Can't see the trees for the Germans.

So, it’s been a while. I’m sorry about that. At the beginning of April, I started a new job, which has taken up a lot of my time. Combined this with a few weeks of not playing games for various reasons, and you don’t blog. It's also up to a nearly 1000 views which I find quite exciting. 

Games were played with giant floating space triangles

However, this is now resolved. My painting has been going on, much as it always has, and I’ve now passed three hundred painted models this year. I’m currently 34 ahead of schedule which is nice. Other recent highlights of the year have been a trip to Salute and an influx of models for that American War*

The trees are alive with the sound of war.

And the reason for this next post, the second battle in Warlord Games’ Hail Caeser supplement, Germania. Escape from Aliso. The two John’s and I were the Germans, whilst Jim, Ben and Terry were the Romans.

As you can see from the photos’ we had a road running, more or less, straight through the diagonal of the board, which the Romans would advance through. Whilst the Germans waited for the opportune moment to jump out and give them a good bashing.

Turn 1

Right lad, at the double, quick march.

The Romans set off down the wooded path, careful of what the night time shadows may hold. Terry, commanding Lucius Caedicius, made a quick dash down the road, leaving his two other divisions far behind. Jim lead his men through the thick undergrowth, hoping to find the Germans and give them a good taste of Roman steel. 

Meanwhile, due to a misunderstood order, Ben's troops milled around at the back, until we remembered that the Romans were drilled and on a road, and so were able to make one move.

Meanwhile, the Germans moved forward. The scenario is all about a surprise attack of three German warbands. To do this, the scenario gives you six cards, one for each warband and three fakes. To try and give the Roman players the element of doubt.

Turn 2

Deep in the heart of the forest, Terry became a bit cagey and, jumping at shadows, ordered his men into battle lines, with the veterans, showing the less experienced troops how to do things, moved

forward.

Wait, did you hear that!

In another part of the Forest, Jim moved his troops forward, hampered by the low hanging branches. Ben rolled well and his men moved forward, hoping to catch up with Terry before it was too late. 

Sadly, Ben had missed the opportunity and Jim had moved forward, bringing John S and my warbands into play. We held back, not ready to charge, but letting off our best blood-curdling scream and in John's case a flight of arrows, none of which did any damage. 

Turn 3

Caedicius got his men ready to charge in. He ordered his regulars to reform and charge forward. Whilst the veterans, were eager to charge forward to put the Germans to a quick end. However, a serious of bad dice rolls left Terry with only the regulars reforming to face their foes. In other parts of the forest Jim and Ben advance forward, but were delayed and so Caedicius was left to face the Germans on his own.

And on 3, charge. 1... 2... 3

However, he had a secret weapon. A battery of Scorpio's that opened fired on my skirmishers, causing two wounds. 

The Germans charged. It was a simple plan. After much discussion, John S was going to charge his cavalry was going to charge the recently reformed regulars in the flank, whilst I charged into the front. John got

his cavalry in, but I fell short, only able to shout abuse at my victims. There was some good news in that one of my units was able to support John in his combat. Probably by shouting some obscenity at the Romans.

Our shooting phase was a mixed bag. I tried to damage the artillery with my skirmishers but failed to get past the armour. Meanwhile, John was able to hit and wound Terry's veterans. Twice. Terry rolled his dice and got a double 1. Good and bad news for the Romans. Terry's role had damaged and disordered his veterans but had brought on a unit of cavalry, which appeared behind my warband. 

The combat was a quick and brutal affair with John causing four wounds on Terry's unit to his one in return. The unit broke and was destroyed. First blood to the Germans. 

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 7

Turn 4

Terry tried to charge his veterans into combat, but because of their disordered nature, they were going nowhere. His other units, including the recently arrived cavalry, were helpless to do anything. Meanwhile in the darkness of the forest, Jim's orders became confused and his division began to discuss what to do. Meanwhile, Ben, seeing the peril of his comrades, raced forward, but was still too far away to do any help.

Parley.....

