herwig. History of theGoths (University of California Press,1988)

DBM V3.0 EditionFinalized

DBM V 3.0 has beenfinalised and will be availablefrom WRG soon. The amend-ments are as in the final versionon my web page. If (inadvertently)there are any differences betweenthe version on the web page andthe final printed version, theprinted version from WRG is theONLY OFFICIAL VERSION.

The DBM 2nd edition listerrata are now official and are dis-played on my web page. WRGwill be distributing an identicalamendment sheet.

Book 1 2nd edition has alsobeen finalised and will be avail-able from WRG soon.

We do not anticipate mak-ing any further amendments to anypart of the DBM system for a verylong time, so you can stop send-ing in suggestions! We are sorryif anyone does not like any of theamendments (or any amendmentsat all), but the majority opinionamongst those that have expressedan opinion is in favour.

— Richard Bodley Scotthttp://www.byzant.demon.co.uk

16 May/June 2000

����������������

������NO sense historically), and the battle willprobably be won by the first player toroll 6-1 with an overlap, WAB clearlyscores very well.

After mechanics, the second differ-ence that sets WAB apart from the WRGsystems is philosophy. WAB is designedto be an old style ‘brandy and cigars inthe War Room’), (to borrow from Fire-side Theatre, for you oldsters), game forconsenting adults. Much is purposely leftunsaid, so that players may use commonsense and historical relevance to deal withunusual situations. As a little historicalbackground, WRG used to employ thesame philosophy, but was undone by itsown success as a tournament set of rules.Between fifth and 6th edition a fundamen-tal change occurred- now all situationswere explicitly covered in the rules, andif what was transpiring made absolutelyno sense, you played it that way anyway.Hence the famous ‘Hey, I didn’t write therules’ defense for the most outrageousconduct. One example being the famous‘looping river’ that meandered back andforth from table edge to table edge, turn-ing the entire battlefield into the Ever-glades. It was actually allowed, being‘legal’ until a rules change corrected theabuse.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both philosophies. To see the

downside of the WRG philosophy, oneneed only tune in to the DBM MessageGroup, where, led by two of the mostegregious rules lawyers on the planet, thisgang seems to have devoted their lives totaking what was supposed to be a simpleand playable set of rules, and battering itinto unrecognizable wreckage. On theother hand, as others have pointed out,no one wants to lose a tournament game

�����������������������

By Tom McMillen

As most Ancients gamers are aware, some folks from GamesWorkshop have recently adapted their Warhammer Fantasy Battlesrules for historical gaming. This apparently simply started as a laborof love by some of the GW designers, notably Jervis Johnson andNigel Stillman, but has received enough acceptance to stand on itsown merits. WAB is not exactly published by GW; Mr. Johnson andfriends are doing this as a separate venture.

WAB is the latest in a long line of straightforward, ‘buckets ofdice’ Ancients rules, with a lineage that runs from Featherstonethrough Chainmail, KATMA, and Tactica and Armati. Figures incontact, and properly armed back rankers, roll to hit, (if unmodifiedneeding 4+), then to wound, (ditto), then those wounded roll to savebased on their armor (generally a 5+ or so). This is followed by cal-culation of a combat resolution score, based on number of woundscaused, number of back ranks, and such modifiers as flank and rearattacks, after which the loser takes a morale check, subtracting theamount he lost the combat by from his ‘Leadership’ (i.e. morale)rating. If a 2D6 roll exceeds your modified Ld you run. This isgenerally 7, but you may use the general’s 9 or 10 if he is nearby, andyou can reroll if the army standard is nearby, so at the crucial sectorof the battlefield troops tend to be tenacious.

What seems to set WAB apart from most of its predecessors isnot anything new or different, but simply that the system has

been refined through several editions of WFB, and play tested bytens of thousands of gamers, to the point where it is quick, realistic,and elegant. The best way to demonstrate this is by simply crunchingsome numbers. As an example, take the basic melee from our demogame that follows- a unit of 32 Egyptian spearmen, frontage of 8,four ranks deep, charges a unit of Roman legionaries, same frontagebut two ranks deep. The Egyptians, charging, go first. Sixteen fight,8 hit, 4 wound, 2-3 save, so 1-2 wounds. The Romans fight back, 14attack, 7 hit, 4-5 wound, no saves, the Egyptians lose by about 3. So,if the general and army standard are near by, (and at least one shouldbe, as this is a significant event), the Egyptians will get 2 rolls for a 7or less, or they will break. Of course, dice are never what we expect,so they will probably be either testing on 8 or above (easy) or 6 orless (very iffy.) Simple, exciting, elegant. If we compare this to 7th,where Romans go through Egyptians like an axe through butter, orDBM, where the two are identical, (the Romans have the advantageof being cheaper per element frontage, so a longer line, which makes

