This battle report is for the second encounter between the Romans and the Britons in the campaign game - Encounter in the Mist. Again, I am playing solo, so will be using some of the last game's pre-determined tactics. That said, I learned a lot from the last game and will amend the Briton's tactics a little, as well as using a few things I missed from the rules last time (I will be looking more into the Support rules).
Both armies are evenly matched despite the casualties taken in the last game and the number of reinforcements.
Britons (243pts):
- Bellicus 3 (47pts)
- Maviloduus 2 (32pts)
- Catuarus 1 (18pts)
- 2x Warriors 3 (44pts)
- 2x skyclad (32pts)
- 2x slingers (20pts)
- 2x Warriors 2 (34pts)
- 1x Female Warriors (16pts)
Romans (245pts):
- Lucius Valerius Corvus 3 (43pts)
- Marcus Aurelius Bellator 2 (35pts)
- Gaia Pomponia Thrax 2 (21pts)
- 2x Legionaries (68pts)
- 2x Archers (58pts)
- 1x Cavalry (20pts)
For this battle, I used Scenario 4 from the main Midgard rulebook : Encounter in the Mist
The playing area is 6' by 3', but, as mentioned above, I was able to get the deployments to the correct distances on the table.
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| Intended army deployments |
I rolled that the Britons would be the defenders again (they are guarding the way between the Roman retreat and their next destination - a small Roman encampment) and they took Deployment Zone A. Therefore, the Romans are classed as the attackers and took Deployment Zone B.
The two armies are divided into three contingents, a vanguard, a centre and a rearguard, and will be subject to the pre-game random adjustments after initial deployment to take into account the foggy conditions as per the rules.
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| Intended Briton deployment |
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| Intended Roman deployment |
A few hours into the early evening watch, just before dusk, he heard a commotion and feared the worst. A few minutes later, he could hear some cheers from the soldiers outside that gradually rose in volume. He stood up from his field desk where he was writing the day's report, and stepped outside of his tent. He was greeted with a wondrous sight. An almost full century of legionaries came marching into the camp.
He called for his senior officers to attend him and listened to the report of the missing unit. According to the centurion of the unit, Septimius Fulgencio, the bulk of them had gone on patrol, leaving a skeleton crew behind. They got back to find the watchtower completely ruined, so decided to march to the next encampment. Unfortunately, their way was blocked by the army that had destroyed the watchtower, so they moved deep into the woods and watched the enemy movements until they had passed from sight. The scouts then followed the Briton army, saw the battle between them and the cohort begin, and rushed back to inform their centurion of the situation. Septimius Fulgencio started back to the ruined watchtower in order to aid the rest of the cohort but, alas, arrived too late to aid in the battle.
Lucius Valerius, listened to the tale and decided that Septimius Fulgencio had done all he could to heed the safety of his men. He decided he was not a coward, but he was not happy that he was not there to support the cohort in its time of need. As a result, Septimius's century was put on guard duty for the rest of the night.
The following morning, a thick fog had arisen from the nearby river valley. Lucius Valerius decided that they must join up with more of the cohort if they were to make it back to civilisation, so struck camp and began their march early. All went well until they were within a short distance of small village on their side of the river. The scouts reported back that they had heard a large party of warriors approaching their current position. It seemed as good a place as any for a battle, so Lucius Valerius deployed his troops to meet the oncoming threat.
The wounded from the previous battle at the ruined watchtower were sent on their way, via a small path through the forest, with most of the supplies in the hope that the forthcoming battle would distract any of the Britons from attacking them. The prefect hoped that they would make it to the encampment to warn the forces there of the cohort's impending arrival, and to tell them to prepare for evacuation.
Bellicus had returned to one of his main villages and recruited more warriors to bolster his forces. A minor chieftain named Catuarus added his small force to Bellicus's army and they marched back to find the Romans in order to finish them off.
The warband arrived early morning at the village, but the fog had caused the warrior bands to become split up somewhat and they all seemed to arrive at different times and not where they were supposed to. Bellicus hoped that the fog affected the Romans in the same way.
