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| The two armies approach with the champions meeting in the center. |
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| The champions Wolfhad and Gildas meet. |
Hamarolf turned to Wolfhad and in his customary low whisper and a slight nod of his head said "It's killing time Wolfhad".
Wolfhad nodded in return and placed his Odin faced helm over his head, drew his sword and began walking toward the waiting British. Hamarolf was confident Wolfhad would come out on top as he had never before seen a more promising warrior, but things could always happen when engaging in such risky things as single combat. One could never anticipate the mood of the Gods.
When Wolfhad reached the halfway point between the two armies he raised his sword in the air and pointed towards the British lines issuing his challenge of personal combat. Soon from the middle of the enemies lines emerged a warrior clad in red and white with a shield, sword and a banner of some woman. As to why a man would carry a banner of woman was odd and quite unmanly thought Hamarolf.
When the British champion reached Wolfhad he planted his banner in the ground and made some kind of a cross sign on his chest to the woman symbol. The two champions then began to circle each other attempting to get the measure of the other. The British champion struck first with quite some speed that looked as if it might just catch Wolfhad's throat, but in a quickness not apparent in such a large man Wolfhad deflected the blow with his sword and returned a backhanded blow of his own that stunned the Roman and sent him reeling. His nose bleeding the man attempted to delay Wolfhad in order to recover his senses by charging him, but Wolfhad was expecting this and so side stepped and brought his shield around back into the rear of the Romans head with a resounding crack sending him flying into the ground face first. Staggering back to his feet the British champion who was clearly dazed, turned around to and made a lunging feeble sword stab at Wolfhad who casually swatted the sword out of the beaten man's hand and kicked him in the chest sending him to the ground in a spread eagle fashion. Wolfhad sheathed his sword then grabbed the Romans woman banner and turned it upside down driving the pointed tip into the British champions throat twisting the shaft until the fallen man's feet stopped kicking up the wet soil. Finished Wolfhad turned to the enemy lines and raised his arms in triumph.
For a moment there was absolute silence then a crescendo of cheers went up from the Saxon lines with wild yells and chants of Wolfhad repeated over and over matched by swords thumping on shields. Seeing the blood drain from the Roman general's face and the looks of dismay on his army at the death of their champion and the sacrilege done to their patron's banner only served to increase the tempo of the Saxon celebrations.
Hamarolf smiled to himself and thought today is going to be a good day to be a Saxon.
Nick and I had another fantastic game of Dux Britanniarum so much so that I was inspired to write a little story. I'm not a writer as is evident, but I do hope it entertains a bit and add some flavour to the post. We played a battle this time and not a raid. Hamarolf having achieved the status of warlord was allowed to conduct a full battle to take territory from the Romano-British.
There is a pre-game sequence where players can issue challenges, look at portents, give speeches among other things to hopefully give their side an edge. I choose to conduct a champions challenge which is the Saxon thing to do and by reading the little story above you can see how lopsided the fight went as I rolled great with Wolfhad crushing Gildas which increased my army morale. I then paid for a miracle and got a flank march with one of my nobles(Isenhart) and a unit of warriors. Unfortunately for Nick his speech fell flat and the beer he gave his men before battle apparently was of the alcohol free variety and had no effect.
We moved onto the battle with both the Saxons and Romano British advancing on each other eager to come to blows. Nick advanced his levy perhaps too quickly as they could not form a shieldwall in time and were hit by Hamarolf, Wolfhad and my elite Gedridht with a predictable result of Nicks levy being shattered and routed. Fortunately for Nick he was able to form a shieldwall with his lord Magnus, the noble Eckfrith , his elite Comanipulares and a group of warriors who countered attacked the pursuing Saxons. Let me tell you folks a shieldwall is a tough nut to crack and they stopped my Saxons cold. A few rounds of fierce combat followed, but the Saxons began loosing ground with one unit of Gedridht shamefully breaking and running.
Things were looking grim for Hamarolf until the lagging Nothelm and his warriors jumped into the fray and stopped the British counter attack allowing Hamarolf to re-group his remaining Gedridht and launch a counter attack of his own. With all the shock acquired during the fighting and the death of Eckfrith spelled doom for his lord and Comanipulares/Warriors who broke and ran hotly pursued by the battle frenzied Saxons who in the process hit and routed the last remaining fresh levy!
The flank attack didn't amount to much as it was a total Pyrrhic contest, but was highly entertaining! Isenhart and a group of Duguth warriors battled Dungbreath and a group of Roman warriors blocking my flank attack. In a bloody clash they cut each other down to a Noble and 1 warrior apiece before Isenhart's unit broke. That wasn't the end though as once Isenhart was able to disentangle himself from his fleeing unit he then in a heroic like fashion launched himself at the remaining Dungbreath knocking him unconscious and slaying the warrior!
Nick did manage to regroup his lord and Comanipulares/Warriors, but before they could turn Nothelm and his warriors hit them in the rear and this broke their will for good routing the last of the Romano British. Nick could see the writing on the wall with all his army and his leadership bar his general(who was also wounded) either dead, unconscious or fleeing and decided to withdraw his few remaining men and not to rally any others or risk total annihilation thus ending the battle.
Nick did come close to winning by standing a good chance in taking out Hamarolf which is an auto loss for the Saxons, but thankfully Nothelm and his lads arrived in the nick of time which turned a close game into a total disaster for Nick causing him to lose a fortified town and a 1/3 of his territories, a noble and champion.
Hamarolf has now risen to the status of King Hamarolf for his great victory and much gift giving gold, women and weapons to his loyal followers. In addition he has attracted himself a Wicca priest after building a shrine on Parvumoppidum battlefield and built himself a great hall to feast in and gather his people to tell tall tales and to rule from. However, Hamarolf is now utterly broke from all the lavish spending and so is in need of plunder therefore he once again turns his hungry eyes onto the British lands to re-fill his coffers.
A wonderful game with Dux Britanniarum again. It already started great and just seems to get better and better! I'm really looking forward to our next game!
I also updated the Dux Britanniarum campaign history page if you want to check it out.
Today is my 45th birthday so I'm off to Coburg castle to see the sights for the day with my family!
Thanks for viewing!:-)
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| The Saxons led by Hamarolf. | |
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| The Romano British led by Magnus. |
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| Isenhart on the flank attack. |
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| The forces clash in a groan of metal! |
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| Hamarolf and his Gedridht crush the Roman levy. |
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| Only to run into Magnus elite shieldwall and stopped. |
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| Nothelm to the rescue sending Magnus packing with his elite troops! |
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| Isenhart takes out Dungbreath. |
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| Hamarolf and Wolfgar finish off the rest of the levy. |
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| Nothelm hits the reformed Comanipulares/Warriors in the rear which breaks them for good. |
