Posts by Pete H

in the final round 1 games the Irish were trying to capture two Roman dignitaries hiding in a villa with a small bodyguard. The Romans were after some Saxon nobles similarly ensconced and the Saxons were trying to master the dyke so to speak and get some ill gained booty of the table. The Saxons got most of their loot off and the Romans shattered the Saxons, captured the leaders and burnt the church they'd been meeting in. That's Tribune Del Monte for you. Always looking to work some of that anti church sentiment out of his system. The Irish for their part captured the Roman nobles but only after chasing them all around the field hurling rocks stones javelins and arrows at them.

I may have been thinking of one from Seige and Conquest but for simplicity sake let's say that one is the Bassa Ford one and the active player is the attacker. That makes it the same situation for everyone.

Maybe Del Monte could have something about his dislikes - his dislike of churches, his dislike of clergy, his dislike of the Scots, his dislike of the Irish, his dislike of the Welsh, his dislike of ... well you get! Maybe a bit like Julian he could be Tribune Del Monte the Apostate and Enemy of God? That has a bit of a ring to it. Or Del Monte the Philosopher as Julian called himself.

That's a strong contender Andy. definitely full points there.

Everyone has passed 6 points so gains +10pts of free character advantage.

Everyone has passed 8 points so their main character can move up one level for free, eg Decurion to Tribune or Magnate. I realise this is a bigger step up for some (Romans) than others (Welsh) but just trying to keep it simple. Saxons stay as Atheling the highest character level.

Everyone at 16pts or more gains a free Bard (even the Romans if they hit his points score- they take the Welsh version).

Looks good Andy. I think you'd need to put limits on the Kings benefits eg to a max WS 4 etc and for one battle or one round of combat.

Some good ones are shifting one/two pieces of scenery by 6" at start of battle or buy a hill for free to deploy in certain areas of the battlefield to represent being strategic in engaging the enemy.

The points from the games can be seen and the 5 extra points from some sort of character exposition by way of a saga or reports to superiors. Those who don't have saga points can add an heroic piece bigging up their character and claim their extra points. You can equally gain your points by disparaging the opposition forces as well don't forget. Go ahead, see if you can match the archetypal Irish verbosity or Pictish title list. Dunghail will soon have so many he'll need his own game phase to announce them pre battle to his opposition!

Averaging off the points from the 1st round gamesforthe Saxons and Franks the scores going into round 2 are as below:

Paul I think some of the points weren't right on your list - 9x skirmishers are 36pts for example. Also there was an errata that down pointed the Pueri so base cost was 12 pts foot (not 15) and 20 pts mtd (not 23).

We can discuss it on Sunday but here are two example lists with different qualities.

With the limit we set initially of 25% of points on characters that gives 300pts in total to spend on characters. In Rd 1 all are lowest type so Antrustio for Franks. base points = 60, Lt arm@3, Spear @4 , horse @8 applied as indicated below (they have sword, jav, shield for free). AG costs 25pts, ASB costs 15pts. I kept it to two characters for the first two lists:-

The first is a more elite fighting list that takes advantage of being able to have more than one unit of Pueri (but each Pueri must be led by a character)

11x mtd Pueri, Lt arm @23 + command @15 + mtd Antrustio AG, Lt Arm, Spear, horse (60pts + 25 + 3 + 4 + 8 ) = 268pts + 100pts total 368pts.

17 x foot Pueri, Lt arm @ 15 + cmmd @15 + Antrustio ASB, Lt Arm (60 +15+ 3) = 270 +78 = 348pts

21x Franci, Lt arm @10 + cmmd @15 =225pts

21 x Franci @8 + cmmd @15 = 183ptd

9 Skirmishers @ 4 = 36pts

10 Skirmishers @ 4 = 40pts Total 1200pts.

The second gives more shooting / Skirmishers and dilutes the fighting quality of the infantry.

11x mtd Pueri, Lt arm @23 + command @15 + mtd Antrustio AG, Lt Arm, Spear, horse (60pts + 25 + 3 + 4 + 8 ) = 268pts + 100pts total 368pts.

23x Franci, Lt arm @10 + cmmd @15 + Antrustio ASB, Lt Arm (60 +15+ 3) = 245 +78 = 323pts

21x Franci @8 + cmmd @15 =183pts

21 x Franci @8 + cmmd @15 = 183pts

3 x 9 skirmishers (3x 36) = 108pts

1x8 skirmishers =32pts

Total 1197pts

If you really want low numbers /high quality then add a third Antrustio , Lt Arm @ 63pts

11x mtd Pueri, Lt arm @23 + command @15 + mtd Antrustio AG, Lt Arm, Spear, horse (60pts + 25 + 3 + 4 + 8 ) = 268pts + 100pts total 368pts.

