Battle Report - 10 Jun 2013 - Dux Britanniarum

A new year, as I said in the previous post. With the capture of Linnius by (my) Saxons, the British have moved their capital to Caer Lerion, and the Saxons are raiding from Linnius into Cavsennae - not least because they're broke, having built a new Hall!

(As an aside, for those new to Dux Britanniarum, do check out Rich Clarke of Too Fat Lardies' introductory video on YouTube.)

We forgot to roll the end-of-year 'who dies' rolls, so hopefully no-one has! We did though use my terrain rules from the 2013 TFL Summer Special, and then rolled up the Border Tower scenario, which immediately resulted in us removing the stone circle from the top of my nice new hill and replacing it with Andy's lovely Grand Manner watch tower.

The Saxons' mission is to capture a British noble, before he can reach the safety of the tower: deployment for the Saxons is random, and just my luck, involved entering in the middle of a thick wood.

I managed to get my hearthguard out on the first turn (we forgot the British watchtower rules AGAIN, which meant I should have been a turn later), and on turn two had a glorious hand (Bounding Move, Carpe Diem, Aggressive Charge, Goad) with which to smack into Andy's levy (this time out commanded by Geraint, as Maximus Minimus was out on patrol with the warriors).

It was nasty (if you were British), although my Gehdriht took a fair amount of shock. Meanwhile, my warriors under Ecgwine burst out of the wood in an attempt to chase down Maximus Minimus, who was skirting warily around in an attempt to get to the tower.

I blew my first movement roll, with one of the last moves of a turn, and wound up 5" away. The next run through the deck got me a few more good Fate cards, and it actually came down to two cards left in the activation deck: British Lord 2 (Maximus) and Saxon Lord 2 (Ecgwine). Tense, since victory was going to whichever activated first, as we both had decent hands... except that Andy didn't know I was holding a Step Forth, which meant the turn was mine, come what may.

As it turned out, I didn't need to use it, as Ecgwine's card came up and he and his warriors laid into the British. Rather too well, actually, as the unit Maximus was with (we're trying to capture him, remember), lost its amphora, taking Maximus with it and fleeting back out of range.

Bother!

The problem at this point for me is threefold:

First, it's now Maximus' turn, so he can extract himself from the wreck of his unit and run for safety. And a lone Lord is almost impossible to catch.

Second, I'm out of good cards, so I can't easily chase Andy's levy and hearthguard back up the hill.

Third, Andy's hearthguard are behind Ecgwine's flank, and it's time to reshuffle the activation deck.

I have to blow the Step Forth to avoid being hit in the flank, and from then on it's all a bit meh from the Saxon viewpoint: we're not outnumbered, but Andy has all the good cards, and all he has to do to win now Maximus has gained the safety of the hill and the British hearthguard is leg it off the board by the nearest table edge. Which happens to be his.

I have, pretty much, one chance, which is to hope he rolls badly and I can get what's now a formation of four groups up the hill after him now he's with the hearthguard.

So. Time to roll an 18.

Or not.

A couple of turns of retreat and drawing Fate cards later, Andy wins, as he's denied me my objective.

Cracking game, and once again an illustration of how cool the Dux B raid system is - compare this to the last time we fought this scenario and see just how different it is!