We continue in Part 4 with a close-up look at battle in Nevsky—Teutons and Rus in Collision and the Levy & Campaign system, as the Russian Lord Gavrilo advances to challenge the Teutonic invader.  You can find this series of articles’ Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

With word reaching Pskov of the pro-Teutonic Yaroslav’s departure from Izborsk and Hermann’s loss of Knights in storming the stronghold, an opportunity to strike appears. Although Domash is not yet up from Novgorod, the Pskovans feel strong enough to avenge the loss of their border Fort on their own. Gavrilo will use the Russians’ final Command Activation to counterattack!

Gavrilo gets the final moves of the first 40 days.

Gavrilo expends two of his three actions for a Burdened March along the trackway to Izborsk, colliding with Hermann. The Teutonic Lord now has a decision: Avoid Battle, Withdraw into his Fort, or stand for Battle…

As viewed from the Russian player’s seat – Gavrilo’s riposte: Pskovans to the attack!

What Hermann knows that Gavrilo does not is that his held Event card would be usable in a defense here. Hermann will stand for Battle, taking up a position across a Ford from Gavrilo’s host. [As an aside, we have modified the effects of the Ford Event since the creation of this example: here, only one unit may Melee on Round 1 of Battle, two on Round 2, and so forth; in the updated version, double that number may Melee. Game development continues apace!]

Viewed from the south map edge – Hermann accepting Battle outside Izborsk.

Two Lords Meet on the Field of Battle

The Teutonic player declares that Hermann will accept Battle in the field. For illustration here, we put the Battle marker on the Lords involved and will array the combatants’ mats in a Battle area on the table just to the side of the game board. Alternatively, players could array the Lord cylinders on a small Battle Board provided with game, or (for such a straightforward one-on-one fight) simply fight out the Battle while leaving the cylinders where they are on the map.

Hermann and Gavrilo in Battle Array.

Were there multiple Lords on either side, we would see mats to left or right of center or in reserve. With only a single Lord on each side, each is at their center front. Gavrilo has his Streltsy archers along. Hermann’s Converts have no effect on Battle, but he has played his Ford Event against Gavrilo, which will severely limit the number of the Russian’s forces that will be able to Strike in Melee.

Before any Melee, however, arrows will fly. Hermann has no archers, so Gavrilo gets the first Strikes of the Battle. His seven Foot units with Streltsy generate four Hits (½ of 7, rounded up). [Streltsy, by the way, is another card like Ford that has changed since we wrote this example— Streltsy now provides Archery only for Militia, while Crossbowmen does so for Men-at-Arms.] Hermann assigns the Hits among his armored troops: two rolls of “2” absorb two Hits, while two rolls of “4” Rout two Men-at-Arms units.

The Teutons’ view of the Battle, as the Russian archers take their toll.

Round 1 Melee is next, Defending Horse, then Attacking Horse, then Foot. All told, Hermann’s remaining three units not yet Routed Strike for three Hits (1 for Mounted Sergeants, 1 for Militia, and ½ for Light Horse, total rounded up). Gavrilo sends his elite across the Ford first—Knights in field Battle Strike for two Hits each, representing the charge of heavy cavalry with couched lance. The precise sequence is:

1. Hermann’s Horse units Strike for 2 Hits, which Gavrilo choses to absorb with Men-at-Arms, rolling a “3” and “4” against their 1-3 Armor, Routing one of them.
2. Gavrilo’s Knights unit Strikes for 2 Hits, which the Teutons choose to absorb with Horse units that have already Struck—with a roll of “5”, the Teutons’ last Armored unit Routs! The second Hit must be absorbed by another unit, the Light Horse, which also Routs on a “3” (only a roll of “1” prevents Rout of an Unarmored unit).
3. Hermann’s remaining Foot unit, a Militia, Strikes for 1 Hit, which the Russians assign to their Light Horse, Routing it on a roll of “4”.

The outcome of Round 1 Melee, as viewed from the Russian lines.

