Field of Glory II News

Wolves at the Gate adds 55 new units to the game. Here we are going to focus on just a few of these.

Vikings
The archetypal Viking battle formation was the shieldwall (skjaldborg), comprising men armed with various combinations of sword, axe, throwing spears and thrusting spears. Archers, if present, would form up in the rear ranks. The overall effect of this formation is represented by the Offensive Spearmen close combat capability.

Huscarls are the well-equipped hearth-companions of the Viking jarls. They are armoured and of Superior quality. The famous two-handed Viking axe came into use from about 900 AD. Before that date, Huscarls’ combat capability is rated as Offensive Spearmen, after that as Heavy Weapon.

The ordinary Viking warriors mostly lack armour, but derive protection from the overlapping shields of the shieldwall.

Berserkers were a class of warrior who habitually worked themselves up into a frenzy in battle, becoming immune to fear and fighting with the strength of madmen, heedless of wounds. They were often used as chieftain's bodyguards or placed in the front of the shieldwall, but sometimes fought as a separate assault force. Such Berserker units are represented by small but Elite wedges of Impact Foot, Swordsmen.

Vikings often rode to battle on horses, but usually, though not always, dismounted to fight.



Carolingian Franks
By the reign of Charlemagne, lancer cavalry formed the most important arm of the Frankish army. Many were armoured, although there were still plenty who lacked armour. In some of the eastern provinces, cavalry still fought in an older skirmishing style, so have Light Spear instead of Lancers capability.

The role of infantry spearmen was now purely secondary, so they are rated as Defensive Spearmen. When needed, however, the cavalry could and did fight on foot - they are rated as Offensive Spearmen when doing so.



Nikephorian Byzantines
In the reign of the Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, the Byzantine army was reorganised and went on the offensive.
The permanent standing Tagmatic army was greatly expanded. The Tagmatic cavalry fought in mixed units of lancers and horse archers, softening the enemy up with archery prior to a fierce charge with lances. Part-time Thematic units were organised similarly.

The elite of the army were the Klibanophoroi, who usually fought in one or two wedges, designed to break into the enemy formation, even if this was a spear-armed Rus shieldwall. The men on the outside of the wedge were fully armoured cataphracts. The ones at the front fought with heavy maces. In the middle of the formation were archers.

Skirmishing cavalry were obtained by hiring nomad mercenaries.
The proportion of archers in infantry units was greatly increased, so we rate them as 50% Defensive Spearmen (skoutatoi) and 50% archers.

In 988 Vladimir I of Kiev supplied the Emperor Basil II with 6,000 Varangian (Rus) mercenaries, to assist him in a civil war. The best of these were subsequently formed into a permanent Imperial Guards unit, the Varangian Guard. In a later period these were to become famous for their use of two-handed axes, but in this period they fought as spearmen.



Fatimid Egyptians
The Arab Fatimid Caliphate arose in what is now Algeria in the early 10th century AD. In 969 they conquered Egypt and established Cairo as their new capital. Following this they advanced into Palestine and Syria and came into conflict with the Byzantines.

Their initial forces had relied on armoured lancers and Berber light horse, but by 978 they had begun to field large numbers of “slave-soldiers”. These troops were recruited as slaves but then trained up as soldiers.
Ghilman, though recruited from Turkish or Caucasian slaves, were highly trained armoured horse archers of high status in society. ‘Abid-al-shira, recruited from Sudanese slaves, were trained as heavy infantry fighting with javelins (Light Spear) and swords.

However, the Fatimids still fielded large numbers of Arab lancers, Arab spearmen (rated as Defensive Spearmen) and archers, and Dailami infantry. The latter fought in their own distinctive fashion with heavy javelin and sword – they are rated as Medium Foot, Impact Foot, Swordsmen.



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1004260/Field_of_Glory_II_Wolves_at_the_Gate/

The world is crumbling. Arab conquerors have set foot in Spain, quickly overthrowing the Visigothic rulers. Viking raiders are scourging the shores of England and Ireland. Their rapacious appetite seems as unstoppable as their armies. Byzantium is fighting to the last man in order to regain control over its Mediterranean lands.

