Impetus Campaign - A Beginning

I purchased the Impetus rules not long after they became available in the US, mainly because I buy just about every rules set I can get my hands on for medievals, but also because it had gotten good press in various blogs and from friends and acquaintances. I have read the rules in fits and starts, several times over, since getting them, and while they looked promising, had never gotten around to actually playing them. Figuring that the only way I ever will is to throw some figures on the table and have a go at it, I have decided to concoct a solo hundred years war era campaign. I have no grandiose plans for this endeavor other than to finally play around with these rules and learn them, fighting a scenario when the mood strikes.

I decided to start very small, and over the last couple of nights have gotten in a few turns of a "baby steps" game.

Raymond of Saint Palais

Background - The campaign will follow the exploits of Lord Raymond of Saint Palais, a noble in the Orthez region of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques region of southwestern France, circa 1380. The region, south of the heart of Gascony, is a semi-autonomous region sandwiched in between the remaining English holdings to the west around Bayonne and north/northwest toward Bordeaux, Spanish Navarre over the Pyrenees to the south, the French Agenais region to the northeast, and the southern French Bearn and Languedoc region to the east around Toulouse. This will allow me to use a variety of troop types from the various army lists covering the French, English, Spanish and other miscellaneous Free Companies, mercenaries and "provincials." In other words, I can justify using any hundred years war figures I own (and other "generic medievals" too)... I will string together scenarios with a loose narrative to hopefully make things more interesting than fighting a series of one-off battles. I intend to develop some random muster tables, random scenario generator ideas, etc, as I go along. We'll see what happens...

To keep track of how Raymond is doing, I will start him out at a 5 on a scale of 1-10, or a "stance rating" of "doing ok so far". Good scenario results will raise his "stance" and bad results will lower it. I will figure out some way to use this to help me plot the course of events. Raymond's full force, which I don't expect to have on the table all at once for a while, will approximate 400 points to begin with, but events can affect this going forward. I have drafted a rough list of his army composition in total, and will use different pieces of it for different games.

Chevauchee, July 1380

William of Navarrenx

As the English holdings in the region have been driven further and further back, the French to the northeast have become increasingly troublesome, threatening the area with repeated raids. Several local Barons have banded together to give the French a taste of their own medicine, and have launched a raid northeast towards Agen. In addition to our own Raymond, the other two main forces are led by Bertrand of Dax and Thierry of Orthez. These three forces are advancing somewhat independently as they ravage the countryside, and may or may not be able to support each other at any given point in time. Raymond's army has two subordinate commanders; William of Navarrenx and Henry of Cheraute.

The Scenario
Raymond's forces have crossed the Adour river at Aire-sur-l'Adour and are headed generally northeast. As one of Raymond's contingents under William of Navarrenx approaches the village of Cazalet, it finds a small enemy force drawn up behind a stream to oppose it. William's goal is to brush aside this blocking force to rendezvous with Raymond beyond Cazalet.

William has 7 units with him at the moment [most troop profiles are from the English list]:

William's forces at start

• His household unit of Men at Arms (impetuous) [Gascon MAA]
• Heavy cavalry [English hobilar CM]
• Heavy infantry billmen
• Light infantry spearmen
• Longbows
• Mercenary crossbows
• Skirmishers with short bows

The enemy, led by the local constable [most troop profiles are from the French list]:

• Local Men at Arms (impetuous)
• Heavy infantry
• Two units of local levy/militia infantry
• Crossbows [French T]

On this day, both leaders randomly came up rated "fair", and both command structures are "poor." This translates to a friendly force of 137 points vs an enemy force of 84 points. I selected the troops first then added the points up out of curiosity.

The defenders of Cazalet

Setup and special rules - The battle will be fought lengthwise down a 4' by 6' table. The enemy force will be behind a stream that is cosmetic only, but will have a small hill and a few hedges. The four friendly light and missile units begin on the board, the heavy infantry and two mounted units (and William) will arrive randomly. At then end of each turn, the friendly player will roll one die, and if the result is less than or equal to the turn number that is just ending, the next friendly unit will arrive the following turn. The heavy infantry arrives first, followed by the Men at Arms and William, with the heavy cavalry arriving last. William's goal is to exit the far board edge as quickly as possible while taking as few losses as possible (nice and vague...). The friendly player will be hampered by lack of an on-board commander for some part of the game while William gathers his spread out forces to engage the enemy (i'll use the 10U poor command range from the board edge until he arrives). That being said...this shouldn't be too difficult for the good guys while I familiarize myself with the basic rule mechanics...

...to be Continued