Hermann now senses his error in pitting his only partially Levied and degraded Forces against the Pskovans without benefit of Walls, even with their advantageous position behind a Ford. He now has the option to Concede the Field to the enemy, enabling him to back away after just one more Round. However, there is little prospect anyway of his single Militia unit standing for that Round, so no reason to suffer the disadvantage of Conceding now: the Russians would benefit from Pursuit, halving any hits from the Conceding Teutons.

Round 2 proceeds, beginning again with Archery. This time, three Strikes from Gavrilo’s five Foot units still fighting is ample to Rout the single auxiliary Militia remaining on the German side. With all his units Routed, Hermann Routs, and the fighting is over….

The Teutons’ view – a second Round of Archery is more than enough to Rout Hermann’s army.

Hermann now has two choices, neither happy, but one less devastating than the other:

1. He can Retreat to an adjacent Locale, away from the enemy’s approach, and suffer the penalties of Retreat, which include loss of his Loot and any Provender Burdening him as Spoils to the Russians, plus suffering an uncertain but doubtless serious shortening of his Service on campaign, OR
2. He can Withdraw safely with all his Assets into the Teutonic Fortification immediately behind him, avoiding those Retreat penalties but locking his army up within a Russian Siege.

Not wishing to risk an immediate Disbanding of Hermann because of any shortened Service, the Teutonic player opts to Withdraw him inside Izborsk Fort. The Russian players puts a white Siege marker on Hermann, showing that the Teuton is Besieged.

Hermann seeks safety inside his recently won stronghold of Izborsk.

The next step in the Battle’s aftermath is to check for Loss of Routed Force on each side, rolling for each unit against its normal Protection roll (1-3 for Men-at-Arms, 1 for Militia and Light Horse). Gavrilo hangs on to his Men-at-Arms and loses only his Light Horse. Hermann—amazingly—retires his entire army in good order through the gates of Izborsk! [These were very lucky Loss rolls for the Teutonic side. This playthrough was for test purposes as well as an example, so no rolls were altered.] Battle over, the Ford Event card returns to the Teuton’s Arts of War deck for possible re-draw of the Event or Levy of the Capability on the bottom half of the card, Crossbowmen.

Gavrilo has suffered light losses, while Hermann’s full force regroups!

Feed, Pay, and the End of this 40 Days

The Battle ends Gavrilo’s Command Activations on this card – his third action is forfeit. At the end of the Command card, the Lords who moved or fought must Feed their Forces, may Pay them, and may or might have to Disband. With eight units, Gavrilo consumes two of his ample Provender; Hermann with five units consumes just one. [Later game development has reset the threshold for two Provender up from six or more units to nine or more units.]

Both players—now expecting a tough Siege and more fighting soon for Gavrilo and Hermann—decide to have that Lord spend Coin on his own Forces to shift the Service marker of each one 40-Days box further into the future. This provides a buffer against adversity, and it also guarantees that that Coin not end up as Spoils for the enemy! The Teutonic player now regrets not Paying Hermann with his Loot when he could: Loot may only be liquidated while in a Friendly Locale; Siege sites are not Friendly to either side. So Hermann must keep his booty locked up inside Izborsk for now.

Teutonic and Russian Lords after Feeding and Paying on the final Command card of this 40 Days.

Gavrilo’s Command card was the last of the Russian Plan stack of six cards. With both side’s stacks expended, we have reached the end of this 40-Day Campaign. The only end-of-turn housekeeping that applies in our current situation is the advance the turn marker: on the Calendar, the “Campaign” marker flips back to “Levy” and advances to the next box.

All set for Levy of the second 40 Days of Summer, 1240 AD.

In the next part of our example, we will move more quickly through the Levy and Campaign, as we have already seen in detail the particulars of most of the game’s mechanics. Both sides will have an opportunity mid-Summer to call on some more help from their friends. Then we will return to the scene of confrontation at Izborsk and observe the outcome. We hope to see you for Part 5!

Articles in this Series: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5

Author: Volko Ruhnke