I Could Be King Arthur!!!!!!!!

AHA!!!! That got your attention didn't it!!!???!! So, why the supremely odd title to this post? Well, I just got back from a superb WAB Age of Arthur gaming day at Maelstrom HQ and, contrary to all the rules of wargaming and the gods of dice, not only did I come 3rd in terms of territories owned, but I was vying with another player for 'the source of the legend of Arthur' AND I was the only player to actually beat one of the two Frankish armies on the day. I won 2 and drew one of my 3 games...my first ever gaming day with no defeats in 11 years playing WAB!!!! The pic above sees my Dux and the Franksih king duking it out to see who would be 'Arthur'. After 'handbags at dawn' for about 8 rounds of combat, each killed the other, hence the shared title of 'source of the legend'...

So...game 1, a doubles game with my Romano-British ally, Geraint... Pic below sees my ally peering through the dawn sunshine over our battkleline...we were playing Cat Coit Celidon against Saxons (TWD and fellow Peterborian Mike 'Trouble at t' Mill' Whitaker) and we were attacking (with Romano-Brits?? Yikes!!)
Pic below shows my end of the battle line... My army was a Dux on foot with Finest Armour and Fabricae, leading 19 commanipualres with heavy throwing spears, large shields and heavy armour, plus Decurio ASB; 24 milites, thrusting spear, light armour, large shield; 2 x 24 Pedyt, thrusting spear, large shield; 10 equites with full kit plus light armour; 1 x 11 and 1 x 10 bow armed Rustici. I also had a bonus force of 23 allied Saxons Geoguth led by a Thegn.

Pic below shows my line about to be assailed by the Saxons...yes, it started badly...

...and rapidly got worse as my milites (who were reduced to Toughness 2 by 'fatigue') got trounced...(this is about to happen in the pic below!)

However, we turned it around and my Commanipulares attacked Tom's Gedriht and I challenged his general....

While this was going on, my bonus force arrived and prepared to kick ass on some nasty Saxons (who had already charged and seen off two of my foot units, (hence the captured banners at rear of Saxon unit!)

Below, the ongoing comitatus 'slug-fest'...

....which reaches its rightful conclusion below!!! I must admit, my howls of triumph nearly reached Peterborough!!! A 3-up save on your elites is a real God-send!!!!!

After that, I got the commnipulares off table, along with my equites. My ally also got two units off. Close-run victory to us and I captured 'Arthur's Spear', a nasty javelin throwing advantage!! All in all a great game and I did nothing stupid and had average dice...hmmmm....surely some mistake, your honour!!

So, second battle...River Glein, against Alex, another chap with Romano-Brits. Slight tweak on this, as one only has to be within 3" to contest a crossing, not actually on it!!!! See deployment below

My battle line...

Part of my opponent's line...

My elites, plus loads of crap foot!!

Slug-fest at the ford...

My equites crossing the river...

My milites in shieldwall about to contest the bridge...

Halfway through the game...it could go either way. And yes, that is a unit of pedyt off table having been panicked by the massed archery of 23 sagitarrii!!

My elites, having captured the ford, only to see it contested by the late arrival of enemy milites... Bloody stand off!! Again, I played this pretty well, only making a minor mistake and leaving my cavalry advance a turn too late on the flank, but it didn't matter...

So to game 3: Battle in the Pass: Objective: Capture the shrine in dead centre of said pass...oh, and try to actually win a battle against the (thus far) all conquering Franks. This game was against Steve, who I have played before and is always a fun opponent... My lines below.

Steve's lines...two nasty Pueri units...shudder!!!

So, we both legged it through the pass at top speed and had a HUGE slugfest in the centre that left Steve one Pueri unit down and me lovked in combat with his other Pueri with my elites and with his Franci with my milites. My cavalry attempted to shoot his down with the aid of my archers, but the dice failed us and we got charged next turn. My equites elected to flee...all of 6"!!! Cue dead cavalry and my pedyt get the chance to charge Steve's cavalry...who flee and never come back. Cavalry not much use in this game!!! Below, the titanic slugfest in the centre...

The same fight from behind my lines below, shortly before I finally broke the Pueri and pursued far enough to capture the shrine, although Steve was contesting it.

So, a minor victory to me. I captured one of Steve's three Arthurian artefacts, leaving us with two each, hence the single combat described at the start of this post. This was probably my most tactically sound game of the day and the closeness of the victory is about right as Steve played very well as well...very close run thing indeed....

Overall, a fabulous day of gaming. HUGE trhanks to Scrivs (and Tom) for organising and to all my allies and opponents who made it such a great day. Kudos to Peterboro' Grahame, whose Franks achieved three mighty victories and carved out a new Frankish empire in Southern Britannia.

Apparently, there's an El Cid day planned in the Autumn, which I shall make every effort to attend....

On a personal gaming note, this Romano-British army has now played 6 games and is unbeaten!! I think I may have finally found an Age of Arthur recipe that works for me...after only about 6 years!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed the pics and the report!!

Cheers

Andy