DUX BELLORUM... FIND THE LADY!

Publius Decimus Barbula Leads a Dawn Raid to Rescue the Lady of the Villa Lurkio!

For much of the winter, Fulvia Meretrix, Domina of the Villa Lurkio, had been held captive by Conchobhar, the Warlord of Dal Riatta and his band of nefarious warriors. On several occasions, Conchobhar had tried to rid himself of the troublesome strumpet but, despite all his most inspired endeavours, the Domina continued to cause mayhem in the Irish camp, instilling her own uncompromising order upon each and every one of the Irish raiders!

This scenario was loosely based upon "Dawn Attack", which appears in the rule book, but was only meant to be a trial run at using the rules with several units on each side. Barbula's rescue party totalled 26 points, while the Irish force guarding Fulvia Meretrix came to 19 points, with both sides taking no optional extras or upgrades!

Barbula and his Noble Companions and a unit of Noble Riders were tasked with a dash into the Irish camp to sweep the lady from the evil clutches of her abductors. Two units of javelin armed skirmishers and a unit of archers advanced in support, while a three unit group of Shieldwall brought up the rear as a rallying point once the rescue had been effected!

The Irish units were scattered fairly randomly around the camp and were made up of one unit of Noble Warriors, four units of Ordinary Warriors and a couple of javelin armed Skirmishers.

The only area terrain was this ploughed field and a swamp over on the opposite side of the battlefield. The donkey had been turned out into the field but it would be needed to help whisk the lady away from her captors!

The Romano-British skirmishers immediately gave an indication of how the battle was going to pan out, with one of the units failing it's Bravery Test, while the other scurried on through the swamp.

With plenty of Leadership Points between them, the two cavalry units sped on towards their destiny. The Irish weren't allowed a move in the first turn, to replicate their shock at seeing Babula and his warband looming towards them out of the early morning mist!

The Romano-British bowmen launched their first volley against the Irish Warriors defending the lowly hut where Fulvia Meretrix was being held. Two hits scored, but both cancelled out by Irish Leadership Points!

Barbula intended to make this a lightening strike, hoping to tempt the Irish Warriors into an Uncontrolled Charge, giving the lady chance to sneak away from her dingy abode. The Irishmen, however, contrived to fail their Bravery Test, giving them the opportunity to fall back and join their leader and a third unit of Warriors!

Meanwhile, in an act of utter stupidity, the unit of Noble Riders, decided to give up every advantage they had by charging into combat against a unit of Skirmishers sheltering behind a hedge (-2 dice in the combat roll!). As there is no 'official' ploughed field terrain type, I classed this as a 'bog', which is the last place mounted troops should be gallivanting.

The Romano-British Shieldwall manoeuvred itself to tempt another unit of Irish Warriors into an Uncontrolled Charge and the Noble Riders continued to embarrass themselves by ploughing further into the ploughed field!

The inevitable outcome of this dawn raid drew ever closer, as Barbula positioned his Companions to allow the lady to scurry out of her hovel but, she seemed somewhat reluctant to follow the plan!

Possibly the sight of her rescuer's massive horn tempted Fulvia to sneak out into the waiting arms of the lowly skirmishers and the rescue seemed at last to be going to plan.

The Irish, however, hadn't completely given up on the lady and an Uncontrolled Charge by their Foot Companions put a dent in Barbula's Cohesion.

Over on the opposite side of the battlefield, the Shieldwall had broken ranks, in an attempt to finish off the unit of Irish Warriors, but failed to make any impression upon their resolute opposition. The Ordinary Shieldwall Unit did, however, manage to attack and wipe out the Irish skirmishers attempting to get around their flank.

Barbula's brave Companions managed to force their opponents back and this was enough to convince the Irish that re-taking their prisoner was not worth the sacrifice of more lives.

Flavia Meretrix was now safely back in the hands of her own people and would be returned to her loving husband, waiting anxiously for her at the Villa Lurkio. Sadly, the Romano-British warband did not make sufficient progress on their right flank to rescue the donkey and so, it would be a long walk home for the Domina!

