The Song of Oswic: 454 A.D.

Listen!
Cold now the fate of Angle kings
in days past, the countless battle storms
weathered by those heroes of these cold shores.

Many autumns of our lives
lie silent behind us while we sing
in the mead-hall ...

Of sword-strokes and battle blades swung under a mail-grey sky
as we stood on the iron hard ground before the fight ...

Of the cowardice of Britons and the conceit of their kings,
worthless their false-gold givers, and empty their halls ...

Of our sword-triumphs across the Grey Sea
Angle warriors sluggish with treasure from the Britons’ hearths barren ...

Of the Enemy, wailing from their wood-prison
fearful to meet us in the battle-hall of men ...

Of the Raven God, cruel and sharp
fickle his wings of fate watching the slaughter ...

Of the savage fight, well-wrought weapons glinting
in the flint-dawn, the fume of our breath frozen in the wind ...

Of the linden shields of their braced shield-lines worthless
in the smoke of their homes burning and gutted black-raw ...

Of the war cries and laughter, our hearth-heroes
goading them to their fate ...

Of the warriors fallen, spread-eagled by sharp spears
as the battle-walls screeched and moaned ...

Of the thicket of sword-blade and spear point
relished by carrion, and sharp jawed ravens garbed in black ...

Listen!
For our war-songs are yet young ...

***

And that’s the fourth battle report from our Dark Age campaign, told from the (completely biased) view of the hearth-skald of Oswic the Angle. For a game in which the Saxons and their Angle mercenaries looked to raid and loot a small British settlement, things quickly turned into an unexpected battle of shieldwalls as the British warband of Maxim Boicicus arrived.

The Angles, true to form perhaps, simply looted the helpless village for the entirety of the game. The Saxons and British carved chunks out of each other, alternatively goading and charging in a vicious spiral as the “shock” and wounds mounted on both sides relentlessly.

The game didn’t take long. We were done in perhaps a couple of hours, but most of the action took place in a frenetic 30 minutes as each side threw units into the fray accompanied by battle cards such as “Hero of the Age”, “Smite Hard”, “Braced Shield-wall”, “Goad” and “Aggressive Charge”. The play of the battle cards, particularly according to their suits (ravens and dragons) is proving to be a really fantastic enhancement of the tabletop struggle. A game-within-a-game which has its own rhythm and tension.

For a slightly more sober and insightful look at the rules and mechanics of the game we played on Tuesday night, Richard Clarke has posted this (far less biased!) report.

More next week from fifth century A.D. Britain, with some Saxon standards and shield designs to finish this weekend.

Until then, battle-brothers ...

The Fickle Hand of Fate: The Battle of Jupiter’s Shrine, 454 A.D.

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how carefully you plan a battle, when you’re out of luck – well, you know the rest ...

Here’s the hand which the Fate Deck dealt the Saxon warband in Tuesday’s playtest game of Dux Britanniarum. Impressive eh?

Apparently, I’m told that Oh Bollux is the ancient German God of utter rubbish. Given that out of the five Oh Bollux cards in the 52 card fate deck, we (the Saxon players) had ended up with holding three (out of a hand of just five cards) it was impressive indeed.

The game, the Battle of Jupiter’s Shrine was set around sub-Roman Verulamium in the fifth century A.D., with a Saxon raiding party attacking the British forces defending a small farmstead.

A Roman road, no doubt close to the current A414, bisected the table. Unlike other playtest games, we were trying out a slightly different set of cards from other TooFatLardies games. The Fate Deck emphasizes hand management with cards being divided into suits and bringing various benefits to the holder. Well, except for the Oh Bollux cards, that is.

The idea isn’t really all that new. TooFatLardies have used cards in their games consistently, but what is different is trying to build in some of the features of card-driven boardgames where cards can be used to influence action on the board in a variety of different ways. Some may add a simple bonus, some may add more effective bonuses when played with other cards of the same suit, and some may be held back for use in the post-game period to pursue a defeated enemy or make good and escape. It’s a really interesting idea, and one which certainly led to a fast and furious game last Tuesday night.

The action in the game started fairly conventionally, with the two forces stalking each other through the woods and the farmstead.

Soon enough battle was joined, with a Saxon warband charging into a detachment of British hearth-guard. The ability of careful card management to focus, propel and drive the action forward was really apparent. Perhaps flushed with excitement of placing cards which allowed shieldwalls to be braced, charges to be furious and extra charges, both sides threw their cards down into the first combat without hesitation.

Other action followed, with the main Saxon warband comprised of veterans crunching against the British shieldwall. More effective, battle-hardening cards were deployed by the British ...

... with the Saxons able only to place their three Oh Bollux cards in reply. Not quite heroic, but very amusing all the same. Unsurprisingly, the Saxon war leader, Cyddic, suffered a heavy defeat as the British, bolstered by British cards and some fine dice rolls threw the Saxons raiders back.

Cyddic, seeing that the best option was discretion rather than valour, beat a hasty exit accompanied by his champion and what was left with his hearth-guard, leaving possession of the field to the British.

So, there we have it. The third playtest and the rules are proving to be fast, furious, fun and feature an interesting interaction between the tabletop and the cards drawn from the fate deck. Still a long way to go, but even without a blogpost full of dodgy poetry, I think we’re possibly getting there.

The Battle of the Via Claudia, 453 A.D.

Grey the ships which brought us here
Serpent prowed and eager for sailing,
Through the sea foam’s fury
And dark nights of rain.

To the land of rich grazing,
Golden halls of stone,
Fat cattle herds and bloated Lords
Laughing like children.

Bone-white cold was the morning
When we stalked from the shadows,
Battle ready, with the keenness of ravens
Scenting the morning’s prey.

Handsome in their war armour
And shields of bright colours
The enemy stood before us
Twisting in their cold fear.

Ecgfrith, lord of the ring mail
His knife sharp and keening
Stood before them. Their women wept
As his knife drank blood.

Fast and sharp, like wolves
In the thin light, the champions fought.
The bone-bags scarred and wrecked,
Ecgfrith fell, in honour immortal

Out of the cold moor
Came our Saxon host, stalking.
Cunning and hungry
For revenge on their foe.

Battle ragged their standards quaked
In the fell wind of our bitter fury.
Our sharp spears
Shattered their shields’ clash.

Gold gleam and jewel hoard
Drew our Anglii kinsmen,
To burning and slaughter.
The enemy’s wails were terrible.

Sword cursed and hateful,
The enemy fought us,
The stench of their burning farms
Wreathing the battle-fold.

Battle-brave thanes,
Sons of Hengist,
We carved into slivers
Their wooden-walls, splintered

Recall now, Earlmen,
Our victory in the dawn gloom
As we shattered their forces.
Ravens glutted on their slain.

***

So, there you have it – the second battle report from our ongoing Dark Age campaign set around 5th Century St Albans, and the rival Saxon perspective on Lard-Thane Richard Clarke’s fine pro-British blog from last week. We’re still working on the detailed rules for the battles and campaigns, so it’s a bit early to talk about tactics and mechanisms. But I will say that the second battle really saw some aspects of the game coming together, particularly with respect to the battle between the rival army champions, and the ferocious fighting which focused on the British shieldwall.

The members of my local wargames club are really getting into the spirit of the period, which is proving as colourful and dramatic as I hoped it would.

On the modeling and painting front, I hope to blog the final 25 Saxon figures (actually Anglii mercenaries) shortly, together with one or two extras I hope you’ll enjoy. The next game is tomorrow night, so watch out for the third battle blog report later this week ...