Midgard : Scenario 5 : Last Stand

Well, this campaign has been a bit of a slow burner, but I am slowly getting towards the end - I just wish I was able to get my figures and stuff out onto the dining table more often than once every few months or so. That said, this one and the previous one have come, relatively speaking, thick and fast, as I want to get ready for the last scenario to play with my son - it will be the first time I play Midgard against an opponent!

I was able to play the Last Stand scenario yesterday, which pits a smaller defending army (200 pts) against a larger attacking army (300 pts). As seen from the previous scenario, defending whilst on a hill is very advantageous, so I see another easy Roman victory here before it all begins despite them being outnumbered.

I had to change the Briton army a little from the list I mentioned in the previous post on the Midgard campaign - I replaced one unit of slingers with a unit of archers (I didn't have the figures available for the extra unit of slingers). I also sourced a female warrior as the new Level 1 hero - maybe she would shake the curse of the level 1 leader deaths for the Britons?

The Briton army (97/205=307pts):

• Bellicus 3 (47pts)

• Maviloduus 2 (32pts)

• Aucissa 1 (18pts)

• 2x Warriors 3 (@22 = 44pts)

• 4x Warriors 2 (@17 = 68pts)

• 2 Slingers (@10 = 20pts)

• 2x Archers (@15 = 30pts)

• 1x Skyclad (16pts)

• 2x Mounted Warriors (@16 = 32pts)

Britons : Right wing - Bellicus and his noble elites

Britons : Centre - Aucissa and the skirmishers

Britons : Left wing - Maviloduus and his warband

Right wing: Bellicus, 2x Warriors 3, Skyclad
Centre: Aucissa, 2x Slingers, 2x Archers, 2x Mounted Warriors
Left wing: Maviloduus, 4x Warriors 2

The Roman army (85/137=222pts):

• Caecilius Rufinus Pulcher 3 (43pts)

• Gaia Pomponia Thrax 2 (21pts)

• Marius Pollux 2 (21pts) 

• 2x Legionaries (68pts) - one made up to full strength the other = 2 Stamina

• 1x Auxiliary Archers (29pts) - 2 stamina

• 2x Cavalry (40pt) 

The Roman contingent

As per the rules for this scenario, after the attackers (the Britons) had been set up, I was allowed to re-arrange a couple of units of the defenders. I was unable to get a shot of the whole table at set up, but suffice it to say, I thought that the cavalry would be better placed being able to charge down-hill towards the British skirmisher units under the command of Aucissa. I swapped them around enough to begin to put that plan into action.

The re-arranged Romans

After Bellicus had pulled back from the ridge, he decided that he would go and destroy the Roman watchtower just to the south of his current position and send a force to wipe-out any contingents left at the Roman encampment to the west. This took him a short while and gave the Romans some breathing room in order to gather their wounded and march as rapidly as they could from the ridge towards the final watchtower beyond the river to the south. 

Bellicus was disappointed to see that the watchtower had already been burnt to the ground and that the western encampment had also been emptied and razed in the same way. He swore an oath to his gods and gathered reinforcements at the nearby village as quickly as he could in order to harry further the retreat of the remnants of the Roman force; there cannot be too many Romans left now surely?

Slowed by the pace of the wounded, Caecilius Rufinus Pulcher found that he could not out-pace the scouts of the Briton army, so looked for somewhere to make a final stand. Luckily, a short distance from the ford, which he crossed without incident, there was another Roman watchtower. Surely he could get there before the Britons caught up with him?

The small Roman force arrived at a small range of hills just as the scouts returned stating that Bellicus's army was only a short distance behind; they had just crossed the ford and had cavalry with them. Caecilius looked around and spotted a hill that suited his purpose. If only the rest of the relief force from the western camp were there to bolster his numbers, then things would be fine.

The route to the fifth battle

A scout, left by the relief force, saw Caecilius set up position on the hill and advanced to his commander to report the latest intelligence -  the relief force had got to the hills as requested, but finding the column hadn't arrived decided to advance towards the watchtower to make for a larger force for a final stand. The two units of auxiliaries from the western camp were therefore not available for this fight.

Caecilius swore an oath to Jupiter, greatest and best, to protect him and his remaining soldiers whilst they bought time for the wounded and waggon train to get to the final watchtower where they could be better protected. There would be a goodly sized force there (at least a century of legionaries and two units of auxiliaries plus whatever the wounded could pull together from their ranks) to defend the retreat should anyone survive this next encounter.

The Romans got into position on the hill to sell their lives dearly but, on closer scrutiny when the Britons arrived, Caecilius noticed that the Britons had made a fatal mistake in their dispositions; the warriors were all on the flanks whilst their skirmishers and light horse were directly down hill without much support (the random dice rolls for troop set up gave the Romans a good opportunity should they be able to exploit it). He quickly gave his orders and rearranged his battle lines to take advantage of the situation.

Turn 1 (Reputation B9, R9):

Spotting his mistake, Bellicus ordered a rapid advance upon the weak Roman position, he didn't want to leave his skirmishers exposed for too long. He understood that the Romans could defend a hill well from their previous encounter, but he had the numbers and the know-how this time. Most of his force advanced as he wished them too, but as was usual some units were slightly more reluctant to go toe-to-toe against a tough enemy.

