OK – battle playtest, Carl and Colin, playing the British defenders, Myk and Rob (complete Dux newcomer) the Saxons.

The observant will note from the photos I’ve switched to Universal Lard Tokens to track shock – there are reasons for this 😀

Onward.

We ‚rolled‘ defence of a watchtower this time. Carl set up with a formation of Elites + Warriors defending the tower and a very annoying group of slingers up top. Advancing from bottom right are Rob’s Elites (centre) and a unit of Warriors coming round below the hut.

The Saxon elites pile into the defenders. On the good side for the British, they do actually do more kills than the Saxons. On the bad side, the British take ridiculous amounts of shock, and the four surviving Elites in the front rank break due to busted amphora, run away through the rear rank (doing 5 shock on their way past)…

Four figures, and count ‚em, 8 shock. Buh-bye…. Had this been a campaign battle, the British may well have withdrawn here.

(Photo by Reuben Turner) Another round of combat chases off the warriors at the tower. Meanwhile Myk’s Saxon warriors come in from the British left, and after duelling Step Forth cards, in which they give the approaching Saxon levy a bloody nose, the British Warriors (centre of the table, just to the left of the watch tower, charge the British elites….

…and manage to roll a 4. On 3 dice. It all went even more downhill for the British from here – Colin had some awful dice as the Levy and the Saxons fought another round, and the Levy broke, having no place to stay. British morale definitely going down now. Again, had this been a campaign battle, the British would have withdrawn here if they hadn’t already. We continued for another round, and the Saxon Lord card came up before the British. They smacked into the waiting warriors, and that was pretty much it…

A good game, perhaps marred a little by the British having bad dice when it mattered, and the Saxons having bad dice when it didn’t 😀 Thanks to my loyal playtesters as ever, and I think we’re calling this workable!