Cuthwulf's Final battle?

 After a long break John and I returned to our Dux Britanniarum campaign Cuthwulf was laying siege to the town of Catherick in Northern Britton.  Antoninous has at last gathered troops for a last attempt to break the siege before snow flies.

 The Britton break from the trees on to the battle field.

 The pre Battle phase goes mostly my way Wulfric my champion defeats Uther and wounds him badly, My speech is good so I get an extra card and level of status, John's speech bombs lowering his status by one...

 We advance towards each other.

 The Brittons are moving cautiously forming shield walls were they can...  

 I see a chance and one of my elite units moves up to attack....

 I really didn't think these guys should be able to move up in support my feeling is the men in front of them would have gotten in the way. But as we couldn't find anything certian in the rules we diced for it and John got the call

 My ealites are in tourble and Wulfgeat and his two bands of warriors are also in some dificulty

 I consider trying to save my men... but John uses the step forth card destroying that unit.

 I fall back in stead.

 You may be wondering were Eaglmound and my two other bands of warriors are... they are working around the Briton flank

 Cuthwulf see the Britons have learned... they hold their formation shield to shield...

 My only chance is the Flank attack...

 But John can see that two an moves to counter..

 Still I break on unit of levies... Using the Goad card to counter the shield wall.

 More men work around the Briton Flank....

 Wulfgeat moves to support Eaglemund While Cuthwulf tries to keep the main Briton line fixed.

 Eagle mound falls back not willing to fight the shield wall with just one unit...

 John follows up, I do a good bit of damage but one of my units breaks and runs..

 Then the Britons break their shield wall and rush to take on Wulfgeat... the small unit on the left break first...

The Wulfgeat and his men are overwhelmed... My army moral break and Cuthwulf really didn;t even get into the fight.  With that my men desert  me, I am a king with out a kingdom I had a good run but tonight despite fairly good tactic my dice were petty cold and John's dice were pretty hot.  John also made excellent use of shield wall. That is the end of the Campaign but maybe Cuthwulf will ride again some day.  Congratulations John on a excellent game and an excellent campaign victory

More Thugs

Frost grave requires a fair bit of cannon er.. spell fodder especially when you want to have and extra war band or two to lend out to new players. So Here they are.

Two Thugs with Spears I now have 4 of these guys... they look odd with out shield but it helps avoid confusion.

having four of them also means they can be proper skirmishers in Dux Britaniurm, troops that do double duty are a joy to the gamer.

Three more to serve as men at arms or as warriors in Dux the two on the left are especially appropriate in their leather armor .

I need to add some more rocks and tufts of grass to the bases but other wise I think these guys are solid and ready to go.

The Battle of Fýrmæl Slæd

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.