John and I at last got to return to our Dux Britanniarvm Campaign. As you may recall when last we saw Cuthwulf the Red he has lost the lands he captured from the Brittions and faced disgrace as an outlaw. With his last band of followers he resolved to do or die. John and I both have cavalry so even though technically I wouldn't get any john let me swap out a unit of 6 warriors for 4 light cavalry. John had 4 elite shock cavalry men subbing in for the one of his two elite units. (the name comes out to burnt glade as we had wooded board that was open in the center with some under growth... it made me think of section of forest that had burnt but is starting to grow back.
Our champions battled, John won but both men were bloodied so they would add only the 1d6 of a normal man in battle. Though the pre-Battle moves John gets his Moral boosted all the way to 12! Mine is at 8.
The Britons begin to advance cautiously.
The Saxon host arrayed for battle
Cuthwulf leads his warriors forward, keeping flanks secured...
against the British horsemen
but Cuthwulf leaves those to his noble follower Eaglemun as he focuses on the Briton infantry.
The Warriors in the woods Goad the right side of the British shield wall..
and Cuthwulf leads his men forward against the left Driving the Britons back
But they comb back and Antoninous joins the fray.
The fight is savage many fall on both sides...
but more Saxon's than Britons an Cuthwulf fall back (John save one unit by timely use of his priest).
Eaglemund tries to catch the British Cavalry... but cannot.
I used Stand Forth to catch the British cavalry(followed by Crappie Diem) and Eaglemund Catches the Briton Cavalry, Routing them from the field. John and I jockey for position in the center and I bring my light Cavalry around from left to right.
And I manage to catch the Briton slingers and scatter them
One of my warriors charges and takes on a unit of levies.. but the levies to the right join in...
and my men are driven back with heavy casualties.
Still I have some men on the flank too bad the light cavalry aren't too effective.. and those slinger got two of my elite soldiers before being run off.
I use Evade to avoid an uneven fight in the center.
My archers do good work hitting Johns unit of levies.
My elites under Eaglmund attack the flank levies..
and they are driven back with heavy casualties...
But John is still in a strong position
For some reason he shifted his men left probably hoping to take my second unit of elites under Wulfgeat alone.
Wulfgeat move left and routs the levies that drove of my archers (who had an unusually good game) But the British lord and his elites take Wulgeat's unit after a long combat break the unit (though he did get some good hits on them). Cuthwulf Consolidates his remaining warriors and together with Eaglemund break the last to Briton levies.
Both armies are looking thin...
We maneuver for position... the first card up will be crucial...
and my lord gets his card drawn... in we go and the last phase of the battle begins... after to bloody rounds the Britons are driven back...
and then engaged by my light cavalry who destroy the unit. Antoninos and his elites are all that stand between me and victory.
I get the card draw again remove shock and engage the Briton elites. The fight well doing damage even now and after two rounds of combat I have not beaten them... Eaglemun moves up in support and Wulgeat seeks to bring his sword to the battle as well. The Fight continues when the Briton lords card is drawn and at last the last Briton is slain. Cuthwulf and his men harry the fugitives. Casualties were tremendous on both sides 30+ figures for the Britons and more than 23 for the Saxons I killed two Briton Nobles in addition to the slaughter of their troops. The end result surprise is 7 point Saxon Victory and I have time to reclaim my province. This was a very close game much closer than the overwhelming victory conditions would indicate the Britons fought literally to the last mean. I had some luck with the right leaders card coming up at the right time and for most of the game I had a good hand. Dice also favored me in a few key combats but came up bad in others... in the end it was more good than bad. I will say I felt I was fighting up hill all the way. Great game John.
No comments:
Post a Comment