Posts by Pete H

No, that's Maximus Tittius, Bryan's 2iC from the week before. Maricius is recognisable by the javelin through the eye.

we were going to have another Arthurian game on Sunday but as Daves character bit the dust that was kind of like the dice gods saying they'd seen enough already.

So just wondering what game anyone fancied playing on Sunday?

I know there's more people now with Pikemans Lament forces and we have plenty of Napoleonics, Dragon Rampant, AK47 Republic etc.

First warband of Ligurians, I used some spare Picts and Scots for these. I may have enough spares for another warband but

I'll do some heavy infantry veterans next.

With the Imperator Del Monte being in Brittany, Mauricius set about invading the Imperators recent Dumonian conquests. On hearing this Del Monte quickly hired a Frankish minor noble, the aptly named Wolfsbreath, as his 2iC , Maximus Tittius having been recently slain during the treacherous Frankish Princess Keiras' depredations in Brittany, and set off back across the channel.

The two forces confronted each other at the ruined Temple of Venus somewhere in the wilds of Dumonia, though only recently constructed the temple was soon abandoned as a rain-soaked, windswept moor was found to not lend itself to the temples itinerary of activities.

The battle was for control of the South West and both leaders aimed to carve their names in both the temple ruins and in history.

Mauricius allocated the right flank to his 2iC Ludicrus Maximus whilst he aimed for the left and centre. Later in the battle he'd realise this was a mistake in deployment and he'd rather have the right flank but more of that later.

The Imperator gaining the initiative sent a force of heavy infantry up the road to occupy the ruined temple and some skirmishers and light cavalry to harass on the flanks whilst hanging back with his elite cavalry. Wolfsbreath meanwhile surged forward through the rough terrain on the right flank to envelope Mauircius forces.

Mauricius' sent forward pedyts and heavy cavalry to throw back the flank attack but got the worst of it and attempting not to be flanked ended up falling further and further back until he occupied the position he'd originally allocated to his 2iC Ludicrus Maximus. On the whole the right flank seemed a much more favourable position.

With the Imperators infantry in the temple coming under heavy fire they wavered but rallied and though Ludicris was making progress on the Imperators left it was slow going.

As Mauricius lost another unit of infantry he was forced to charge the by now diminishing warband of Wolfsbreath but between rounds of fighting and being preoccupied by the Frankish threat he didn't notice the Imperators light cavalry led by the rather unpleasant Frumentarii Nastius Optimus sneak into javelin range.

As the numbers in Mauricius cavalry unit dwindled the Frumentarii took careful aim and skewered Mauricius in the eye with a javelin. And so ended the imperial ambitions of Mauricius, now destined to become an obscure footnote in Romano British history. Maybe he'll make it into an Arthurian tale as a minor baddie.

Ludicrus Maximus fought on but as the light faded the last of his peasant units fled the field leaving the unscathed Imperator as victor and new ruler of Brittany and Britannia. Did I mention that his cavalry hung around the rear of the hill carrying out a bit of shooting and leaving all the fighting to the other units?

With his Foederati well thinned out, his enemies defeated and Maricius skewered the Imperator felt it had on the whole been a successful day and set about planning to reconsecrate the temple but in his honour rather than that of Venus as his (few) remaining troops hailed the new Dux Britannorium , the Imperator Del Monte.

The Franks now under the command of the Princess Keira had been mourning the death of their former King at the hands of the Imperator Del Monte's forces. The princess received the usual grief counselling about letting go of the negatives and remembering the positives and decided the best way to do this was to conduct a raid into Del Monte's lands in Brittany laying waste to the Imperator's realm and killing as many of his forces as she could. That would definitely help the grieving process.

Following a heavy raid on one of the Romano British towns the Imperators 2iC Maximus Tittius gathered all the forces he could muster and launched an attack against the Frankish column as it made its way home with the loot.