17Volume XV Issue 5

POSITIONS AVAILABLE

EVENTS COORDINATOR ASS. EDITOR

We are in desperate need for someone to step forward and keep ourCalendar of Events up to date. This is a position that will require a bit ofyour time E-mailing coordinators around the country, checking on dates,venue, etc. Keeping track of tournys, demonstration games, and conven-tions for the various rule systems currently being played.

Additionally, major conventions abroad need to be covered. Thereare currently such conventions in a number of countries, but I’ve only hadthe time to solicit information from the Brits, and the IWF’s events.

This position will not requires a great deal of your time, and you willbe rewarded with the warm fussy feeling one gets when making a contri-bution to a good cause.

����������������North American Society of Ancient and MedievalWargamers: 2000 Officer Election Results

Submitted by:

Glen R. Boise, Election SupervisorMay 21, 2000

The final tally of the twenty-three (23) ballots received for the 2000NASAMW Officer Elections, as of May 20, 2000, is as follows:

For President: Scott McDonald 21; Write In Candidate 2;Abstaining/Not Voting 0;

For Vice President: Chris Damour 20; Write In Candidate 3;Abstaining/Not Voting 0;

For Secretary: Darrell Smith 23; Write In Candidate 0;Abstaining/Not Voting 0;

For Treasurer: Scott Dickson 23; Write In Candidate 0;Abstaining/Not Voting 0;

For the Ballot Question:

Shall Larry Essick be confirmed as a LifetimeVice-President?Yes 19; No 2; ; Abstaining/Not Voting 2.

Congratulations to the candidates on their victories.

because you were the ‘nice guy’, andyour opponent continually swindledyou with aggressive interpretationsof gray areas. One example of howWAB sometimes goes too far in thisregard - in WAB, mounted troopsare not allowed to charge phalanxesfrontally. (Nor would they generallywant to!) However, when it waspointed out to Jervis (I just can’t callhim Mr. Johnson much longer) thatthe whole raison d’être of scythedchariots was to bash frontally intopike phalanxes, he replied that if hewas a tournament director he wouldprobably allow that one. For most ofus, having deployed our phalanxesdirectly in front of the scythed chari-ots believing we were immune, thiswould move to the top of the list of‘Things that make you say “HUH?”

As a brief digression scythedchariots are handled very well

in WAB - they cause a fear check ininfantry, then crash in and causeD6+2 automatic high strength hits,then on a roll of 2+ they die. So theyhave a large random factor, can causehavoc or be useless. And, as they areexpensive, they are a real gamble.Once again, this compares favorablywith DBM, and VERY favorablywith 7th.)

The potential pitfalls of somelack of specificity in the rules havingbeen noted, however, it should be saidthat they still play very well in a tour-nament situation. I played in theWAB tournament at Fall In, and donot recall a single problem that couldnot be fairly resolved either by con-sulting the book or asking the TD fora ruling.

The third, and, to my mind, byfar most important difference be-tween WAB and the WRG sets is thematter of Army Lists. WAB concen-trates on historically prominentarmies, about which we have a goodidea of fighting methods, and the listsinclude special rules to representthese strengths and weaknesses.Thus, you don’t have the WRG prob-

18 May/June 2000

lem that Bactrian Greeks are a better fighting force than Alexanderbecause we are well informed about Alexander’s army, and obscurityis an advantage. Nor does anyone look at you as the village idiotbecause you entered a tournament with the army of Caesar. And thespecial rules are frankly, just plain cool. Phalanxes, for example,gain major advantages fighting to their front, but can’t maneuverworth a damn other than to move straight ahead or drift to their right.Assyrians terrorize their opponents; the ferocious charge of theNormans and Crusaders has similar psychological effects. Vikingberserkers race out of their units, cause a significant, though highlyrandom amount of damage, then die. Or, consider my personal favor-

ite — Persians have a lot of very nice auxiliary troops from subjectnations, Bactrians, Sakae, and such. However, except for the intrin-sic Persian infantry and cavalry, these troops ‘fear’ all enemy they donot greatly outnumber, and therefor need to take an (often very risky)morale check before they charge or are charged. Thus, the Persianarmy, which looks so good on paper, causes real headaches for itsgeneral, because your army may choose to run away when you havethings well in hand. This simulates the situation better than otherrules I have seen. Finally, consider the amalgam that is theCarthaginians. The infantry center gets the phalanx rules, the Gaulsand Spaniards get an ‘unreliability’ clause (not as drastic as the Per-sian one, to be sure, but enough to screw up your plans if you dependon them.) As a representation of Hannibal’s pluses and minuses, this,like the other Lists, is good stuff.