Caecilius did not wait for the advance to complete and charged his turma of cavalry towards the skirmishers as quickly as he could knowing that the second unit would follow as soon as the lines were cleared. They ploughed through one unit of archers as if they were not there and eyed up the sling toting stragglers behind them.

Meanwhile, on the Roman left flank, the depleted Syrian archer unit kept the Briton warriors at bay.

End of Turn 1

British losses = 1 unit archers

Turn 2 (Rep B7, R11):

The British warriors in the centre could do nothing to stop the Roman charge, so Aucissa just re-arranged their lines and hoped that their cavalry could even the odds a little. The slingers in Caecilius's path were also mown down to a man.

The British troops on the hill advanced a little more cautiously towards the Romans - they remembered what it was like to charge directly uphill towards heavily armed and armoured legionaries. They took a few more casualties from the Syrian bows for their reticence.

The second Roman cavalry turma had by now left the hill, but a little too late as they ran in to a barrage of British slingshot and arrows, whilst the British cavalry rapidly charged towards them.

End of Turn 2

British losses = 1 unit slingers

Turn 3 (Rep B5, R13):

The battle for the hill was finally joined as the Romans were caught between two waves of rapidly advancing warriors screaming for their blood. The Syrian archers loosed one final round of arrows before their training kicked in and they were Replaced by the full century of legionaries at the front line - a much tougher nut for the British warriors to crack. The British warriors under Bellicus's command were forced back giving the Romans a little breathing space, but the legionaries on the other side of the hill were hard pushed by Maviloduus's warband. Maviloduus called for a Favour of the Gods and was rewarded with causing a number of deaths in the Roman ranks, but the Romans stood fast and managed to inflict a few casualties back onto the British warriors.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the hill, the British slingers and archers loosed their stones and arrows at the Roman cavalry, softening up both units. The British mounted contingent of warriors then ploughed into the second Roman turma and wiped them out. Caecilius, realised that it was now a case of all or nothing, so charged at Aucissa's remaining skirmishing units hoping to repeat what had already happened previously but his men were mown down under the withering waves of stone and iron.

End of Turn 3

Roman losses = 2 units cavalry

Turn 4 (Rep B9, R10):

After defeating the Roman turma in front of them, and seeing the other turma had also been cut down, leaving only the Roman leader and his last few guards, the British mounted contingent charged him from behind whilst he was occupied with Aucissa's archers. The mounted warriors managed to wound the Roman general but not before his last remining bodyguards had cut down the skirmishing unit ahead of them.

Maviloduus continued his push against the under-strength century of legionaries ahead of him and was rewarded for his troubles by seeing the last of them fall - all he needed to do now was take down the remnants of the Syrian archers and meet up with Bellicus at the top of the hill once he had defeated the legionaries on his side of the hill.

Bellicus's Legendary Weapon cut swathes through the ranks of the Roman legionaries again and he smiled in satisfaction as he saw a unit of his cavalry supported by many skyclad warriors impact the Roman flanks. Unfortunately this was the last thing that Bellicus saw as he was skewered upon a Roman gladius. He thought "even though I die, I smite thee", and another enemy fell to his sword as he slumped to the ground.

A great cry went up from the Britons when Bellicus and his band of valiant brothers were killed. The cry was heard even at the other side of the battlefield, as the Britons on the hill top turned tail and fled the scene. The last remaining Romans (Caecilius, 1St of Archers and 1St of legionaries!) could not believe what had just happened.

End of Turn 4

British losses = 1 unit archers, 1 unit warriors (3), Bellicus

Roman losses = 1 unit legionaries

Final tally (Rep B-1, R6)

That was a crazy ending to the game. The Britons had the upper hand on the hill and it would have only been one more turn before the entire army was wiped out when Bellicus had to roll 2 Risk to Heroes dice - snake-eyes. He was dead! He had used all of his Mighty Deeds on the combat so could not use one to help save a wound. The Romans, somehow, managed to pull off a Mighty Victory, to surge way ahead in the campaign. Again, there were a number of take-aways from this battle: 

• Being uphill and using those saves helped the Romans again
• The Romans took a lot of casualties again, but not enough to lose whole units and thus lose the all important Reputation points
• Female Level 1 British heroes fare better than their male counterparts
• Don't roll snake-eyes for your leader's death saves - it loses you the game even though you are greatly ahead numbers-wise and about to strike the final blow

Campaign Score: Romans 8 Britons 3

Next game should see a large force of Britons on the table as they lost very few units this time around. I will also need to fudge what units they get due to the limitations of the figures I have available. The Romans will only get the remaining century of legionaries, two units of auxiliaries and whatever I can plausibly piece together from their remaining units. I did mention some artillery in a previous post, so I am beginning to get the inklings of an idea for what the next scenario can be - it will not be one from the book. It also has to be a fair match so my son can play in the next game without a disadvantage. I will post an aftermath of this game in the next day or so and sum up what will happen going forward.