Barons War: big trouble at Little Bardon.

 Ian came round today for our first game of Barons War. We opted to use a 500pt force each and chose scenario 1: Behind Enemy Lines. Once we had decided who deployed at which table edge I set up my Barons tent as an objective for Ian to head for; it must have had important documents in it? Ian deployed a broken wagon as the objective I was aiming for, filled with the local taxes no doubt. After deployment the table looked like this...

Sir John de Lacy, my leader and his men. 

I have forgotten Ian's leaders name, something to do with a bucket I think? But here is his retinue. Note the wagon at the back...that should have been deployed at least 6" I have just realised.  

As you can see, there was quite a lot of terrain to deal with but the rules for terrain are clearly defined and easy to use. . 

Turn 1 and my mounted serjeants went off on a flanker.

Ian lined the hedge by the cornfield with his crossbowmen. 

In the game, activations, movement and shooting all proved to be quite easy to play. We did have to refer to the rules a bit during play and even then we probably did a few things wrong?

My mounted serjeants swing back into the centre catching Ian's slingers. The combat did not go as well as I hoped and the slingers escaped to run off and hide in the woods. They then proved to be a real nuisance to me all game, slings seem quite effective in the game, Ian certainly used them to great effect.  The game uses d10 for most things and this size of dice certainly gave enough variety to the differing troop abilities. 

Next the mounted serjeants took on a big gang of levy with improvised weapons and fared well here, sending the levy packing. 

Note the tokens. Ian and I thought we may get confused over the tokens but we were soon able to remember which token indicated what. I have put the initial of their meaning on the tokens which not only helped me but means I shouldn't mix my tokens up with other players. 

Here my foot serjeants start a move towards the table centre. Over on my flank my levy archers did very well fending off the spearmen Ian had tried to send around that flank. 

All that remains of Ian's levy, note the weary and broken tokens. The Weary rule is a clever way of deducting a -1 to most of tired or broken troops dice throws. 

Note we used our usual casualty markers to record Morale Penalties. These are mainly caused each time a unit loses a figure. I need to check But I think you cannot have more than 6? 

Now for the main event as our Barons and their command groups clash in the table centre. These heavily armoured knights are difficult to damage.  

After a couple of rounds of melee both units pulled back quite battered. 

This was also the last action of turn 6 so the game ended. Although neither side had captured their objective Ian conceded the game. I had killed far more of his troops than he had of mine and my remaining mounted serjeant had now broken through the enemy lines and was heading for Ian's wagon. 

Ian and I both really enjoyed playing the game, this is a set of rules that are a definite keeper. We both resolve to re-read the rules ready to play again next week where Nigel and Charlie will be playing too.