With a lucky shot, taking the head of one of my skirmishers clean off, Terry added another wound and had now disordered my skirmishers.  It was now time for the German turn, and for the Romans to form ranks and wait for the inevitable onslaught.

And come it did, with John moving two of his three units into combat with the Veterans. With his cavalry charging into the side, taking my supporting unit with them.

I manoeuvred my units under initiative whilst hoping that my commander, would be able to rally the skirmishers. However, a bad d

ice roll later and they were left in their unhealthy state. John M carried on advancing under, the cover of darkness, towards Jim.

Despite being disordered, my skirmishers were able to wound and disorder Terry's Scorpio's. I feel that this is fair recompense. 

However, all eyes turned to the combat in the centre of the table. Terry's closed ranks. The Romans were pelted from all sides with attacks, with 17 hits getting through. However, Terry's dice rolling was good and he managed to save 11 of them. However, in return, he was only able to cause one wound on John's warband. The Romans were cut down to a man, and Terry's division was now broken. John's warband, buoyed by their success, moved forward, getting ready for their next encounter with an enemy.

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 21

Turn 5

Being broken, Terry's division began to retreat. The recently arrived cavalry retreated off the board edge, leaving no sign of their presence behind. With the other units heading towards the nearest board edge. 

This is my line, there are many lines like it. But, this one is mine

Hearing the screams in the wood, orders were given and Jim and Ben's division formed a line in the wood. Despite retreating, Terry tried to shoot my skirmisher again, but in the retreat the sights had taken a knock and the bolt landed harmlessly in the woods somewhere. Jim was also able to shoot at John S's cavalry which hit and disordered them.  

At this point, John M's forces appeared, and the three German players moved their forces towards the two remaining divisions. John S shot at the archers and was able to score a disordering hit on them. 

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 28

Turn 6

In an act of cowardice, Ben and Jim both fell back, increasing the gap between the two forces, and making the Roman line more compact. Meanwhile, Terry kept retreating towards the board edge. Still taking the pot shots with his Scorpios. This time, one of my warbands had strayed into his line of sight, and he was able to disorder them. 

This was it, the turn for the mass charge. The three Germans players got together and planned who was going where, and we let John S start, as he had the bigger division. One blunder later and our plan ground to a halt.  Though I was able to move my skirmishers forward for a better line of sight. 

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 28

Now, one three lads, we charge.

Turn 7

There was much discussion between the two Roman commanders about what to do and in the end, knowing that the Germans were over one move away, they held their ground, waiting for the enemy to come to them. 

Meanwhile, Terry's division was now nearing the board edge, and his civilians, worth ten victory points to us, left the table. However, his Scorpio's and Jim's archers did try to shoot at us, but the darkness was playing havoc with their shots and they fell short.  

This time, we decided to play it a little safe and moved forward only one move. Jo

hn S let rip with his archers, hitting Jim's archers again, and causing another wound on them.

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 38

Turn 8

I say, Sir, there are quite a lot of them.

On one part of the table, the Romans were unmoving, playing a game of who will break first and charge, with the Germans. In other parts, they were high-tailing it off the board as quickly as humanly possible, when stopping to take pot shots. 

However, this waiting game carried on. Each side, waiting for someone to blink. However, my skirmishers were now close enough to lob some javelins at one of Ben's unit's which caused a wound. Whilst on the other side, John M did the same trick, but went one better, and caused a disordering wound onto one of Jim's units.

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 38

Turn 9

Sensing someone was going to break, and charge forward, Jim pulled his lightly armoured archers to the back ranks and moved forward a unit of Legionaries. Whilst Terry moved further and further towards the board edge. 

This can't go wrong, can it?

And in a blink of an eye, the Germans charge forward, John S and I were able to make contact with the enemy units led by Ben, but John M fell a little short. This allowed his units to throw a variety of missiles at Jim' causing four hits, two of which got through the tough Roman armour, and disordered

the unit, twice.

John S also allowed his commander to join the cavalry and was able to rally them. But with that, it was time for combat. Ben ordered his men to form ranks, but against John it was not good enough and he lost 4-3 and retreated disordered with John following up. However, against me, Ben had better dice rolling, and my units were beaten off and I retreated disordered with Ben hot on my heels.

