Wagons Roll!

For the latest Dux Brit raid, Jeff and I played the convoy game.

I took  the Romano-British, under a new commander, following the crushing defeat I received last time. I had my hearthguard and warriors, plus one unit of levy defending the wagons, while the rest of the levy and archers, under the command of Cei, one of my nobles, was sat in the fort.

Cei and his men are out of beans, bacon and beer and are desperately hoping Tristram and Bedwyr can get to them before they die of thirst.

The game started slowly. Painfully slowly. The wagons didn't so much roll as crawl like arthritic snails, as my two units positioned themselves to keep themselves between the wagons and Jeff's marauding Saxons. Fortunately for me, the only thing moving slower were the Saxons! Jeff struggled over the hill, making terribly heavy weather of the terrain, until he finally managed to reach my warriors. Jeff had a unit of skirmishers thistime, the result of his massive win last time. This was the first time the skirmishers had been out, and we were interested to see their effect.

Finally one of his nobles, Cenric, managed to contact with Bedwyr, who was protected the back of the wagons with warriors and levy. Meanwhile, both Tristram and Aelle had several goes at rushing into combat with each other, but neither could achieve enough movement! Losing one pip of a D6 doesn't seem too bad, until you keep rolling ones and twos all the time! The satisfied themselves with insults, and ineffectual  javelins and arrows from Jeff's archers and skirmishers.

Cenric mashes Bedwyr!

A sudden turnup for the books occurred here: Jeff sent Cenric to attack Bedwyr again. With Bedwyr himself wounded, and down to a unit of levy with a couple of surviving warriors, this ought to have been a massacre. But the shieldwall held, and Cenric fell back wounded, his men reeling with shock. Bedwyr managed to  not follow up, which was just as well, and the wagons managed to crawl a bit further on.

Aelle still couldn't force a charge against Tristram, and suddenly noticed that Cei had sortied with the rest of the levy, threatening his flank!

Where the hell did that lot come from?!

At this point, Jeff decided that the beans, bacon and beer simply weren't worth it, and Aelle retreated in good order - very slowly, again. Even the skirmishers couldn't help him! Tristram decided not to follow up, and the beer arrived safely, to slake the thirst of the weary Brits.

Make mine a pint!

Jeff was stymied by the terrain, and had he entered the table somewhere he could have moved a bit faster, things might have ended very differently. As it was, there were few casualties on either side, but my hand of pursuit cards left me with a thief's horde. Better than last time!

Merry meet again!

Raiding The Church of Saint Caradoc the Disappointed - Again!

Aelle had run short of money again, so decided to raid Saint Caradoc's again. Well, after all, those peasants must have been fleeced of their money to buy some new valuables for the altar by now! And so, Saint Caradoc's quiet is disturbed again by fighting and killing.

This time around, Jeff took the Britons and I took the Saxons. Aelle's morale was a bit brittle, but Arthorius was nicely confident when he took the table.

Table setup, ready to go

My Saxons got three free moves at the start, and started crossing the very rough terrain  towards the church. I started a precedent for the night by rolling very, VERY low, and so was admiring the view in the hills while Jeff reached the church with Arthorius and the knights.

Where did that extra terrain come from?

Jeff hunkered down in the church, and try as I might I could not force my way in, or winkle him out, despite a couple of rounds of hand, but totally inconclusive fighting! A massive scrap developed on the edge of the hill close to the edge of the swamp. Jeff ground my force of warriors down, with the missile troops on both sides not doing much.

Come out and fight!

Jeff brought the rest of his troops up and threatened my growing force assaulting the church. Arthorius acted more like a general than  a warlord, directing action outside from within the safety of the church. Aelle drove off Bedwyr and the British levy, who withdrew in good order. Appaling low rolls on my part meant several charges just didn't connect! Aelle had sustained some losses, and these became critical, when just after this picture was taken Arthorius sallied out of the church. 

That's seen off the rabble!

Arthorius drove off both Saxon elite groups (who lost their amphorae), wounded Aelle and elsewhere Cei routed a unit of warriors. Cerdic and Sigebehrt could only look on as the army crumbled! Saxon morale collapsed and Jeff won a victory.

Neither side lost many men, and after adding up victory points, we had an odd situation. All through the game, I had struggled not just with low dice rolls, but also with having almost no attack-based Fate cards. This meant that at the end of the game, I was holding four Retreat cards which didn't do me any good at all! I should have scarpered when I couldn't get Jeff out of that church. Alternative answers on a postcard please... Well, a good night was had by all, and it'll become a regular thing.

Merry Meet Again!