Mercian vs Welsh 2nd Round - Midgard Heroic Battles

 Colin brought his Welsh over for a rematch against Penda's Mercians.

This time the Welsh Hearthguard remembered to bring their horses, so the Welsh had a couple of units of cavalry.

The initial deployment with the Mercians on the right. We played the Encounter in the Mist scenario, so had to roll to see if any units had got lost in the fog. The Welsh cavalry fell back to the edge of the table, while my right flank moved forward a move and my left flank edged closer to my centre. Both armies centres were unchanged.

Turn One

Both forces stumbled forward in the fog, Colin throwing his skirmishers forward to try and break up my line. In the centre some lucky dice meant that he inflicted a kill on Penda's hearthguard, but avoided wounding the big man!

Turn Two

We rolled for the fog, which lifted, so had no further impact on the battle.

On  my right I advanced steadily, keeping my melee units together, but threw the archers forward to get on the flank of Colin's skirmishers.

In the centre Penda charged the impudent skirmishers who tried to evade, but were caught. Thios boosted my reputation score, Army Commander charging in the first charge of the game, +3 points! Needless to say they made short work of the Skirmishers. This cost Colin -2 Reputation, because he had upgraded his skirmishers to Marksmen.

On the left, a unit of Mercian spearmen charged the cavalry, who counter charged. Colin's army commander (surprisingly) challenged my hero to single combat, which he accepted. Not a good move as Welshman had a legendary Sword and chopped the poor Saxon into little pieces! However this meant that the cavalry did not have the benefit of their leader in combat and somehow I wiped the cavalry out, although my infantry took lost 3 or their 4 hits! The heroic Welsh commander decided not to stay and fight on, but ran away to take shelter with the other cavalry unit.

My skirmishers moved up and took a pot shot at the Welsh cavalry, but missed.

In the Welsh phase the untouched cavalry wheeled around and charged my chopped up spearmen, destroying the unit.

In the centre the Welsh charged forward, with mixed results and a lot of casualties on both sides. On their left their attacking units were thrown back and one destroyed for little effect on the Mercians.

Turn Three

Things got really busy now!

The dice gods were smiling on the Welsh in this turn. The Mercian centre is wiped out leaving Penda all alone. Out of shot, the cavalry finish off my last spear unit on the left and, damaged by shooting, my skirmishers retired into the cover of a nearby wood.

On the Mercian right flank, things are going well, but can I get the units moved over in time to save the king?

Turn Four

While the right flank spearmen finish the last Welsh unit, Eowa and his hearthguard rush to his brother's rescue. the Welsh skirmishers charged into the wood to finish off my last archers, who threw them back with a bloody nose.

Penda valiantly fights off the first Welsh onslaught.

But, in the Welsh phase, their commander leads his cavalry into the fray and the King of Mercia falls beneath the galloping hooves!

At this point I was going to concede, with only 1 Reputation left, but as we had some time left (Midgard games are really quick!) we decided to fight on.

Turn Five

My archers charged out of the wood and managed to destroy the Welsh skirmishers opposite them. Elsewhere not much happened as both side struggled to manoeuvre their remaining forces around to face the foe.

Turn Six

Peada, son of Penda, joined his uncle Eowa, and together they led the hearthguard in a valiant charge against the Welsh cavalry. 

The heroic Mercians, eager for revenge, turned the Welsh horseboys into food for ravens. They injured the Welsh chieftain but were unable to kill him in the last round of combat.

End of turn six, Mercians 2 Reputation, Welsh -1.

A very narrow victory for the Mercians, but a reminder of how easily things can turn around with these rules. So much fun!

Mercia sees off Welsh Raiders - Midgard Heroic Battles

 Colin and I managed to get two game of Midgard Ancient battles in this week, the second being an Early Medieval (that's Dark Ages for wargamers) clash between the Saxon Mercians led by King Penda against an unnamed Welsh warlord and his raiders. 

I was the attacker with the Mercians, so Colin deployed his Welsh first and I got to move first in Turn 1.

My centre and left hand commands rush forward towards the Welsh line. The (out of shot) right flank, led by Penda's brother Eowa, rolled appaling dice and just shuffled forward a little bit.

Penda with his hearthguard, leading from the front.

The left command, led by Penda's son Peada (that was his real name!).

The unnamed Welsh warlord stands with his hearthguard, awaiting the onslaught.

The Mercians crashed into the Welsh battle line, Penda led his hearthguard in the first charge, which really boosted my reputation score. +1 for a hero charging, +1 for first charge of the battle, +1 for Army commander charging and +1 for targeting the opposing army commander!

Peada, supported by Osric the Mercian Champion, charged into the welsh line opposite them. Osric challanged the opposing hero to single combat (gaining 2 extra reputation points, 1 for the challange and +1 for challenging a higher level hero). He started well, wounding the Welshman in the first round, the second round was a glorious draw, but Osric fell to his opponent's blade in the third and final round. Obviously his heroic death inspired the Mercians to avenge him, because the pushed the Welsh back, inflicting heavy casualties.

In the centre the gods continued to smile on Penda, as, despite suffering heavy casualties, his heathguard wiped out the Welsh unit of heathguard opposing them and the Mercian spearmen pushed the other heathguard unit back with a very bloody nose.

Now it was the Welsh player's turn to activate and on the, so far unengaged, right flank they charged into the Mercians, pushing them back.

The next turn followed pretty much the same pattern. By the end Eowa and his entire command had been wiped out on the right flank. But no Welshmen were to be seen elsewhere on the battlefield, save for the dead....

...and the Welsh warlord who struggled on alone against Penda's onslaught, surrounded by the bodies of his dead heathguard!

At the end of  turn 4 I still had 6 reputation points left, whereas Colin was into a minus score! A great victory for the Mercians, obviously Penda's alliegance to the old gods has paid off!

Geat fun, these are a really good set of rules, that we are really enjoying. Next week we are going to add magic into the mix with a couple of fantasy armies.

To be honest, these rules are probably not for everyone, but they seem to suit us.