Dux Britanniarum down at the Club

Several of our club members had requested a game of Dux Britanniarum as they had heard Steve Clarke and I singing their praises and one or two of the guys have taken the plunge and bought some forces and painted them up.

We decided upon a battle around a village with a church at its centre with some wood land scattered around the battlefield edges.

First off, a combat between the opposing champions was chosen. The Saxon got the better of it and the Romano-British champion withdrew hurt which boosted the Saxon morale !

The  Saxons arrived over on their right and dashed forwards en masse.

The Romano-British were left and behind the village with their Levy facing left of the small wood.

The levy were pushed forwards as slingers made for the edge of the village

A Saxon warrior formation charged an advanced group of levy as the R-B nobles hurried their warrior formation up to join in.

A Saxon noble is down wounded and the R-B levy are holding there own.

Certainly long enough for the warriors to crash into the fight from the right.

This combination wears down the Saxons

The Saxon Lord orders forwards his elite troops

and the R-B warriors turn to fight them

The British are thrown back with half their number gone 

and after an aborted further attack, one group has been destroyed completely

In the end, the British levy saved the day by finishing off the Saxon warriors and their army morale tumbled to zero.

The Saxon dream of burning the church - like this - remained a dream as they fled the field !

We had enough time to play another game, this time using the Raiders Supplement to the rules, so Steve C removed his Saxons and Alan brought on his Pictish force.

Nice to see some cavalry for a change ...

The Picts also have bows and crossbows ...

Here's the view from the Pict side as they advance against a solid looking Roman-British force

The British Lord's elite group stand side by side with their levy

The Pictish cavalry are ordered forwards by their Lord

as the warrior raiders make ready

encouraged by their leaders

Right, let's get on with it !

A big melee ensues

The levy formed shield wall for protection but the British elite troops are having to fight two groups at once 

The levy win and the Picts retire as the Elites fight on

Both sides have fought to a standstill here and need a breather

One group of British levy had been rushed around the church and manage to pin the Pictish cavalry into a fight

The Pict Lord and his retinue are in a serious fight now with more Levy men

and the British warriors have got stuck in on the flank of the more advanced Picts 

The British Lord lead the attack with his champion (who goes down in the struggle, saving his Lord)

A curious stage in the battle where two opposing command teams pass each other! 

The successful British warriors are ordered forwards to complete their victory

With the depleted Pict group to their fore and the enemy leader with them,

the British charge and defeat them.

The Pictish bard and poet has to re-write his text as the predicted outcome does not appear to have come to fruition !

Its not supposed to end like this, he thinks !

Two tense and enjoyable games, evenly balanced right to the end.

Hopefully, our four new players will want to have another go at Dux Britanniarum soon.