Neil Thomas - One Hour Wargames: Early Medieval Rules, p.1

So got the medieval bug again and am getting my Feudal English out on the table.  Altho I will leave the mechanics the same as the DA rules, I will have to do some work to categorize the troops as NT lays out into my mechanics.  He has four types as always, general attributes are below with 0/0 being normal shot/Hand to Hand & armor bonus:

Knights = +2 HtH, 12" move,

Men at Arms = 6" move, 1/2 Hits [armor]

Levy = 6" move, 

Archers = 6" move, +2 Shot / -2 HtH.

No troop types are permitted in woods.  

Infantry are slow relative to knights.  Only dismounted knights - Men at Arms - have an armor bonus.  I like these troops as it makes it clear who did what and why knights dismounted - slow but sturdy instead of fast and deadly.

Some of his basic assumptions and troop attributes show they are more high medieval, say 1300-1500 or so, with Archers wielding a devastating +2 shot as they are assumed to be crossbows [or longbows, one assumes].  For the early medieval period, that's a bit too powerful and moves them from the supporting role of the Norman / Feudal period to the primary weapon of the high medieval.  For today's playtest, I'll make them a '0' shot and leave them -2 in Hand-to-Hand [HtH]. Aside from that, I'm set to try Scenario #14, Static Defence.

 In this scenario, the Red Defenders must keep two units within 12" of the town and hill, being forced to defend both. The Blue Attacker has the choice of which objective to attempt.  Note that this mostly will mean that the two restricted units per objective can't engage in melee near the other objective.  They can still shoot in support, so they aren't out of the game.  Both the town and the hill give 1/2 Hits to units occupying them, which should more than make up for movement restrictions.  In any event, this is what the battle looks like on the table, the red markers denoting the 3x3' board's intersections:

Below are some of the troops that will be having at it!

Archer company - figures are old Soldier and Sword, OOP most likely.  Nice crisp figs with a high pewter content making them resilient and clean to work with - bit smaller than OG.

Mercenary Crossbows: Serjeants or Brabanters, professionals with professional weapons.  These are Wargames Foundry most likely, but perhaps Essex?  Painted them ten years ago or more.

Lots and Lots of knights!  These are nearly all Old Glory. While they are not premium figures, they paint up nicely and are well animated, and are CHEAP!  Easily one of the best bangs for the buck at the Old Glory Army discount of 40% off the price of $30 / 30 infantry or 10 cavalry.  Still have a bunch from the "Revenge" line altho I don't like the Revenge rules.

Sir someone - William Marshal perhaps?  And his followers. These figs are based and set up for the old Day of Battle game by Chris Parker.  The Warlord is mounted individually and the extra characters are added to his retinue and give him abilities, sort of like familiars in other games like 40K.  I used to be pretty involved with DoB, but it's too complicated for my little head nowadays. Still, give them a look-see here if you want more skirmish-y flavor: 
http://www.dayofbattle.com/  All the work is drawn by hand with brush or micron pen.

This guy is also historical.  Can't remember his name, either!  Figures are mostly Foundry with some Old Glory, the mounted knights for certain.  Foundry are the foot figs, very nice.

Old Glory Gallowglass foot.  Note heavy armor, axes and no shields.  Nice set of figs.

More OG, being rebased onto magnets.  Can't decide what to do... These are Swabians - heavy mercenary foot from modern Oktoberfest-land, Bavaria.  Their descendants will make BMWs!

Welsh foot from the Dark Ages - Old Glory Ancients line, I believe.  Great figs in shieldwall.  Their ancestors will be Tom Jones and coal miners struggling to preserve their Celtic culture.

Welsh archers - OG Revenge medieval line, I believe. Moustaches, no beards and one foot bare for added traction. The bow strings are - thread.  Pain in the neck but look good.

As usual, NT gives a typical army for which one rolls the actual troops.  In this period you'd have 3-4 knights, plus 0-2 each of Archers, Levy or MaA until you hit the total of 6 Units. Forces are rolled for randomly within these restrictions.  I'm just playing with what's handy, a Welsh marcher lord force v. a royal English force in my mind.

So how will all these forces clash?  Tune in for the next post!