http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/image/rhead-arthur-leading-the-charge-at-mount-badon
Having enjoyed playing some "Wargaming: An Introduction" WWII, I thought it'd be fun to play the 4-base ancient system in that book, which is presented in more detail in "Ancient and Medieval Warfare". One of my main interests was to see how the "feel" was with the Dark Ages period, which is covered in the AMW rules and indeed this battle is the battle report. Therefore we have the Britons, or Sub-Roman Britons, or perhaps "Post-Roman Britons" fighting the variant early Saxon list in the Anglo-Saxon list of the AMW book.
As NT's Badon battle report was similar to OHW #4 "Take the High Ground", I decided to play it straight up, but with fewer units. AMW uses eight Units with four bases, and OHW uses 6 Units of one base. As I have large 1-base Units, I spin the 4-base system and mark a base loss with a red dice, 1-3, and Hits with a Green dice, also 1-3 [at 4 Hits a base is lost so the red dice goes up one]. This works well but does put "dice clutter" on the table. Still, can't be helped.
The Savage Saxon Slaughterers - here compiled from various Units and periods, but "all you barbarians look alike to me" will have to do. All figs Old Glory from the "Somerled Saxon, Viking, Norman" line [HERE]: left are Goths, center are Welsh spearmen with Gothic archers in front, right are Anglo Saxons - all from OG's Dark Ages line, I believe. The Goths to left are elite Nobles, the rest are average "Peasant" warriors, the archers Light Infantry. All have a light armor save of 6+ except the Nobles are a 5+ save. Personally, I think the Archers should have nothing, but perhaps dodging counts as a save?
Arthur's Bold Bashers of Badon. Rear Unit is Gripping Beast Dark Age Late Romans, representing the Roman Remnant Infantry - they can form a shieldwall [gives 3+ save but they move very slow]. The rest of the figures are Old Glory 25s: three cavalry are Irish, Welsh Archers and Spearmen [from the medieval "Revenge" line] acting as Militia.
The monastic is an old Grenadier fantasy figure, a cleric I believe, wielding a mace and a cross - he stands next to his sacred tree and spring, ready to heal the wounded and defend them from outrages if necessary!
Turn 1-2. Saxons advance [duh!]. Both Nobles to left, Warriors center, bowmen to the woods - the safest place for them to be in a cavalry-rich environment! Romans hold the hill with a Militia spearmen and a light infantry Archer Unit. Marching to the sound of the savage cries are the cavalry, followed by the Roman infantry. There's no road bonus for movement, which is unfortunate as these guys are a bit slow. Archers on hill inflict no less than 7 Hits on the Saxon Warriors, rolling like gang-busters as pictured below with a 100% hit rate on Turn 2! You need a 4+ to hit in these rules. Saxons pass morale with a 4+ [red dice] but turns out you only check for a stand loss during melee, not from shooting.
Turn 3. The Saxons charge home, Nobles against the Militia, Warriors against Light Infantry Bowmen. oddly, only javelins can shoot at an enemy charging them - easy to change, but...why? Don't bows shoot faster and have more missiles on hand??
Left melee is pretty even. Welsh get 1 dice per base and a bonus dice per base first turn for being up hill. Warband start the same and get a bonus dice per base first turn for being Warband. Militia get three with one saved while the Saxons get two with one saved.
Right Melee: Welsh start with 4 dice, one per "base", and get a bonus dice per base first turn of melee due to being uphill. They get 4 Hits, Saxons roll save and miss all [needing a 6] so take 4 Hits and roll a 3 morale so lose another base, total two bases lost [and only one Hit left!]. The Saxons have 3 bases so start with 9 dice [3 per stand v. Light Infantry] and get 3 more for charging warband, total 12 attack dice. They get 7 Hits and the Archers save one for 6 Hits but roll a '1' morale for losing the base and lose another base.
Whew! Lots of dice!
Total damage Saxon Turn 3. Looks like there's about to be a hole in the center of the Saxon attack...didn't think the archers would do so well! Makes the cavalry seem even more menacing.
Welsh Turn 3, the big picture. Cavalry are coming along quickly, while the Roman Remnants plod down the road at 4" a turn. Saxons are pushing well on the hill and have a solid line across the board, even holding the woods. However, there's no reserve.
Saxon Turn 4, the Nobles crash in on the flank of the Militia holding the hill. With the original melee opponents, the Welsh inflict one Hit, the Saxons 4! But one is saved.
The flanking Nobles inflict another 6 Hits!
Militia fail morale and lose another base - they needed a 5+ and got a '4'.
Briton Turn 5. Cavalry advance down road, followed by Roman foot - their slow pace makes them unable to support the Cavalry who are in danger of being flanked if they charge too early. In the melee phase, the Nobles at the Militia front take 2 and lose a base but pass morale, needing a 3+, while flanking Nobles wipe out the Militia. Archers lose another base but pass morale with a '6'! Cavalry flank Nobles but only inflict 2 Hits.
Saxon Turn 5. Had to decide if a Unit could enter a gap over one base wide [the Unit is two bases wide by two deep] and it seemed odd not to let them thru a gap that size - it looks quite big! This is a good example of a mechanic absent from all NT rules - passing a gap. Anyway, I decide to let it happen and the Nobles charge through and get 5 Hits - very good rolling - but the Cavalry inflict back three Hits and pass morale. Saxons charge a Warrior at the Cavalry before them, knocking off a base. Coming back they only inflict one Hit, but they pass morale easily with a '6'.
