Monday, 25 August 2025

Midgard : Scenario 3 : None Shall Pass

Today I was able to play the third encounter between the Romans and the Britons in my Midgard : Britannia campaign - None Shall Pass. Again, it was played solo, using some predetermined tactics that I have acquired as the other games have progressed - I have learned a lot from my previous mistakes.

The British army for scenario 3 (97/209=306pts):

  • Bellicus 3 (47pts)
  • Maviloduus 2 (32pts)
  • Catuarus 1 (18pts)
  • 1x Warriors 3 (22pts)
  • 3x Warriors 2 (51pts)
  • 1x Female Warriors (16pts)
  • 1x Mounted Warriors (16pts)
  • 2x Skyclad (32pts)
  • 2x Archers (30pts)
  • 2x Slingers (20pts)
  • 1x Hounds (22pts)

The Roman army for scenario 3 (85/121=206pts):

  • Lucius Valerius Corvus 3 (43pts)
  • Gaia Pomponia Thrax 2 (21pts)
  • Marius Pollux 2 (21pts)
  • 2x Legionaries (68pts)
  • 1x Auxiliary Archers (29pts)
  • 1x Auxiliary Spearmen (24pts)

The playing area remains at 6' by 3', and the deployments mentioned in the rule book still just about worked.

Starting positions

The scenario dictates that the smaller force be the defenders (the retreating Romans will be trying to stop the Britons' advance by holding the two river crossings). If they can hold out until nightfall then the defenders will stand a chance of escaping into the darkness. The Romans are therefore classed as the defenders and the Britons the attackers.

For this game I had to source a few new items: I bought some river sections that still need painting, and created a few more bases for the newly introduced troop types - Roman auxiliary spears and Celtic mounted warriors and hounds (didn't get time to finish this base as I was torn on dog type to use - I plumped for the wolfhounds in the end as their bases fit in with the movement trays I had available). I already had the extra figures required for this scenario, but needed to undercoat a few in order to begin painting them for future battles (who knows, maybe the final battle will be with fully painted armies and terrain?).

The two armies are divided into three contingents each, but not as strictly as in the previous game...

Briton contingents...
Right wing: Maviloduus, Mounted Warriors, Female Warriors, Hounds, 2x Slingers
Centre: Bellicus, 1x Warriors 3, 3x Warriors 2
Left wing: Catuarus, 2x Skyclad, 2x Archers 

The Britons advancing on the river crossings

Roman contingents...
Left crossing: Marius PolluxLegionaries
Right crossing: Lucius Valerius, Legionaries
Reserve: Gaia Pomponia, Auxiliary Archers and Auxiliary Spears

The Romans defending the two fords

After the quick rescue of Gaia Pomponia from the clutches of Bellicus's warriors, Lucius Valerius headed over the river to collect any stragglers left at the camp that was situated there. He managed to get to the fortified camp in good time, catching up with his baggage train along the way. The two auxiliary units stationed at the camp were in good shape and alert to his arrival; the legionary centurion, Marius Pollux, who was in command, had been keeping the camp in good defensible order.

After a quick debrief, Lucius Valerius ordered his wounded be attended to and that everyone was given a hot meal before bedding down for the night. As Marius Pollux's troops were fresh, they kept watch.

A few more stragglers arrived at the camp during the course of the evening, but the whole process was being watched by scouts from Bellicus's army, who reported back to their chieftain until it was too dark to do so.

Bellicus, after calling a halt to the chase of the routed Roman force, advanced in triumph to one of the main villages just south of the fortified Roman camp. He knew that based on his recent victory, he could recruit a whole host of warriors in order to destroy the small Roman force that was left. He knew that even with the extra auxiliary units from the camp, he would still outnumber the Roman force and would eliminate them at the river crossing the following day.