17x pueri foot, Lt arm@15 + cmmd @15+ Antrustio ASB, Lt Arm (60 +15+ 3) = 270 +78 = 348pts

17x pueri foot, Lt arm@15 + cmmd @15+ Antrustio Lt Arm (60 +15+ 3) = 270 +63 = 333pts

3x9 skirmishers @108pts

1x10 skirmishers @40pts

Total 1197pts

The next set of round 1 games saw the Welsh stopping some bandit raiders from making off with a villages finest swedes and turnips. It was more a matter of pride rather than the Welsh actually wanting the said vegetables back. Once again the tiern were the unit of the game and are fast becoming the MVP unit of the campaign - just painting a target on them Andy😄.

In other games the Saxons went looting but only managed a solitary cow in the face of stiff Roman opposition the rest of the loot having been lost to the Roman counter attack.

Dunghails Picts managed a stunning victory at the battle of the dyke and easily carted off their I'll gotten gains.

Thats great. I'll check it out when I'm back home this evening.

sorry , its been a bit hectic this week. I'll put some sample units and vary them by size/ points this evening and you can then play around with those to put together different sized forces.

Quote from McGran

Etymology 1

A variant of dike, from Northern Middle English dik and dike (“ditch”), from Old Norse díki (“ditch”). Influenced by Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”) and Middle Low German dīk (“dam”).[1] See also ditchI

I won't believe any of that till you do a spread sheet on it Andy!

Three more first round games ensued on Sunday with the Romans and Welsh trying to get some booty off the table through a gap in a defensive dyke faced by Saxons and Bacaudae respectively and the Picts trying to march loot off down a road having pillaged a Roman village.

All the active forces enjoyed success. Dunghails Picts managed to get all their loot off the table and give the Romans a good spanking into the bargin. The Romans got two of their loot points off against the Saxons and maintained control of the third one as did the Welsh.

I'm not sure how the other games played out but the Tiern were the stars of the Welsh holding the gap in the dyke long enough for two of the loot points to get through. The Welsh tactic of always packing a spare unit of skirmishers for just in case situations also proved prescient.

We also had an interesting discussion about what constituted a dyke - and it wasn't a butch looking woman in comfortable shoes!

Dunghail's efforts against the wall were worthy of a game in itself

A busy week saw those ravenous raiders the Irish, Picts and Saxons all in action against Welsh and Romano Brits.

The Picts ambushed a small force of Romans holed up in a villa. Their aim was to kill the two Decurios leading the force. They managed to kill one and force the other to abandon his men and flee, giving them overall victory. The pedyts fought well using their table top shields to good effect and one unit was still fighting at the bitter end. The Pict nobles were unsure what to make of the wall and spent the entire game trying to work out how to cross it.

The Irish were trying to get their loot off table. They were opposed by a motley force of Romans whose pedyts were not resolved to fight and fled the battle early handing the Irish full victory points.

The Saxons were attempting to capture some local Welsh nobles. Unfortunately for them the Welsh had their running shoes on and the nobles managed to get off the table.

I'll leave other game participants to comment on particular aspects to their games.

As the lawlessness and plundering continued it was the turn of Decurio Del Monte and Arfur, Prince of the Welsh to take down the villains.

Del Monte mustered a lot of poor quality infantry, a few archers and some nobles in fancy armour on horses. Some Saxons had been looting villages and Del Monte had been tasked with bringing them to heel. As the Decurio caught up with the raiders they were leaving the scene of their latest crime. They seemed very angry to see the Decurio and were smelly to boot. As they rampaged towards Del Montes forces most of the Romans fled. For hid part Del Monte waved his sword around a bit and then left the field. The Saxons seemed to be trying to make off with root vegetables and dirty blankets and that certainly wasn't enough for the Decurio to risk dirtying his freshly polished armour.

Prince Arfur had had a tip off about two bacaudae leaders holed up in an old villa and was ordered to capture them, or at least their heads. The rest of them didn't matter. Arfur was most displeased to learn that sneaking up on the bandits meant he actually had to get off his horse and walk to the villa that was how sneaking up worked.

Arfur and his side kicks were well kitted out in mail armour and his combrogi had sout shields. It was however the peasants slingers who caused most of the wounds on the bandit leaders and prevented one of them getting away. Arfur and his boys stormed the bandit stronghold and all the bandits were dispatched. More to the point he had those heads to present back at court.

Things started with the rambunctious Irish of Seamus O'Flahrty raiding some of their neighbouring Romano British lands. They had all those cattle and valuables just lying around not secured so Seamus was just making them more secure. It seemed totally unreasonable that the Romano British belatedly decided to send what passed for their military to intervene.

TheRomano British had some elite heavy cavalry and the rest was poorer quality levies.

The cavalry charged Seamus' warband and several rounds of combat ensued before the Romans broke. Their pedyt levies fared even less well quickly broken by the Fianna. In the end some milites Roman cavalry managed to inflict a bit of damage back but Seamus had managed to get his ill gotten plunder off the table gathering maximum points from his first game.

Ok, I'll bring the minis but some paints as well.

I think Mitch isn't around tomorrow. I'll bring some minis down and we can have a 1000 to 1500pt game or try another smaller scale game.

If everyone has a think about how long they'd like this campaign to play for that'd be a help. We can break it up into stages though so run a first stage up to Christmas then do any promotions and move to phase 2 in the New Year?