Finally, consider the Republican Romans and their long-suffer-ing manipular legion. I’ve always wanted to paint up this army, butin DBM who in their right mind would have a second line of bladesand a third line of superior spearmen, to replace those who fall? In

WAB Romans get a special rule whereunits within 4" to the rear of an engagedunit may replace it in combat, as the en-gaged unit takes casualties that start tocost the back ranks so vital for winningcombats. The new unit counts as charg-ing, which, with the pilum against a foewho has been taking casualties, will be avery threatening event. A good exampleof the flexibility of this simple appearingsystem to reflect the way a specific armyfought.

Those familiar with WarhammerFantasy, will find these rules to be verysimilar, hence a good way to attract newgamers to our hobby. What changes thereare improvements. Chariots have a singleprofile, so you no longer deal separatelywith horse, chariot, and crew. When a unitbreaks from combat, he rolls to rout, andthen you roll to pursue. If your roll ishigher you catch him and he dies, so youno longer have to work out relative dis-tances including turns, diversion aroundfriends, etc.

Of course, there are a few quibbles.The Samurai List is horrendous. An

admitted testimonial to Kurosawa mov-ies, every Samurai has the stats of a‘champion’, and units get ridiculous ad-vantages. Do not play a trial game withthe Samurai to see if you like the system!

The ‘unit leader’ rule is dumb,doesn’t work, and should be dropped.Barbarian cavalry has a Ld value that isway too low. This was simply an over-sight—Warbands get an intrinsically lowleadership, but it is bolstered by a bonusfor each rank, so as long as they mob upthey are fine, as their numbers dwindlethey get very fragile (another really neatidea). Unfortunately barbarian cavalryalso have the same low value, but don’tget the rank bonus, so a whole Gothicarmy runs away at the first rout. Evenmore unfortunately, when the rulesauthor was queried on this, he replied, inclassic WRG fashion, it was intentional,as barbarian cavalry is supposed tobe brittle, which really makes no senseat all.

Fortunately, however, what fewproblems there are should be sorted out

Those familiar with Warhammer

Fantasy, will find these rules to be

very similar, hence a good way to

attract new gamers to our hobby.

19Volume XV Issue 5

as the Army lists for periods are pub-lished. At the time of this writing onlythe Chariot Period is specifically cov-ered, though the Viking and Fall ofRome supplements may be availableby the time you read this. (I think,maybe a Successors one is plannedbefore the Fall of Rome, I am not ‘inthe loop’ here.) The initial Lists werea quick survey to get things started,and some aspects will undoubtedlybe rethought in the period books.

Bottom line, then, is that this isa well thought out, well presented setof rules that plays well and providesa quality simulation. I am not play-ing salesman here that they are ‘bet-ter’ than DBM or 7th, like golf vs.tennis they are simply different. Butthey are well worth a look, and if yougive them an open-minded try youwill probably be pleasantly surprised.

The Battle of Mer-kan-hop

To illustrate WAB in action, ourclub set up a large four-player battleusing the Imperial Roman and NewKingdom Egyptian Lists. The refereemade up the lists to about 2600 pointseach, keeping it simple, and notbringing any unit leaders, musicians,or standard bearers. Commanderswere Ken Winland on the Romanright, Pat McMillen on the Romanleft, Brad Jasperson on the Egyptianright, and, facing Ken by the river,Pharaoh John Goodman.

