We lined up unit by unit and I noticed that Kevin's right was weak, so I put a Gedriht unit opposite, the rest of the plan was to hold the centre until I was ready to attack while keeping an eye on my right. The Saxons do not have a lot of skirmishers, which I think is historical but it nevertheless is a bind on the wargame table, I had decided to take a bunch of javelin armed lights this time as they are always left behind for bowmen, I wanted to hunt enemy skirmishers with them.
Romano-British on the left, Saxons on the right. |
The game started well, I took some missile casualties on my left while dishing out some on my right, I did manage to rout a large unit of bowmen with the javelins but it rallied later and came back for a time before leaving for good. My attack on the British right went well although I failed to catch the routers which meant in essence that my unit here was out of action for the rest of the battle as it had to keep chasing the none too keen enemy.
The Saxons watch confusion in the British ranks. |
Meanwhile Kevin had made a very successful assault on my right, I lost my light cavalry to his mounted Comitatus which then went on to charge in and over my Ceorls, this left one unit of Duguth facing defeat as its flank now looked very dodgy. All was not lost however, just as the British seemed on the cusp of victory I knocked out several more units in the centre and this time caught them, as in the last battle it was up to Kevin's foot Comitatus to hold so that he could polish off my right. Sadly for him the unit had already lost men to missiles and as my killers followed their king downhill they savagely cut down the British Dux's companions, the rout of their leader and his men allowed me to turn my reserves towards my dodgy right. I also managed to get the last initiative and go first, this meant it was all over for the British.
The British centre and right in trouble. |
The javelin armed skirmishers had done very well, and they managed to stay alive as they used a small copse of trees to shield them as they advanced. Kevin's points poured into his mounted Comitatus actually worked against the Saxons as they really have no counter for this heavy cavalry and unless lucky enough to get decent infantry into them can only harass them for the duration hoping they fall victim to missiles.
I think our next game will be in two weeks or so with some luck, if Kevin's Greeks are ready then it will be time to march out the Twelfth, looking forward to that.
I set up badly and it went downhill from there. My idea of a massed attack on the centre turned into a traffic jam. My right was hopelessly outclassed. Being new to WAC I found the clump of trees (broken ground) a constant distraction and never quite knew what to do around it. My pedyts were isolated on the right and a unit of milites stood behind the trees doing nothing much until volleys of Saxon javelins hurtled through the branches. I had success on the left with the heavy cavalry but to no avail as my centre was second best and the Comitatus compounded the disaster by rolling no kills in one round of combat in which George rolled 8 kills. Back to the drawing board.
ReplyDeleteI am sure your Greeks will not let you down.
DeleteRather than traditional cavalry my Greeks fight with a wooden horse on each flank so heed well Virgil's warning: "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis."
ReplyDeleteGreat looking game and bat rep. Looking forward to seeing the Greeks.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Ross
Thanks, looking forward to invading Greece myself with the Thunderbolts.
DeleteSplendid stuff, I shall look forward to the reports of the Roman invasion.
ReplyDeleteI can see elevation to the purple coming my way.
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