Warriors in the Old North Scenario 2: Raid on the Border Tower

This is the second game in our Dux Britanniarum campaign set in the region of South Rheged in the Old North (the province of Caer Ligion). Cadwallon, the lord of the local Britons, has been trying to fight off raids by Saxon warbands from the adjoining province of Navio. Their lord, Eahlbeard, has his eyes set on seizing more land from the local inhabitants. 

The initial clash was a raid on a farmstead and you can read the full game report in this post. 

Despite a valiant attempt, Cadwallon's men were unable to prevent the Saxons escaping with a small parcel of loot. It won't do much to enrich the Saxons, nonetheless, it was a blow to Cadwallon's prestige.

Rumours of roving Saxon war bands have led Cadwallon to gather his men at a nearby border tower. As various nobles respond to the call, the Saxons spy an opportunity to grab a potentially valuable hostage. In this game they must try to intercept one of the British nobles and capture him.

In the absence of an historically accurate terrain piece for the border tower, Dave has plucked something from his fantasy collection. I can't help but see Middle Earth, or perhaps Westeros....just try to imagine its post-Roman Britain.

The first to arrive is the British noble Broethr leading two groups of warriors.

He must traverse the table before the Saxons can intercept him. What he doesn't yet know, is where the Saxons are likely to appear. 

For now he tries to steer clear of the woods to left and right, not knowing what may be lurking in either.

The Saxons roll to determine their entry point. It will be from the table edge in the woods to the right of Broethr and his band. That's a bit too close for comfort.

To make matters worse, the entire Saxon force will arrive on turn one. 

Cadwallon, the Lord of the Britons is at the border tower with the Levy, his Companions and a group of Slingers. 

His challenge will be to see if he can hold off the Saxons, before they can reach Broethr and overwhelm his small band of warriors.

We start the game with both side's force morale at seven. The Britons make the first move and Malvin, a second noblemen, leads the mass of levy forward. 

The Saxon archers emerge from the woods in an attempt to target the levy but they are unable to move fast enough to bring them into range. 

The Briton's slingers move forward to deal with them, but they also fail to move far enough to come into range.

Eahlbeard, the Saxon Lord, leads his companion and a group of warriors to the edge of the woods. I think it's quite clear what they have in mind.

Broethr is quick to react to the threat and leads his men away from danger and towards the woods to his left. 

He needs to put as much distance as he can between himself and the mass of Saxons.

He's hoping to take a wide berth and make contact with the remaining Britons before the Saxons can race across the open ground and intercept him.

While it's obvious one band of Saxons is chasing after Broethr, it's still not clear what the rest of the force has in mind. Cadwallon errs on the side of caution and holds his ground, waiting to see what unfolds.

Maethelweald, one of the Saxon nobles, leads his men out of the woods in the direction of the border tower.

The Britons need to resist acting too quickly. As it stands, their force is separated and there's a danger they are destroyed in detail. Both Malvin and Cadwallon wait and watch. 

Broethr, on the other hand, is eager to keep moving away from the Saxons. He leads his men into the woods.

For now that puts some distance between him and the oncoming Saxons.

The Saxon archers move toward the British levy and once in range unleash their arrows. 

One of the unfortunate levy is struck and killed. First blood to the Saxons.

The Briton's slingers seek immediate revenge and target the archers.

They let loose their missiles with unnerving accuracy and the result is deadly. Two archers slump to the ground. The Saxons may have drawn first blood, but the Britons have taken swift revenge.

The archers have the ability to harass the unarmoured levy and whittle them down, but the loss of two of them greatly reduces that threat. I'm hoping the slingers can finish them off and allow the levy to stand their ground.

Hrothgar, the second of the Saxon nobles, leads a band of warriors out of the woods. 

They are at the rear of the Saxon advance, but it's clear they are going to try to chase Broethr and his band.

Eahlbeard leads his men out into the open and towards Broethr. Meanwhile, Maethelweald leads his men in the same direction. It looks like the Saxon intention is clear.

They will chase down Broethr while trying to split the British force. Cadwallon sees the danger and heads off behind the levy with his companions.