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 38

Turn 10

Thier was precious little movement from the Romans, with the enemy close at hand, but Terry carried on towards the board edge and with his last shot, finally got the final wound on my skirmishers, breaking them. 

Ben's troops slammed into my disordered warbands, and when the dust had settled down, had destroyed two of them and the third was hurrying away as quickly as possible. Remember that they had left the gas on. The centurion was heard muttering, "tu tantum vivere bis" 

It's getting tense down there.

Jim, also shouting out this new latin motto had charged into John s's forces and was able to hack their way to a victory, but the combat carried on. 

With a broken division in my hands, all I could do was fall back. Things had, in the last turn, gone from looking good to looking decidedly iffy. However, fearing no interloper, the two John's charged forward into combat. 

In this whirling mass of combat, John M took on Jim and won, with Jim holding his ground and muttering something about "this is my line. there are many lines like it, but this line is mine". Jim fought John S. This time, Jim comes out on top and wins the combat, shaking John S's unit and causing them to retreat. 

Finally, Ben fought John S and lost, retreating in good order. The Romans were starting to fight back but were not moving towards the exit point and the victory points that it brings. 

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 38

Turn 11

An important turn for the German Tribesmen as Terry finally retreated off the board edge, giving us another 22 points. Meanwhile, having taken some damage, both Ben and Jim decide to use their commander to rally some of their men. Ben was able to make this role, but Jim was unable to. 

The ongoing combat between Jim and John S carried on, with Jim gaining the upper hand, but John as going nowhere.

As I continued to head home, my job done for the day. John M charged into Jim and was also able to get a flank charge in the ongoing combat between Jim and John S. Meanwhile, John S, seeing the vacant hole, from where I had been, charged into Ben's forces, which his commander was hiding in,  with his commander led cavalry. 

In the three-way combat, Jim closed ranks, and by doing so, was able to win the combat, however, the Germans were going nowhere. 

Jim then lost horribly against John M, taking many hits that left both of his units shaken. With the benefit of charging in John S, was able to hurt Ben's unit with Ben unable to do much in return. Both players were unable to kill each other's commanders. However, both sides then retreated in good order.

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 60

Turn 12

The final turn was here, the Romans were hanging on, but it was getting to the wire. Both Jim and Ben were able to rally their units, with Jim taking  a wound of a unit that was now no longer shaken. 

There was only one combat to be decided, and that was the swirling mass between the two Johns and Jim. The dice rolled poorly for Jim and his unit broke, only to find the Germans were faster and they were massacred to the last man. 

As we began our last turn, my men retreated again, but stayed on the table, which in the case of the skirmishers, was only just. John S charged his men forward, taking a unit of skirmishers and archers as support into Jim. And on the other flank, he charges Ben again with commander led cavalry. 

However, this was a wise choice, as the combat was a draw, four wounds apiece, but to John's Commander's horror, one of the Romans blows crashed into him, shattering the skull, killing him instantly. Which loses the combat to the Germans. 

In the other combat, the Romans get the upper hand, but the unit become shaken, and with that every Roman unit was now shaken. The game was over. The Germans had won.

Victory Points

Romans: 0 Germans: 67

It was a fun game, and could have gone very differently. Roman legionaries are very hard to damage in face to face combat. To do maximum damage, you really need to charge them in their flanks.

I also think that, by charging ahead, Terry let himself get separated and he should have waited for the others to catch him up. 

So, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the game. It was a lot of fun to play.

David.

* That American War: An alternative name for a war that took place between 1860 and 1865 and by planning to play it has seen the demise of two gaming venues. Its true name must now case of breaking the world. 

not be spoken in

If you go down the woods today, you'll surely be in for a surprise

With plenty of test games under our belt, we gathered last Saturday to play out the first scenario in the Hail Ceaser, Germania. This is the battle for the Teutoburg Forest, where Varius led his legions to disaster.


As you can see from the photo to the left, the legions are deployed randomly along the road, with the Germanic tribesmen rushing in from the side.

