Tuesday 15 February 2022

The Battle of Bairén 1097 : Hex based Wargaming

We played the inaugural hex based battle in the dungeon this weekend. There were three main drivers for me developing a hexed based gaming setup, one it helps clarity for remote gaming especially around measuring distances, two it gets my figures out on the table and in play, three it allows me to explore historical battles where my collections are not of sufficient size for a larger traditional open battle. All three of theses objective were achieved in this battle.

The Battle of Bairén 1097 is one of El Cid’s famous victories, although when you search it is hard to find much conclusive information. What is known is that after some manoeuvring the Almoravid Islamic forces under Muhammad ibn Tasufin had caught the Christian forces camped out of position. The Almoravids took the higher ground and were also able to bring archers and crossbowmen in by boats to harass the Aragonese  forces in their camp. Rodrigo supported by Peter 1st of Aragon roused his force and charged up the hill to assault the Muslims, caught by the ferocity of the attack the Muslims broke and fled many killed attempting to escape.

The setup for the battle, El Cid and the Aragonese to the left, the Almoravids on the higher ground. We would be using Jon’s ‘hex based’ impetus rules. Victory points would be for forcing the enemy back or capturing the enemy camp. Both sides would start with 11 points which would reduce down to zero when the battle would end. The Almoravids out number the Christians but lack the heavy cavalry.
The Almoravids have some heavy camels, for info the black dice mark the unit rating which reduces when losing wounds, the white dice marks the remaining impetus value.
The Christian knights supported by weaker foot troops
Muhammad ibn Tasufin with the Black guard.
As the battle opens the camels move along the shoreline looking to break through to the enemy camp
Almoravid archers on boats open fire
The Christian knights immediate charge forward to attack some archers who have come too close, but surprisingly they are forced back
I didn’t take too many photos and we have skipped a little here the Camels have already broken through on the Christian Right. The initial charge has been turned back. But the Almoravid right flank is under heavy pressure.
The Christian Right where Peter 1st of Aragon drives forward his cavalry
Brushing aside the Almoravid light horsemen
In good style El Cid leads a charge into the centre of the Almoravid line, the black guard initially hold 
But are then forced back
At this point the battle which had been going the way of the Christians started to go back towards the Almoravids and I think both sides were down to 4 remaining points before the army would break, the Christian camp has been captured on the light of the picture.
The Almoravids have won the battle on the right but so have the Christians
…but then as a final blow the Christians capture the Almoravid camp giving them the overall victory
An overview at the end of the battle. My rather poor description hasn’t given the real excitement and fun of the battle which was very close and could have gone either way. As always there were some key moments when the battle swung back to the enemy. In the end then a historical outcome for El Cid.

Well a very successful first run out for the hex gaming. Technology worked well as did the rules which are adaptable to a wide range of periods. The hexes give a different feel to the battle  which took a respectable 90 mins to play. So might give the option at this size to play through twice. As mentioned as I expand my terrain I can field larger hex battles upto 6x4 feet. This also opens up lots of options across many genres for other games. One option in the future is to play battles in hex format and then when figures are available to expand them to a larger table ? Lots of options and things to think about 🙂


30 comments:

  1. Great looking game. Bairen is one of those battles I need to refight with my own collection

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    1. Thanks Neil given it is a fairly famous battle I could only find limited information so you have fairly free rein to build balanced forces. I think I will be revisiting on a larger game sometime 👍

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    2. Ich möchte DR. AKHERE für die wundervolle Arbeit danken, die er für mich und meine Familie geleistet hat. Ich hatte eine ernsthafte Trennung von meinem Ex, aber als ich ihn um Hilfe bat, brachte er ihn mit seinen historischen Kräften zu mir zurück und half mir auch dabei einen Job zu bekommen, da er mich verzaubert hat, hat es mir wirklich gut getan und seit ich ihn kenne, ist mein Mann mir treu geblieben Hilfe, wenn Sie mit einer Trennung oder einem Eheproblem konfrontiert sind, wenden Sie sich einfach an diesen Mann, um Hilfe zu erhalten. Er wird Ihnen helfen, alles mit seiner Macht zu regeln. Bitte kontaktieren Sie ihn über seine E-Mail: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com oder rufen Sie / whatsapp: +2349057261346 an Ihre Probleme werden gelöst.





































































































