They need to try to close the gap, or at least prevent the Saxons moving into it.

Malvin orders the levy to form shieldwall.

They will try to hold the middle ground.

Hopefully Cadwallon and his band can bridge the gap between them and Broethr.

The Briton slingers continue trying to drive off the Saxon archers. 

They play the True Aim card, but can only manage to inflict a point of shock.

Maethelweald leads his band forward, but they are not as quick as he would like. The Saxons know their time is limited. They must move with speed if they are to cut off Broethr and keep him from joining the rest of the Britons. 

Eahlbeard understands the urgency and he moves rapidly towards Broethr in the woods. 

His men are not quite fast enough to make contact, but that certainly puts Broethr in a very perilous position.

Hrothgar leads his men out of the woods in the direction of Eahlbeard.

The Saxon archers decide to turn their attention on the slingers, who have been causing them so much grief. 

To their satisfaction they hit one and he drops to the ground.

Broethr finds himself facing a dilemma. Should he try to move swiftly through the woods in the direction of the border tower? He could make a getaway, but if he and his men fail to move fast enough there's a good chance Eahlbeard could attack him from the rear. That's unlikely to end well. Should he stand and fight? That might be the better choice in the short term, but the longer he stands his ground the less chance he will have of joining the other Britons. To make matters worse, more Saxons are coming his way.

When in doubt, the best option is to do what the Britons do well. He turns his men to face the oncoming Saxons and forms shieldwall.

With Broethr and his band seemingly trapped in the wood, Maethelweald leads his men aggressively forward.

If he can occupy the gap between the levy and the woods he should be able to prevent Broethr escaping, or the remaining Britons coming to his rescue. 

This was what I feared. The Saxons could break the Britons into small bands and destroy them piecemeal.

The Saxon archers attempt to move into the cover of the rough ground and target the slingers. Not only do they fail to move far enough, their missiles miss their target. 

On the other hand, the slingers have more success. They move swiftly through the rough ground and close the range. Their missiles are on target but have little effect. 

Broethr and his men are isolated and Eahlbeard sees no reason to hold off his attack. He leads a tough band of warriors and companions that should be able to deal with the Britons. This could be a short game.

The Saxons play the Aggressive Charge card and swarm into contact. 

The Britons are ready to receive them. They play Shieldwall Braced. A bitter hand-to-hand fight ensues - it's Saxon brawn versus Briton guile.

 The shieldwall does its job and the Britons suffer a single kill and a point of shock on each group. 

The Saxons warriors have two killed and suffer three shock. The elite with Eahlbeard don't lose any men, but they too suffer three points of shock. 

The two sides remain engaged and fight again. The shieldwall continues to protect the Britons, who lose another man and suffer a further two points of shock. 

The Saxon warriors however, do not fare well. Another two men are killed and they suffer more shock. That's enough to break the group.

They turn and run from the woods, taking Saxon force morale down to five as they do. The remaining Britons and Saxons stay engaged in combat. That was a better result than I expected, but it doesn't mean Broethr is out of danger just yet.

Cadwallon leads his companions around the flank of the levy. 

As much as he'd like to come to the rescue of Broethr, he cannot ignore the band of Saxons nearby. 

Meanwhile, Broethr continues his bitter fight for survival with the Saxons. While his men manage to inflict more shock on the enemy, the Saxons start to gain the upper hand. Two Britons are killed and the shieldwall is pushed back. The Saxons stay in the fight and remain engaged.

Ominously for the Britons, the Saxon noble Hrothgar intends to add his men to the fight and he leads them towards the woods.

The Briton slingers continue to harass the Saxon archers and another is killed.

Meanwhile, Maethelweald has no intention of letting Cadwallon come to Broethr's rescue. He and his men line up ready to face him. 

Despite some success, the shock is building on Eahlbeard's men and he senses the odds may be against him. He plays the Disengage card, which allows him to fall back 4”. There, he regroups his men and rallies off some of the shock. 

Cadwallon decides he cannot allow the Saxons to prevent him moving. He orders the men to charge and plays the Strong Arm card as he does so. Disappointingly, the hail of missiles inflicts only a single point of shock. To make matters worse, his men fail to close the distance and contact the Saxons. 