So many enemies and so little time to fight them all!

Welcome to the Grand Wolves at the Gate Tournament! Anyone who has Field of Glory II can enter. You do not need to own any DLCs to enter.

We are pleased to announce another Field of Glory 2 public tournament. This will be played using the normal Field of Glory 2 Multiplayer system and our automated tournament system.

The new "Allies" feature is in place!

Anyone who has Field of Glory II can enter. You do not need to own any DLCs to enter.

To enter, go to the tournament page here:

http://www.slitherine.com/tournaments/tournaments.asp

The general tournament rules can be found here:

http://www.slitherine.com/tournaments/rules.asp?aPage=1&filterStatus=

The first round will commence on Monday 3rd June 2019 at 10.00 am GMT. No further entries can be accepted after the tournament has begun.

Specific tournament rules:

This tournament will involve five rounds. The battles will be medium-sized custom battles.

1) Arab (Umayyad) 685-750 AD vs Frankish 600-750 AD. Between 717 and 732, when they were decisively defeated by the Franks at the Battle of Tours, Umayyad forces from recently conquered Spain campaigned into southern France. Mediterranean Agricultural.
2) Viking 790-899 AD vs Frankish 751-887 AD. In 845 AD a Viking fleet sailed up the River Seine, defeated King Charles the Bald’s army in battle and sacked Paris. North European Agricultural.
3) Scots 851-1051 AD with Viking 900-1049 AD allies vs Anglo-Saxon 871-949 AD. Following an unchallenged invasion of Scotland by King Æthelstan of England in 934 AD, in 937 England was counter-invaded by an alliance of King Constantine II of Alba (Scotland), King Olaf Guthfrithson of Dublin and others. They were defeated by King Æthelstanat the Battle ofBrunanburh, somewhere in northern England. North European Agricultural.
4) Byzantine 988-1041 AD vs Fatimid 978-1073 AD. Between 995 and 999 the Byzantine Empire and Fatimid Caliphate fought over control of Syria. Middle-Eastern Agricultural.
5) Arab (North Africa) 1000-1160 AD with Byzantine 988-1041 AD allies vs German 933-1049 AD. Following the defeat of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II at the Battle of Crotone in southern Italy by Aghlabid Muslim forces from Sicily in 982, Muslim and Byzantine forces cooperated in recapturing Apulia from the Ottonian forces. Mediterranean Agricultural.

Games are paired, so each matchup will be played both ways. Each player will be able to choose his forces using the normal force selection system. In each round, all players will be playing on the same randomly generated map for both games.

First round pairings will be selected randomly, subsequent rounds using the Swiss Chess system. Nobody will play the same opponent in more than one round.

The scoring system is as follows:

If a game runs to the turn limit, each side scores points equal to the enemy % routed at the turn limit. If the game times out, adjustments may be made, depending on how far the game has progressed and who took longer over their turns – see below.
If one army breaks, the victorious player scores 60 points plus the difference between the enemy % routed and his own % routed. The loser scores points equal to the winner's % routed.
Examples:

1) If Ben defeats Tamas's army, and has inflicted 45% routed on Tamas, and Tamas has inflicted 15% on Ben, Ben will score 60 + (45 – 15) = 90, Tamas will score 15.

2) However, if Ben defeated Tamas’s army by inflicting 62% routed on Tamas, and Tamas had inflicted 56% routed on Ben, Ben would get 60 + (62 – 56) = 66 points, and Tamas would get 56.

3) If the game is unfinished (or it reached the turn limit) with Ben inflicting 20% routed on Tamas, and Tamas inflicting 10% routed on Ben, Ben would score 20, and Tamas would score 10. (Provided that between them they have played at least 24 turns in all – see below).

Note that this system rewards aggressive play over desultory skirmishing. If you rout an enemy unit then hide for the rest of the game, both players will get extremely low scores - lower than if they played hard and lost.

Byes:

If an odd number of players sign up for the tournament, one player will get a bye in each round. In the first round this is random. In subsequent rounds it will be the player with the lowest score. The score for a BYE is 75 points for each game.