Sides were drawn, Terry, John M, and Ben were to commanding the Romans, whilst John S, Jim and myself were the Germans who were to do their best to introduce them to a world of pain.

The objectives for the Romans was to get off the board in reasonable shape. For the Germans, it was to kill and loot as much as possible.

Turn One.

With the men deployed, the first turn fell to the Germans and we did our best to charge forward. However, a flurry of bad dice rolls saw only a couple of units getting into combat. John S saw his cavalry charge in and break one of the Roman Legions at the front. Whilst, at the rear, Jim did something similar with one of Terry's unit.

To represent the desperate last stand of this fight, there was an unusual special rule which saw the Romans reduce in size, when they break from combat, instead of being removed from the table.

In response, the Romans did their best to reorganize their lines, but a flurry of bad command rolls and units stuck in combat, saw little movement. Ben was able to charge his auxiliary cavalry into the flank of one of my warbands, and after causing many casualties, I retreated. Worse lay ahead for Ben as John S wiped out the lead unit in combat.

Turn Two.

With a lucky flank appearing before me, I charged a small unit of skirmishers, as seen in the photo to the left, into Ben's cavalry. The combat ensued, and I managed to cause a mighty six wounds to Ben's one in return. The cavalry disintegrated and the skirmishers swarmed forward, taking the Roman baggage train. They would do very little for the rest of the game, so I imagine them drinking their way through the wine. 

Elsewhere, John S was able to get two units into combat but saw his archers blunder and retreat in panic, gaining a wound as well. This combat was a success for John and saw Ben's forces retreat under the Germanic pressure. At the rear of the table, Jim was about to make his move to charge Terry but was left standing out on his own, after failing a command test. 

The Romans reply saw Terry charge Jim. The combat was quick and furious and saw the drilled might of Rome teaching the locals a lesson as Jim gave ground disordered. In other parts of the table the battle between Ben and John S carried on, but this time, it ended in a stalemate. John M tried to charge my skirmishers, but I successfully evaded them. The wine was mine, and I was not going to be giving it back. 

Turn Three.

Turn 3, was going to be an important turn, the Germans had been able to get the upper hand from their surprise charge. Jim was able to carry this on and was able to get a nice flank charge on Terry's forces. The combat was quick with Jim coming out on top. Terry's units, breaking, were once again reduced in size as they desperately fought on.

At the top of the table, more jockeying for position happened, whilst John S carried on his fight against Ben. It was another draw, but Ben had reached his limit and was forced to roll on the break table. Breaths were held to see what would happen, and the Romans sighed with relief as the unit was forced to give ground. 

In response, the Romans turn was somewhat poor. Trying a cunning plan to get them out of the road, and into a fighting position. However, several poor rolls for command checks left them strung out across the road.

Turn Four.

Again for the Germans, there was further moving into position at the top of the table. Many units passed their command tests, however, were left frustratingly short of getting into combat. However, the excitement was still happening at the rear of the table. Carrying on the combat Jim rolled well, causing hits left, right and center on Terry's unit.

Failing five saves, the unit crumbled and disappeared.

At the top of the table, the Romans were able to get into the action. Despite Ben failing his test, a regular occurrence during this game, John M was able to get a charge in against John S. The combat was short and fast, with John M coming out on top and John S forced to give ground.

At this point, we stopped for lunch and discussed the game so far. The Romans were still holding out, but their numbers were dwindling. The chances of getting a second game in that day looked less and less likely, however, we would be home in time to see England smash Wales. 

Turn Five.

In this turn, I was hoping that I would be able to get two of my units into combat but failed to roll well enough to get into combat with John M. 

John S and Jim did something similar to each other. Moving forward, whilst trying their best to remove wounds where they could. 

The John's carried on their combat, causing four wounds apiece. The result of this combat was that each unit became shattered and they were required to take a break test. John M became a smaller unit whilst John S gave ground. 

In response, the Romans threw caution to the wind and John M was able to cause some wounds with a  good round of shooting. 

Turn Six.

