Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Dux Britanniarum Game 1: Farm Raid

It's been a while in planning, but fg and I played the first game of our Dux Britanniarum campaign this evening.

We set our campaign in Middle Earth, sometime after the fall of Sauron, when bands of orcs still troubled the lands.

My Orc (Saxon) Warlord, by the name of Badzur the Tall, gathered about him a rag-tag band of orcs and goblins, along with a troll champion, and set about to raid the settlements of Gondor; unfortunately, young Lord Belegon and his trusted lieutenant Beren and Dwarven ally Thorgaut caught wind of his nefarious plan...

The orcs rush towards the farm, hoping to catch its inhabitants by surprise... but are surprised to find the soldiers of Gondor already there!
Still hoping to see off his challengers, Badzur ordered his men to form into lines of battle as Men and Dwarves formed a shieldwall atop a hill overlooking their approach.
The elite soldiers of Gondor take Badzur's orcs in the flank!
Men and Dwarves charge down the hill! The orcs flee after losing several killed.

We are quite sure we didn't get all the rules right, this being the first time we played them, but already I can tell they give a good narrative game.

In game terms, I was really rather unfortunate when it came to rolling for objective and entry - my objective (the farm) was far away from my starting point, and fg's troops entered the table on the same sector as the farm! Even though the orcs got a good head start, by the time they were close to the farm the allies have already formed up.

The terrain also funnelled my troops into a narrow frontage, which prevented me from getting all my troops engaged.

After a short sharp fight, the orcs were thrown back and Badzur decided to call it a day. Fortunately for him, the allies decided against pursuing them.

The losses suffered by the orcs were still considered "light" and Badzur will return to avenge his insult at the hands of Men and Dwarves the following month. Belegon was rewarded with treasures from his lord, and word of his victory draws new warriors to his banner.

I guess the way the scenarios are generated will give "unbalanced" scenarios once in a while, but then on a campaign time scale a player must know when to fight and when to cut his losses and leave the field, as Badzur did only too late this day.

5 comments:

Maxamillian said...

Glad you enjoyed Dux, it's my favorite rules. The table looks good and i'm looking forward to reading more about your campaign

Simon Quinton said...

Nice batrep and the setup looks great. Look forward to seeing more

Sean said...

Yeah nice report. This seems like it will be a fun campaign.

Dan said...

Nice looking battle

Rodger said...

Lovely looking game Captain!