The Long Road North - Part 4

Sunday and our final game of the weekend. George and I would be travelling back almost 1400 years to the hills and valleys north-east of Bath, for a War & Conquest game of The Battle of Deorham 577AD ... and it was a real belter of a game!

Game 4 - The Battle Deorham 577AD
The Romano-British army (let's call them the good guys ;o)) were comprised of three smaller armies - from Bath, Gloucester and Cirencester - each led by their King.  The Saxons were led by King Ceawilin and the Atheling, Cuthwine.  Naturally, since I live in the South-West, I took command of the Romano-British army trying to preserve the fading light of Rome and hold back the hairy Saxon horde!

Here's the field of battle.  That ridge line would be where my brave men would make their stand.

Here are the two large armies arrayed for battle!  George has done a grand job on these armies, plenty of flags and banners, shield decals, big units... Stunning stuff :o)

Two beautiful armies!

The Saxons

The Romano-British

Glorious isn't it?

The figures are a mix of Footsore and Gripping Beast - more of the former I think.  George and I have very similar views about the quality of troops and levels of equipment for this era - power gamers look elsewhere!  Each of the main characters has a 'commitatus' or' hearthguard' of fairly well equipped, good quality soldiers but the rest of the forces are largely ordinary men (and women, Reg!) with a spear and shield, or sometimes a large shield.

Anyway, with the forces lined up and ready to go we shook hands and set to!  George got the first turn and with a roar his men surged forward.

The Saxons waste no time!

Both sides have cavalry ready to exploit any gaps

The first couple of turns saw the obligatory skirmish line battle.  I'm not sure really how many skirmishers would actually have participated in a battle such as this, but it does add to the flavour!  Plus the minis are nice ;o)

The Saxons drew ever closer and the Romano-British Kings only just held their men on the ridge - especially the Warbands of mercenary Saxons and Welsh, but hold they did!  No amount of taunting or bare arse waving was going to goad my lads into action.  This was key - I knew if my line started to fragment then George's warriors would rip into my flanks.

Steady! Hold!

On the other flank my ranked up bowmen were doing astonishingly well against one of George's warbands.  Again lots of bowmen would not really have been a feature of these armies but as my forces were Romano-British, George had given me a unit of Sagitarrii.

In one of those 'comedy' moments that often happen in a wargame, some of my skirmishers routed past their King, but managed to roll super low for the move ... we imagined them casually sidling past trying to look like they were going back for more arrows rather than just legging it in terror from hordes of hairy Saxons :-D

Shhh! Act casual lads...

Turn three (I think) and the Saxons are within striking distance! An exchange of javelins saw a few men fall, then on they came... but confusion reigned in the Saxon lines.  Two warbands, one Saxon, one Frank, attempt to charge the same Romano-British formation but one failed its Command Roll and ground to a halt.  This meant the Frankish warband would have to face two of mine, including King Farinmail's Commitatus!  Would Bath's finest be able to throw the invaders back down the hill?  If you follow George's blog you'll already know of their chequered reputation :-D

Confusion in the Saxon lines!

Well... Despite their best efforts the men of Bath could not rout the sturdy Franks.  They took heavy casualties but their nerve held and the fight continued.  This allowed George to send in the other units in the following turn.  I couldn't charge downhill as my men were busy fighting the Franks.

Here they come! Steady! Hold!

Crunch!

The Romano-British line heaved and buckled under the terrible impact of the ferocious Saxon charge... but they held!  With their King's shouts of encouragement loud above the din of battle the men of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fought bravely all along the line.  The battle ground on with terrible casualties on both sides but the Romano-British gradually forced the Saxons back.  It could not last ... with a shudder the Saxon line broke like a wave.

The Saxons rout!

The men of the west sweep their enemy from the field

What an absolutely gripping and dramatic game!  Lovely terrain, beautiful figures, a splendid opponent - wargaming at it's very best!  Of course I was extra delighted as I took the win ;o)

This battle was the perfect climax to fantastic weekend of great wargaming.  Again huge thanks to George and Evelyn.  Looking forward to the next one :o)

Then came the journey home ... just under 8 hours this time! :-D