Broethr, left alone, takes a moment to rally his men before they face the next Saxon assault. 

Malvin orders the levy to move up in line with Cadwallon. It breaks the shieldwall, but it seems the Saxons are too preoccupied dealing with Cadwallon to concentrate any attention on the levy.

The real danger is the arrival of Hrothgar close to the woods. A fresh group of Saxon warriors may prove enough to tip the balance in their favour. After all, Broethr and his men must deal with all these threats on their own.

The lone Saxon archer decides to vent his anger at the levy, who make an easier target than the slingers. 

His decision appears justified, as another Briton is struck and killed.

Eahlbeard knows the Britons are in no position to come to Broethr's rescue and so he bides his time, rallying his men and removing more shock. 

It won't be long before they are ready to return to the fray.

Malvin is about to order the levy when the Saxons interrupt by playing the Step Forth card. 

Maethelweald activates instead. In a ruthless move he plays the Carpe Diem card. This allows him to then play the Strong Arm card and his men hurl missiles at the Britons opposite, before charging into contact. 

The hail of missiles inflicts a very damaging six points of shock on the companions.

As the Saxons make contact they play the Audacia card. 

This gives the Saxons a significant advantage in the combat and, while they lose two of their own men and the Britons lose none, the Saxons inflict a further six points of shock.  

That's a disastrous result for the Britons. The companions lose their amphora and break. 

They won't be coming back and that takes the Briton's force morale down to five. 

When Malvin finally gets to activate he finds himself isolated with the levy and facing a powerful Saxon force. He takes the best option available to him and forms shieldwall with two of the groups. He then sends the group that has already suffered a couple of casualties to drive off the remaining Saxon archer. 

They chase him off with ease. With that nuisance out of the way, the slingers are free to move to where they are most needed. They don't bring much to the battle, but every little will count. 

Cadwallon abandons his broken companions and takes command of the levy.

His companions have shamed themselves and have left the levy to fight alone.

The slingers make use of the Fleet of Foot card to move rapidly across the battlefield. 

They move 18” and that brings them into close range of the Saxons. 

They manage to inflict a single point of shock, but at least now they can add their weight to this fight. 

Broethr has little choice, but to stand his ground. There is some safety in the shieldwall, but if it moves in the woods the groups will suffer shock. If he moves without remaining in shieldwall he risks coming out worse in any combat. He rallies off the last of the shock, standing his ground, ready to face the next Saxon onslaught. 

It is all well and good for the Britons to hold their shieldwall, but Hrothgar leads his warriors around the edge of the woods, putting them in a position to take the Britons in the flank or rear. 

With Cadwallon now in command of the levy, Malvin detaches himself and goes to join the group of levy that chased off the lone archer.

It may be a small group, but with the fight finely balanced, I suspect every man will count.

Broethr finds himself trapped. It's clear that remaining in the shieldwall is no longer tenable.

Now that the Saxons are working around his flank he sees little option other than to attempt to break out by attacking Hrothgar and his warriors. 

He plays the Strong Arm card as he charges, inflicting three points of shock on the waiting Saxons. 

In the ensuing combat the Saxons lose two men and suffer more shock. It's enough to see them fall back. 

Broethr may have beaten off one threat, but in the process he's exposed himself to another. Perhaps one more deadly. Eahlbeard leads his warriors in a charge into the rear of the Britons. 

Four of the Britons are killed, leaving Broethr as the only survivor of his group. 

The Saxons get off lightly, suffering only two points of shock.

Broethr considers his options, should he make a lone run for safety? That seems an unwise choice given the situation. Instead, he opts to join the remaining group of Britons and hope for the best. 

These are desperate times and Cadwallon leads the levy shieldwall into contact with the nearest Saxons. 

Once again a shieldwall proves effective. The Saxons lose one man and suffer four points of shock. The Britons don't lose anyone and escape lightly with a single point of shock. 

A second round of combat ensues. Once again the Britons suffer only shock. 

The Saxons lose another man and with additional shock it's enough to break one of the groups of warriors.

