Thursday 30 July 2020

If You Go Down To The Woods Today

After a gap of five long months, Steve C and I finally got together for a game today at his war-games room in Goldhanger - thanks Covid-19 !

My Romans had to go foraging again in Barbarian territory. They will arrive in and around this path.

The German Barbarians have to stop them getting food and weapons from two of the three settlements seen here.

The Centurion doesn't hang around  - a column of three groups marches up the track as archers appear around the woods on the left

Allied cavalry have deployed from rough ground ahead and they have shot off to "shut down" an enemy deployment point

Here's the afore mentioned archers

and another group appear at the point the cavalry deployed from

German slingers appear in front of the high ground opposite the first group of Roman archers

which attracts the attention of another Roman cavalry group

the Slingers evade back onto the rocky high ground

More emerge from cover in front of the main Roman advance - and they are hit by Roman arrows

Good shooting !

The cavalry have used an Infamy card to go along a hidden track in the woods as Auxiliary troops "step out" ahead of the column of Legionaries

Out of nowhere, two groups of Barbarians ambush the Roman cavalry in the woods - and they destroy them. Roman morale takes a dip.

but the Roman infantry quickly react. The Auxiliaries charge the Barbarians in the rear and the Legion follows up to add support

The Barbarians are caught out

 Their fervour keeps shock at bay but not the kills

With the Legionaries joining in, things can only get worse for the Barbarians


they break off the fight and retreat through the woods

the Roman cavalry out on the left have taken some hits from the enemy slingers so move away, leaving the archers to deal with them

Back in the woods, the Centurion leads his men forward again

However, before they can reach the battered enemy Mob, they are ambushed by a group of lunatic fanatics

the Romans took some casualties but the fanatics are destroyed

A fresh Barbarian mob lead by their Warlord now charges into the Roman line

but they stand firm

the Barbarians are coming off worse again

they retreat too and the Warlord has been injured

Roman archers and cavalry advance as the Auxiliaries "loot" the first settlement

The Barbarians try a last desperate charge but this fails too and their morale has dived to zero

Roman victory and they can loot the other settlements without further disturbance.

This was the start of a campaign so the Roman centurion has gained some status with this result and will start the next game with higher morale.

Great to get back to Goldhanger again - and yes, we did visit The Chequers for lunch !

Friday 17 July 2020

Roman Scouting Mission

We played this via Zoom yesterday with Steve C having the German Barbarians and me the Romans.

The Romans deploy from top right hand side, the Barbarians will have various deployment/ambush points they can appear from

This area in the bottom left hand corner is dense woods

First on, a Roman Auxiliary cavalry unit, heading towards the small woods

They were right to be suspicious of it - enemy slingers emerge, fire and kill a mounted warrior

More enemy skirmishers emerge from the marsh in the centre 

They exchange fire with some Roman archers that have deployed in another marshy area

The Roman Optio comes on with two groups, heading for the centre

and they are backed up by yet more archers

With all this firepower heading their way, the Barbarians are down to 50% already and taking a lot of shock too

Now the Roman Centurion has arrived with the rest of the force

The cavalry concentrate on enemy deployment points to negate them

The enemy skirmishers in the centre have been destroyed

but the ones in the woods need to be addressed

so a useful Infamy card is played to let the cavalry chase them through the woods

The Optio's men have now reached the large marsh in the centre

and they are flanked by the cavalry

At last ! A big enemy war band emerges from the trees

The Centurion rushes forward his remaining infantry

The last few Barbarian skirmishers have fled into the dense forest

but the Roman cavalry suffered in the woods - only their leader comes out and retires

And now another war band attacks from left of the Roman lines

The big war band is building up fervour before they rush forward

and now Barbarian cavalry appears and heads off behind the Roman lines

The Romans have a solid wall of infantry awaiting the Barbarian charge

Roman cavalry and Barbarian foot clash on the left flank

The war band is in shield wall for protection

casualties mount

but the Barbarians are thrown back in disarray

the Barbarian cavalry now threatens the rear of the Roman line

Their attention is still focussed on the enemy Mob

Just as the Optio turns his men to face the enemy cavalry, a group of Barbarian "Loonies" attack from nowhere

The Barbarian chief tells his men it is time and they charge

but the attack is disjointed and they take casualties

Roman discipline holds

The "Loonies" stab the Auxiliaries in the back

and they break and run

narrowly avoiding the remnants of the Barbarian cavalry that have lost men to archer fire

Those "Loonies" have made a right mess of the Roman line

Roman cavalry now tackle them

In a hard fight, both cavalry and "Loonies" are destroyed

Now the Barbarian chief charges his men forward again

The Optio's men have tried to charge the smaller Barbarian mob but get beaten for their trouble

The Barbarians follow up

but this has left their rear exposed to the remaining Roman cavalry

They are smashed by this attack

The Barbarian morale had been falling steadily and this final act sees their morale crumble completely - they are done !

The Barbarians flee the field leaving the Romans as victors.

We started at 11am and didn't get to finish until 18:30 partly because of a glitch with Zoom for a while but we got back on again and finished the game.

Definitely getting slicker with the rules now and they feel just right for this period and style of skirmish.