10mm Hail Caesar Romans v Britons

 Today's game was a play through of the 'Ambush on the Cambridge Road' scenario from the Hail Caesar 'Britannia' supplement. We were using mine and Ian's 10mm Romans and Britons. The dice decided that Charlie and Ian would be the Romans marching along the road with Nigel and I as the Britons waiting in ambush. As suggested in the book we used cards placed face down to portray the British units that were only activated once their General decided to spring the ambush and attack. 

Nigel was elected to be the British General, the infamous Dogsbollux and he placed the unit cards whilst Ian and Charlie decided on their order of march for the Roman forces along the road. 

Charlie, in his role of Roman General Petilius Cerialis sent his sub general Appius (Ian) with the troops under his command along the road first. You can see the unit cards where the Britons await. 

Dogsbollux (Nigel) made the Britons wait until Appius and his troops had walked right into the main ambush zone on turn 5.

The slaughter is about to begin. 

I was playing the role of Spondulix, a fierce Briton chieftain and he crashed his elite chariots straight into the flank of a Roman legionary unit destroying them. A great start for the Britons but elsewhere Dogsbollux was killed in melee with some Roman Auxiliary cavalry. However, his chariots and cavalry destroyed another legionary cohort. Quickly electing a new general the Britons fought on.  

The Romans to the right are caught in column on the road as the eager Britons (to the left) start to swarm all over the place. Appius himself was also slain as his troops were being defeated. 

The British chariot and cavalry units performed superbly quickly breaking what remained of Appius' division before turning on Petilius Cerialis' troops. 

Cerialis tried to persuade one of the fleeing cohorts to join his own forces ('Where's your Courage' roll) but they were having none of it as he threw a blunder and they carried on running.  

Nigel's top unit of chariots threw javelins at the top legionary unit scoring 4 hits only for Charlie to throw four 6's for his very successful saving throws. More British cavalry hit the flank of the other cohort and it was all over soon after that with a resounding victory for the british, just as happened historically and Cerialis even managed to escape.  

This was a resounding victory for the Britons who didn't even manage to get their warbands into the fight. Being caught in column was deadly for the Romans and with the Britons appearing from all over the place the Roman units never really got chance to form up and resist properly. 

Despite the one sided result we all enjoyed the game. Next week we move forward to the 100 Years war in a full day of gaming at Charlie's house. 

The Battle of the Greenspyke, a 15mm game of Fantastic Battles.

Battle of the Greenspyke. 

A 1500 point per side battle. 

Ian's triumphant Denizens of Dingly Dell marched deeper into elf lands. Once again 1500 points of Wylde Elves met his fiendish force determined to defeat them this time???

For this game we decided to try out the rules for Settlements for the first time. At the start of the game the village of Bordstead is neutral; otherwise follow the usual 'Pre-Game' procedure.   

Battle of the Greenspyke. 

A 1500 point battle. 

After their defeat at Merith Moor the Wylde Elves fell back deeper into their own lands. Reforming on the banks of the Greenspyke River they received reinforcements from across the ford there. Close by lay the small village of Bordstead and the Wylde Elves drew up in a line stretching from the ford to the village to meet the rapidly advancing hordes of Dingly Dell.  

For any figures moving into Bordstead use the rules for settlements on p21.

Deployment: Mishaps played havoc with my Wylde Elves (far right) whilst the forces of Dingly Dell (left) were largely unaffected. 

The green and blue tokens show which characters and units have been activated. 

Elf pegasus riders swoop into Brodstead to claim the village (and grabbed a point of prophecy which I then forgot to use!). 

Wylde Elf ents tear into the Dingly dell giant 'Shrooms' and pulp them, great start for the elves. 

However, over on my left flank I was soon to discover how tough the giant spiders were. Ian also used the 'Bles' spell to great effect so that I could never quite wear them down. 

The sword sisters (bottom right) summoned a treman to help the elves but he was not within command and threw poorly on his 'impetuous' action roll and he decided to withdraw away from the Dingly Dell giant. Stupid Treeman!

The elf pegasus riders meet their match as Maisie the dragon made a snack out of them. 

Lindir, the mounted elf mage on the left used 'Blink' to get the centaurs out of trouble but the forces of Dingly Dell son caught up with them and wiped them out. 

