It can’t be too much longer before us model soldier tabletop gamers will be replaced. Monday night saw the welcome reappearance of Time Commanders to our televisions. I absolutely love this programme and now that it has embraced diversity……Well, you can imagine my delight. Such a positive image for the wargames hobby. And you thought the only ones interested in recreating battles were bald, middle age men. So it was a great pleasure to be playing against Steve this Tuesday.

We thought to keep our L’art de la Guerre armies contemporary so I brought my old reliables, the fanatic Berbers. Steve plumped for the Normans and Franks of 1000 A.D.. After too many defeats than I care to remember, I was going to go for safety. I planned for a solid line of spears and skirmishing horsemen to discomfort the infidel. 

Almoravids list 196

Corps One: Brilliant General

Four Heavy Spear elite ( with archer support)

Two Light foot with bow.

Corps Two

Competent General

Three light horse with javelins

Four Heavy spear units (supported)

Two crossbow units- my plan to make the heavy horse pay for any indecision

Corps Three

Competent General

Four heavy spear ( supported)

Three javelin armed light horse units

Two bow units, instead of any troops to contest rough ground.

Steve is a renowned brush “man”. He always has a new project underway and the quality of his work is first class. His Norman army comprised a corps of heavy spear accompanied by two crossbow units. He divided up his heavy cavalry into one elite and one ordinary command. Both corps of horse were impetuous so the game was going to be a titanic clash.Steve is a novice wargamer but the impetuous rules are not for the faint hearted. If those impetuous units are within movement range, you will need three command points to stop them.

The Battle
One feature of LADG battles is their comparative small size, twenty four units in the Berber army and twenty two for the Franks. My light horse game me the scouting advantage and we were on the plains. Steve went for the maximum number of large terrain pieces that fell to my left. I was content to leave the rough terrain well alone. Steve seemed happy enough with spear on his right wing and wall to wall heavy cavalry in the centre and his left. A much debated feature of LGBT is the requirement not to put your corps in front of each other.Steve looked to be revving up for an almighty charge but he is a wily player….

Steve held his elite cavalry back on his left and proceeded to attack my flank en echelon…

The charge caught my archers in the open but floundered against my African spears. Valuable time was gained by the stout defence of this wing. My right had advanced to within bow range of Steves second elite corps of cavalry but Steve wasn’t going to order another such charge. The elite of his army redeployed to the centre.

We were now at ninety degrees to our starting positions. We had both lost one corps in the melee. My jinetes managed to delay the Norman spearwall just long enough…..It had been a really tense game. Whether it would have been better for Steve to field his horsemen as medium knights only next game will tell. Time Commanders is back on T.V. , my Fanatics have found 

paradise and Steve went home happy. Sweet dreams……..
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article then please never visit Time Commanders until after the wife has gone to bed!