Battle at Bassa's Ford (c. 493)

Continuing our way through the twelve battles of Arthur/Artos, we enjoyed another quick game of Lion Rampant (modified for games set in Arthurian/Late Roman England or the Barbarian West) using the Bassa's Ford scenario from the WAB Age of Arthur book.

The Britons were defending and began the game in a long battle line to the "south".  The Saxons (with their usual Irish allies/mercenaries) were coming on the board from the "north".  The Saxons would score victory conditions by trying to get as many units as possible across either the ford (some sand on the river near the center of the table) or the bridge located to the "east".

(Above: starting positions)

(Above: starting positions)

The rest of the Saxon army (played by me) was able to come on board fairly quickly.  The Britons (Jamie again) advanced their lines and formed up on one bank of the river. The Saxons also formed a line and advanced forward cautiously.  I initially considered attempting a general forward advance by the entire Saxon line, getting in range where my javelins could perhaps create a weak point that I could exploit, and I formed the Saxon battle line with this in mind.  However, at the last second I lost confidence and just blundered about half of the Saxon forces at each of the crossings. 

(Crossing at the ford is attempted)

I screwed up by not wanting to move at half-rate across the river, and instead tried to funnel Saxon infantry across the ford.  The Briton shieldwall of course held so an immediate bottleneck was created.  I should also have sent both Irish units at the ford since they are classed as fleet footed so could have dashed across the river created some chaos with their ferocious charge one-time melee bonus (reroll all misses).

(Above: Briton cavalry counterattacking the ford)

Instead I sort of muddled around the crossing, and the Britons used archery and some cavalry counter-attacks to chase off the assault.

(Above: Saxon right in disarray, nowhere near the ford.  At top, Saxon assault n the bridge has gone nowhere with massive casualties)

With the effort on the right flank a complete go-nowhere, the fresh units on the Saxon left attempted to force the bridge.  This was met with even less success as the Briton shieldwall held and Briton cavalry and archers again dispersed other attempts to cross the river itself.

While this game and the prior two have been pretty one-sided defeats for the Saxons, they were still fun games and had their touch-and-go moments.  The obvious fixes needed is that Briton archery is too strong, range might need to be reduced to 12" instead of 18", and the Shieldwall rule should probably be +1 Armor vs. shooting and melee rather than -1 To Hit, which probability-wise make the Shieldwall practically invincible.  The armor rating for the majority of infantry might also need to be upgraded to 3 instead of 2 in order to get a little more of a back-and-forth in melee, preferably taking a few rounds before one side breaks.  As currently written, units are loosing 4-6 casualties right off the bat, which is fast but perhaps too extreme.

Jamie had so much fun he went out and bought a Pictish army from Old Glory, in response to which I have started painting my late legionaries to bulk up the Britons some more.  More games in the Barbarian West forthcoming, no doubt!



Battle on the River Dubglas (c. 493)

We played another very fast game of Lion Rampant using some Arthurian/Late Roman variations based on the excellent WAB Age of Arthur supplement.  The set up was from the 'Battle on the River Dubglas' scenario in the back of Age of Arthur, with the River Dubglas on one flank.  We diced for position and the Britons (Jamie) chose to deploy to the 'north' at the base of some hills, leaving the Saxons (me) with Irish allies/mercenaries to deploy in low grounds alongside a marsh.

To start the game off there was a challenge between champions fight per the scenario.  We suited this to Lion Rampant by resolving a duel between invisible champions.  The Briton won and recieved the boon of a single automatic pass of a morale check once in the game (which he then forgot to use).  Victory was a simple rubric of first side to lose four units (out of seven) loses the game.

(Above: early moves, the Briton cavalry advancing at upper right)

Opening moves consisted of the Briton cavalry moving up aggressively on the Briton left while the infantry arranged itself on the right.  The Saxon left (three units) shifted hard to the left to try and dogpile on Briton archers anchoring the flank.  This went poorly, with the Saxons taking many casualties from the archers, then fairing poorly in a melee, followed by the leader's unit routing, throwing the entire command into disorder.  Further casualties and poor morale checks resulted in the loss of two of the three units in that division.

(Above: Saxon gedriht infantry)

Meanwhile, on the opposite flank, the Briton cavalry came to grips with the two Irish units, who had a "ferocious clash" rule wherein they could reroll all misses on the first melee of the game, which they each used to severely damage one cavalry and destroy another.  The remaining two cavalry units suddenly found themselves positioned in front of three Saxon and Irish units at under 6", allowing the invaders to rain javelins upon them, with the end result of all three cavalry units routing or being destroyed!

(Above: Irish infantry)

(Above: set-up for final showdown)

So, with each side having a flank thoroughly repulsed, we were left with four unit of infantry per side.  The Britons formed up and the Saxons surged forward.  Despite a strong attack by the elite Saxon gedriht, they were repulsed by a strong melee performance by the  archers, deciding the game in favor of the Britons.

(Above: Saxon gedriht prepare to charge Briton infantry)

Overall, as I expected, the Saxons performed much better in an open-ground battle than they previously did in the River Glein scenario, where they could not concentrate javelin fire upon the Britons.  Otherwise, the Saxon "gregarious" rule (at the end of a melee, this unit will receive a +1 bonus to any courage check resulting from that melee for every additional Strength Point it outnumbers its opponent by) seems rather redundant.  However, dicing for Impetuous Charge (on a 1) only if within 6" of an enemy had a nice intended feel to it.  Archers are also perhaps a little too tough in melee (defending on 4+!)