Unfortunately for Bellicus, the Roman prefect got the drop on him, and had prepared his men for an early escape knowing that the British chieftain would want to attack the depleted Roman cohort as soon as he could. Throughout the night Lucius Valerius tried to make the camp appear as though it was asleep and licking its wounds, but in silence the prefect had got his men ready, armed and supplied before they left the camp in flames just before sun-up. The British warband arrived early at the burning camp, but the Romans had already gone. Bellicus's scouts told him that the Romans only had a few hours' start on him.

Bellicus surmised that the Romans would take the main route directly to the crossing and be able to cross very quickly. However, the river was swollen from heavy rains in the north which also made some of the ground boggy, which slowed the Roman waggon train. As soon as the waggons had cleared the ford, the British outriders arrived.

Valerius quickly ordered his remaining units to about-face and defend the two crossings so that the waggon train that held their supplies and wounded could get as far away as possible. With Fortuna's blessings, he could delay them long enough so that the wounded could reach the next fortified watch tower. It would take the waggon train all day to get to the watch tower, provided that it was not ambushed along the way. Valerius and his men would have to sell their lives dearly in order for the waggons to reach safety.

The route to the 3rd battle

It was an hour before the rest of Bellicus's force arrived at the fords. He quickly arranged his battle lines and advanced upon the small Roman contingent. "This should be an easy victory," he thought.

For this game, both armies start with the same Reputation score - for the Romans (the much smaller force), what would be more glorious than being able to hold up the enemy at this critical point? The game runs for six turns, and ends with the coming of night and the ability for any survivors to steal away from the confrontation.

Turn 1 (Reputation B9, R9):

Bellicus, hungry for a swift victory, yelled abuse and insults at his adversaries along with the rest of his men. After several minutes of taunting, the hubbub died down and Bellicus challenged Lucius Valerius to a single combat - winner takes all. If the Romans won, then Bellicus's army would allow the rag-tag unit to pass unmolested, along with all others along the way, back to Roman lines. If Bellicus won, then the Romans must leave all of their weapons and promise to never return to this territory again. Lucius Valerius stuck to standard Roman protocol and refused the challenge despite the loss of face this entailed.

Bellicus ordered his army forward and they made for the Roman lines in quick time. The only response from the Roman defence was a quick volley of arrows directed at the fast approaching hounds, but only a few arrows found their mark, not stopping their rapid advance.

Turn 1 : The Britons advance

Turn 2 (Rep B9, R8):

The slings and arrows from the British skirmishers had little effect against the heavy armour of the Roman legionaries holding the fords, and neither did the rapid assault by the mounted warriors, who were wiped out to a man in the swift running waters and treacherous footing of the shallows.

The Roman archers also failed to find their mark against the fast approaching skyclad Celtic warriors. 

Turn 2 : Bellicus's troops assault Valerius's position

British losses = 1 unit mounted warriors

Turn 3 (Rep B7, R8):

The Britons kept up the assault, by taking the fight to the enemy, but found the combination of rough ground and heavily armoured troops a stern challenge. Again, Valerius ignored a direct challenge costing him reputation, but his troops did the talking for him as the legionaries cut down a unit of skyclad warriors, although not without taking a few casualties themselves. The Roman left flank also fared well with the legionaries there dispatching all of the Celtic war hounds.

Turn 3 : The battle begins in earnest

British losses = 1 unit hounds, 1 unit skyclad

Romans gain 2 Rep as both fords still held by them, but lose 1 Rep due to challenge

Turn 4 (Rep B6, R9):

British slings and arrows failed to take out the Roman archers in support of the rest of the army, but the determination of Bellicus's army to eliminate the hated Romans drove them onto a fated victory. The push from the Celtic female warriors drove the Romans back on the British right flank, clearing the ford for any who would follow, but no-one was there as they were busy trying to eliminate Valerius on the left flank.

Catuarus and more of the skyclad warriors following him fell to the swords of the Romans, but not without them causing many casualties on the other side, including a deft wound to Valerius himself. The British slingers in the centre forced the Roman archers to step back under a hail of stone and lead shot.