John and I charged into the Roman lines, getting several different charges off. With a good round of combat, we could finish the Romans off. John was more successful in beating Ben's forces, as you can see from the photo above. I, on the other hand, bounced John M's Romans. However, to help round up the turn, John S's cavalry made short work of a unit of Romans. Jim, having wiped our Terry's division was making his way as fast as he could to the top of the table.

In the Roman turn, things went more their way. John M was able to cause wounds left, right and centre, but in a moment of foolishness, he added Varius to one of his units, which was beaten in combat, allowing John S to kill Varius. Another point to the Germans.

Turn Seven. 

The final turn. Both Jim and I saw all of our movement stalled as we failed to roll well enough. John S was better, getting into combat with Ben's unit. The combat was quick and fierce with John S coming out the victor, breaking Ben's division at the same time.

In the final Roman turn, John M went all out for it and charged as much as he could. He won several combats which saw my division finally break. However, it was too little too late, the damage had been done and the game was over.

So, a quick top up of the scores saw the Germans win by 94 points to the Romans 65. Points were awarded for capturing baggage, destroying units and so on. The final score really shows how close a game it was. John M's last minute fight back helped them get some last minute points, but the German surprise attack had won them the game.

Now, to the next scenario. 

Romanic civil war

So it's been a while since I posted. This is due to a bout of Nurgle's rot which saw me miss a Wednesday, which was a shame. However, I was back there this week and I clashed with Jim on a Roman vs Roman battle.

Romans lining up

It was a straight line up with a division a piece. I had a mixture of Legionnaires, with one unit upgraded to be veterans, with a few auxiliaries in the form of a unit of archers, which you can see to the right, and a unit of cavalry. 

Jim's force was similar in nature to mine, but instead of cavalry, he took some artillery. The opening phases saw us both moving forward. Our archers and artillery taking some early pot shots, but not doing anything of note.

Time to have em.

 As you can see from the photo above I was able to get the charge on Jim and combat ensued. I'm sorry to say that the dice  were not favourable to me, and Jim won the combat. I managed to hold my ground, but my forces were starting to wobble.

Cavalry to the rescue.

However, in my fourth turn, I made my game-winning charge. Charging my cavalry into the flank of Jim's supporting units. This is where our practice games came into use. Mistakenly, I had nominated the cavalry to charge and fight the unit, not supporting the combat to the right. A mistake on my part. However, the dice, fickle as they are, smiled upon me and I managed to wipe out Jim's unit.

This allowed me to take a sweeping advance into the other unit. Feeling confident I rolled, the dice and it looked good. However, Jim's dice rolls were better than mine, and my cavalry unit retreated allowing Jim to support the sprawling messy combat to the right. My plan had been good and had succeeded in part. However, by not tieing up the unit in combat, left it free to support a combat. With that, we rolled the dice and my units disappeared, give Jim the game.

It was an enjoyable game and though I tried my best, the dice were not in my favour. They were just not able to get the rolls I needed. Having the practice game's has been a good thing and left me ready for our upcoming Saturday gaming day, where if you go down to the Teuteberg Forest you'll surely be in for a surprise.

Now, I'm off to watch the Rugby. Come on Scotland, let's beat the French.

Germanic Invasion

In a few weeks time, my wargaming friends and I will be playing the first few scenarios in the Hail Ceaser supplement, Germania. As you'll know from previous weeks battle reports, we've been playing Hail Ceaser to get ready.

This week, we put aside the Saxons and the Vikings and brought out the Celts and the Germanic Tribesmen. Instead of just a straight forwards line up and fight, we decided to have an objective. The Germanic tribesmen had to get through the Celt forces and off the board edge.

How the battlefield look for turn 1 and 2.

So we broke out the troops and lined up the forces. Both sides contained a good mix of troops. The Celts, or as they should be called Brits, had a few chariots. Whilst the marauding Germans had some cavalry.

The Brits were commanded by Terry and Jim, and they won the right to go first. The only positive move forward was when Terry blundered and his division drifted to the right. On our turn, we moved forward slowly, getting ready to charge forward in the following turn.