As the Egyptians had nothingthat could be expected to stand up tothe charge of the legions frontally,while the Romans could not hope tocompete with the chariots on theflanks, the tactical problems posedfor each side seemed obvious. TheRomans had to close in the centerbefore the flanks were enveloped; theEgyptians had to get chariots into theRoman rear before the infantry me-lees began. Egyptian deployment wasfairly straightforward, while that ofthe Romans raised some eyebrows.Rather than use their lighter troops

on the flanks, they chose to stringthem along the front to soften the ef-fect of enemy missile fire. Thisseemed ok on the Roman left- the en-velopment would have to clear awaythe screen, then take out the smallflanker unit of stubborn legionaries,then, still, they would have to dealwith the Roman cavalry, safelytucked away behind the hill to avoidthe withering chariot bowfire, beforethey could get to the flank of the mainline. On the right, however, GeneralWinland elected to march straight outwith the flank totally hanging, count-ing on stoic Romanism to hold theline long enough to close.

The first action developed onthe Roman left. As the Romans ad-vanced the two chariot squadronscommenced a firefight with the Ro-man skirmishers. Disaster struck theEgyptians early, as despite even num-bers and higher Ballistic skill, Tough-ness, and Save, the chariots did littledamage, while the Roman javelinsknocked out a chariot, it ran, and itsfellow chariots also ran. One unitrallied to the rear, the other fled offtable, and the Egyptian left was gone.There would be no problem for theRomans on this flank, and, to pre-vent even worse, Pharaoh John wasreluctantly forced to send one of histwo chariot squadrons around fromthe other flank, where it would besorely missed. The left wing becamea slogging match sucking in the ral-lied chariots, Sea Peoples, Romancavalry, Nubians, and skirmishers ina swirling mass of melees and routs.When the dust had cleared, thedoughty little band of legionariesalone remained. However this hadbecome a sideshow. The importantfactor was that the Romans couldproceed in the center with no fearsfor the left wing.

Action on the other wing beganless auspiciously for the Imperium.The Roman skirmishers werewhittled down by bowfire, then theauxilia on the right fled in fear whenthe remaining chariot squadron

charges them. They were caught andcut down, leaving the chariots in therear of the Roman right. General Kenpulled his skirmishing Auxiliary ar-chers back through his lines in a des-perate attempt to tie up the chariots.The chariots charged them, and onceagain the gods of the Nile did not heedEgyptian entreaties, as the archerswon the melee, against all odds, andsent the chariots packing. Therewould be no envelopment of eitherflank.

This left only the melees in thecenter. The rightmost cohort was heldby the large unit of bowmen, attackedin flank by the second unit, and even-tually worn down and destroyed. Thenext cohort hit the Sherdana guard,with both sides stubborn, and theSherdana held out for three roundsof melee before finally cracking. Thelarge first cohort, containing bothgeneral and standard bearer, routedthe spear unit to its front, but wasthen heroically held by the macemenon the hill. In the second round, how-ever, the macemen broke, the generalfled, and the Egyptian cause appearedlost. The last Egyptian hope was theleftmost cohort of the main battle line,which was held by the spearmen, thencharged in flank by the chariots whohad come around from the otherflank. Had the Romans failed theirfear check for the flank charge bychariots, or lost the combat wherethey were not only flanked but, there-for, had no rank bonus, then the is-sue would have been very close.However they passed their test, tiedthe combat, and the Egyptians con-ceded the field.

It is interesting that of the five legionary charges into enemy infan-

try, only one succeeded in breakingthe enemy on the charge and that fromthe unit with the two officers. Theheavy throwing weapon did not ap-pear to be a decisive factor in thiscontest, though the Roman 3+ savebailed them out of difficult situationson several occasions.

20 May/June 2000

���������������DBM 2.1

Mini (15mm & 25mm): 200 points

Punic Wars (15mm & 25mm): 400points in 15mm, 350 points in 25mm.

Open (25mm & 15mm): 400 pt listin 15mm, 350 pt list in 25mm.

National Invitational Champion-ship: By invitation only.

DBARules will be DBA 2.0 IF released

by 15 June 2000, otherwise 1.2. All ter-rain will be provided.

ARMATIAdvanced Armati armies are used

at 30 Bonus points in all three tourna-ments.

Players participate in a minimumof 4 games against different opponents.

MEDIEVAL/ANCIENTWARFARE (AW or MW)

The MW tournament will be onFriday, the AW version on Saturday, bothrun by author Terry Gore. Armies are 500points from published army lists.

WARHAMMER ANCIENTSBATTLES (WAB)

Rules: Warhammer AncientsBattles with clarifications, additions byJervis Johnson.

Open: (25mm) 2000 pt list, Tablesize: 6x4 or a bit larger.