Turn 4 : The meat grinder

British losses = Catuarus, 1 unit slingers, 1 unit skyclad

Romans gain 1 Rep as one of the fords still held by them, but again lost Rep due to challenges unmet

Turn 5 (Rep B4, R8):

The Roman left recovered somewhat with the annihilation of the frenzied unit of British women. The ford was left to Maviloduus and his bodyguard to defend, but they were pushed back by the numbers still available to the Romans there. Today was certainly a good day for the Celtic champion to call upon the Favour of the Gods. 

In the centre, the Roman archers were pushed back under the sling stone and arrow storms aimed at them, but Gaia Pomponia's bravery returned them to the fray every time they retreated. 

Spurred on by the injury to Valerius, the British noble elite warriors pressed further into the ford. Again Valerius ignored the challenge from Bellicus. The British leader, was now becoming angry with the Roman leader's perceived cowardice and called his men forward for one more push. At last, Bellicus's Legendary sword came into play, and Valerius was pushed back to the reserve unit of auxilia milites when his century of legionaries were finally destroyed.

The counter-attack by Lucius Valerius's fresh spearmen surprised Bellicus and his household troops as the nobles were cut down to a man, but not without Lucius Valerius going down in the melee with a somewhat unremarkable death as he became Food for the Ravens

This was the signal for the rest of the Roman contingent to pull out and try to stem the flow of losses that were rapidly piling up. They had almost made it to dusk, but the death of the prefect was the final nail. The death of the Roman leader and his first century of legionaries led to much celebration by Bellicus and his army that they ignored the retreating Romans and instead concentrated on violating the body of their hated enemy commander.

Turn 5 : Lucius Valerius Corvus falls

British losses = Catuarus, 1 unit slingers, 1 unit skyclad, 1 unit warriors (3)

Roman losses = Lucius Valerius Corvus, 1 unit legionaries

The Britons gained several Rep for leadership during this round 

Final Tally (Rep B4, R-2):

The final Reputation tally difference was 6 in favour of the Britons - a Mighty Victory (2 points in campaign terms)

Bellicus finally saw the defeat of his hated enemy, Lucius Valerius, who had outwitted him at every turn except the last.

 

This game lasted five of the six turns allowed. Again, it was a very bloody affair, but the Britons managed to pull-off a Mighty Victory, to even the campaign score with the Romans. Again, there were a number of take-aways from this battle: 

  • The Roman tactics were quite sound
    • Deploy the strongest units at the fords so as not to incur too much damage from the funnelled British troops
    • Use missile troops to weaken approaching enemy units
    • Use the spare infantry unit as a reserve in case of a break though by the enemy
    • Warriors with javelins proved their worth but I used them far too late in the game 
  •  The British tactics also worked once under way
    • Use Agile troops so they are not hampered by the rough ground of the fords in order to soften up the enemy before the heavy troops move in
    • Use missile weapons for the same purpose and to keep enemy archers under pressure throughout the encounter
    • Use overpowering odds at the choke points to feed the meat grinder in the hope of slowly diminishing the enemy units
    • Use heavy warriors with high ranking leaders to follow up Agile troops
    • Using the support functions of friendly units to reduce casualty counts 
    • Warriors with javelins proved their worth throughout the game 
  •  Mistakes
    • The Britons should have positioned their missile troops in the centre to get more to bear each round
    • The right flank was a lot weaker than the left flank of the British forces. One or two more warrior units may have kept the Romans from counter attacking and maybe saved the female warriors

The British took a lot of casualties again, but it allowed them to win the battle. I thought that this was going to be a meat grinder affair, and the British tactics worked very well knowing that. I loaded the left flank on purpose in the hope that it would fall (taking their leader with it) whilst the centre and right flank were engaged. This would then allow a flanking manoeuvre to mop up the rest of the Romans. It very nearly worked.