Positioning some warband foederati on one side of the track and commanding his Roman forces on the other he attempted a pincer attack on the column. The Franks fought back stubbornly and eventually all the Romano British forces were driven off. Worst of all Maximus was slain as he tried to attack Keira's heavy infantry unit. That stupid Arthur film was obviously not exaggerating Keira's martial prowess!

On the other side of the channel Maricius once again came up against the Pict horde but this time he actually managed to hold on to some of the valuables the Picts were trying to loot (only just).

With his reputation restored (somewhat) and the Imperator Del Monte forced to visit Brittany to rearrange his forces there (and find a new 2iC) Maricius hastily gathered his troops and launched an invasion of Cornwall to restore it to it's rightful ownership (ie Mauricius).

Looking at the WAB Hannibal book the Spanish were tribal falling under three major categories. In the north was an essentially Gallic culture so their forces were like the Celts. In the middle of the country were Celtiberians who were a mix of Celts and Iberian culture, the latter from the south and more influenced by Phoenicians and Greeks.

I think its the latter that you have, Mitch.

For Iberians WAB lists allow 25% for characters. Out of the remaining 75% for Iberians at least 50% were Scutarii, Caetrati and tribesman. The Romans tended to classify them by their shields rather than tribes.

Scutarii were unarmoured and armed with sword/ spear and large shield and jav. Some could have a heavy throwing spear. Their skills were feigned retreat and stealth (move through difficult terrain at normal speed - but their fighting ability is affected by fighting in difficult terrain, unlike Warband) . I'd say these are Light inf with some adaptations, definitely not warband.

Tribesmen was a type of levy armed the same as Scurarii but have Stealth and Warband so these are definitely warband types in LR2.

From this you could use your figures with larger shields as Scutarii or Warband.

Caetrati were sword, jav and buckler armed so were skirmishers but with good morale. WAB says max 1 Caetrati per 2 Scutarii.

Celtiberians were sword, spear and shield warband types.

Up to 25% could be cav. They had limited heavy cav (1 unit max) the rest light cav.

Up to 25% special units - Celtiberian warband or Slingers/ Balearic slingers.

Slingers were standard sling armed skirmishers. Balearic slingers were warband skirmishers who could fight as well as standard troops and had good morale. It says 1 Baleric per 1 Slinger unit as a max ratio.

Hope that helps.

The Irish and Picts continued to plunder the riches of the Romano British lands - as much as goats and amphora of wine that tasted like vinegar represented riches. The Irish set off to plunder Cornwall but the Comte was ready with his elite cavalry forces to stem the tide - well he half stemmed it. The raiders set about looting a small village that was partially garrisoned by some poorly trained pedyts. As the Irish hesitated at a wild charge the Comte struck with his sharpshooter cavalry dealing significant casualties to the nearest warband whilst his elite light cavalry set about clearing the flanks of Irish skirmishers. The Irish for their part found warband weren't perhaps the best for capturing loot as no sooner had they taken it than they were charging the next enemy.

By the end of the day the raiders had made off with two of the four raiding tokens but once again the Comte was showing his leadership credentials by winning two combats and effective shooting. By the end of the day his troops were referring to him as the Imperator Del Monte.

For his part Maricius' forces endured a torrid day in the woods of Somerset as they tried but failed to halt a Pict convoy full of loot making its way to the coast for its trip back to Pictland.

It can only be a matter of time before all the Britons start to look to the Imperator Del Monte as their saviour and rebel against the ineffectual Mauricius.

No sooner had the dust settled on the Romano British in-fighting for control of the West Country than the Picts and Irish were taking advantage raiding the Romano British territories. With forces spread more thinly the Comte and Mauricius were finding it hard to cover all their bases. To the Picts and Irish it was a bit like one of those trolley dashes at the supermarkets except it involved actual cattle and chicken rather than the butchers choice cuts with the added spice of fighting the security guard.

The Irish swerved the Comte and hit his thinly defended lands in Brittany whilst the Picts raided in Mauricius' home territories. As both these areas were behind the front lines the best troops weren't available to defend the farmsteads and though the defenders did get to the settlements as the raiders were just leaving the raiders got away with their ill gotten livestock and baubles.

