Close-Run Victory..aaaahhhhh...that's better!!!!!

Played a cracking game against my mate Grahame last night. It was another rehearsal game for GB's Hot Lead...

Anyway, we played the 'surprise return' scenario and I was the attacker. If you aren't familiar with it, basically the attacker (with 1000pts) assaults a village held by a handful of peasants. The defender's 1500pts come on at a diced for point (Grahame's came on in turn 2-the best option for the defender!). Now, the nice bit is this. The attacker's force who break into the village and rout the perasants then dice to see if they loot or pursue. You get 100pts for capturing the village and 50pts per unit per turn spent looting or pursuing. Flipside is that any unit charged by the enemy while so doing are treated as fleeing...ouch!!! Other flipside is that looting units have to dice to reform..a LD test on their base unit leadership...hmmmm.

Anyway, I fielded 1000pts of Brit kingdoms, equating to a 10-man Teulu with Tiern as General and an Uchelwyr ASB, 2 x 20 foot combrogi, 8 mtd combrogi and 10 skirmishers. Grahame fielded a Twilight of Britannia army with bloody loadsa guys, including a large unit of allied Saxon Geoguth who he fielded as skirmishers. I attacked the vilage with the foot combrogi, each unit in 2 ranks to maximise attacks and entered the village straightaway-the luckless peasants made little fight of it!! Then Grahame's VAST army arrived...all on my left flank where my Teulu and mtd combrogi were posted...Luckily, he was so scared of my rock-hard Teulu, that his VAST attacking wing never launched an assault. So I kept looting!!!! Eventually, I had to stop, as the Saxons were getting close and indeed, Grahame's Saxons, on my right flank, destroyed a previously looting unit of combrogi in his 6th turn (after about 3 turns of combat!!) Despite a flurry of panics (my Teulu survived fleeing off-table by 1/2 an inch!!!) everyone recovered in my last turn. My mtd Combrogi destroyed his mtd milites in my 5th turn, but apart from a few missile casualties, that was it! So, a close-run victory to the Brit kingdoms!!! Yippee!!!!

Actually, it was a damned good fun scenario and I'll enjoy playing it at Hot Lead, although I reckon that most other generals would have been a bit more 'gung-ho' than Grahame, who, to be fair had not played against my Brit Kingdoms before and had heard horror stories about my Teulu, and he had only played one prior game with his army, so I got off lightly!!!

Tell you what though, these victories are a bit worrying...I've never been so successful with an army 2 wins and a draw out of 4 games....Wait til I get to Hot Lead...my usual losing streak will surely return!!!!

Anyway, after a rather scrummy dinner of sea-bass with all the trimmings, I am off to paint some more of the extra 9 cavalry I need for my Northern Welsh Kingdoms army for the Struggle for the North day in Newark on 24th June...only two weeks to paint 6 light cavalry...not looking hopeful!!!! I hate painting bloody horses!!!!!!