Next game will require a lot more reinforcements. I will post an aftermath blog in the next day or so to sum up what happened and what needs to be done going forward.

Campaign Score: Romans 3 Britons 3

Sunday, 24 August 2025

Midgard : Scenario 3 : The Combatants

I thought that I would just sneak this post in prior to play tomorrow. I managed to get each warband photographed just before setting them aside for the game. The game looks like it is going to be very one-sided: the Britons outnumber, base-wise, the Romans by a lot. That said, the Roman troop quality is better, so we shall see how the dice fall tomorrow.

The Briton army...

The 300 point Briton army

The right wing

The centre

The left wing

And here are a couple of the new units...

A unit of mounted warriors

Hounds and handler

The Roman army...

The 200 point Roman army

The right flank - western auxilia

The Roman centre

The left flank

As you can see from the photos above, there are a few new units to contend with. The Britons introduce a unit of Mounted Warriors and a unit of Hounds, and the Romans introduce a unit of Western Empire auxilia with spears and shields.

Thursday, 21 August 2025

Midgard : Scenario 3 : None Shall Pass : prelude

Well, it has been a long time since I made any progress on my Midgard : Britannia campaign. Lots of real life has got in the way recently, so large tabletop battles have had to take a bit of a back seat. Now that there is a Bank Holiday coming up at the end of this month in the UK (actually next Monday), I should be able to find the time to run the third battle in the campaign - None Shall Pass

I have a couple of days to prepare and put into order the game set up and the miniatures and scenery required for the scenario. In addition to putting together the physical requirements of the game, I also need to work on the story of the Roman advance to the next encampment/watch tower. I also need to update the map if I can, but I am having issues with my current image processor - I used to be able to use Photoshop (albeit a very old version that I purchased many moons ago) to a reasonable level of competency, but that version is now, alas, not compatible with Windows 11 and I just cannot get it to load on my latest PC.

Roman soldier - public domain image

For this scenario, the armies are not evenly matched as prescribed by the scenario. It sees the Romans protecting their rear from a larger force of Britons at a pair of river crossings. Each army is made up from the survivors of the previous encounter plus any reinforcements rolled up in the aftermath. There are a few new types of unit to contend with that should make the game more interesting from a narrative perspective at least.

The Britons' army for scenario 3 (97/209=306pts):

  • Bellicus 3 (47pts)
  • Maviloduus 2 (32pts)
  • Catuarus 1 (18pts)
  • 1x Warriors 3 (22pts)
  • 3x Warriors 2 (51pts)
  • 1x Female Warriors (16pts)
  • 1x Mounted Warriors (16pts)
  • 2x Skyclad (32pts)
  • 2x Archers (30pts)
  • 2x Slingers (20pts)
  • 1x Hounds (22pts)

The Roman army for scenario 3 (85/121=206pts):

  • Lucius Valerius Corvus 3 (43pts)
  • Gaia Pomponia Thrax 2 (21pts)
  • Marius Pollux 2 (21pts) 
  • 1x Legionaries (34pts)
  • 1x Auxiliary Archers (29pts)
  • 1x Auxiliary Spearmen (24pts)
  • 1x Legionaries (-1St) (34pts)

It is quite strange how the numbers of the antagonists (by points value) on both sides in this campaign so far have added up to the correct amounts to play the scenarios in the rule book. I daresay that after this battle things may go a little differently, but for now I am pleased with the campaign's progress.

The next post on Midgard should see a write up of the game similar to what has gone before. Until then.

Saturday, 16 August 2025

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#14) - Day 22 - onboard the Soul of the Winter

We managed to get another Ghosts of Saltmarsh D&D 5e RPG session in again on our regular-ish Thursday evening slot. Most of the players made it, so we carried on from where we left off. 

Here is the party list for reference (we are all currently at 4th level)...

Dharion - half-elf ranger
Drakkon - half-orc fighter (player not present, so we re-wrote the start of the encounter a little)
Druss - dragonborn barbarian
Gladreth - human wizard
Korum - human cleric
Navda - human rogue

...