This small game of Dux Bellorum was only ever intended to get a few troops on the table and try out the rules. I only had a couple of hours to spare, so, although the battle could have gone on considerably longer and, probably, with a different outcome, once the Romano-British had reached the hut where Flavia Meretrix was being held, then that would trigger the end of the game. Play was frustrating at times, with units failing their Bravery Test for Movement, but I really like the ebb and flow of combat, with the advantage swinging first one way and then the other. Cavalry are clearly meant to operate in clear open terrain and sending the Noble Riders into a field, chasing after some skirmishers was an act of pure folly. The Irish Warriors are completely intransigent in combat; once they engage, even if they are pushed back, their Uncontrolled Charge trait will see them hurling themselves back into the fray again on the next move, even if they are loosing Cohesion Points. They are like wasps that just wont leave you alone, no matter how many times you swat them away. My Warriors were scattered around the battlefield as part of the scenario, so it will be interesting to see how this Uncontrolled Charge feature plays out when they are fielded in larger groups. Their Protection Score of 5 (or 6 for Nobles) makes then very difficult to hurt, especially when Ordinary Shieldwall only have an Aggression Rating of 3. You really need to stack up as many advantages as possible for your Shieldwall if you are playing the Romano-British. I have just started painting the first of an Early Saxon Warband and I can't wait to field them against the Warrior Irish... 

I originally painted my Irish and Romano-British to play with Dux Britanniarum and then tried them using Clash of Spears but, for this early Post Roman period, I think Dux Bellorum are definitely the rules I'm going to use. They are deceptively simple, with a combat system that can turn into a real slogging match (in my view, just like the real thing) and a Leadership Point system which allows the lesser un-named mortals in your warband to have a significant impact on the outcome of the battle. Failing Bravery Tests at the vital moment is just a spanner in the works that you have to rise above and hope that it will happen to your opponent, at an even more critical time and throw their carefully crafted plans into a turmoil, from which they will not recover!

New Year... New Projects!

Here we go again, a new year and new things to get involved in! At times like these, having a hobby, even one as peculiar as wargaming, really pays dividends, as it allows you to disappear into a carefree world far removed from the troubles and turmoil of the real one.

Starting from scratch in 2023 is a project based around the League of Augsburg's skirmish rule set, Donnybrook. It is over 30 years since I played English Civil War games and I was thinking about using The Pikeman's Lament as a way of rekindling an interest in the period, mainly because it is so similar to Lion Rampant and I already know how to play those! I downloaded a copy of Donnybrook when I was thrashing about looking for new things to do during the Covid Lockdowns of 2020, but shelved them because they are really intended for games set from 1660 onwards, when the bayonet was beginning to replace the pike. Just before Christmas 2022, I had another look and decided that they would probably work fine with English Civil War figures as some of the technologies involved are far more ancient than matchlock muskets and pikes. So, I've been reading around events that took place during the Civil War in my home county of Nottinghamshire and have the building blocks for some skirmish games involving local garrison forces, particularly those which may have been located around Welbeck Hall, a residence of the Royalist stalwart, William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle, and Parliamentarian forces roaming the county, possibly involved in some way with the various sieges of the Royalist town of Newark! It all needs a lot of tweaking, but Donnybrook is very much about small scale forces lead by desperate heroes and villains and, importantly, they can be fought out on a small kitchen table.

Continuing from where I left off in 2022, I've now got all my forces ready to play Dux Bellorum. Back in December, I tried out the combat system from Dux Bellorum and really enjoyed the results. My Irish warriors struggled to get the upper hand over the Romano-British shieldwall, but I think the Irish need to use some much smarter tactics than just piling in with their really good combat factor but then getting hammered because of their really rubbish armour! Some clever employment of javelin armed skirmishers and cavalry might help to tip the balance in favour of the raiding warband. I've already got ideas cooking to bring back Flavia Meretrix, the Domina of Villa Lurkio, who was kidnapped by the Irish raiders when I was trying out games of Clash of Spears with my post Roman warbands last Summer.

