Making early medieval scenarios from 500AD onwards . . .
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:12 am
Those of you who know me from FOG1 will probably remember that I produced a very large number of later medieval scenarios (100+) dating from around 1050 to 1500. With the release of the Age of Belisarius DLC I am now able to concentrate on the first century of the early medieval period between 500 and 600AD. This week I have released three Clovis I of the Franks scenarios (Soissons, Tolbiac, Vouille) and five Odovacer and Theoderic scenarios (Vienna, River Vuk, The Isonzo, Verona, the Adda). My intention is to continue telling the story of the Merovingian Franks up to 600AD, before looking at Visigothic Spain and early Anglo-Saxon Britain in the same period.
The first difficulty with doing these very early medieval battles is that there is very little hard evidence about any of them. In some cases the actual name of the battle is lost to us and the year it took place is uncertain. Often the names of some of the generals involved are unknown. The second of the Clovis battles I have done is called Tolbiac and some historians date that to 496AD, while others suggest 506AD. Some think there were actually two battles at Tolbiac in 496AD. the name of the Allemani king is not known to us.
So the problems in "re-creating" these earlier medieval battles are often quite a bit more difficult than doing the later ones, where primary sources are more likely to be available. The next set of three scenarios that I am going to do look at the conquest of the Burgundians by the sons of Clovis I between 523 and 534AD. The first battle took place in 523AD and does not have a name or location (other than it being somewhere inside Burgundian territory) although we do know the names of the main protagonists. However, there is a very short section about the battle in Gregory of Tours book "History of the Franks". He writes,
"Queen Clotilda spoke to Chlodomer and her other sons, saying : "Let me not repent, dearest sons, that I have nursed you lovingly ; be angry, I beg you, at the insult to me, and avenge with a wise zeal the death of my father and mother." They heeded this ; and they hastened to the Burgundies and marched against Sygismund and his brother Godomar. Their army was completely routed and Godomar fled. But Sygismund was taken by Chlodomer when he was endeavoring to make his escape to the holy St. Maurice, and led away captive with his wife and sons, and was placed under guard and kept prisoner in the territory of the city of Orleans."
That is all the detail there is. Is this enough for a scenario? I would answer that question in the affirmative, as long as it is recognised that there must inevitably be a large amount of guesswork involved. We have a fairly good idea of how the Franks and Burgundians fought (they were very similar), so the composition of the armies can be represented with a degree of confidence. We have no idea of the numbers involved, but it must have been quite a large battle for the time as all four sons of Clovis I were present, presumably with their own contingents. We can also surmise that the Burgundians mobilised everyone they could to defend their kingdom.
For the terrain I have chosen undulating woodland with some open areas that slightly favours the Burgundians seeing that their army is a bit smaller than the Franks. I have also made all the Frankish leaders "troop" commanders to make things a bit more difficult for them. The Frankish kings could be quite fractious and, at that time, none of the sons of Clovis I were dominating the others. Their deployment on the map is also differentiated with Chlodomer's and Theuderic's contingents lined up and ready, while Childebert's and Chlothar's are still waiting to deploy.
Sigismund, the Burgundian leader, is rated as a "field" commander and his brother Godomar is rated as a "troop" commander. They are deployed an ready at the start and they have a higher proportion of skirmishers in their army, who can use the rough "home" terrain to their advantage.
I would be interested to hear from other designers how you address these various problems of scenario writing.
The first difficulty with doing these very early medieval battles is that there is very little hard evidence about any of them. In some cases the actual name of the battle is lost to us and the year it took place is uncertain. Often the names of some of the generals involved are unknown. The second of the Clovis battles I have done is called Tolbiac and some historians date that to 496AD, while others suggest 506AD. Some think there were actually two battles at Tolbiac in 496AD. the name of the Allemani king is not known to us.
So the problems in "re-creating" these earlier medieval battles are often quite a bit more difficult than doing the later ones, where primary sources are more likely to be available. The next set of three scenarios that I am going to do look at the conquest of the Burgundians by the sons of Clovis I between 523 and 534AD. The first battle took place in 523AD and does not have a name or location (other than it being somewhere inside Burgundian territory) although we do know the names of the main protagonists. However, there is a very short section about the battle in Gregory of Tours book "History of the Franks". He writes,
"Queen Clotilda spoke to Chlodomer and her other sons, saying : "Let me not repent, dearest sons, that I have nursed you lovingly ; be angry, I beg you, at the insult to me, and avenge with a wise zeal the death of my father and mother." They heeded this ; and they hastened to the Burgundies and marched against Sygismund and his brother Godomar. Their army was completely routed and Godomar fled. But Sygismund was taken by Chlodomer when he was endeavoring to make his escape to the holy St. Maurice, and led away captive with his wife and sons, and was placed under guard and kept prisoner in the territory of the city of Orleans."
That is all the detail there is. Is this enough for a scenario? I would answer that question in the affirmative, as long as it is recognised that there must inevitably be a large amount of guesswork involved. We have a fairly good idea of how the Franks and Burgundians fought (they were very similar), so the composition of the armies can be represented with a degree of confidence. We have no idea of the numbers involved, but it must have been quite a large battle for the time as all four sons of Clovis I were present, presumably with their own contingents. We can also surmise that the Burgundians mobilised everyone they could to defend their kingdom.
For the terrain I have chosen undulating woodland with some open areas that slightly favours the Burgundians seeing that their army is a bit smaller than the Franks. I have also made all the Frankish leaders "troop" commanders to make things a bit more difficult for them. The Frankish kings could be quite fractious and, at that time, none of the sons of Clovis I were dominating the others. Their deployment on the map is also differentiated with Chlodomer's and Theuderic's contingents lined up and ready, while Childebert's and Chlothar's are still waiting to deploy.
Sigismund, the Burgundian leader, is rated as a "field" commander and his brother Godomar is rated as a "troop" commander. They are deployed an ready at the start and they have a higher proportion of skirmishers in their army, who can use the rough "home" terrain to their advantage.
I would be interested to hear from other designers how you address these various problems of scenario writing.