Dvx Brittanniarum: Cattle Rustling

The table - the Saxons will enter from the far side 

I have been running an occasional series of Too Fat Lardies Dvx Brittanniarum games. Not a formal campaign as such, but a series of linked scenarios set in Caer Gwynntguic, which is around Winchester. (This area featured prominently in a  certain Pendragon campaign). Here is a report on the latest of these which was a cattle raid near Clavsentum on the South coast. The Saxon raiders, led by Uffa the Swift were played by Phil while the Romano-British, led by Constantine the Just were played by Mike W (who more usually plays the Saxons).

Enter the Saxons with cows

 Uffa's men entered in two main formations, three groups of warriors led by Ana and Cynric and two groups of hearthguard led by Uffa himself. Behind them, hopefully shielded from the British were a group of archers used as cowherds.

The Saxons made some progress towards their objective (exiting from the far table edge), before the British began to arrive on their left. Naturally therefore the Saxons inclined towards their right to try to put as much distance between them and their pursuers.

The Comanipulares are caught isolated

The British initially arrived with just a group of archers and a group of elite companions (Companipulares) led by Constantine. These were followed on the next turn by their warriors led by Octavius and the levy with Keredic. Unfortunately, the companions got a little over-enthusiastic and allowed themselves to become isolated from the rest of their forces. Sensing an opportunity, Uffa led his hearthguard across the ploughed field to attack the British elites. With one groups against two, things were unlikely to go well for Constantine, but fortune certainly did not favour him; the companions lost their amphorae and fled the field leaving Constantine to take over the levy.

Standoff in the centre

There was then a fairly tense stand off as the British and Saxon warriors faced off against each other and the levy adopted a defensive shield wall. Gradually the Saxons edged their way across the table towards their objective on the far side.

The Saxon hearthguard strike again

Then Uffa sensed another opportunity and led his hearthguard against the British warriors. A hasty 'step forth' card allowed the British to form shieldwall allowing them to put up a fair fight. Again though they were unlucky and the fight went against them. The British were pushed back and their shieldwall was broken. Things were not looking good for the warriors but a disengage card allowed them to escape. They would not threaten again though, so the British really were down to their levy.

The cowherds are attacked by British archers

Another period of maneouvre as the British levy now moved down the table to try to catch the Saxon warriors, still shielding the cattle. The Saxons brought their hearthguard back down the table while a small archery duel developed as the British archers tried in vain to cut off the retreat of the cowherds.

So we came  to a situation with Constantine's levy facing off against Ana's two groups of warriors supported by the hearthguard. Somewhat desperately the levy charged...

The British levy take the fight to the Saxons

 .. and crunch. One group of the hearthguard was close enough to join in the fight, but not the other. With great valour the levy manged to kill nine of the Saxon warriors and clearly bested their opponents man for man. Sadly though Keredic fell in the fight and Constantine was wounded. This was too much for the British whose morale broke and they fled the field. In fact everyone fled from that fight except for the hearthguard!

Almost everyone runs away

The Saxons were able to get the cows away and scored a notable victory (with 4 retreat cards in hand). They gained two more warriors and would have a period of unopposed raiding.

This was a very fun game and my thanks to Phil and Mike to playing it in excellent spirit.

You can also read Mike's report of the same battle on his blog Trouble At T'Mill.