Cuthwulf Takes the Field

Up to this point Cuthwulf has been a raider (and its been a rather mixed career at that) but last week he took the field for the first time as a battle captain against the Briton Antoninus.   Dux uses a random entry point I got the right flank corner for mine while John was in the center.  Its an interesting mechanic

The British force is ready for action

Warriors and the house hold troops of Antoninus advance to meet the Saxon host

Saxon Archers score a light hit or two then fall back not the rough ground.

Elite Saxon Warriors under the command of Osbert are the first to charge into contact.

The battle is fierce but Osbert breaks the Briton Warriors though at a hard cost (his force is reduced to 3)  John losses 4 men but more important is the 8 shock that send his largest formation routing.

Cuthwulf attempts a charge but dice fall short and the Briton units under Antoninus fall back..

Further than intended beyond their own levies... Again I try to launch a massed charge but again the dice fall short.  This gives Antoninus and the other Briton leaders time to form the levies into a shield wall and to each join a group of levies.  This alows them to almost match me in dice when I charge. I have 32 dice while John rolls 28...

Both sides do considerable damage but the Shield wall negates the 1st hit on each group of levies.  John got almost as many hits as I did and the same number of kills (but all of of his kills count) so my men have lost this fight.  

With the entire Briton Force now deployed in shield wall my chances on victory are nil.  I fall back hoping John will follow and I can pounce on a unit that gets exposed but he is too clever for that.   We were playing on a Friday so there was time pressure to finish the game by closing time at 6:00 PM so we skipped the pre-battle events next time we will do these.   Check John's Blog for the Briton History of this campaign so far: Chronica Iohannes