Allowed Lists: WAB rules, AOAbook, or Chariot Wars (use this book in-stead of AOA for the biblical era armies).You may not take allies or mercenariesfrom other army lists. Elephants limit 1per army except Indian may have 2.

Ancients Tourney General informationCost for events is $5 for NASAMW members, $10 for non-

members. If you are playing in just one DBA event, cost is $5 re-gardless of membership. If you want to play in more than one event,the fee covers everything. If there are not enough participants for thelisted 25mm events, they will not be held so please contact Scott orJohn in advance. Players can register starting Thursday at theNASAMW table in the Showroom at 9:00am. You can sign up forany of the DBA events throughout the weekend but there are spacelimits so check in early. Any questions should be directed to thefollowing persons:

7th Edition: Scott Holder, PO Box 36 Bonnots Mill MO 65016email: scott.holder@fhwa.dot.gov

DBM: John Shirey, 18524 Owl Run Way Germantown MD 20874email: galleo@aol.com

DBA: Mike Guth email: mthrguth@erols.com;Doug Mudd email: dmudd@erols.com;Mike McVeigh 1884 Chimney Ln #2b Kettering OH email:mikenubian@yahoo.com;Bob Beattie email: beattie@umich.edu or call at 734-717-6281

Armati: Rob Robertson email: rob.robertson@cplc.com;Rob Wolski email: RWOLSKY@cablevision.com

Medieval Warfare: Terry Gore 890 Janes Rd., Rochester, NY14612-2330 email: tlgore@frontiernet.net

WAB: Robert McCloskey 1418 Taney Ave. Apt H-204Frederick,Md, 21702 e-mail: rmcclo5413@aol.com;Don Effinger 119 West 5th Street Deer Park, NY 11729 e-mail:effinger2@hotmail.com

Might of Arms: Jessee Scarborough email: jescarbo@vt.edu or callat 540-961-3636

Since the detail specifications for each tournament were listedin the March-April Spearpoint, this is just a summary.

7TH EDITIONRules will be WRG 7.6 with those portions of the Interp Book-

let that still apply.

Mini Open (15mm & 25mm): 1200 pt list

Open (15mm): 1600 pt list

Punic Wars (15mm and 25mm): 1600 pt list, see list for allow-able armies or go to http://osagecon.missouri.org/~dauphine and clickon the “ancients” link.

National Invitational Championship: By invitation only. continued page 24

21Volume XV Issue 5

7th Edition QualifiersAs of 13 April 2000, the fol-

lowing people are qualified for the7th Ed. NICT. People with an as-terisk next to their name are on thebubble, meaning they placed not quitehigh enough in a qualifying tourna-ment to get in but might if peopleahead of them don’t accept the invi-tation or I decide to offer them openbids. If you are one of these people,please contact me and let me knowwhether or not you’ll even be atHistoricon. Please remember that the7th Ed. NICT is a 25mm ONLYevent. If you see your name postedhere, send my your army lists (usual1600 points, two versions in oneyear) by 5 July 00. If you are aformer 7th Ed NICT winner, pleasecontact me about playing. This doesnot extend to NTCT winners. If youfeel your name should be on this list,please contact me. You must be anNASAMW member to play. If not amember, you must join to play.

Alex VaethEric TurnerCraig ScottBill LowTodd KaeserDerek DownsRobert TurnballDave MarkowitzChris CameronChris DamourTim GrimmettEd BernhardEwan McNayJevon GarrettJohn GreenDave StierDick HurchanickMark HissamBill ChamisTim BrownMark StoneScott McDonaldJon CleavesDave Dietrich

DBM QualifiersAs of 13 April 2000, the fol-

lowing people are qualified for theNICT . People with an asterisk nextto their name are on the bubble,meaning they placed not quite highenough in a qualifying tournament toget in but might if people ahead ofthem don’t accept the invitation orJohn decides to offer them open bids.If you think your name should be onhere, please contact me. As in 7th,you must be an NASAMW memberto play, if not, you must join.

