Charlet's Raid. The Battle of Bulden Bridge

The pigeon carrying the message had landed less than an hour ago, it was now happily eating corn, totally oblivious to the organised chaos, now going on far below in the courtyard. Men and horses, jostling for position as the force prepared to move out of the castle.
    The words that had been carried, told of a raiding party, led by Baron Charlet, had entered the borders of Rosmia, crossing the bridge at Bulden. It would no doubt be a lightning raid, to rob and plunder the small villages close to the border. They would then quickly depart back over the bridge and slip back into Uskax. But not this time, the newly organised carrier pigeon system, had delivered its first warning message.
    General Barnardus had been ordered to take half the army and destroy this raiding force, before it could cross back into Uskax. Knowing the route which Charlet would have to take, Barnardus selected two units of Mounted Men at Arms as well a a single unit of archers, this force would be able to move quickly.


General Barnardus' interception force, chosen for speed of march, as well as hitting power.

Baron Charlet had carried out many raids into Rosmia, it was easy pickings. The villagers would flee on the approach of his troops, leaving them to loot the buildings and store rooms. This raid would be no different, take whatever he wanted and then return quickly to safety, and denial of any wrong doing when the accusations came from Rosmia. He would be long gone before any Rosmian soldiers could arrive...


Baron Charlet is with his unit of Mounted Men at Arms. he also has with him a unit each of Men at Arms and Bill Men, as well a cart containing the plunder.

The bridge at Bulden, you will have to excuse the stream as opposed to a wide river, I only have 6mm river sections, but you can use your imagination. The river can only be crossed by the bridge.

General Barnardus arrives in the nick of time and deploys his force. Charlet will have to force his way across the bridge, if he wishes to return to Uskax.

Baron Charlet is shocked to find part of the Rosmian Army guarding the bridge, he too knows the bridge must be crossed, this is not going to be easy.

The lull before the storm!

Baron Charlet ordered his Bill Men forward. However, they didn't particularly like what they could see over the bridge, and decided to stay put.

The archers let fly at long range, failing miserably, not a single hit.

The Bill Men now realising that they would be at the mercy of the Rosmian bowmen, decided to advance towards the bridge. Baron Charlet's threats to cut them down if they didn't move, also encouraged them forward. The Foot Knights also advanced.

Now at short range, the archers managed enough hits to kill one Bill Man.

The Bill Men began to cross the bridge, but the Foot Knights decided to wait and see what would transpire.

The archers now had a field day, scoring seven hits, two further Bill Men fell dead.

They managed to pass their morale test.

The Foot Knights advanced to offer support to the Bills.

General Barnardus ordered one of his Mounted Knights to charge the Bills.

The charging horsemen scored seven hits, enough to kill two more Bill Men. (I made an error here, The Bills have the Schiltron ability, and so their armour is increased from three to four. They should only have suffered a single casualty).

The Bill Men fought hard and scored three hits, just one short of killing a Knight.

They just failed the morale test by one pip and became battered.

The growing pile of Uskaxian Bill Men.

Falling back from the bridge and now battered. Making way for the Foot Knights.

The white disc shows the unit is battered. It failed to rally and so moved further back.

The Foot Knights charged the enemy horse.

Who promptly counter-charged.

The Foot Knights fell just one hit short of causing two casualties.

The Mounted Knights, did have enough to kill two of the enemy.

A disastrous morale check.

The casualties.

The survivors fall back battered.

The Mounted Knights lose a casualty, but do pass their morale.

For Baron Charlet, the time had come to attempt to escape, his force being destroyed before his eyes. But he failed to move.

The archers unleashed on the battered Foot Knights, their arrows being fended off with no loss.

Having survived the arrow storm, they now had to face the charging enemy.

Another good roll sees two further casualties on the Foot Knights.

Being in a battered condition, they were unable to attempt a counter-charge and only hit on sixes, two is just not enough.

They just pass their morale but have to fall back

More graves to be dug.

General Barnardus now moves his unit towards the bridge.

The leading and so far victorious Mounted Knights charge Charlet's unit, who promptly counter-charge.

The pounding of horses hooves and the clash of steel, as the two forces collide.

One casualty on Rosmia.

Is not enough as this crack unit, scores eight hits, enough for two casualties on the enemy.

Charlet's men are forced to pull back, he survives a lucky leader test.

His two foot units, now under half strength, both fail to rally and continue to fall back. (Ignore the other figures, they are already dead).

The Uskaxian knights charge and are met by a counter-charge.

Two more casualties on the Uskaxians.

For a single loss of their own.

No one saw Baron Charlet fall, his body run through by a lance. The dreaded double one for a lucky, or in this case, unlucky leader roll.

Baron Charlet joins the casualty list.

His battered unit fall back.

The casualties of the battle.

The men of Uskax have had enough, their leader dead, they throw down their arms and ask for mercy.

General Barnardus crosses the bridge to agree terms. He agrees to spare all the surviving men, on the condition that they never again bear arms against Rosmia. The enemy agree under their oath of chivalry. Uskax is now removed from the campaign, leaderless and with only a small ineffective force left.
King Hugh III of Rosmia thus gains a further glory point, to add to the single point he was awarded at the start of the campaign.

So the second year comes to a close.

Rolling the dice for year three, will see more action on the table top, as Rosmia must fight off a full scale invasion by Baron Dain of Iosna, but as they say, that is another battle report.