Slaughter in Somerset: The Results

Well the weekend of killing is over with an uneventful drive home until North of Birmingham then 50 and 40 mile an hour limits with torrential rain all the way to Warton, so that's summer gone.

I had been invited down south to play four games against Jenny and Phil over the weekend so after breakfast on Saturday first up was the Twelfth against Phil's German horde. I had gone for Raw Legionaries commanded by Centurions or Generals just to bring their moral up to average, these four cohorts were supported by two skirmish units and my favourite Lanciarii along with an Auxiliary cohort, horse archers, bolt shooter and Contarii. My first objective was to get rid of the enemy skirmishers, slowly advance the infantry and if the Contarii could get into a decent position charge the German cavalry.

Germans on the left, Twelfth on the right.

German cavalry.

The lines steadily advance.

 I used the Lanciarii aggressively and took out the skirmishers on the Barbarian right and proceeded to menace the German rear, the horse archers accounted for another unit, the German cavalry were very wary of the ballista and tried to stay out of its arc of fire. With their right flank under increasing threat it was time for the Germans to test my line so in they came hoping for some quick victories, however the cohorts held and beat them back. Soon most of the barbarians were running for the rear and all I had to do was reorganise my left and sweep the area, Phil conceded and I was up 49/3.

Roman victory.

 In the afternoon the Thunderbolts prepared to meet Jenny's Celts an army with which she is very competent, but my boys were looking for revenge for a past insult. The battle started well for me and once again I threw my left forward with the Lanciarii leading, I got rid of almost all the Celt skirmishers and had my cavalry in the Celtic rear, on top of that I hit the far right hand unit in the flank, what could go wrong? Well, despite losing the combats Jenny kept making her morale tests to stand, the melees were lasting far longer than I wanted. Time was running out and neither side had gained much of an advantage, I had lost my Auxiliary cohort but they had made a titanic effort against the enemy but lost out to numbers in the end. Just as the battle came to an end I finally beat off two warbands only to have two of my own cohorts run, one the result of a dreadful morale throw and the other because I should have retired it rather than risk it being charged, but hey ho. A very close fight and I went down this time 21/24, but of course I took it as a losing draw to save face. The survivors of two cohorts were severely reprimanded later in the evening but overall the Twelfth had come through the day with honour.

A long, deadly struggle in the centre.

Fortified with an excellent fry up Jenny and I met over the field of battle once again the next morning, in order that Jenny could use her Vikings I borrowed Phil's Anglo-Saxons. once again I went for the enemy skirmish screen and got rid of them all except one persistently annoying bunch of javelinmen who proved a pain throughout the battle. This was a typical battle of the period and both lines were soon in shieldwall within javelin range and letting loose to see who would falter first, it looked like me as I suffered tremendous damage from Jenny's shooting. On my left I stupidly threw a bunch of Thegns at a shieldwall and suffered the consequences, I should just have advanced slowly and hit the Bondi in shieldwall, but I didn't. In the centre I managed at last to destroy a bunch of massed archers who had been bothering me but as my battle line suffered and my men fell I was forced to charge. It did not end well, but it was the last move, the result was bad but became even worse as Jenny had managed to pursue and get into my deployment area which doubled her score, it ended 42/11 against. Not a great start to the day but softened by the fact it was not my army and it was my first time using it.

Vikings left, Anglo-Saxons right.

Anglo-Saxons

Vikings.

Shieldwall!

I was back on solid ground in the next game, a Roman Civil War with Phil's Patrician Romans against my Patricians. I had taken four Legions, three Auxiliary and one Palatina as the core of my army, my strike forces were Goth Noble Foederati and the Generals Hun Bucellari supported by Hun horse archers. Yes you guessed it, I took out the enemy skirmishers first while my Goths went hell for leather for the enemy Germans on Phil's right, a much smaller unit than mine, those particular Barbarians had taken the wrong money as it turned out and were destroyed easily.

Rebels top, legitimate troops bottom.

The West is safe.

The Rebel Germanic Noble cavalry now tried to close with my Huns, I used their firepower to whittle one unit down to 50% and wound its officer, these troops are expensive but deadly. Both my cavalry units were now charged, the horse archers feigned flight and escaped while their pursuers made a half hearted pursuit, my Bucellari destroyed their chargers and on following up struck the flank of the other German cavalry sweeping them off the table in rout.

The enemy flanks were now wide open Goths and Huns were in the enemy rear, the usurper had no choice but to throw in his infantry and hope to break my Legions, he did manage to break one unit but the other held and soon the Bucellari came to the rescue and hit the enemy in the rear causing them to disperse. The two remaining enemy units were now surrounded by the army of the legitimate Magister Militum for Gaul and duly surrendered. I tallied the score at 47/7.

What about the points you ask, if you insist, overall I had 128 to Jenny and Phil's 76 over four games, done as individuals it was 66 for Jenny, 64 for me and 10 for Phil. We were all winners of course as we had a good weekend.

So, that was it, a weekend of wargaming using beautiful armies which the photographs do not do justice to, obviously I like mine but the other four armies were truly unique in figures, composition and painting.