William "Iron-Arm" at it again, causing trouble in southern Italy.

Our campaign was back on!
In the next move, after successfully conquering the Duchy of Amalfi ( in the colour Burgundy below) William launched his reinforced and rested army against the Duchy of Benevento (white). The Lombard Duke of Benevento was having none of it and a battle was fought in the province of Benevento. 

Lombards on the left - Norman freebooters on the right.

The main plan.
The Normans in yellow- their main moves in yellow arrow.
Lombards in white. The three blue numbers show the three key areas. 

The Norman left flank.

Norman left flank- looking across the battlefield.

William's crossbowmen advance- and engage in a shooting match with the Lombard archers on the hill.

Behind the Norman crossbowmen, the spearmen.

Norman right flank.....the boys just going forward.

Lombard left...most of the cavalry supported by spearmen. The Lombard duke mixed some of his spearmen in with the cavalry. The Norman cavalry, on average, were a bit better than their Lombard counterparts. The spear armed foot helped blunt the impetuous and rather deadly charge of the Normans

Cavalry getting stuck in.

On the Lombard left  the Normans got a bloody nose!

Melees across the Lombard left flank- it was here that the Lombards won their melees- it was looking grim for William 'Iron Arm'.

In the center, the Lombard archers came off second best.
So the Lombard spearmen charged the Norman archers- and wiped them out.
The Lombards had won on their left- and were causing mayhem in the center.

The Lombard right center and right.

After driving off the supporting cavalry, the Normans slam into the Lombard archers......there wasn't much left of the Lombards in this sector.......something about a hot knife through butter....

The fighting in the center

The Lombard left.....the Normans on this flank had been swept away!!

One of the things I really enjoy about these campaign games is the implications for each  and subsequent engagement.  Halfway through the game, the Norman right had collapsed. Many of William's units were fatigued and disordered. In fact by turn 5 we got to the morale phase and realised that the loss of one more Norman unit would mean that the Normans had lost 50%...and the army would break.

For the Lombards, they were still relatively 'safe'. The had to lose four more units to get to 50%, but one of the quirks of our rules is that each independent command has to test if it has 50% casualties- and the right wing of the Lombards had lost 50%.....and every remaining unit ( four of them) failed their test...and fled...and the Lombard army collapsed.....F*&K!!!

William looked as if he was going to face his first defeat- but the morale dice of the Lombards decided otherwise. Ross ( William) and his 2iC (Paul) both were impressed by my ability to score 2-3 hits every melee. They said my dice needed to be inspected. I was doing really well....until I had to do morale tests. Then I failed every one. 

How many "ones or twos" can a man roll??????

The campaign continues with William's unbroken run of success! 

WILLIAM'S NEXT MOVE.

William's next step was to pursue the enemy force and fight a stage two battle ( attacker/defender).

This proved to be much easier than the last battle. The Lombards had a defensive position and William had to break their army and drive them from their position.

Normans on the left. Lombards on the right. William dismounted most of his cavalry, keeping only a small number mounted. These performed as they usually did- going impetuous and charging willy-nilly at all and sundry. By turn three about half of his mounted units had thrown themselves at the defenders...and lost.

Norman mounted charging Lombard archers on a hill, Lombard cavalry in support. The Normans were driven off.....

But once the hand-full of Norman cavalry had tried....the spearmen, dismounted knights and archers/crossbowmen had a go.

This is where it got real ugly for the Lombards.....archery exchange and melee...

A Norman cavalry unit getting in behind the Lombard line.

The Lombards holding on grimly

The Lombard left, completely gone.........

Another victory for William 'Iron Arm'...........but that of course created a problem....a big one for the Normans.

As the map shows, William (green pins) has basically taken control of south central Italy. Robert (me) only controls the area of Calabria ( I am a couple of turns behind- so have a chance to make up for it.

So what's this BIG problem?........ The green pins are William.
The yellow are Robert.
(The larger ones represent the location of our armies, the smaller ones represent control)

See the big blue one?......Well historically speaking, after a run of Norman success, the Byzantines in conjunction with the Lombard duchies called on Pope Leo IX to intervene. The Normans were causing havoc and His Holiness had had a gut-full of their trouble making....so as happened in history - and we rolled a die- the Pope was activated....and he's coming south with an army. 

William could be in trouble! 

As for Robert...he's looking across the Strait of Messina.....