The Irish Warband are turning out to be the real virtuosos in my collection at the moment. The wonderful people at the Rotherham Wargames Club and Alan Cole in particular, are looking at putting on a Lion Rampant campaign at some point in the coming year. Neither of my two Lion Rampant warbands are suitable for the "Dark Ages" campaign that is being proposed but my Irishmen could certainly participate, with just a few minor adjustments from the way they are set up for Dux Bellorum. I'm currently painting up three more armoured warriors from Footsore, so that I can field a 6 figure unit of Noble Warriors. When they are done, I'll have the Noble Warriors, a unit of javelin armed light cavalry, two units of warriors and a couple of units of skirmishers, all of which I think will add up to around 24 points. Fingers crossed that the campaign gets off the ground, as I really enjoyed spending a Saturday back in November at the club, playing a multi-player game of Lion Rampant. The Rotherham club was where I cut my wargaming teeth back in the mid 1980s before Real Life intervened and cut short my wargaming career by introducing me to the concept of "Working for a Living".

Finally, I'd just like to wish anyone who happens to wander this way a very happy and prosperous New Year... may the Gods of the Dice smile kindly upon all your gaming endeavours.

DUX BELLORUM... TRYING OUT THE SYSTEM!

 What do you do when you need sixes to score a hit but your dice just wont cooperate?

With just a unit of Romano-British Mounted Companions to complete, I thought I'd better get a few troops on the table and have a go at the Dux Bellorum combat system. I have to confess that I hadn't expected what followed to turn out the way it did...

On the left is a Group of two Units of Romano-British Ordinary Shieldwall and on the right, a Group of three Units of Irish Raider Ordinary Warriors. My expectation was that the Irish would rapidly scythe through the Shieldwall and then I would try a couple of different troop types to see what would happen. What actually occurred was something far more involved and, thanks to the Irish dice rolls consistently failing to land sixes, proved that the shieldwall could stand up to the ferocity of the warrior onslaught!

The Irish Raiders advanced into Uncontrolled Charge range and then hurled themselves forward into contact with the shieldwall...

at first contact, the Warrior Group split, with two Units contacting one Shieldwall Unit and the third the other.

Dark Age warfare, up close and personal!

The Shieldwall choose to use their Leadership Points to reduce Cohesion hits, while the Raiders add to their number of Aggression dice.

In the top combat in the picture, with an Aggression rating of 5, a +1 for moving into contact and an LP, the Raiders roll 7 dice but still can't score a hit on the Shieldwall.

Fortunately for the Irish, the Shieldwall's roll is equally rubbish!

In the lower combat, the Irish have 5 Aggression dice, +1 for moving into contact, an LP and a supporting unit, giving them no less than 8 dice to roll. This time, they get two sixes only to have them wiped out by the two LPs the Shieldwall have used to cancel hits!

Against the odds, with just three dice to roll, the Shieldwall get a hit on their attackers and push them back, leaving them with a dent in their Cohesion level.

In the Shieldwall's move, they elect to continue the fight and, in spite of one of their Units loosing a Cohesion Point, they inflict hits on both the other Irish Units. Being so close to the Shieldwall, the Irish will have to charge in again unless they can 'fail' a Bravery test.

Things go from bad to worse for the right flank Irish Unit as they charge in for a second time, their Cohesion score is reduced to 2, leaving them perilously close to breaking point.

The Shieldwall get a temporary advantage, out numbering the centre Irish Unit, but the right flank Shieldwall Unit manages to get itself pushed back.

The combat has now completely broken up...

and the Shieldwall Units continue to chip away at the Irish Cohesion scores, pushing the two flank Units further back.

At the end of this turn, the two sides are totally broken up into separate Units and they have been forced apart, giving them a chance to take a quick breather before the onslaught is renewed in the next turn.

Leadership Points have been distributed and the Raiders gird their loins for last effort. Their Cohesion levels have dropped to a point where any further hits will see them break and run, leaving this part of the battlefield in the hands of the Romano-British.

Catastrophe strikes for the Irish, as their left flank Unit receives the two hits that reduce their Cohesion to zero. Their lack of protection has been their undoing, they can stand no more and they turn and flee the field of blood.

The struggle reaches its dramatic conclusion as the undamaged left flank Shieldwall Unit finds itself assailed by two desperate Units of Irishmen on the very brink of collapse. This was the last forlorn effort for the Irish and their right flank Unit was forced back, leaving their centre to stand alone against both remaining Units of Shieldwall.

