Last night, Ade D and myself played a game of Longships using the battle rules. It's the first time Ade had played the battle game and I hadn't played since the days of playtesting way back when. We have played several raid games and so were still familiar with the main rules but the differences in the campaign and in a few other areas slowed us down a little to start with. We soon got into the swing though.
The campaign saw Ade become the attacker but with just a 3 point advantage meaning I only had to risk 6 bases and ended up losing just 3 from my army. He did manage to move a hill from row three meaning the advantage of defending high ground was mitigated somewhat but I still felt confident with my Saxons lead by that rascal Skelegrim the Hound taking a front and centre position amongst my all armoured unit.
It was a good job I was defending, due to the fact my units had to roll a 4,5 or 6 before they could begin contemplating moving as a result of the pre game campaign.
Ade started the game boldly but rashly as I achieved an early success in routing one of his units in the first turn of the game as they streaked out ahead of the rest of the Viking army and were met with brutal force by my right hand most unit defending an area of meadow.
But, overall, Ade outplayed me and had the luck of the dice gods (at one point rolling 9 dice and scoring 8 sixes and 1 five). He made great use of the swinehead formation and eventually rolled me up in short order.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the game, even though it was a tad one sided. I'm pretty sure I could have made some better choices but c'est la guerre. I highly recommend giving the battle game a go for a break from raiding. The game played out rather like one of the climactic scenes from one of the Uhtred novels. I like to think Skelegrim was badly wounded but managed to sneak away to fight another day.
To be continued….?
Here is a link to the fuller battle report, with pictures!
link
paints piebald and skewbald horses.