Course we aren't exactly running it be WAB list force composition so if you wanted noble (elite type) infantry I don't think anyone would bother. You could just have them as up-armoured/ bloodthirsty warband. I think one of the rules adaptations we need is more variety/ mixed types so we could have different sizes warband and mixed composition eg half armored half not, any fighting casualties come off 'noble' part any shooting casualties are randomised etc.

Not really, nobles rode horses. Warbands would be mixed though with better troops at front. some nobles rode chariots and dismounted and fought on foot and then remounted. Maybe in Osprey rules have 6 chariots and they can park up and dismount 6 elite infantry who can remount. WAB does the complexity better Osprey atr more simplified rules.

Dave

Just checked, in the Hannibal WAB book Celts have Warband, Fanatic Warband, Noble Cav, Chariots and Skirmishers who may be armed with javelins/ Slings or bows - so no archery type units in that list.

In the WAB Armies of Antiquity book it's the same for Gallic/ Galatian and Ancient British Celts but adds there should be more sling and jav skirmish units than bow armed skirmishers or no bow armed skirmishers depending which list you look at.

Maricius was having trouble with that part of the job description that says he has to actually know what is going on in his provinces. In particular there were several churches in his realm containing the bones of saints. These proved a big hit with the pious on the holy relics tourist trail, a bit like the Grand Tour except no fine architecture or art just crumbling churches and a few discoloured bones of alleged spiritual significance. Nonetheless ensuring the sanctity of the calcified remains was in the JD .Trouble was an organised ring of bone thieves was relieving the churches of said relics and selling them on the saintly bone black market. Things had come to a head when the shin bone and skull of Saint Cuthbert the Incoherent went missing from a church in Maricius realm.

The viscous gang of bone thieves was tracked down to the grimy frontier village of Plucks Gutter, It may have been in Devon but it was clotted blood rather than cream that was on the menu.

Maricius was out to get the relics back and cover up his incompetence whereas the Comte was after the bones to demonstrate that Maricius was incompetent to guard the sacred sites in his kingdom and put himself forward as a better candidate for the job.

There were Picts attracted by the presence of the the Romano British and the flow of gold into the mean. mud stained village,

The three sides sent forces off to the village to infiltrate quietly and locate the bone thief leader and his looted horde.

Unfortunately as soon as they detected the presence of the enemy forces they started fighting each other. The residents of Plucks Gutter didn't like strangers, in fact they didn't really like each other so various of the civilians, their dogs and cattle not to mention the bone thief gang members all joined in the fight.

In an encounter so bloody that it could have provided enough content for several episodes of The Purge the Picts emerged victorious, mainly due to some sort of necromantic shenanigans they managed to pull that kept resurrecting their fallen fighters. Definitely one to watch out for that Brude Mc Bile.

That just left Maricuis and the Comte to come up with some 'alternative' saints bones. Apparently Saint Cuthbert had three heads and several legs as each side claimed authenticity for the bones in their possession.

I was thinking because this hasn't really been a campaign where all forces are trying to do the same thing, Romans in a civil war and Scots and Picts just raiders then its not that easy to just award points per win. Also some of the games (eg Betrayal game) aren't easy for the betrayed to win.

As such I was trying to do it as a province by province type campaign where we start with a Pulp game work out a means to have some LR2 games but maybe widen the scenarios and finish with a bigger game to see who finally controls the province.

Introducing other forces like Saxon 'allies' and Franks on the continent would also make it a more complete type of set of games.

Rather than points then its more of a narrative campaign where provinces are won and lost and the benefits of winning are seen in things other than points and of course characters carve out their own reputations.

So from what we've done so far we need to dip into the card benefits table but also I think add/change rosters eg the Comte has a new province and I'd say being impressed with the Frank skirmishers he hires them for his own force (add 2x skirmishers to his roster).