They fall back 15” taking Maethelweald with them. Saxon force morale drops again.

The Britons see them off and resist the urge to pursue.

The slingers chase the routing Saxons and in the hope of killing Maethelweald let fly with their missiles, but they escape unharmed. 

Maethelweald then leaves the routing warriors and heads back to the other group. He doesn't reach them, but he's close enough to issue a command. 

He orders them to attack the levy. As they charge into contact they play the Strong Arm card, inflicting a point of shock on the Britons. 

The Britons play the Shieldwall Braced card and are more than ready to receive them.

A vicious struggle continues over two rounds. The Saxons lose another two men and suffer shock. The levy don't lose any men but their shock is starting to build up. The two sides remain locked in combat.

Hrothgar rallies shock from his warriors.

Cadwallon rallies shock from the levy and the fighting continues. 

This time around the Britons lose one man, but the Saxons lose two more men and that is enough to break them. 

Saxon force morale drops to two and this time the levy cannot resist the urge to pursue. 

They move fast but fail to make contact....just. All Maethelweald can do is watch in horror as his command flees the battlefield chased by the Britons.

Despite the odds, it seems the Britons may have turned the tide, but the outcome will rest on Broethr and whether he can deal a death blow to Saxon hopes before Eahlbeard and his companions can finish them off.

The slingers move forward and fire off their missiles at Hrothgar's warriors. Unfortunately they fail to hit their target.

More importantly, before Eahlbeard can react, Broethr charges Hrothgar. Two rounds of combat follow. The Britons have the upper hand. They kill two more Saxons and inflict more shock, enough to see them lose their amphora and break. Broethr's men pursue the fleeing Saxons and catch them. 

They kill one more and inflict more shock. Hrothgar is hit, but play of the Armour Bright card saves him. Not that it would make much difference - this has seen Saxon force morale slump to zero. 

Meanwhile, Eahlbeard can only watch from the woods as Broethr proves elusive and strikes down his warriors.

It really looks like the Britons managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Broethr proved a canny and worthy leader of his small band. As for Eahlbeard, his force morale is in tatters and he has no option other than to call for his men to leave the battlefield. This raid was not the success he had hoped. The Britons are proving tougher than he thought. 

The Britons have a pursuit card with which to chase the Saxons from their territory, rounding off a successful fight in defence of their land. The shieldwall proved its worth with the Britons losing twelve casualties while the Saxons lost twenty. The Britons will be able to replace their losses faster than the Saxons, so they won't be in a position to raid against for some time. 

All up Cadwallon has earned a +4 victory. He gains a Thief's Horde, that helps boost his prestige and opportunities to advance his career. News of the success also travels fast and it draws two volunteer warriors to join his cause. 

A good result for the Britons after the humiliation of the previous raid, but there's no doubt the Saxons will be back. You can find out what happens next in this post.

More Armour, More Aircraft

Chain of Command is at heart a platoon level game and I often tell people who are just starting that they really don't need too much in the way of armour and other supports. Why is it then, I ask myself, that I always seem to be adding more and more to the collection? 

Frankly, I think it says a lot more about me and my completist tendencies than it does about anything else. It's a disease, I tell you, but I'm in no hurry to find the cure.

Sometimes the additions are planned and sometimes they are serendipitous. When I was visiting the Tank Museum at Bovington last year I came across a boxed set of PSC 1/72 M4A4 Shermans in the gift shop. These have been hard to track down of late and I've been eager to add more to my collection for the late war in Burma. The PSC models are sturdy gaming pieces, but that comes at a cost of chunky detail. I addressed some of that by drilling out the lifting hooks; replacing the bow MGs; drilling out the 75mm gun barrel and adding aerials.

The decision to purchase this set was partly influenced by the release of sets of decals in 20mm for Indian armoured brigades by District Miniatures. My only other Sherman for the Burma theatre made use of a few decals I could find in the spares box. 

After the initial base colours had been applied the new decals were added, before I moved on to painting details and weathering.

It has allowed me to draw on the inspiration from this book and have appropriately marked Sherman Vs for Burma.

