By Miguel Bolivar de IRG

Our second game of Midgard was to be that most cherished of battles, Agincourt 1415. Here on the field of 15mm battle we sought to uphold the ideals of the hero rather than the saint. We had the new set of wargames rules, Midgard, one that emphasised the key role of courage, leadership and risk- taking. But, Mike and I were to be French!

The Midgard download ( available for free from the superlative mogsymakes.net) punishes the French lack of coordinated command. Charles I d’Albret maybe Constable of France but he is classified as only a “ minor” hero. The other commanders are similarly insulted but they do have the “ Today we fight to win” ability that can add D6 combat dice to any melee.

Two superb mounted knight units and two of foot knights would be our main fighting units but the English archers had yet to deploy their stakes. Midgard gives “ support” for troops defended by stakes and also penalises those mounted troops who fool heatedly attempt to to charge through them.

The five non-noble heavy foot are classified as “ fickle” and that posed a problem for us. Such troops dice to rout at half casualties and get through the arrow storm. Regarding cowardice and dishonour as the worst possible evil, the footmen trudged forward.

On the right, Monsoir Lannes was not waiting for his mounted gendarmes to be unhorsed by the crooked sticks of the English…

On the left, Charles I d’Albret advanced far enough to threaten a charge but pulled away once the English had committed to place their cowardly stakes. A forest prevented flanking and although courage is a virtue, stupidity is not!

The manouvers on the flanks were ignored as the respective centres clashed. Midgard is so good at handling such scrums! The heroes challenge each other and are punished for refusing. First Alençon fell and then The gallant Welshman Llewellyn! Shakespeare would be upset.

Simultaneously the French knights on both flanks vanquished their foes! On the left, Charles I swung round and added to the slaughter.

It had been a close run thing but the last English unit’s demise exhausted the coin in the goblet of reputation ( a neat mechanism for assessing victory and defeat, combined with encouraging the heroic ethos)

So a French victory! ✌🏾 Midgard really captures the grim slog of combat but also provides scope for heroics. A longer game than we usually play, coming in at over three hours but we are still quite unused to the system. That being said the game did flow without rules referrals.

Join us next time for more heroics from the American War of Independence as the colonies rebel against their rightful overlords ( Sorry Mark Morin, I couldn’t resist!)