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| Actual army deployments due to the effects of the fog |
The Romans arrived more or less where they intended, but more dispersed than they would ordinarily have deployed. Bellicus's skirmishers arrived way off to the left of their flank and would have to contend with a bit of boggy, rough ground in order to have a say in the forthcoming battle.
As the fog was too thick to see through properly, any challenges prior to the battle were not forthcoming. In the grim, eery silence the two forces advanced upon one another in the hope of surprising their enemy.
Turn 1 (Reputation B8, R8):
Each army could partially see each other through the mist and desperately wanted to come to blows. The Romans advanced cautiously in order to keep their lines, but the Britons streamed ahead where they could; the rough ground and woods slowed some of the skirmishers and young blood warriors meaning that their lines began to fray.
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| Turn 1 - The Britons' advance is hampered by many failed Command Tests |
Turn 2 (Rep B8, R8):
As each side advanced towards the other, the fog showed no signs of abating. Lucius Valerius took advantage of the Britons' troubles with the rough ground and charged into one of the slinger units that looked like it was on its own. Although the skirmishers were able to get off a volley of shots, narrowly missing Valerius, the impetus of the cavalry mowed them down to a man.
The rest of the skirmishers in the rough area split to achieve different objectives. The second unit of slingers shot a volley of stones at the cavalry, but the bullets that hit just pinged off of the Roman armour. The female warriors, seeing dozens of their men falling at the swords of the Romans, advanced to where they thought the cavalry would attack the remaining slingers. The skyclad, meanwhile, saw the opportunity to flank the Roman centre and advanced through the rough ground to make their presence felt, but the warband split after some confusing orders from the new chieftain Catuarus.
In the centre, Marcus Aurelius's legionaries came to blows with Bellicus's household troops. With a mighty crash of shield upon shield, the two forces fought for dominance of the centre ground. Bellicus's noble warriors were of a different mettle compared to their younger, more impetuous brethren the legionaries had faced in their previous encounter, and the Romans were forced back by the force of Bellicus's will and the defenders' skill at arms. Warriors fell on both sides and Marcus Aurelius took a mighty blow during the initial exchange.
Bellicus, sensing an easy victory with the Romans' retreat, spurred his men onto greater efforts and the Britons followed up the melee. There followed a gruelling test of strength with the Romans just taking the edge in the combat overall, but Bellicus's elite troops managed to kill the Roman Primus Pilus. His final actions, though, saw him and a few trusted legionaries destroy the remnants of Bellicus's warband with a cry of "Though I die, I smite thee!" as he fell.
On their left flank, the Roman archers could not make out the enemy approaching until it was too late. With whoops of anticipation the British warriors ran headlong into the last-second Roman arrow storm, but this did not stop their charge. Maviloduus and his warrior band pushed one century of archers back into the rough ground with ease. Gaia Pomponia was able to halt the attack on the right, but not without picking up another injury; the cuts and bruises she had amassed from the battle the day before had taken their toll on her.
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| Turn 2 - An intense melee ensues but the Romans just survive the Britons' onslaught |
Turn 3 (Rep B7, R9):
As the early morning wore on, the fog still showed no signs of abating. Lucius Valerius saw that he was being flanked by a number of enemy skirmisher warbands, but no matter how hard he tried he was unable to get his men to turn and face the enemy. More slingshot rattled against the unit's armour as the warrior women charged closer.
Hoping to keep their advantage in the centre, the Roman legionaries stepped up their assault on Bellicus's elite warriors. They pushed through the destroyed warband, forcing Bellicus into the other unit of warriors, and pressed their advantage. However, the Briton leader's carp's tongue sword carved its way through his enemy's ranks with ease, forcing the hard-pushed century backwards. The Roman legionaries left in the centre saw the rapidly approaching skyclad warriors and fought for their lives against a renewed British assault. Unfortunately for them, Bellicus's Legendary Weapon proved to be their undoing and the century was destroyed.
The combat in the rough ground to left of the Roman lines was beginning to take its toll on both sides. Maviloduus and his warband of youthful warriors pushed the Roman archers back further into the rough and finally destroyed them as a unit, but the Britons' left flank in the rough had crumbled allowing the other archer unit to escape the melee and regroup.