Glen BoiseVince SolfronkLarry EssickAl PareBruce MeyerRich NovakKevin DonovanBob CappellDan Martz SrMark HareMarc CrotteauDave LauermanTony ZallnickEric LauterbachTony CurtisAaron GorfeinLance GambleDave PerryDanny WeitzCarl StefenelliHarvey HarmonMatt HeppeSpike MonahanBill ReesePaul GeorgianGordon WaddingtonJeff ZornAl ApplegateEthan ZorrickTony ZallnickTed GrulkeDon KostelloMark HumlRichard GagliassoWayne HansenJeff HadyDarrell Smith

Jonathan KeepersBob JacobsonEd HardingAllan BrownJohn JerniganMonty WallsMichael GardnerChris JohnstonBob BaxterHilton McMannusBoyd Petty

DBA QualifiersAs of 13 April 2000, the fol-

lowing people are qualified for theNICT . People with an asterisk nextto their name are on the bubble,meaning they placed not quite highenough in a qualifying tournament toget in but might if people ahead ofthem don’t accept the invitation or ifBob Beattie decides to offer themopen bids. If you think your nameshould be on here, please contact me.As in 7th, you must be an NASAMWmember to play, if not, you must join.

Jim MzikJames AlbrightDan HazelwoodArt HausJulie StanochKris KelleyPatrick McMillenPaul OhtonenJoe TaggertAlan SpencerDave ZecchaniSteve DonlonAl Ohtonen

!" �#���$����

22 May/June 2000

�������������� �����300 WATSON ST COOPERSVILLE, MI 49404PHONE: 616-837-7045 FAX:616-837-8568

Old Glory 15mm’s is pleased to announce a prize for the highest finishing OLDGLORY 15mm ancient army participating at Historicon. To qualify youmust use an army entirely made up of painted OLD GLORY 15mm figures.To win you have to finish (place) higher than any other competing all OLDGLORY 15mm army in DBM, WRG 7th Edition, or Armati. This will cover themini, theme, open and NICT.Our enthusiastic support will allow Old Glory 15mm’s to continue this prize forfuture tournaments.

The prizes will be awarded in 15mm figures as follows:Highest finishing army: $100.002nd highest finishing army $50.003rd highest finishing army $25.00

��������������� �������������������������������������

������������������� ����������

At Historicon, “The fall of Rome” series: Late Romans, Huns, Picts, Scots-Irish,Goths, Lombard, Franks, Early Sassanid and Palmyran.

At Fall In!: Normans, Saxons, Vikings, Belisarian Byzantine and Asiatic Horsearmies (Avar, Pecheneg, Cuman)

At Cold Wars: More Dark Ages and the start of the BIBLICAL range

By the end of next year Mycenaean Greek to 1st Crusade will be covered. Thenthe plan is to fill in the line with any missing items then move on to Chinesearmies and then medieval armies. Stop by and give Steve and Steve youropinions and feedback on their line. Also, say:

Thanks to OLD GLORY 15mm’sfor their support.

23Volume XV Issue 5

���������������� ����%

���&��������The Punic Wars return after a

seven year absence. This Theme willinclude armies and enemies ofCarthage and Rome over the courseof the three Punic Wars.

DBM ArmiesBook 1:47) Early Hoplite Greek48) Illyrian55) Early Latin, Roman, Etruscan,Umbrian56) Kyrenean Greek57) Etruscan League58) Tullian Roman61) Early CarthaginianBook 2:5) Later Hoplite Greek8) Campanian, Apulian, Lucanian orBruttian9) Syracusan10) Camillan Roman11) Gallic13) Samnite27) Pyrrhic31) Hellenistic Greek32) Later Carthaginian33) Polybian Roman (noPergamemenes or Aetolians alliesallowed)35) Later Macedonian39) Ancicient Spainish40) Numidian or Early Moorish (onlySyphax, Masinissa, Micipsa, orJugurtha)

7.6 ArmiesWe’ll use one Theme Rule for

7.6. Generals in 7.6. CinC’s arerolled before scouting and if you’reusing either Late Carthage orCamillan/Polybian Rome, replace aRASH roll with SUPERB.

SUPERB: General never testsfor seeing routs, can add or subtract

1 from initiative die roll (declare be-fore rolling), gets 15 +d% per boundfor prompting, +1 to H-T-H roll.