With both sides heavily damaged it was down to who could force the enemy over their breakpoint first. It was close, very close but sadly for the elves Dingly Dell just won the day and the ford over the Greenspyke River and into the Wylde Elf homelands is now open. 

Fantastic Battles: The Battle of Merith Moor and the Threefold Sorrows.

 It has been quite a while since we have played Fantastic Battles and both Ian and I were really looking forward to today's game. With Ian becoming a master of surprise in this game with his troop choice and use of traits I decided to get my own back by using a totally new army on him. My Wylde Elves, largely based on the list in the book have been painted over a few years (as I flit between projects) but I have added a few troop choices of my own and tweaked the traits a bit to suit my ideas.  Ian bought along his Dingly Dell army, an army full of surprises and always hard to beat. 

The Battle of Merith Moor and the Threefold Sorrows A 1500 point per side game of Fantastic Battle

Deep within the green shadowed realm of Colbryn Forest the long quiet Wylde Elves are stirring. For years they have followed the silent way and kept to themselves but no more. With armies clashing all over the Braemarg (the Wylde) and encroaching on their lands the forces of the Wylde Elves are gathering. With Giant Eagles and Wylde Elf Pegasus riders now soaring over the Braemarg all eyes look nervously to the skies and towards Colbryn Forest…

The pre-game procedure and deployment is as normal.  The main aim of the battle is of course to defeat the enemy.  Other objectives and events are… 1: A Wylde Elf Waystone stands towards the western side of the battlefield (see map). The evil side must spend one turn stationary and in contact with the stone (and not be in melee) to destroy the stone and win that objective.   2: Towards the Eastern side of the board are a group of rocks. These rocks have strange and magical properties. Once the first blood has been spilt the rocks will start to move. At the start of the very next turn (and each turn after that) the rocks will move 1d3 +1” in a random direction (use a scatter dice for direction). Any companies or characters moved into must test as below to try and avoid instant death. Throw a d6… 1,2: All units/companies about to be hit by the stone move 1xd3 bw directly away from the stone, this may cause mayhem amongst the armies as units move into one another. .  3,4: All units/companies manage to escape the stones but each company that would have been hit by the stones lose 1xd6 resolve.  5,6: All units/companies/panic and freeze and die as the rocks land on them. Remove the affected units/companies from play immediately.  Any characters moved over will always be able to evade death. They move as if pushed in the direction of the stones. Note: if the rocks move off the board they will not return.

Some of my Wylde Elves... 

Wylde Elf Rangers (Mighty Armies elves). 

Wylde Elf Guardians with a friendly dragon. (Reaper Dragon and Demonworld Elves). 

Giant Eagles and Centaur archers. (Kallistra Eagles and Demonworld Centaurs). 

Wylde Elf Pegasus riders (Demonworld figures). 

However, I was not the only one who had been busy, Ian had a few new troops of his own for his Dingly Dell army. 

Some rock golems who Ian created as artillery able to hurl rocks. 

This took me totally by surprise when it first happened. A handy wizard close by to cast 'Haste' and they could reload quickly to (this idea was pinched from friend Chris who did it first!). 

Dingly Dell prospectors, classed as 'vehicle'.  

Deployment and mishaps. The Wylde Elves on the left were the attackers and Dingly Dell were the defenders on the right. They were quite badly affected by mishaps as the photo shows.  

The game developed so quickly and was so absorbing that I forgot to take photo's to begin with. I was in real trouble by the end of turn 2 as I had lost all the companies and a character  in this photo whereas Dingly Dell had lost just one!

This was the first sorrow. 

The view from behind the Dingly Dell lines as the battle develops. 

Wylde Elf centaur allies start to redress the balance. 

The centaurs did very well until they ran out of resolve after one melee to many. This was the second great sorrow!

The Dingly Dell giant mushrooms were on 'stimulants' (magic mushrooms???) but they were charged by my Wylde Elf Rangers and then the Wylde Elf Guardians were blinked into their flank. The mushrooms were destroyed. In the background my rogue, Mag Nemnas the Fox had just shot and killed 'Bobby Dazzler, one of the Dingly Dell captains with his Phoenix Bow.  

However, when my centaurs were killed that had taken me over my Breakpoint but the elves had closed the gap. 13 companies lost by the elves compared to 11 companies by the Denizens of Dingly Dell. The Elf defeat was the third great sorrow. 

This was a cracking game and we hope to play again next week. Same armies but you can be sure that some traits will be tweaked on both sides.