Given Maricius 'snake eyes' skill I think he should always kill enemy characters on a double 1 or a 1,2 dice roll.

I'll think of something for the princess Keira to be a continental enemy to the Comte and something for Maricius untrustworthy Saxon allies.

We can have guest player slots with all of this as there's lots of forces but it may mean me and Mitch commanding some of these on occasion rather than sticking just to Picts/ Scots etc.

Let us know if you can think of other 'benefits' accrued so far and it isn't just by winning.

Having returned the princess Keira to her father the Comte received the latters backing for his invasion of Cornwall aiming to relieve Maricius of the province. Maricius got wind of the invasion and with his forces a bit thin on the ground after recent set backs he set about hiring some of the Franks Saxon enemies to bolster his forces. Problem was Maricius wasn't quite so adept at bartering and the Saxon brothers he traded with, Orm and Eitr- snake and venom were living up to their names. Consequently it was pointed out that Maricius was paying considerably over the odds for the backing he received nonetheless he went ahead with the deal convinced it was worth it to see off the Comte.

Maricius caught up with the Comte at his landing site near an old monastery and set about attacking to drive his forces back into the sea.The Comte threw his elite cavalry onto the right wing hoping to quickly envelope Maricius forces only to be held up by a unit of Maricius cavalry and with his infantry and archers blocking each other the Comte was making slow progress.

Maricius took the opportunity to send some heavy cavalry across the battlefield to aid his Saxon allies who were battling the Franks. The Saxons were getting the better of the fighting except when it came to the Frankish skirmishers who seemed to be the elites of the army seeing off some enemy warband with some well aimed shooting.

All of a sudden the Frankish king Norbert was a little isolated as his forces fell around him and Maricius heavy cavalry charged home. It was at that point that Maricius pulled out his 'snake eyes kills the enemy leader' special skill and slew Norbert. Seeing their leader fall the remaining Franks had to test to stay in the fight. Fortunately only the 'elite' skirmishers were left and they held steady which proved pivotal in the Comtes impending victory as the went on to tie up the Saxons long enough to prevent them helping Maricius as the Comtes Romans numbers finally began to tell.

As the light fell on a long days fighting Maricius and his Saxon allies fled the field leaving the Comte as victor and new ruler of Cornwall. To make it an even better day for the Comte he discovered that the Frankish King Norbert had fallen to Maricius 'snake eyes' skill thus weakening a continental rival. The princess Keira was said to be furious and held the Comte responsible for her fathers death so possible continental clashes in the future for the Comte. As for Maricius having invited the Saxon brothers into his realm he was now facing a future with Serpent and Venom as his allies. Can't see any problems brewing in that direction!

Following on from the unfortunate Keira's rescue and then abandonment by Maricius the Comte Del Monte was keen on capturing the Frankish princess himself so that she could help him secure a kingdom. Not by dint of hooking up with the unfortunate princess to take advantage of her royal connections but rather by her ransom sorry return to her arms dealer husband and Frankish noble father all with the intention of gaining their backing in men and arms to help in the fight against Mariscius.

For his part Mariscius was out to deny the Comte this chance having passed it up himself the week previous.

The Irish and Picts were also out in force to try to grab the princess or kill the Romans or each other or all three of these things.

There were six places the princess may be hiding, five woodland groves or an abandoned temple. There seemed to be a lot of abandoned temples in these parts, and people always seemed to be hiding in them.

She's in the temple all parties opined before the start of the game. The Comte started off by searching a wooded grove near to the road- she's in the temple everyone said. Oh no she's not the Comte said ( I'm paraphrasing, it was more like search the first place first and hope). There was a repeat at the second grove.

The temple was next but by now the Comte was having to fight off Maricius' force to his left and the Picts to his right. With the last gasp of search time the Comte hit the temple and where was the princess? In the temple of course - oh yes she is!