Late at night of Day 22 - onboard the Soul of the Winter

Druss rapidly pulled himself back into the cabin to avoid being seen by the encroaching sahuagin warriors, and let Gladreth and I know what was happening. Navda, however, as he was unable to hear Druss's whispered warning, what with him being in another cabin, decided to investigate the noises himself.

Soul of the Winter - Sahuagin arrival

As I had slept without my armour on, I decided that I would try to quietly don my mail before the sahuagin investigated our cabin. This would have been a great ploy if it hadn't been for the fact that several of the sea devils decided to invade our cabins via the port holes (this meant that my, and other characters who usually wore armour, ACs were temporarily lowered).

Gladreth and I just about managed to deal with the sahuagin that entered our room via the port hole and the one that was outside too, but Drakkon got bottled up in the corridor outside his cabin by several in the round atrium. Gladreth went to help him whilst I milled around wondering what I could do to help out as there was no room to join the melee.

Meanwhile, from their description of what happened after the combat had finished, Navda and Dharion got bogged down in a melee with a magic wielding sahuagin matriarch who came through their cabin's port hole, and many more warriors that had come down the stairs.

The combat in Navda and Dharion's cabin was a tight run thing, what with about five sahuagin including the witch, attacking them. Navda managed to get out of the room and scream for my help, whilst poor Dharion was left in a pool of blood after being stabbed with a trident that took him close to death (he failed 2 Death Saves before Navda could stabilise him and I could get there to Heal him).

As I was making my way to aid Dharion, I heard the combat from my rear come to a halt as both Gladreth and Druss were injured and hit the deck. Torn between the urgency of saving Dharion and the risk to Gladreth and Druss, I decided that I had just enough time to get both actions completed if I hurried on with my original intentions.

Luckily, we were saved by the winding of a mournful sounding sea-horn. The remaining sahuagin warriors heard the sound and began to slink off as they disengaged from the combat.

After making sure that everyone was stable, we began to explore the rest of the ship to see how the crew had fared with this attack. We met with Captain Woolgar on the upper deck, who told us that he had lost five of his crew members but was heartened by the fact that we had survived and had taken care of eight of the raiders including the magic wielding witch, although her body had disappeared from the cabin in which she was killed when we began to collect the dead for disposal.

Soul of the Winter - Sahuagin departure

The DM mentioned at the end of the session that this should have been a short encounter that we should have easily ended in a few rounds. What with our extremely poor dice rolls and bad tactics, we made a right hash of it. Hopefully, we have got all the bad rolls out of the way so that the main encounter of this part of the adventure runs a little more smoothly.

As a result, this is a very short write-up of the encounter - it was basically a combat that the DM decided to cut short (as our session had run out of time) to save our blushes.

Thursday, 14 August 2025

Song of Blades and Heroes - Battle Report 3

Last night we managed to get together for the final round of this mini-campaign. So far, the Orcs of the Red Eye had managed to push the human villagers away from their village. A band of elves saw this as an affront to their standing and forced the orcs to run away with their tails between their legs. Budlak, the orc leader, felt ashamed to be beaten by one measly elf, so he returned to the village to sort the situation out once and for all.

Orcs of the Red Eye (302 pts)...

Warchief Budlak Q 3+ C 4 Leader Tough (100 pts)

5 x Orc warriors  Q 4+ C 3 (115 pts)

3 x Orc archers Q4+ C 3 Shooter - Medium (87 pts) 

Orcs of the Red Eye

Since the previous game, Budlak managed to recruit two more archers to refill his ranks (basically I kept the same force composition for this game too). 

Defenders of the Realm - a mixed Human and Elf warband (295 pts)...