24) Early Hoplite Greek26) Illyrian30) Early Italian30a) Samnite (NASAMW)31) Early Carthaginian (NASAMW)/Carthaginian (Book 1)31a) Later Carthaginian (use GeneralRule)32) Later Hoplite Greek34) Syracusan35) Gallic43) Pyrric46) Camillan Roman (noPergamemenes or Aetolians allowed–use General Rule)47) Hellenistic Greek49) Later Macedonians52) Spainish53) Numidian (only Syphax,Jugurtha, or “other”)New WRG Book 238) Etruscan41) Samnite42) Early Hoplite Greek44) Illyrian46) Campanian47) Lucanian52) Tarantine54) Early Carthaginian57) Syracusan66) Celtic68) Celtic Invasion reformed Rome71) BruttiiNew WRG Book 3146) Athenian161) Eperiot in Italy163) Antigonid Macedonian164: Spanish. No Irr A foot, no mixedmorale units165: Numidian166: Carthaginian167) Early Achaian League170) Carthaginian (use General Rule)171) Spartan Reforms

172) Carthaginian (use General Rule)173) Later Achaian League174) Gallic175-179) Punic War/Polybian Romelists (use General Rule)180) Carthaginian (use General Rule)185) Jurgurthine Numidian (earliestperiod only)

Book of HostsLater EtruscanEarly CarthaginianEarly SyracuseCeltic SenonesEarly Republican RomeIguriansSamnites, et. alLate SyracusePyrricGreek ReformsLater CarthaginianLater MacedonianSpanishLater Cisalpine CeltsLater Carthaginian (use GeneralRule)Republican Rome 2nd Punic War (useGeneral Rule)Republican Rome Mace & SeleucidWars (use General Rule)Numidia (Syphax or Jugurtha)

24 May/June 2000

MIGHT OF ARMS (MOA)Theme “Rise of Rome.” Only

armies 26, 28, 33, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 47,and 50 will be used. No Optional Rulesexcept those at www.usit.com/colonade.15mm, 800 points on 8x5 tables.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Thursday12:00pm: DBM & 7.6 Mini; Armati Arenabegins; Open Gaming3:00pm: DBM Mini;4:00pm: 7.6 Mini6:00pm: DBM Mini7:00pm: Big Battle DBA8:00pm: 7.6 Mini9:00pm: DBM Mini

11:00pm: DBA Midnite Madness

Friday8:30: WAB9:00am: DBM, 7.6 Theme & ArmatiTheme; MOA9:30am: MW12:30pm: WAB1:00pm: Armati Theme2:00pm: DBM & 7.6 Theme; MW; MOA3:00pm: WAB4:00pm: Armati Theme6:30pm: DBA Teen7:00pm: DBM & 7.6 Theme; MW

8:00pm: Armati Theme; MOA

Saturday8:30am: 9th Annual DBA Duplicate “DickBryant Classic”.9:00am: DBM, 7.6 and Armati Open, DBM& 7.6 NICT9:30am: AW1:00pm: Armati Open2:00pm: DBM & 7.6 Open, NICT; DBA25mm; AW; DBA Courier Annual Parent& Child Game.4:00pm: Armati Open6:30pm: DBA NICT7:00pm: DBM & 7.6 Open, NICT; AW

8:00pm: Armati Open

Sunday9:00am: DBA Periods; Finals in rest

if/as needed

Historicon schedule continued

Division After DivisionOwner Roger Dospil

16710 Bradbe RoadFisherville, KY 40023

(502) 267-8146

Chariot Miniatures, 15mm Ancients

Visa and Mastercard now accepted

25Volume XV Issue 5

��'����� ����������������

Northern VirginiaOn 2 April 2000, a WRG 7.6

tournament was 1400 points on a 3x5with 12 inch rear zones.

The results were:

1. Scott McDonald, Late Hungarian2. Eric Turner, Late Romans3. Mike Byrne, Late Carthaginians4. Tim Grimmett, Marion Roman5. Don Carter, Early Achaemenid6, Rich Kroupa, Pyrrhic

Spring SpearsIn Monterey, California. A 4

round 15mm, 400 AP DBM tourna-ment. There were 20 players. Con-gratulations to Aaron Gorfein whowon with his newly painted ItalianCondotta army.

The Results were:

1. Aaron Gorfein, Venetian Condotta 372. Kevin Donovan, Tambralinga Malay 313. Dave Lauerman, Med. German 284. Rich Gagliasso*, LIR (West) 285. Dale Shanek, New Kingdom Egyptian 276. Dan Martz Sr.*, S. Dyn. Chinese 247. Alan Crandall, Beja 228. Nance Michalos, Rus 219. Dan Martz Jr., LIR (West) 1910. John Gubser, Carolingian Franks 1911. Bruce Meyer, Sui Chinese 1812. Francis Small, Med. French 1813. Kurt Meyer, Pat. Roman (West) 1714. Claude Hill, Mongol Conquest 1615. Morgan Conrad, Abbasid Arab 1616. Paul Giffen, Florentine Condotta 1517. Monty Walls*, Pat. Roman (East) 1418. Brian Brusa, Carthaginian 1019. Neil Pamandanan, Burg. Ord.520. Andy Crane, Alexandrian Imp. 0

Rich Gagliasso won the award for thebest 2nd day, scoring 15 VPs. Dan MartzSr. won the best painted army award (again)for his new Southern Dynasties Chinesearmy. Monty Walls was voted best sports-man.