The Comte then had to escape with the princess in tow not losing her like Maricius had done. With his last units fending off the encroaching picts and enemy Romans the Comte made it off the field, he was already compiling his ransom sorry thank you list for the safe return of Keira to her husband and father.

After all the minor actions and betrayal of Maricius the Comte was ready with the support of the Franks to seize Caer Doer at the west of the province of Dumonia from Maricius and establish a part of his kingdom on the northern shores of the Oceanus Britannicum. With all that shipping passing between Brittany and Caer Doer a taxation point on each side of the narrow straits seemed a sensible business plan.

More action in Roman Britain as four warbands well two Celtic warbands - Picts and Scots the Romans would probably describe themselves as mobile field forces crossed paths on their way to or from some nefarious activity. The idea was they had to fight off any attacks and carry on along their planned route. The Romans of both the Comte del Montes force and Mauritius force had cavalry and infantry in their units. Rather they had cavalry with the commander and some disposable road blocks otherwise known as infantry. The extensive training of the professional Romans only seemed to extend to their cavalry being good at maneuvering around combats whilst dropping off infantry units as said road blocks.

Mauritius was first to do this leaving a unit of well trained archers in the middle of the cross roads. This unit held up all the other forces but predictably they didn't survive being attacked on all sides.

The Comte seemed none too bothered about abandoning his pedyt units either so that eventually they were surrounded and attacked by the Picts and Scots.

Being first to the crossroads Mauritius cavalry found Keira, a Roman noblewoman, who'd been attacked and had separated from her escort to escape shed been sheltering in the lowly farm hut at the crossroads. Seeing the Roman noble cavalry approach and fearing falling into the hands of the unwashed Picts who were also nearby she threw herself at Mauritius mercy. He inquired if she could fight- answer no, was she prepared to step in front of Pictish missiles to save his cavalry from taking casualties - no. Deeply unimpressed Mauitius allowed her to tag along as a kind of semi mobile hindrance. If she hadn't been mounted she'd have probably been the next road block after the infantry.

Pict missile fire eventually forced Mauritius cavalry to flee and the poor unfortunate Keira was scattered and lost along with them.

It later transpired she was the wife of a Romano British merchant (read arms dealer) and daughter of a minor Frank noble so there maybe an upshot from all this mistreatment in future games.

The one lesson everyone learned after the last two weeks is that if Mauritius forces turn up and offer to rescue you thank them but say you'll await a rescuer with a better track record of actually rescuing people.

For his part the Comte managed to get the majority of this cavalry off the table and was the clear winner followed by Mauritius efforts.The Irish got stuck in some woodlands for too long and then got distracted attacking the unfortunate Roman infantry and dodging treacherous Pict missiles and the Picts were held up killing Roman infantry.

All in all a good day to be Roman and on a horse!

On being aware of the good Keiras semi nobility and arms dealing connections the Comte determined to find her and ransom - sorry return her to her husband or father or possibly both.

After the betrayal of Mauricius' forces by the Comte Del Monte the only survivor, Mauricius 2iC, Maximus Hilarius , was definitely not laughing as he fled the field of battle and hid in a wooded area of countryside where there were some old ruins of temples. Mauricius set about searching for the unfortunate Hilarius to find out what had happened to the troops he had placed under his command.

At the same time the Comte who heard of his survival began combing the area looking for Hilarius. Things weren't looking good for the young Romano British aristocrat either way.

Both forces entered the field together but Mauricius had word from some locals who had seen a bedraggled figure hiding in the ruined temple of Bacchus and knew given his past proclivities that was likely Hilarius.

Sure enough on combing the temple grounds he found his traumatized 2iC. All he had to do now was get him off the field to the camp so he could be interrogated sorry questioned about what had happened.

The Comte being aware that the fugitive had been found launched his elite cavalry units at the pedyts who had found Hilarius. The Comtes forces could ride, shoot and fight and pass morale (just) and cut their way through two of Mauricius' cavalry units before peppering the Pedyts with archery.

