Romano British V Saxon

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Paul K
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Romano British V Saxon

Post by Paul K »

This 240 point a side club game was staged on a quiet Tuesday night at the Forest Outlaws club. A good number of the regulars were unable to attend for various reasons and so Tony and I took the opportunity to have a one-on-one game. Chris did arrive later, but by then our two armies were already fully engaged, so he decided not to join either side and just circulate around this and other games taking place at the club as an observer.
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The dice rolls gave Tony the Romano Brits and the Saxons to me. Both sides had a hero general and the key differences between the two armies were; the Brits having greater mobility with 2 units of chariots and 4 units of cavalry, plus a unit of 3 ballista; the Saxons had an extra general and significantly greater number of infantry to achieve the same points total.
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My Saxons won the dice roll for second deployment and first move and I used this advantage to close on the enemy as quickly as I could. My game plan was to establish a shield wall with my Huscarls alternatively interspersed with 6 stand greater fyrd units in the centre. The majority of the ‘B’ class select fyrd were concentrated on the wings to face the cavalry and chariot threat. In response Tony concentrated all his cavalry on his left wing, bulk of his infantry in the centre and Chariots and warrior hordes on his right wing.
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I had a plan to pull Tony’s cavalry into hand-to-hand combat as early as possible and hopefully in and around an area of woodland on my right. However, Tony read my poorly disguised intentions and pulled his cavalry back behind his centre where the shield walls of both sides were already engaged. At the same time Tony’s chariots and warriors attacked my rather exposed right wing dealing a mighty punch recoiling my Saxon infantry backwards into a small woodland which effectively saved them from destruction – chariots can’t enter woodland!
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The removal of the British cavalry left my right wing effectively unopposed, a third of my army out of position with my centre now badly outnumbered. Things had gone pear shaped, but my shield wall still stood firm in the centre with the help of a succession of good combat results from which my units did not follow-up. I shifted units as quickly as I could to reinforce my hard-pressed centre which meant crossing in front of my missile units and into range of the British Ballista. Thankfully, the shooting dice from the Brits were very poor and the domino effect of recoiling units was avoided.
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By luck of particular combat outcomes rather than good management I trapped a British general and his loss meant that Tony’s highly successful attack on my left was now devoid of any command and control. And, in the centre some excellent combat results enabled my shield wall to hold against the British cavalry charge. This locked the cavalry into hand-to-hand combat and in the following tactical move my Saxon infantry arrived from my right wing. At last, they had caught up with their mounted opponents!
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At this point of the game the casualty trays were filling-up rapidly and Tony managed to force a hole in my shield wall forcing my hero general to recoil disrupted. This could have and perhaps should have turned the game decidedly in favour of the Brits, however, again a very poor set of combat results stopped the advance. This then presented the opportunity for the mass of Saxon infantry behind the centre to then pile-in! The resulting hand-to-hand combat phase was almost embarrassing! I don’t think, despite pretty even combat factors, the Saxons lost a single combat. The British units had nowhere to recoil to and a large number of units were lost. The last unit of British cavalry and a general were dispatched with a double six dice roll against a 4 and a 2. This summed-up the game rather well – Tony’s better tactics had been defeated by the excellent combat performance of my hard-pressed Saxons!


Game Analysis.

I think Tony read my intentions really well during the first moves of the game I my less mobile Saxons were outmanoeuvred and the Brits held the tactic advantage for most of the game. But, the Saxon shield wall held against the odds and each British success was countered rather by luck than good management. I’m not usually lucky with the dice, but in this game, I came up with the right rolls at the right time. The resulting battle of attrition eventually wore down the Romano Brits faster than the Saxons to deliver a decisive win.
Kind regards
Paul

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