And now .... at long last ..... Dux Britanniarum!

First, a mea culpa. I've had the Dux Britanniarum rules for ages but never played a game until now. A few of us at the club talked last year about starting a campaign in 2020, but we also thought we should get to grips with the rules before getting things too wrong during the campaign games. So, yesterday, Brian and I played out a basic game as a battle.

First, here are my Romano-British troops. First the Comanipulares, the elite Bucellarii of my British Lord.

Now, my Lord, on the larger base, with his two junior leaders and his Champion. No names yet, as we are still experimenting with the rules.

Next, two groups of six Milites, basic Warriors. I've given these all the same shield design to ensure that they are distinct from the Comanipulares;

Four slingers, representing the force's Harassing missile troops;

And finally, three groups of Numeri, levies drawn from the peasantry.

All these troops are taken from my existing Gripping Beast plastic Late Roman army that I use for Sword and Spear and Saga. I love the idea of figures that have multiple uses.

So, on to the game itself. Brian's army were supposed to be North British, but we used them as a Saxon horde for this game. The table had a fairly shallow running stream across the centre of the table, classed as a Medium Obstacle, with two fords, classed as Minor Obstacles. On the Saxon side, was wooded country and there was a villa complex on the Roman side. The buildings we used were actually of a later period, bought by the club for a pirate campaign about 10 years ago, but a reasonable match for Later Roman structures (apart from the chimneys). They would be perfect for Peninsular War Sharp Practice too.

After initial movement and skirmishes between missile troops, the battle pretty much centred on the Saxons getting across the stream and the Romano-British  (henceforth just "the Romans") holding the high ground between the two fords. The Roman Shieldwall formation remained strong on the hill, fending off all  comers, aided by some helpful Fate Cards.

The Saxon main force was eventually forced back across the stream and the Saxon Lord reduced to Status I. The Saxons had previously lost a Noble in combat with my Numeri.

I also managed to drive off the Saxon archers with a flanking attack from a single group of Numeri on my right.

There were plenty of things that I am sure we got wrong, having never played the game before, and we were unsure if the Champions should have a Leader Card in the deck or were just stuck with the Lord. I am pretty sure now that we had the Fate Cards all wrong too, keeping things like Shieldwall in play, rather than discarding it once used. We also forgot to replenish our decks as they became depleted.

Having said that, the game was a lot of fun, and the mechanisms simple to understand, seeing as we are both seasoned Lardy gamers. I wonder if there is a FAQ somewhere online?

I am sure we shall be playing again before long. It is nice to see my Late Romans in use.