Elusive Foe. Introducing Rosmia's next enemy. Part One.

Year Four of the campaign was another year of peace. It allowed Rosmia to bring its army back to full strength, activating a unit of mounted knights from the reserve.

Year Five and the die roll decreed an invasion by Rosmia into Ethus.

For six days General Barnardus and his invasion force had been moving through Ethus, they had found no enemy so far. Instead, the small hamlets and farmsteads had contained only women, children and old men. The occupants had been sullen and unhelpful, hardly surprising when confronted by an invading army. Barnardus had insisted that the farmers be paid in silver for the supplies taken by his troops, he was not here to loot and pillage, they appeared to have little enough as it was.
He was also aware, that his every move was being watched by distant figures on fast horses. He had little or no chance of catching these spies, but was concerned that Sheikh al Taif, knew not only his exact location, but also the make up of his army, whilst he, had no such information. He could only press on in the direction of the capital city in the hope that the Sheikh would be forced to take the field in defence of it.


General Barnardus and his army. Four units of mounted knights, three of whom are drilled. The spears and archers are also veterans of previous battles so I will give them an improved stat. General Barnardus is commanding, and his range is extended from twelve to eighteen inches.

Sheikh al Taif, has a completely mounted army, he has also selected the ground on which the battle will be fought.

Three units of heavy cavalry, same stats as mounted men at arms. Saladin is with one of them.

Two units of light cavalry with javelins.

One unit of mounted archers.

It should prove an interesting challenge for General Barnardus.

The battle will be fought over the weekend.

Dain's Gamble. The Battle of Monk's Heath. Part Two.

TURN FIVE.

Baron Dain's unit, despite vain attempts by him to prevent it, carried out a wild charge at the Spears who formed Schiltron.

The Schiltron improved the armour rating of the Spears by one, from three to four. The roll for Baron Dain produced a single kill.

The Schiltron in reply skewered two of the mounted knights.

Forcing the horsemen to pull back, both sides passed morale checks.

On the  Iosnan right flank, a unit of mounted knights seized the opportunity to wild charge into the weakened Rosmian unit, before help could arrive. Ignoring the odds against them, they counter-charged.

Almost two kills for Iosna, almost...but not quite, so a single kill is inflicted.

The Rosmians fight bravely, and also score a kill, managing five hits on six dice.

The Iosnans are forced to pull back, but pass their morale check.

Not so the Rosmians, they are now battered.

The second unit charges into the beleaguered knights, who being battered, cannot counter-charge.

Both side roll six dice, and both fail to score a kill.

The Rosmians fall back.

 On the left flank, the mounted knights move forward to aid Baron Dain.

Finally, the archers fail to shoot on the Rosmian knights galloping to their own left flank.

That very unit smashes into the weakened enemy, who are battered and unable to counter-charge.

Nine hits equals two kills.

Being battered means only hitting on sixes, they fail miserably.

They fall back and keep running as they fail their morale test.

Ta ta for now!

Barnardus unleashes a unit straight for Baron Dain.

A massive ten hits, equates to two kills.

Three hits in return is just not enough. However, Baron Dain survives the lucky hit roll.

He is forced to pull back and the unit just survives a morale test.

Not to be outdone, the archers also score a kill on the last unit of mounted knights still above full strength!

Reducing them to four.

The Spears break from Schiltron and charge the confused knights  who fail to counter-charge.

The Spears manage a kill.

The mounted knights managed seven hits, (I noticed this later, the Spears were no longer in Schiltron so armour had dropped to three again. The fours also counted).

The Spears fall back.

The mounted knights fail their morale and become battered.

General Barnardus grunts in satisfaction, time for the kill. He leads his unit forward.

The heath at the end of turn five.

Things do not look good for Baron Dain. One of his mounted knight units has fled the field, the remainder are all under half strength and one of them is also battered. The Rosmians seem as strong as ever, even the badly reduced mounted knight unit is still on the field.

TURN SIX.

One unit of mounted knights successfully rally.

The knight on the right flank charge and are counter-charged.

They manage a kill against the larger force.

But suffer two of their own.

The survivors fall back and become battered.

The Iosnan foot knights charge and are counter-charged. They score a kill.

But in return suffer two of their own.

They fall back in confusion and fail the morale test, becoming battered.

The archers attempt to shoot but fail to get their arrows away. Put off perhaps by the nearness of enemy knights.

The brave Rosmian knights, fail to rally and rout from the field.

Horse and  rider charge the battered foot knights.

Ten hits equal two kills.

Only hitting on sixes, the three hits are parried by the charging knights.

Falling back, the already battered foot knights, fail the morale test.

The unit is reduced to a single figure.

Rosmian knights at full strength see a chance to strike a weakened Baron Dain, and charge, Dain's unit counter-charges in a desperate battle to stay alive.

Two hits on Dain's unit!

They fight and die bravely, but only manage three hits, not enough for a kill.

In the midst of the melee, Baron Dain was struck down from his saddle, he would never rise.

On the death of their leader, those who had not fled the field, surrendered to Barnadus and his men. Their army almost totally destroyed, most of their nobility lay dead on the heath.

Iosna submitted to Rosmia and another glory point was awarded to King Hugh III, bringing his total to three. All surviving units will be given an automatic upgrade.

Year Three of the campaign comes to a close.