Round times and timing out:

Each round will last 14 days.

Any battles that are not completed by the end of the round will be timed out. The player who has had the game in his “My Turns” box the longest overall will be the one who is deemed to be timed out. This will not normally incur any penalties, unless insufficient turns have been played: If the timed-out player has played less than 12 turns, his score will be reduced proportionately, and his opponent will be granted the BYE score if it exceeds his current score. If the timed-out player has played less than 6 turns, he will not be included in the draw for the next round. This is to prevent someone else’s enjoyment being spoiled by being drawn against someone who has apparently dropped out of the tournament.

"A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine" (From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord)

With 76 new Army Lists, 19 new Factions, 55 new Units, new historical-based campaigns and Epic Battles, Wolves at the Gate will be massive!

Are you eager to see the game in action? Than don't miss our preview on our official Twitch Channel on Friday 24th at 6Pm BST!

https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinegroup


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1004260/Field_of_Glory_II_Wolves_at_the_Gate/

By popular demand, Update 1.5.12 adds a major new feature to the game – Allies.

It is now possible to choose to have allies from a different army list in SP and MP custom battle armies. The main army list provides the majority of the troops available for selection, the allies provide a smaller proportion.

The permitted allies for each list are based on known historical alliances. Hence some army lists can have as many as 12 possible allies, others may have none. Altogether, well over 400 allies are currently specified, which, together with the 281 single nation army lists, makes a total of more than 700 pure or mixed army lists in the game. This in turn means that, including “what if” games, the number of possible matchups is now over 500,000! And that is before unit selection.

For example, here we are setting up a custom battle representing an episode from the Third Samnite War (298-290 BC) in which an army of allied Samnites and Gauls meets a Roman army with Lucanian allies.



The army list previews show an asterisk in front of the allied units.





The two armies arrayed for battle:



Here we can set up a situation similar to the battle of Clontarf in 1014 AD, in which an Irish army with Viking allies fights a Viking army with Irish allies:



Stay tuned for further information!

"Horses ramp high and rock and boil / And break their golden reins,

And slide on carnage clamorously, / Down where the bitter blood doth lie,

Where Ogier went on foot to die, / In the old way of the Danes.

"The high tide!" King Alfred cried. / "The high tide and the turn!

As a tide turns on the tall grey seas, / See how they waver in the trees,

How stray their spears, how knock their knees, / How wild their watchfires burn!"

G. K. Chesterton – The Ballad of the White Horse


A new installment for Field of Glory II is coming and it is “darker” than ever. Wolves at the Gate depicts the epic struggles that newly forged European kingdoms had to face for their survival during the “Dark Ages”, a long period of recurrent conflicts that eventually gave birth to Europe.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1004260/Field_of_Glory_II_Wolves_at_the_Gate/

This age was marked by the volcanic expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate and its fights against the Byzantine Empire, the last bastion against the Islamic advance in the middle-east. In Europe, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, and then crowned Emperor of the Romans, built the foundations of the Carolingian Renaissance and the beginning of the Translatio Imperii in the West.

But no-one was prepared for the endless waves of ruthless and merciless raiders and warriors that from the end of the eight century onward ravaged almost the totality of the Continent and the Mediterranean. Christendom’s towns and holy places were in constant danger from the depredations of the Vikings and Magyars, as well as the on-going Saracen threat. The Vikings were to carve out colonies in Ireland, the Danelaw in England, Normandy in France and the Kievan Rus in Russia. The Magyars were eventually to cease their raids and become the Christian kingdom of Hungary.

The Wolves have arrived. Is this end of Christianity, or is it just the birth pangs of a new world order?

Summary of features:

• 19 new factions
  
• 55 new units
  
• 76 new army lists
  
• 6 new Epic Battles
  
• 74 new Quick Battles
  
• Expanded Custom Battles module.
  
• Expanded Sandbox Campaign module.
  
• 6 new historically-based campaigns.
  
• New Allies feature added in accompanying game update.