Saxons! Saxons!

Last night was to be a Dark Age War and Conquest bash, I had sent Simon the Romano-British list but he did not have time to select a force so instead I took along two generic armies for the period, a meeting engagement on the border between the two sides. Both had an elite hearthguard then two average warrior formations, supporting these both armies had mercenary warbands, these do not get on to the battlefield very often so I took the opportunity to bring them along. The British Dux had Welsh and renegade Saxons while the Saxon King had Picts and Franks (yes, those Franks), they also had two skirmish units apiece.

Simon set up with a short line, a unit in reserve and his Saxon warband on its own holding the left flank. I had a fully formed line with the intention of taking advantage of the low hill to the front of the Franks and my Gedriht, I hoped to whittle down Simon's Saxons and hit them with my Picts then see how things turned out.

Saxon line.

Romano-British line.

Saxons on the left.

I got the hill and formed shieldwall, the Franks I left on the reverse slope as I did not want them to become a target for javelins and arrows, I at first moved my left forward then thought better of it as the Welsh were on a hill nearby and I did not want them to get an advantage charging down so I withdrew the Duguth warriors to a safer distance. I lost my javelinmen to a hail of enemy missiles as the centre of both armies stood and traded javelins, the King's companions began to suffer quite horribly although they also managed to deal out death and destruction to the Comitatus opposite. The King also managed to keep his men in check as their natural instinct was to charge into the enemy closest to them.


While this was happening I did indeed begin to harass the Saxon mercenaries and this in turn forced them to approach the Picts, standing patiently waiting. I now had to make a decision on whether to charge in or wait for even more to fall foul of my archers, I threw caution to the wind and in they went. The Saxons failed to hold the onslaught, routed and dispersed, the British left was now wide open, maybe the Dux should have paid them before the battle.

Simon fails to beat a 2.

The Welsh now came off their hill to perhaps even things up, at first they were successful and the Duguth were forced back, just as things were looking bad for them the Duguth rallied around their Thegn and turned the tide, this combat went back and forward but it saved my left from collapsing. The crises of the battle had arrived, Simon had to attack or hand over the initiative, the moment passed and the pendulum swung further towards the Saxons. In fairness his chance of moving the enemy off the hill was very slim.

The Crises.

Hold!

As the Picts and more Duguth hit the British left the Franks chose to charge off the hill in a wild assault against the Milites at the bottom. I kept my hearthguard on the hill as I could not rely on them winning a fight as they had suffered so terribly from missile fire. The British were now in desperate straits as the Saxons, Picts and Franks began to push them back, it was too much and Simon conceded defeat.

The end is nigh.

 

A fine Dark Age bash and it was nice to get the warbands out for a change. The hill was important to me as it dominated what went on in the centre, while the Welsh hill was too far from the action to help them once I had withdrew. The turning point and it would have been the same for both armies was the fight on the British left, whoever won that would have been able to turn in against the main battle line, this meant that an all out effort was required elsewhere otherwise an almost certain defeat was looming.

On other tables we had Frostgrave, a boardgame and a large RPG dungeon thingy. Next week Rob is running a Bolt Action game.