HAVOC TournamentDBM tournament on April 29th

in Ayers, MA. Three rounds, 350pts,2 lists.

The results were:

1. Alistair Duncan, Neo-SargonidAssyrians, 29pts2. Wade Foote, Mongol Conquest, 21pts3. Phil Jarvio, Late Roman (East)20pts4.John Goodman, Central Asian CityStates, 11pts5. Paul Georgian, Early Byzantines, 10pts6. Don Miller, Classical Indians, 0pts

Cold Wars DBAMidnite Madness

The final was that classic clashof titans, Marian Romans vs Vikings,perfect for extending the madness ofthe event. A tight game resulted in awin for Joe Taggert’s Marians, andbedtime for the poor umpire at 3am.

25mm DBA10 players showed up for the

DBA 25mm tourney,

Burt Fishman decided that hewould rather watch and very gener-ously decided to help out with run-ning the tourney. Rob Torres’ LaterSwiss were defeated in a tight gameby Jim Mzik’s Vikings for the victor’slaurels. Jim’s Vikings are the armyto beat, having one last years’Historicon 25mm DBA as well.

HMGS Gulf SouthChimneyville DBMtournament

Here are the results of theHMGS Chimneyville DBM tourna-ment, the 6th tournament in theHMGS Gulf South Ancients Cham-pionship:

1. Tony Curtis, Nikephorian Byz., 59 pts2. Dave Kinchen, Anglo-Norman, 47 pts3. Bill Reese, S. Dynasties Chinese, 43 pts4. John Jernigan, L. Carthaginian, 39 pts5. Jimmy Badeaux, LIR, 36 pts6. Steve Payne, Norse Irish, 35 pts7. Scot Allen, Classical Indian, 32 pts8. Hilton McManus, Seleucid, 31 pts9. Al Pare, Later Carthaginian, 30 pts10. Harvey Harmon, Arab Conquest, 30 pts11. Chris Johnston, Early Samurai, 30 pts12. Boyd Petty, Later Hungarian, 29 pts13. Mike Monahan, Mid. Assyrian, 26 pts14. Joey Miller, Later Carthaginian, 25 pts15. Spike Hubbs, Graeco-Bactrian, 23 pts16. Eric Alleman, Sicilian, 19 pts17. John Chua, Christian Nubian, 19 pts18. Walt Burgoyne, WOR Tudor, 15 pts19. Gary Ballard, Scots Common, 14 pts20. Craig Herbert, Teutonic Knights, 8 pts21. Robert Pritchard, Med. Germans, 0 pts

Scoring for this event deviatedfrom the norm, as double pts wereawarded for enemy commands whichwere demoralized. Thus, the highestpotential score for this 4 round tournywould have been a “60.”

26 May/June 2000

(���������

27Volume XV Issue 5

��'�������

The Society of AncientsWhether you are a newcomer to the Ancients and Medieval periods or a veteran of many

campaigns, membership of The Society of Ancients will appeal to you. Founded in 1965 and stillgoing strong with over 1500 members in thirty countries, The Society of Ancients is the leadinginternational organization for Ancient and Medieval Wargaming. SLINGSHOT, our bi-monthlymagazine, has become the most admired publication in its field and is available exclusively tocurrent members as part of the Society’s calendar year subscription.

Apply for membership for the year 2000 today by sendinga check for £16.00 or US $30.00 made payable to “TheSociety of Ancients”to: The Membership Secretary

The Society of AncientsMabar, Blackheath Lane, WonershGuildford, GU5 0PN.

We accept credit card payments but have to charge an extra £1.00 to cover the additionalcosts. Recognizing the international nature of our membership, there is no additional charge foroverseas members.

The SOCIETY OF ANCIENTS website (www.soa.org.uk) has further detail on the rangeof membership benefits as well as many pages of useful information and contacts.

Spearpointc/o Richard Wright1746 Fairview Farms CircleWentzville, OH 63385-2763