Once again the Gods of the Dice favoured the Shieldwall and they rolled the two hits they needed to reduce the Warriors' Cohesion to zero...

With a second Unit routed and the remaining Warriors having a Cohesion level of "1", this small encounter has come to its conclusion. The fearless Irish Warriors gave their all but were defeated by a dauntless enemy who refused to yield an inch of the sacred ground they call home.

This little clash was intended just to give me a feel for what Dux Bellorum would play like; it certainly wasn't what I was expecting at all. I've not been able to find any video reports of Dux Bellorum on the internet, so I've had nothing to build my expectation other the reading of the rules. I think bigger battles are going to be a lot more intense than I had imagined they would be, with a lot more ebb and flow of battle and clashes between Shieldwall and Warrior breaking down into some real nitty gritty grinding matches. So, the next step is to choose a scenario and let slip the dogs of war...

DUX BELLORUM - A NEW STAGE FOR MY ROMANO-BRITISH AND IRISH RAIDERS TO PERFORM ON!

After painting up my Romano-British and Irish Raiders to use with Dux Britanniarum two years ago, they have been through quite an array of projects ever since. Once I had fallen in love with Clash of Spears, with games set in Sicily in the First Punic War, I thought that I could re-purpose my Dark Age figures and use them with "Clash". This was one of the few ideas I've had which worked really well, but I was always a bit uncertain about the way I had classified the troops within the "Clash" system.

Recently, I'd been thinking about using a truly fit for purpose system for what is, after all, one of my favourite historical periods. I initially found "Song of Arthur and Merlin", which has been updated and given a more "historical" feel. I liked some of what was included in the rules but decided that they were just a bit too small scale for what I wanted, being really designed for a dozen figures or so per side. I'd looked at Daniel Mersey's Dux Bellorum a few years ago but put it to one side because I couldn't see how the basing system would work with my individually based figures... cavalry seemed the most difficult to reconcile, being on 25mm pill bases and three of them had to fit on a base with 60mm frontage!

When I read the rules again a few weeks ago, I spotted a bit I'd missed first time around about fielding troops in "rough clumps"! My individually based figures could certainly move around in "rough clumps", but it would mean spending a lot of time shifting them around the battlefield. It was at this point that I almost put Dux Bellorum back on the shelf, until I came across some of the laser cut bases for sale on the Charlie Foxtrot Models web site. Charlie Foxtrot have movement trays which come in all sorts of odd configurations, but the more I looked at them, the more I thought they would fit perfectly (almost!) with the basing requirements of Dux Bellorum. They have 60mm frontage trays with four slots in two rows... ideal for the four figure Shieldwall types... they have three slot triangular trays with 60mm sides... ideal for three figure Warrior types... they have double slot trays with 60mm frontage... ideal for Skirmisher types and, they have some three slot cavalry trays which are wider than 60mm! O.K., so they don't quite fit with the rest, but we are all consenting adults, and you don't throw the baby out with the bath water, do you?

Charlie Foxtrot always get your goodies to you in double quick time and so here I am with a box full of Romano-British and a box full of Irish Raiders all based up and ready for action with Dux Bellorum. There's not a lot of stuff around on the Internet about Dux Bellorum, so I assume there aren't too many players out there but I'm ready to set up the dining room table for some learning games throughout December and really looking forward to it.

A Group of Two Units of Romano-British Noble Shieldwall.

Irish Raider Mounted Companions with their Leader.

Irish Raider Ordinary Foot Warriors - the Charlie Foxtrot Movement Trays give these guys that multiple wedge look which suits their irregular charge into contact.

Romano-British Ordinary Shieldwall. These Movement Trays have a more regular look, ideal for stolid groups of Shieldwall Spearmen.

Irish Raider Javelin armed Skirmishers. Skirmisher Units can't be Grouped, so must scurry around the battlefield independently, doing what Skirmishers do best... hit and run!

Irish Raider Noble Warriors - mixed in with the Ordinary Warriors, these guys can have a positive influence on the outcome of Bravery Tests.

Romano-British Bows... three figures to a Unit, so I've put them on the same Movement Tray I used for the Warrior infantry.