Sunday (Second Day)

Early doors again for our last day, due to the lousy state of Britain's roads and the M6 motorway in particular I decided to only have one game on the Sunday so that Mark and Mike could get home at a decent time, yes, that's where we are today, just wait till the lights start to go out as well, but I digress. It was Carolingians vs Normans for Stewart and Mark and a Roman clash between Mike's Legion and the Thunderbolts under my command now. I was looking forward to this as I have not led the Twelfth for some time now.

Once deployed I thought Mike's centre looked weak, it consisted of auxiliary troops, archers and infantry, the large archer units could cause a problem but once engaged they should fall to proper legionary's. I would use my Lanciari to threaten his right and hold back my left where he had put some of his legionary cohorts, hopefully this would not fall until I had knocked out the centre. Mike's idea was obviously to fall on my left and roll up the line.

Right from the start "there is something wrong with our dice today" as my archers could make no impression on the enemy advancing towards them, it was the same with the hourse archers, my planned advance on the centre was in disarray because Cohors I under the personal command of the Legate refused to move towards their target, my boys had never before refused an order! Worse was to follow as I threw the Praetorians in against some auxiliaries which they should have beat hands down but only narrowly avoided a draw, I had my own excellent auxiliaries on hand and they went in to support the barracks room boys, thankfully as it turned out as the Praetorians flailed wildly killing no one. My attack was running out of steam. Cohors II managed to rout their opponents but they managed to escape due to a small patch of rough ground, these men came back but did not survive a second fight with the Second but it all took time. I now had no one to move against the archers as I needed Cohors I for support against Mike's victorious troops on my left.
 

Romans to the left, Romans to the right (mine).

 

On the left I knew I would lose the archers but expected the cohort in that area to at least put up a fight, with disaster looming I withdrew the horse archers, only just in time as the flank collapsed. Over on the far right Mike had taken a cohort on a trip against my flank but when their skirmish supports ran foul of the Lanciari he turned them back, I sent the Lanciari running towards my left, a mistake I now think as they could have ensured the defeat of the lone cohort. At this point Mike looked like a winner but he also had problems in that his victorious troops on my left were too far away to influence the centre battle, time was now against him.

Just before Mike's centre went and my left disappeared.

 I now started to win in the centre and forced the massed archers to break formation, they were still a threat but now vulnerable to morale throws (which he kept passing). I now turned my troops towards my left apart from the Praetorians which I thought (once again) would easily take the enemy cohort all on its own on the right. Disaster now followed these moves as Cohors II crumbled as did the useless Praetorians, again scoring no hits. Cohors I now under threat of decimation redeemed themselves and although badly outnumbered halted and routed a larger enemy cohort. Time was up, the position of both armies had almost reversed and it had been a titanic struggle worth of two of Rome's finest although my die rolling had been abysmal on occasions, especially with the Praetorians. The game was so close I 'won' by one point 21/20, a Pyrrhic victory.

Stewart meanwhile had been beaten by the Normans, his army almost destroyed which is unusual although I think his dice were also getting some stick.

Normans on the left, Carolingians on the right.

 It only remained for the scores to be read out, Mike came first with 81 points, I managed to squeeze into second place with 67 and Stewart and Mark were joint third on 64, a die was tossed to see who got the wooden spoon, Mark lost.

Me, Mike, Mark, Stewart.

 When you don't play a game often you do forget stuff so the games were also a great way to remember mechanisms and generally get back to understanding the rules, I think we all benefited from this. We all enjoyed the weekend and I think would enjoy another later in the year, perhaps with a couple more players.

It only remains for me to thank Stewart, Mike and Mark for making the effort to travel, bring their armies and to give me some great games.

Oh, I almost forgot, I am now going to recruit a fourth cohort so that I do not have to use those damn Praetorians!