If all that didn't make my decision easy enough, I had painted a set of AB tank crews for other vehicles in Burma and had several spare figures left over looking for suitable mounts. With the crews and stowage added, the tanks were complete.

I find I can be very productive with the airbrush when painting in batches. I've had a couple of PSC StuG III primed and waiting to be painted. As I'm playing the Old Hickory campaign at the moment I thought it wouldn't do any harm to have a few more StuGs to hand. I tried to give these quite a worn look and paid particular attention to making the side schurzen look chipped and worn.

The addition of foliage made from rubberised coconut fibre and model railway leaves gave it a particularly suitable appearance for German armour in Normandy.

When 172 Scale Miniatures had a 50% off sale I found it hard to resist the urge to fill a few gaps. It didn't help that I was playing a game in the Driving Charge campaign for Chain of Command and my opponent surprised me by taking three Type 97 Chi Ha as a support choice. I didn't have three of the early variant, I had only two of the old Airfix Chi Ha and one of the 172 Scale later model Shinhoto Chi Ha, which proxied for the missing earlier model. 

The sale at 172 Scale Miniatures was the perfect opportunity to make good this deficit. I knew the Airfix Chi Ha at 1/76 scale was unlikely to match those from 172 Scale Miniatures so I ordered three early model Chi Ha and then added another two of the Shinhoto versions to give me three of each type. Excessive? Probably, but I think it guarantees I'm covered should a similar situation arise.

Anyhow, did I mention I can be particularly productive with the airbrush when painting in batches?

The distinctive yellow lines over the Japanese camouflage was a feature of the early war and was no longer in use after 1942, so the Shinhoto versions I have painted in a late war three colour scheme. 

While I was researching the Saipan scenario for CanCon that I ran earlier this year, I discovered that quite a few Shinhoto tanks were used during the Japanese counterattack against the beachhead, so I didn't really need any convincing that this should be the subject of my scenario. Everything happens for a reason (at least that's how I convince myself all this makes any sense).

The colour scheme for the early model Chi Ha retained the yellow lines. From what I understand Japanese tanks were not repainted in the field and any tank still in service after 1942 was quite likely to retain those earlier markings, so that even if these were to appear in games set in the late war they wouldn't look out of place.

While painting those, I also completed a couple of diminutive Type 97 tankettes. These are from S-Model, plastic kits from China and a manufacturer who's products I like a lot. With two kits in a box they offer value, as well as a high degree of detail for a quick build model. 

This particular set comes with decals for the Chinese PLA which used captured versions, but I've painted them as Japanese with decals from Skytrex.

While air support does exist in Chain of Command, it is abstracted in the rules. There is no need to actually represent it on the table with models. However, that's never stopped me. Even since I built the Airfix Stuka to use in the AARs for our Many Rivers to Cross campaign I've wanted to find a way to incorporate models on the table to remind us that the effects of air support are in play. 

In the Far East I did something similar for the Zero Attack! for the Japanese.

And the Hurribomber for the British.

It goes without saying I was keen to do it for other forces. If nothing else, I find making aircraft an enjoyable diversion. While the Pacific Handbook for Chain of Command has yet to be released I find it hard to imagine the US Marines won't have access to some form of air support. I've always found the Corsair F4 an attractive looking plane, there is something quite elegant about the gull wings. With little encouragement needed I picked up an inexpensive 1/72 kit from Hasegawa. 

As I've done with the Zero I've modelled this without the propellor blades so that it doesn't look too static. I did experiment with discs of clear plastic to represent the spinning blades but they ended up looking like, well, discs of clear plastic. I think the impression of movement is just as obvious with nothing there.

While I was in the model shop I spotted a Mustang P51A, the earlier version before the bubble canopy was introduced. This kit from Italeri came with decals for the 1st Air Commando of the 10th Air Force, a unit that flew close support missions for the Chindits in Burma. That was just too tempting. I have written a campaign for the Chindits that exists in draft form, it may be that I need to revise that to introduce an element of air support now that I have a suitable aircraft.

Are any of these likely to see the table top in the near future? Quite possibly, but then I'm also a modeller at heart so I never need much of an excuse to add something new, even if there is no immediate need for it right now.