      Ich möchte DR. AKHERE für die wundervolle Arbeit danken, die er für mich und meine Familie geleistet hat. Ich hatte eine ernsthafte Trennung von meinem Ex, aber als ich ihn um Hilfe bat, brachte er ihn mit seinen historischen Kräften zu mir zurück und half mir auch dabei einen Job zu bekommen, da er mich verzaubert hat, hat es mir wirklich gut getan und seit ich ihn kenne, ist mein Mann mir treu geblieben Hilfe, wenn Sie mit einer Trennung oder einem Eheproblem konfrontiert sind, wenden Sie sich einfach an diesen Mann, um Hilfe zu erhalten. Er wird Ihnen helfen, alles mit seiner Macht zu regeln. Bitte kontaktieren Sie ihn über seine E-Mail: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com oder rufen Sie / whatsapp: +2349057261346 an Ihre Probleme werden gelöst

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  2. Matt, this was a terrific action with a lot of ebb and flow to the battle. High drama more than once when my superior cavalry were thwarted by your solid defenders. Slipping around the rear to capture the Almarovid camp to claim victory was sweet.

    Your table looked great and unit stats easy to read from afar.

    Excellent gaming!

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    1. You can never trust those Christians, but a hard fought battle upto that point. Glad it worked from a technical perspective and gives plenty more to go at. I have ordered some extra bases to allow some further adventures in other periods more on that soon. Looking forward to more ….

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  3. A splendid looking game Matt…
    It sounds like it was a good close match…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly the hex setup has allowed us to try some alternative battles and get those collections into the fight which is great 👍

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  4. Looks like an interesting scenario and hexes certainly have some obvious advantages, particularly for you remote gamers... a very convincing first run out Matt!

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    1. Thanks Keith, I’m have with the overall effect , I will develop the terrain a little more going forward, as I need to think about rivers, woods etc…but this is part of the fun👍

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  5. excellent, really glad it worked

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    1. Thanks mate it work well, helped by the fact Jon knows the rules really well 👍

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  6. Much prefer your natural terrain look myself.

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    1. I know you’re not converted David hopefully something more to your liking this weekend 👍

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  7. What a rip roaring adventure, please to hear the new system worked well.

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    1. Thanks Michael the hex system worked so we will see some more in the future 👍

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  8. Splendid report Matt, the hex terrain looks great.

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    1. Thanks Phil it has a different aesthetic but has a certain charm, I’m keen to try it out on some different genres ?

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  9. Matt, very nicely executed.

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  10. It looks great, and no doubt Jonathan felt right at home with the hex setup. I'm sure that must have contributed to victory as it was essentially a home game for him. I Think I recognised an LBMS banner in there too.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence yes he’s a crafty fox and doesn’t take any prisoners. The battle was very enjoyable and the Almoravids nearly clinched it at one point !

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    2. Sorry yes I think I have some LBMS but I do tend to have stuff some several sources.

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  11. Great stuff Matt that turned out really well.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  12. The guys in the boat are my favorite. I dunno, something about that is very amusing to me. 😀
    Seems like your experiment was a success.

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    1. Thanks Stew , glad you like the boat archers ! 👍 game worked well so more hex games in the future 😀

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  13. Great looking game, sounds fun!
    Best Iain

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  14. Ich möchte DR. AKHERE für die wundervolle Arbeit danken, die er für mich und meine Familie geleistet hat. Ich hatte eine ernsthafte Trennung von meinem Ex, aber als ich ihn um Hilfe bat, brachte er ihn mit seinen historischen Kräften zu mir zurück und half mir auch dabei einen Job zu bekommen, da er mich verzaubert hat, hat es mir wirklich gut getan und seit ich ihn kenne, ist mein Mann mir treu geblieben Hilfe, wenn Sie mit einer Trennung oder einem Eheproblem konfrontiert sind, wenden Sie sich einfach an diesen Mann, um Hilfe zu erhalten. Er wird Ihnen helfen, alles mit seiner Macht zu regeln. Bitte kontaktieren Sie ihn über seine E-Mail: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com oder rufen Sie / whatsapp: +2349057261346 an Ihre Probleme werden gelöst.





































































































































    Ich möchte DR. AKHERE für die wundervolle Arbeit danken, die er für mich und meine Familie geleistet hat. Ich hatte eine ernsthafte Trennung von meinem Ex, aber als ich ihn um Hilfe bat, brachte er ihn mit seinen historischen Kräften zu mir zurück und half mir auch dabei einen Job zu bekommen, da er mich verzaubert hat, hat es mir wirklich gut getan und seit ich ihn kenne, ist mein Mann mir treu geblieben Hilfe, wenn Sie mit einer Trennung oder einem Eheproblem konfrontiert sind, wenden Sie sich einfach an diesen Mann, um Hilfe zu erhalten. Er wird Ihnen helfen, alles mit seiner Macht zu regeln. Bitte kontaktieren Sie ihn über seine E-Mail: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com oder rufen Sie / whatsapp: +2349057261346 an Ihre Probleme werden gelöst

    ReplyDelete