Saxon v Romano British

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Paul K
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Saxon v Romano British

Post by Paul K »

The Saxon v Romano British games are usually a close affair. The key differences between the armies are the greater mobility of the Brits with their use of cavalry and chariots and slightly stronger infantry hordes, whereas, in comparison, the Saxons have ‘A’ class housecarl units and more ‘B’ class select fyrd infantry. Because the Saxons only fought on foot their command range was 2 hexes compared to the Brits 3, but the reduced command cost enabled the Saxons to field an extra general along with 25 fighting units compared to the Brits 19. The total cost including a Hero General for each side was, in theory, 256 points!

Game 1

Tony and Dave took command of the Saxons and Tim and Chris the Romano British. The Saxon deployment concentrated the Saxon hordes on their right with a hero general, the housecarls in the centre and the select fyrd on the left. The Brits deployed more centrally with options to move their 4 cavalry units to either flank.
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Opening moves saw Tony quickly advance his Saxon hordes to gain control of the 3 hex wood on the extreme right of his line. Tim moved his cavalry quickly on a flanking move against Dave’s select fyrd on the other wing. Chris concentrated his missile infantry supported by the ballista unit in the centre.
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The shooters engaged in a shooting match, the Brits who had more bow units getting the better of the engagement but the Saxons simply recoiling into the enhanced cover of the central woodland out of harm’s way. Tim pushed home his cavalry attack against Dave’s select fyrd units of the Saxon left. Tony’s Saxon hordes continued their advance and in response Chris pulled back out of the Saxon charge range.
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The British cavalry found itself in a very tough fight with the Saxon select fyrd and Tim, rather than risk losing the cavalry pulled back towards the centre. The Saxon housecarls had now moved against the British centre and the massed British missile units failed to stop their advance. The opposing lines were gradually engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand slogging match in the centre which saw the loss of most of the Saxon missile troops and the ballista unit.
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The Brits decided to counter-attack with Tim’s cavalry on their right and Chris’s spears on the left. The British chariot unit charged in and despatched a unit of Saxon horde. The losses on both sides quickly mounted and the sheer number of Saxons meant that the Brits were losing this battle of attrition. Tony astutely identified during these later stages of this game, the sides didn’t seem equal! He was quite right as it turned out – my maths had been faulty! The Brits has been penalised with a 36 point shortfall which I found out after the evening. With the Brits all but defeated we decide to award the win to the Saxons and with just over an hour left of the evening playtime, set up for another game!

Game 2

For game 2, Chris changed the terrain layout re-positioning forests and hills. As time was limited for this second game the armies were deployed quickly and Tim and I took generalship of the Saxons with Dave and Tony kept the Saxons.
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The armies closed on each other quickly with the Saxons once again winning the race to control the woodland areas. In response, Tim placed his cavalry just to the right of the British centre in a great position to unleash a mass cavalry charge. I filled the 8 hex hill on the left with British warrior hordes to oppose the Saxons in the woods below. A couple of game turns elapsed in which the 2 armies tinkered with their deployments to take full advantage of terrain.
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The problem arose that both sides, as a result of this fine adjustment had occupied strong defensive positions. But with time pressing this wasn’t going to induce a quick game. So ‘what the hell’ let’s just give up any advantage and just get stuck in! Tim and I left our ‘safe’ position and advanced into contact. Losing our hill advantage did leave us dependent on some good dice rolls, but our poor shooting from our missile troops failed to recoil the Saxon hordes.
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The hand-to-hand combat along the whole line soon pointed the way to a game conclusion within the time available – the units were disappearing rapidly into the casualty trays! Tim’s cavalry now fully committed found themselves on the receiving end of some punishing dice rolls, and as a result were swamped by the much greater number of Saxon infantry piling into the second round of combat. My infantry didn’t perform much better and without the support of the timely arrival of the chariot unit would have been pushed back over the 8 hex hill.
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The British line was eventually pushed back but thanks to some good hand-to-hand combat results we found our second wind and started a notable fight back. Unfortunately, this now more static position enabled more of the Saxon housecarl units to pile in, change the balance once more and our fate was then quickly sealed.
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The result was 2 Saxon victories in one evening, but as identified later, there was a points discrepancy of 256 to the Brits 220, so on balance I think the Brits did put up a good fight.
Kind regards
Paul

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