This was going to be a lot tougher than the previous battle. In the battle at the ford scenario, the objective is 'most men on the enemy side of the river'. As my Welsh thrive on hit and run tactics, it would be challenging, to say the least.
A choice of Five terrain pieces each meant five in total. A hill, a wood, two buildings and the stone circle meant we set up like this:
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| Starting layout |
A closer look at some of the Anglo Dane forces
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| Warriors, Warlord and Hearthguard on the Dane right flank |
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| More Warriors and Dane-axe Hearthguard on the Dane left flank |
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| Welsh left flank |
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| Welsh centre and right flank |
Some manoeuvring and the first turn is done.
Turn two sees the Welsh Warlord and Levies advance to the centre of the river, whilst the Dane Warlord and Warriors advance over the bridge, backed up by Hearthguard.
Meanwhile the right flank sees a unit of Welsh Warriors advance to cover the ford.
It says somewhere in the rules that you shouldn't let your Warlord be caught in melee with Levies by his side. Yeah, I know. The mobility that he afforded my poor quality troops in the previous game was for naught in this one, as the Dane Warlord double moved to attack them. They were down to 10 men after some Anglo-Dane trickery with fatigue and Exhaustion, and although I gave them seven attack dice with 'Strength lies in number', they lost.
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| Didn't expect the double move, and had failed to roll for a 'Holy ground' |
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| Minced slinger, anyone? |
Oh dear. The Warlord was surrounded, the slingers in tatters and I could not roll activation for the Warrior backup. It was getting a little bit tricky.
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| Blurry view from the Dane side |
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| Unfortunately, Charlie's photography skills do not match his Generalship |
The Dane warriors mobbed my warlord, and then he was forced into a one on one with the Dane Axe wielding leader. It was curtains for the big Welsh guy. Down to three SAGA dice. I was losing, though if I could get enough men over the river I could still win.
Finally an activation came for my warriors that the Danes couldn't intimidate away, and they went in, javelins blazing.
The Dane Hearthguard moved in to intercept, but Warlord backup was not available, mark one up to the Welsh Warriors as three quarters of his elite were wiped out. The Warlord was then surrounded and would have died but for a usefully placed remaining Hearthguard - not in base to base with my forces, but within VS to sacrifice himself.
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| Levies' fate |
The Anglo Dane Warriors chased the remaining slingers and wiped them out. This did bring them into double-move-and-shoot range for the Welsh Hearthguard. One casualty meant there were now only five of his troops on my side of the river.
Six on one action saw my warriors lose five as they failed to kill the Anglo Dane warlord again.
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| Six on one, good odds, surely? |
The last turn (7) loomed and my only hope was to double move my warriors over the ford. Unfortunately he had kept an intimidate (cancel an opponent's activation), and my dash for glory wasn't to be.
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| A very wonky final table |
On the whole, it was a good game for learning more about the abilities and rules. If I'd had more actual painted men available, I would have fielded three Warriors and a Hearthguard rather than the Levies. I don't think I'll be putting the Warlord in harm's way with only Levies surrounding him in future though.
The move forward for them was not one of my best General moments, to be honest. Still, we live and learn.
Well played to my opponent, Charlie.