That was if we had a turn two. In this game, as you might be able to make out from the photos, we had six division, three apiece. All six divisions failed their command checks. Worse for Terry, the division that blundered previously blundered again and remember that they had left the gas on, and left the board, taking a wound per unit. At this point, Terry was the only player to have caused any damage and that was on his own turn.

It's not fun getting up close and personal with fanatics

The third turn was a bit better and I believed that Jim was able to charge forward and take on John's forces on our right flank. Combat raged but neither side were able to find the upper hand. In our turn three, seeing a big hole in the middle of the battle line, I charged two of my units forward, hoping to break through a unit of fanatics and off to the green countryside of Britain.

We rolled the dice, and my men came off the better. Causing five wounds, to Terry's two. It was this point that we've realised that we had rolled the wrong amount of dice on both accounts. As gentlemen, we agreed to refight the combat, and this time, Terry came off the better. Causing many wounds to my units.

Just before my clever move to kill the skirmishers

Turn four was a brutal round of combat, and my memory is a bit fuzzy on this. Hopefully Jim, on his wonderful blog Wednesday Night Warlords, will be able to inform you more about this turn. But at the end of this turn, we saw my division taking enough wounds to be broken. Whilst on the right flank Jim suffered the same fate.

As it was getting late, we called it there as a draw. I enjoyed this game, and it was a good game, played with lots of laughs. I'm looking forward to getting a rematch next week. Hopefully, it will come off better for me.

On the painting front, the weather has been better this week and so I've been able to get outside and do some undercoating. This allowed me to get the remaining seven Warg Riders undercoated and as I write this I'm in the processing of painting two of them up. This leaves me with some Mordo Uruks to paint up and a basing session and I've finished all of the models I need for scenario 1 of Siege of Gondor. I hope to do a photo session of them soon.

Saxons vs Vikings round 2

Or the tale of how I managed to snatch defeat from the hands of Victory.

So, Wednesday night, I had a game of Hail Caeser against Terry and John. They were using a combined force of Vikings and Normans, whilst I would be fighting off their unwarranted advances with a force of Saxons.

Get em lads.

I had two divisions of consisting of five units of thegns plus some slingers each. Terry had two division of Viking hirdmens and John had a mix of warriors on foot and a unit of mounted knights. I won the role off and my right flank marched forced as ordered and set out in traditional shieldwall manoeuvres. My left flank, heard the order, and then ignored it and possibly mishearing the order for a chant of Skulls for the Blood God or Waaaaagh decided to charge forward trying to get grips with the enemy as quickly as possible.

Terry and John's opening turn involved them moving forward and forming a shieldwall of their own. John's crossbow-toting warriors took aim and peppered a small unit of slingers, causing two wounds. Turn two began, and the first of my units made it into combat. Terry had the better of the dice rolling and inflicted more casualties on my men and they retreated to safety but Terry followed up and combat spilled into their turn two.

Terry's Vikings let out a roar and more combats appeared on my right flank. John tried to charge his knights into combat but a failed order role left them stranded in the open. Combat was a brutal affair with my Saxons inflicting wounds that Terry was unable to save. Terry did his best, but I was able to make my morale saves and I had gained the upper hand.

How many units are in this combat then. Answers on a post card to

My turn three became a brutal affair, I charge as many men as I could forward, arranging a string of combats across the middle of the table. On my left flank, I moved my skirmisher with javelins forward with a small unit of slingers and let rip. Inflicting four wounds on the mounted Knights which John was unable to save two off. Having rolled two sixes to wound, John was forced to make a morale save, which the knights failed and fled the table.

The combat was brutal with my men making short work of Terry's units. However, as their third turn began things were not all going their way. I had tried to hack my way through John's unit of foot knights, but they remained  resistant to my axe blows and my unit backed off, losing one of them in the process. As you can see from the photo to the left, it was a big swirling combat, which caused much discussion over the rules.

However, in their third turn things carried on as they had been left off with myself gaining the upper hands. Out of their three divisions, one had been wiped out and another was perilously close to collapsing. It was here I made a few mistakes.

