It's my (blogger) birthday...

... and time for a game! I have been a blogger for one whole year now. In that time i have contacted some nice people who enjoy the hobby as much as i do, and don't get bored of talking about it with me! I've also discovered Dux Britanniarum, my rule set of the moment.

Which leads me to my next game. This time i introduced my sister to the game. She has played Lord of the Rings before, and she was up for giving this a go. We played a raid with her commanding the English and I the French. The aim was for me to plunder the merchant's house.

 

Some pictures from the game. They're not great as we played under an energy saving light bulb, but you should get the general idea.

Here the French (left) bear down on the English vanguard; some men at arms and harassing troops.

 

The English decide to fight mounted. Hmm, that's not normal!

 



We ended up finding out that one group of mounted men at arms could easily run over two groups of soldiers in closed ranks. My sister banged my poor mercs with some devilish dice rolls.

Not to be shown up, the French men at arms charge some archers, but the dice are fickle and i don't kill a man in return for a wounded lord and one rider who flees like a child.

 



More archers arrive. I told her to try a tactic out, which was to have a group of soldiers on the front rank, and militia behind (i told her as she didn't know that militia in combat generally die quickly), and it proved to do her well.

More mercenaries. Their commander even tried to slow them down with a cunning plan but not even that could stop the English. The mercs decided the trees would protect them, so ran off to hide.

(Note my experimental stakes. A bit low, but they serve their purpose. And also the shock markers, much easier than dice)



So, the lord and his men at arms chased down the handgunners, and charged the crossbowmen, who fled the field. I could have mounted everyone up and legged it, but i stayed and fought, and died.

 



And in the centre, the dismounted men at arms charge, bounce, and are pin cushioned from close range. They eventually run.

Beware of sisters.

 

The cards i used were from Jim's blog added to the regular Briton/Saxon deck.This resulted in having more cards than usual (about 55 ish). I changed the names of some of the original ones (carpe diem became For God!, for example) and i changed the shock cavalry one, removing the disengage option. Why? Well, which self respecting knight would pull back from a good scrap (brave sir Robin ran away, bravely ran away away...)?

I can't really say how the cards worked, as we didn't seem to use many. Next time maybe?