Midgard Saxons v Vikings

Initially I wasn't going to get involved in 'Midgard', the new(ish) rules from TFL for heroic battles but of course that didn't last long with interest from friends resulting in the inevitable purchase of a copy!

Mervyn and Pete kindly put on a game for me, they had Vikings while Andy and I took the Anglo-Saxons with Welsh allies:

The two sides adopted different approaches, the Vikings putting their weaker units in the rear rank while the Saxons had theirs in the front rank with a wider deployment but fewer reserves:

The Welsh advance to attack Viking Bondi:

Saxon Huscarls join in the attack:

The Welsh have varying fortunes, one unit advances while the other retreats!

The Saxon Huscarls drive forwards:

Single combat in the melee! The Welsh leader is cut down though:

The Saxons have almost demolished the Viking front line but are now weakened and facing the Viking's best troops:

A Welsh unit puts up some unexpected resistance and turns retreat into advance:

The Vikings disperse all the Welsh apart from a few skirmishing archers:

The game ends with a hard fought Viking victory, having recovered from the edge of defeat:

A great introduction to the rules with Pete and Mervyns very pretty armies. The rules seem fun and have a lot of things to think about with regard to how you use your leaders and if it is better to attack or not. In this game the Saxons almost won when they wiped out most of the Viking front line but couldn't quite get the Viking army to break then suffered a rapid collapse when their weakened units were attacked by the fresh Viking second line.

The rules are also intended for fantasy games so that's another avenue to explore...

ADLG Berber v Ghanaian

My ADLG practice role continued with another game against Gordon. Gordon wanted to use a Ghanaian army (I confess I didn't even realise there was a list for it) so I thought I'd use my Arab army as Berbers. 

An initial search found only 2/3 of the figures needed (I'd not used them for a long time) but eventually the remaining 1/3 were discovered blinking into the light! Another issue was that many of them had been rebased for Fog-R limiting the composition slightly. after going to so much effort to find them though I thought I may as well use them.

Gordon's army had a lot of spearmen, medium swordsmen and light infantry plus a few average camels and a couple of light horse. His deployment appeared to have left a sizeable gap in the centre. My army was mainly mounted and included the 'elite' Tuareg camel riders:

The spearmen on Gordon's left were actually a Berber ally (traitorous scum!) who quickly advanced while I redeployed the cavalry facing them. Gordons camels, nervous for their medium swordsmen colleagues, moved to try to intercept the Tuaregs:

A slightly symmetrical battle in that on my left Gordon hopes to use a horde of skirmishers to hold up and weaken my line while I attempt to do the same to him on my right:

Gordon's camel riders have got themselves into trouble and been forced to charge into a very unfavourable situation:

One of the Tuaregs demolishes his opponent on contact, the others make good progress:

The Tuaregs make excellent progress, sweeping all before them:

In the centre the Berbers take advantage of the lack of opposition and push forward:

The overall position. The Tuaregs have taken a few hits but are rampaging through the Ghanaian army while the traitorous Berbers mostly watch on:

Hits are exchanged between both armies:

The Ghanaian army is crushed in a comprehensive defeat!

A rare very clear victory for me at ADLG against Gordon, for once I think I had a decent army composition, a good plan and didn't make any serious mistakes. 

The win was also (some might say mainly) down to the remarkable ability of the Tuareg camel riders to demolish everything in their path, I lost count of how many enemies they accounted for in the game but it was certainly a lot!

Will Victoria be Amused: Sudan British v Dervish

Another game of WVBA, this time with Jerry and Dave. In this one Jerry and Dave held a position on the Nile while I had the Camel Corps attempting to bring supplies to the garrison.

It looks a long way across some dangerous terrain for the Camel Corps. Hopefully the garrison will quickly come out to meet them:

The Camel Corps begins to march towards the Nile:

A random event sees some unidentified natives approaching the column. Luckily they turn out to be some goat herders whose goats are quickly added to the baggage train!

The first Dervishes approach, moving towards Jerries command:

More head towards the Camel Corps:

The Dervish attack on the garrison is disjointed:

They are repulsed with heavy losses:

The Dervishes attacking Jerry have more success, almost breaking through:

The Camel Corps also comes under attack:

The Hussars and infantry withdraw firing:

It's those Camel warriors again!

Rifles blast away as the column is assailed on all sides:

There is no let up by the Nile either:

The Camel Corps desperately fights on, many Dervishes have fallen but more are on their way!

The battered Hussars launch a desperate charge into the rear of the Dervish camel warriors:

A moment of calm, the baggage has made good progress but some of the Camel Corps units are at the end of their strength:

The calm does not last, yet more Dervishes appear:

The Hussars make one last charge to keep the Dervishes back:

While the Hussars are dispersed the infantry manage to repel the Dervish foot:

With this we ended the game, the baggage would get through to the Nile but the British took some losses (much of Dave and Jerry's fight I didn't take pictures of).

Dave's officer ended with the highest reputation again, partly based on his ability to 'kill steal' units from Jerry and to a lesser extent me! As the Camel Corps commander I felt there had been a lack of support from the Nile garrison in general and, in Dave's case, a distinct tendency to fail to advance on the enemy. I wouldn't use the term 'lack of moral fibre' myself but others may do. Words would certainly be exchanged in camp afterwards! 

Certainly a bit different from our usual games, I guess the big disadvantage for me is that I can't be the Dervishes!

ADLG Early Byzantine v African Vandal

More ADLG practice for Gordon, in this game my veteran Early Byzantine army took on Gordon's African Vandals.

The two armies deploy with the Byzantines refusing their left and hoping to overwhelm the Vandals on the right:

Initial contact sees Hun light horse (elite) facing Moors as they attempt to delay the Vandals on the left:

On the right Byzantine javelinmen rush forwards to secure the rough terrain. If the ambush markers contain troops this could be unwise:

As suspected they don't have anyone though and the Byzantine cavalry continue their advance with the Skoutati defending the camp:

On the left the massed Vandals are attempting to outflank the Byzantines:

On the right though the Byzantines should have the advantage:

Skirmishers from both sides battle for the upper hand:

The Byzantines lose out, time for the heavier cavalry:

The heavy cavalry attempt to restore the position, the Hun light cavalry in the field hope they survive their attempt to guard the flank:

On the left the Vandal outflanking move is making progress and the Byzantines are in trouble:

The Moorish allied general on the right has survived so far against all the odds but finally goes down in a hail of arrows:

On the left the Byzantines have managed to form a more coherent line:

The line is short lived though:

On the right the Byzantines mop up the remaining Moors and Vandal infantry:

The Skoutati finally come into the battle, advancing on the Vandal cavalry:

Both armies are only a base or two away from breaking! Who will fall first?

It's the Byzantines as the Skoutati get charged in the flank and fall:

A very close game which could easily have gone my way especially as I made a bit of a blunder on the last turn, I could probably have stopped Gordon charging the Skoutati in the flank (though equally that would have exposed a couple of Hun light cavalry to probable death). 

It's always great to get the veteran Byzantines out, still campaigning after all these years!