1 x Elf warrior  Q 2+ C 3 (38 pts)

1 x Elf archer  Q 2+ C 3 Shooter - Long (55 pts)

5 x Human Heavy Infantry  Q 4+ C 4 Short Move (130 pts)

1 x Human Light Infantry  Q 3+ C 2 Shooter - Medium (28 pts)

1 x Human Archer  Q 3+ C 2 Shooter - Medium (44 pts) 

Defenders of the Realm

To keep things "realistic" the remaining human and elf forces combined and added five extra human troops to swell their numbers. 

Again, this was just a straight fight to the bitter end - the winner finally keeps hold of the village. The orcs seemed to have the upper hand in both of the previous battles (apart from the devastation caused by the final gruesome kill in the second scenario), but would this time prove any different? The orcs gained the initiative so went first...

Starting positions

Turn 1

The orc warriors advanced rapidly towards the village, scenting a swift victory over the man flesh who they so easily defeated previously - the orc archers seemed to be a bit more cautious. The humans and elves (Defenders) advanced more slowly to meet the threat

Turn 1

Turn 2

When the elf warrior from their previous encounter came into view, the orc bluster ran out (rolled the dreaded double-one on my second activation) as Budlak caught sight of the elf that had caused his warband to flee. The human/elf archers let fly their arrows but all missed. The allies continued their cautious advance

Turn 2

Turn 3

Most of the orcs failed to advance (failed almost every activation roll) and the Defenders closed into combat. More archery failed to find its mark on the orc ranks

Turn 3

Turn 4

The sight of the heroic elf must have really affected Budlak as his forces again failed to advance into combat (double-one again, this time on the first activation!). The Defenders advanced further but all the combat ended without casualties. Again, the human and elf archers missed their targets

Turn 4

Turn 5

This is where the game began to warm up considerably (but typically I forgot to take photos at the end of each turn due to the excitement).

Budlak finally came out of his stupor and dispatched the troublesome elf. The melee around the farmhouse saw the humans retaliate for the loss of the elf by killing an orc warrior, but emboldened by his previous success against the elf warrior, Budlak killed again; this time a human warrior (O 8, HE 7)

Turn 6

Due to the pressure of numbers brought to bear, the orcs were forced to retreat from the combat, losing another of their warriors (O 7, HE 7)

Turn 7

The orcs finally brought their archers to bear from the other side of the building (it took a long time to get them there due to so many activation failures), causing the humans to huddle up closer after another of their number was felled by archery, but the defenders' bows kept the orcs at a safe enough distance for now.

Finally, the Defenders got a break through. Budlak found himself isolated and was cut down where he stood. This caused a few of the orcs to flee (Morale check on loss of leader), and then, seeing their comrades flee, most of the rest of the warband also broke away (Morale check for the warband dropping below half numbers), leaving just two solitary orcs on the battlefield. Seeing their fellow raiders killed or running away, and being only a tiny distance away from the board edges themselves (due to them also fleeing but not quite far enough to leave the battlefield), they decided that they would flee too (O 0, HE 6)

Turn 7

Well, that was a tidy bashing the orcs got there - again their poor Quality showed - Morale checks have been the bane of the orcs this campaign. This time the fighting was quite a way from the board edges but the orcs failed on multiple counts so all except two left the board - another massive collapse like last time.

The two double-ones during the game also did not help the orc cause, and neither did the fact that we got the movement allowances for the human heavy infantry wrong (they were moved a lot faster than they should have done). The orcs had pretty awful dice-rolls throughout the entire game; almost always when an outcome relied upon at least half-decent rolls - so many 1s flew from my dice hand during this game - at one point there were 6 failed activations in one turn! That said, the orcs lost and the human/elf alliance won not only the scenario, but also the campaign.

So, overall, the human/elf alliance was victorious over the orcs of the Red Eye. I really enjoyed the min-campaign, as did my son. He prefers this game now to Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game. I spent a lot of the time whilst playing what my son's options were at each juncture. Next game, I will let him fly solo, as he seems to have mastered the intricacies of the rules now.