During my fourt turn, I should have done three things that would have guaranteed my victory. I had to move one unit forward into combat and break one of Terry's remaining units. I got into combat, but in a rare flurry of dice rollsTerry won the combat and I was beaten off. The two things that I should have done, which I didn't do was to move my division commander into a unit to brings it's stamina down, taking away it's shattered status, and to move a unit forward into support.

Terry and John's fourth and final turn saw one of my shattered units wiped out, which broke my division and I lost the game. It was a highly enjoyable game, and I'm sorry for the lack of pictures. When you get caught up in the game it's hard to take time out take snaps. Terry and John were fun to play against and so, despite kicking myself for losing, I did have a lot of fun playing.

Dark Ages

The Vikings line up.

   So, the other night I took part in a quick game of Hail Caeser, playing a simple Viking raid on a Saxon dwelling. We had two divisions sides with a mix of Thegns and Hirdsmen. Terry and John took the Vikings Jim and I took the Saxons. Lines were drawn and here is a quick recap of what happened.

  The Vikings moved forward, chanting their war cries and shouting curses from Odin on their foes. The Saxons, however, remained resolute, fixing their shields into the customary shield wall and waiting for the enemies to arrive.

The Saxons engage Shieldwall manoeuvres 

  The moment came and with a great cry the Viking warband, led by Terry, charged forward into the mass of troops led by myself. After a quick exchange of blows, the Vikings found themselves not only being forced back but quickly set upon by their foe. 

It was the second Saxon turn and on the right flank, combat carried on with the Saxons taking the upper hand and forcing the Vikings back again. However, on the left flank, their glorious leader, Jim, urged them to charge forward, to gain honour and glory, to protect the women and children.

Only for the men to go. No. 

At this point, Terry’s division had become broken. His two units of warriors had suffered many, many casualties, but the Saxons kept in combat with, doing their very best to wipe the invaders of the land. However, with the other divisions being remaining largely untouched. The battle hung in the balance.

Do you have a flag?

On the left flank, the Vikings were close enough to charge. They just need a successful test to give them two moves. The dice were rolled; they passed, but could only move forward one move. Leaving them with the jeers of the nearby Saxons ringing in their ears. 

On the right flank, more of the same continued. The Saxons, with a plus one for winning the last combat, pressed home the advantage, but the Vikings were now beginning to fight back. Wounds were beginning to mount, and for one unit, they were getting dangerously close to breaking. 

Things are starting to look bad for the Vikings

This was the turn, charging forward the Saxons engaged with the Vikings interlopers, hoping for a quick and decisive battle, like their brethren on the left flank. However, it was not to be. The Vikings, eager to take revenge for their fallen brethren, or to burn some houses, were not sure which, cut down the Saxons as they charged in, and pushed them back towards the homesteads.

Worse for the Saxons, the left flank started to fragment with one unit managing to get the upper hand but took a heavy beating from the Vikings in return. And the other pushing forward, driving back the enemy again. Things were starting to get precarious.  

The final turn for the Vikings began. It was a game of combat now, however Terry’s unit of archers shot and took a small unit of slingers to their breaking limit. On the right flank Jim’s Saxon’s disappeared under a wave of axes and swords. There was one unit left, engaged in combat.

However on the right, the Saxons were beginning to falter. The unit taking the heaviest damage fell back, whilst the other units bounced the marauding Vikings back once again.

Or maybe not

The final Saxon turn arrived with a few quick charges and we were into the combat phase. The Saxons, on the right flank, thought bravely, and despite managing a high number of wounds, were unable to see of their foes. Jim’s Saxon’s on the left flank fought bravely, but no made indentation into the Vikings.

And with that the turn and the game came to an end. It was a highly enjoyable affair with two great armies, and everyone came away happy. What more could you want from a game. I felt that Terry suffered from some poor dice rolls, which stalled the Viking charge on the right flank, and that I was blessed with some very good roles, that enabled me to bounce Terry’s forces backwards. But’s that what Hail Caesar, and all wargames are like, a series of bad dice rolls and you’re scuppered.

The positive outcome of the battle, unless your my bank balance, is that I know want to buy Saxons and Vikings.