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| Turn 3 - the tide of battle turns slightly in favour of the Britons |
Turn 4 (Rep B5, R3):
The fog still refused to clear, even though the sun was trying to burn it away. The misty conditions were obviously beginning to favour the British forces as they were more used to the damp, cold weather.
Hemmed in and desperate to break free, Lucius Valerius got his cavalry moving and charged the oncoming female furies. A flurry of javelins took down half of Valerius's force before the iron and hooves of the remaining cavalrymen forced back the howling banshees facing them. Lucius Valerius decided to Hold Fast rather than be charged from behind by the slingers lurking in the rough ground to their left. The slingers, encouraged by seeing such a large number of cavalrymen fall to the javelins and knives of the warrior women, cast another volley of stones at the mounted troops. The last remaining cavalrymen either fell or ran off never to be seen again, leaving the Prefect to fight on on his own.
The legionaries in the centre of the field turned about and were about to charge Bellicus's warband from behind when the skyclad warriors hove into sight, running towards them at top speed. They decided that it would be easier to charge the naked fanatics and let Gaia Pomponia's archers take care of the Briton elites, but their charge fell short. The skyclad warriors pressed their charge home but many were impaled on the swords of the legionaries.
Gaia Pomponia's archers let fly but their arrows went awry in the mist; they just could not pick out their targets well enough to make their arrows count.
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| Turn 4 - Lucius Valerius rides alone and the Romans are on the back foot |
Turn 5 (Rep B5, R3):
As more warriors fell to the swords and shafts of their enemies, the sun began to win its battle against the fog. Patches of mist began to tear away, but would this save either side from defeat?
Lucius Valerius decided that caution formed the better part of valour and charged across the battlefield in order to join with one of his remaining units of troops. The surprise of the slingers' small victory over such a superior force momentarily stunned them and they were unable to move, but the enraged female warriors spun around and headed off in pursuit of the cowardly Roman chieftain.
The legionaries, seeing their commander racing towards them renewed their attacks on the skyclad and cut them down to a man.
Gaia Pomponia ordered her century of archers closer to the depleted elite warband of Bellicus and ordered them to loose their shafts. This time their arrows flew true, scything the last of the elite warriors down. However, her grin turned to a grimace when from directly behind the fallen elite, Bellicus formed up the last of the skyclad and charged home against the archers. The archers fell back just enough so that they wouldn't get attacked in the rear by the rapidly approaching young warriors.
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| Turn 5 - The last moments for the Roman archers |
Turn 6 (Rep B4, R3):
The sun finally broke up the mist and the carnage of the battlefield could be seen by all. So many men and women had laid down their lives for the glory of Rome or for the honour of their tribe.
The Roman leader galloped over to the last remaining century of legionaries and ordered them to about face whilst the maiden warriors and slingers continued their pursuit.
Gaia Pomponia had no choice but to keep fighting, but with Bellicus and Catuarus in the fight they were being pushed further and further back, taking more losses as they went. She prayed to the gods that help would arrive soon, but her century was overwhelmed in a melee that they were not used to. The archers were cut down as her unit was surrounded, but she survived with just a handful of troops.
Turn 7 (Rep B4, R0):
The thunder of hooves and the roar of a fully fit, victorious century of legionaries approaching from the rear caused Bellicus and his warriors to stop advancing to finish off Gaia Pomponia and her remaining handful of archers; it made them pause long enough for Gaia to make her escape. Seeing that she was safe, the rest of the Romans left the field to the Britons.
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| Turn 7 - the final retreat |
This game lasted six of the seven turns allowed, but it was a longer, more hard-fought battle than the previous one. The Britons managed to scrape a Narrow Victory, so some honour has been gained back by Bellicus and his warriors, but I think if deployment went a bit more in their favour this could have been a crushing victory - maybe the Romans could have been completely wiped out, thus ending the main characters of the story (although there are more Romans left from the cohort that could club together to fight on). Both sides took a lot of casualties again, which means the next game will take some thinking about to get the numbers back up for a decent skirmish.
Campaign Score: Romans 3 Britons 1