Being a poorly led rabble the pedyts at first faltered before recovering but taking more casualties from the Comtes elites they fled the field and poor Hilarius once again found himself trampled underfoot of the common soldiery, this time his whereabouts being unknown. Perhaps he's dead in a ditch or taken up the more simple life of a clergyman away from all the aristocratic backstabbing and double dealing.

Before the pedyts broke however Hilarius did manage to give the gist of his tale to Mariscius ensuring a civil war between Mauriscius and the Comte is now declared.

After the betrayal of Mauricius' forces by the Comte Del Monte the only survivor, Mauricius 2iC, Maximus Hilarius , was definitely not laughing as he fled the field of battle and hid in a wooded area of countryside where there were some old ruins of temples. Mauricius set about searching for the unfortunate Hilarius to find out what had happened to the troops he had placed under his command.

At the same time the Comte who heard of his survival began combing the area looking for Hilarius. Things weren't looking good for the young Romano British aristocrat either way.

Both forces entered the field together but Mauricius had word from some locals who had seen a bedraggled figure hiding in the ruined temple of Bacchus and knew given his past proclivities that was likely Hilarius.

Sure enough on combing the temple grounds he found his traumatized 2iC. All he had to do now was get him off the field to the camp so he could be interrogated sorry questioned about what had happened.

The Comte being aware that the fugitive had been found launched his elite cavalry units at the pedyts who had found Hilarius. The Comtes forces could ride, shoot and fight and pass morale (just) and cut their way through two of Mauricius' cavalry units before peppering the Pedyts with archery.

Being a poorly led rabble the pedyts at first faltered before recovering but taking more casualties from the Comtes elites they fled the field and poor Hilarius once again found himself trampled underfoot of the common soldiery, this time his whereabouts being unknown. Perhaps he's dead in a ditch or taken up the more simple life of a clergyman away from all the aristocratic backstabbing and double dealing.

Before the pedyts broke however Hilarius did manage to give the gist of his tale to Mariscius ensuring a civil war between Mauriscius and the Comte is now declared.

yes I've looked at Dux Bellorum but found it no where near as enjoyable as the games based on the Lion Rampant rules type (LR2, Rebs and Patriots, Pikemans Lament and The Men Who Would Be Kings). Dux seemed more like DBA type game which has that WRG lineage which I've never really enjoyed.

We started out on a few linked games set in Roman Britain post the exit of the actual Romans. The groans of the Britons are caused by the competing claimants for the title of ' Emperor' and the various brigands who were raiding their lands.

As a first claimant for the title we have the original Comte Del Monte, self proclaimed 'True Roman' who feels such great affinity for Britain that he actual lives in France. I'm sure the original Comte will show all the ' virtues' exhibited by his heirs - note the first game report for confirmation of this.

Then there was the Comte's Romano British rival, Mauritius of the Rhenus (Maurice of the Rhine) , Again I'm sure he'll show the 'virtues' of his future prodigy.

There were of course dastardly Pict and Scots raiders that plagued the good Britons. The Picts were led by their king Bile McBile and the Scots/Irish by Shenanigan O'Toole.

Each force has a 2iC and the first joint game featured the Romano Brits as 'allies' against Pict and Scots raiders.

The Romano British stood shoulder to shoulder against the raiding force but it turned out not quite as shoulder to shoulder as it appeared,

There was a dice role each turn to see if the Romano British betrayed each other. The role was to alternate between the two forces and the Comte's force rolled first. Yes you guessed the dice gods knew exactly the cut of the Comte's gib , Literally at the first role his forces betrayed those of the hapless Mauritius .

Thereafter the Comte's forces exchanged some desultory missiles with the raiders whilst keeping themselves out of the thick of ( the original Comte showing all the traits of his heirs). Perhaps there'd been some bribes exchanged or the Comte saw an opportunity to weaken his rival. Whatever the cause the forces of Mauritius were cut down as the Comte's men held their ground. Doubtless this will be the start of a very uncivil civil war.