Briton Turn 5. They retreat the Cavalry from Melee and form shieldwall with their Roman foot intending to advance them and grind down the Warriors with their superior 3+ Save v. 6+ Save. Archers finally kill the Warriors in front of them - beginning a heritage of elite light infantry? Pic also shows that during the Saxon Turn 5, the other Saxon Warrior headed to the hill to make an attack, while the Saxon Archers in the woods shot to no effect.
The two melees on the left grind on slowly.
Saxon Turn 6. Archers get a hit on the Roman shieldwall. Warriors continue to move against the Archers whose cheers of victory have dwindled to a low murmur as they see the fate in store for them, nearly surrounded by savage Saxons! Might be a move in this...Two left melees grind along. To far left, both the Cavalry and Nobles lose a Base...
...and must check morale. cavalry pass, Nobles don't! They lose another base. This was critical - if it had been the other way, the Nobles would have gained ground and tied up at 2-2 bases lost. As it is, with one dice per melee phase, their max is to inflict one Hit!
Briton Turn 6. Cavalry on hill fail morale and lose a base - but the Saxons do too.
Saxon Turn 7. The savage Saxon charge crushes the Archers. Bit disappointing b/c they inflicted 5 Hits and the Archers saved 2! Unfortunately, 3 Hits was all they had left.
In the center, the Warriors gamely charge the Roman shieldwall. Results are 2 Hits each.
Briton Turn 7. Saxons are struggling to gain the hill - they have a fresh unit on hand, however. This scenario has always been a tough proposition for a melee period, shooting eras tend to favor the attacker as a lot of firepower can be brought to bear quickly. I flattened out the Saxon Warrior on the hill fighting the Cavalry - again no rule for it - but it looked better and I was definitely not allowing two Saxon Infantry to gang up sideways on the front of the Briton Cavalry!
Saxon Turn 8 [red dice]. The Archers emerge from the woods, leery of the Briton cavalry beyond the Roman shieldwall. Both Units roll poorly and inflict only one Hit, and both save - even the Saxons who needed a '6'! Another critical roll - had they failed, they'd have lost a base, and if they failed morale would have lost another, resulting in them only having 2 melee dice to 4 next turn, and with their Roman opponent having a much superior save!
Working left, the Warriors continue to move left, which is a good choice as the Nobles take their last Hit and flee the battle!
Briton Turn 8 [blue dice]. Left Cavalry swing into the Saxon Nobles on the hill - fight the objective! Another rule mechanic problem - can the Cavalry charge into the Gap? It is over a base wide. They should be able to since I let the Saxons do it.
In the event, I choose not to as the Nobles on the hill only have one Hit left and are flanked.
Nobles take two Hits and are destroyed.
Saxon Turn 9. The Warriors shifting left have a rule mechanic dilemma. They can certainly reach either Unit, but that to left seems more "forward", so seems right choice.
They slam in and get a great roll - 6/8 Hits, and if the Britons hadn't passed morale the Unit would've been finished, pretty much. In reply the Cavalry inflict...1 Hit.
On the right flank, the Saxon light infantry Archers charge. They start with one dice per base like most, but are doubled for a flank attack and roll 5/8 Hits! Fortunately for the Roman infantry, they make 4/5 of the saves, and pass morale on a 3+
Briton Turn 9. The Cavalry again need mechanical guidance, and one wonders if they should hit the front or flank of the Archers.
As they start in the front 45 degree arc of the Target, I call it as "Front" and they get 3 dice per base against Light Infantry, anyway. Still, it is a constant reminder that "rule mechanics shape tactics", or if not present, they "don't shape anything".
On the left, Briton cavalry charge the Saxon Warrior flank, of course. However, they have only one base left, so are maxed out at 2 dice attacking, or 2 Hits a turn at the most. But, I must've been distracted, and I let them roll 4 dice, plus a bonus 4 dice, missing entirely the fact that they were mostly trashed. This is one problem with this type of game...lots of little things to remember.
End result, this Saxon warband is beat up, but shouldn't be.
Meanwhile, on the right, the Cavalry inflict 6 Hits on the Archers, who also fail morale and lose another base. At least I got the calculations correct!
Saxon Turn 10. In the melee phase, the Saxon Warriors are wiped out. Again, the calculation is wrong - there should be four dice, 2 from the cavalry in front, and 1, doubled, for the one on the flank. Meanwhile, the Cavalry take out the Archers and I concede for the Saxons, for whom victory seemed in doubt, anyway.
This was a fun game, and the taking of pics and notes probably doubled the time and reduced the focus of just playing it out. In other words, I think I'd have been fine if I wasn't trying to document this for posterity!
I think the drama of rolling morale is fun, as well as the various stages of combat. While GW uses these aged mechanics in their rules, also, it is simpler here and gives a good balance of "feel" with acceptable speed [altho not the fastest mechanics - OHW is much faster]. So it depends on what you want.
The movement rules make the Units more sluggish so it feels like a bigger scale game. More like 1000 foot or 500 Cavalry and Lights per base, instead of the hundreds of my take on OHW.
Overall, I think these rules have a place in the pantheon, but will demand a re-write with a bunch of mechanics worked out in some detail as circumstances warrant.
Given that you will have to finish writing the rules, I think these are a good but not great set. They are pretty quick to play and have some fun special rules without being overwhelmed by special rules. NT found that balance, anyway. So "it all depends", but I recommend picking up this book and tinkering away with the rules to have some fun game nights, and they are good for solo play also.
This AAR was a lot of work, so altho I did a replay of this, it will have to be a bit more streamlined. I hope that some of the explanation of mechanics is useful for people who want to play these rules, especially newer wargamers. Stay tuned for "Badon II"!
