Part 5 - Hand to Hand

The Romans get to turn 8 Cards and in order to maximise their chances will spend Army Morale Points where ever possible to inflict maximum damage on the more numerous Picts.  Doing so is a gamble but the commanders think it is their best hope of victory.

Roman: Card 1 Move- Poor dice for the Roman Centre and cavalry, there is not enough movement to reach the enemy so they remain in position. Marco rolls high and even, his cavalry forms Drungus and storms uphill into Casno’s fresh war band but comes unstuck and is held in melee.

Card 3 – Lull.  Card 4 Army Morale – no action. Card 5- Manoeuvre- no action. 

Card 6 Move- This is what the Roman General has been waiting for.  Falco’s troops rush the Pict centre but one Roman unit is driven back by archery. The other makes contact but is held by the Picts who enjoy the advantage of numbers and ground, Falco’s archers shoot into the Picts Shocking them.

The Legions roll high and even and turn to face and then assault the two Pict War bands that form the link between the Pict Centre and their flanking cavalry.  They throw their spears before contact routing one unit and driving the other into the safety of the forest.

The Roman cavalry roll low and don’t move.  Card 7- Manoeuvre, no action.  Card 8 Command – Falco rallies his unit.

Picts: Card 1-Lull. Card 2 Move. The Pict cavalry rolls high and even and envelops their Roman counterparts. The melee begins with missilery with both sides playing Tactical Advantage Cards and Army Morale Points for Specialist shooting. The Romans are outnumbered two to one and suffer the most losses but manage to drive back one of the Pict units.  The other Pict commanders roll low and cannot usefully move. The Picts have six cards left to play.  

More soon.

Part 4 – The Crisis of Battle

Picts: Card 1- Missilery No targets, Card 2 Melee-no contact, Card 3 Move The remaining Pict cavalry move out to form Drungus. Card 4 Melee-no contact. Card 5 Command, Casno fails to rally of the Unit Integrity losses from his warriors. Card 6 Manourvre -no action. Card 7 Lull- no action.

Army Dice: Rome 10 v Pict 5. Five Cards in play.

Rome: Card 1- Missilery. The Romans pay 1 Army Morale Point for Specialist shooting against the Centre Pict Warriors causing them to become shocked. Card 2 Lull.  Card 3 Missilery. The Romans pay 1 Army Morale Point for Specialist shooting against the shocked Pict Warriors causing them to retire out of range.  Card 4 Manourvre- no action. Card 5 Command- no action.

Army Dice: Rome 10 v Pict 5. Five Cards in play.

Rome: Card 1- Missilery. The Romans pay 1 Army Morale Point for Specialist shooting against the Centre Pict Warriors causing them to become shocked. Card 2 Lull.  Card 3 Missilery. The Romans pay 1 Army Morale Point for Specialist shooting against the shocked Pict Warriors causing them to retire out of range.  Card 4 Manoeuvre- no action. Card 5 Command- no action.

Picts: Card 1 Command. Casno finally fully rallies his battered war band paying 1 Army Morale Point. The High King rallies his shocked men and leads them back into the battle line. Card 2 Manoeuvre. On the other flank the Picts align themselves with the legions open flank. Card 3 Amy Morale – no action. Card 4 Move. The Pict cavalry out flanks their Roman equivalents and the archers move into range. Card 5 Manoeuvre- no action.

Army Dice: Rome 10 v Picts 2. Eight Cards in play.

The Romans now have all their forces in position and having seen the totality of the Pict army are about to launch a ferocious offensive.  The Picts have made the best of the terrain and their numbers and if they can hold the Romans they might win. This is the crisis of the battle.

More tomorrow and thank you for reading.

Part 3

Army Dice Roll Romans 7 v Picts 1.  Six Cards in play. Romans: Card 1- Manoeuvre-no action. Card 2- Command, archers rallied but the lost Unit Integrity remains. Card 3 Melee- no contact. Card 4 Artillery reload- no artillery. 

Card 5 Group Move, the cavalry, winning on even, form Drungus and move out to mark their Pict opponents. Card 6 - Army Morale- no action.

Picts: Card 1- Lull- no action. Card 2- Move-Casno moves his weary warriors out of the front line into the woods and brings forward another unit. The Pict archers retreat behind their spear men.  The High King moves to the Pict centre. The Pict cavalry form Drungus and the chariots appear. Card 3 Melee-no contact. 

Card 5-Missilery reload, the archers reload. Card 6- Command, Casno fails to rally off lost Unit Integrity from his battered war band.

Army Dice roll Romans 11 v Picts 4.  Seven Cards in play.  Romans: Card 1- Lull-no action, Card-2 Army Morale-no action. Card 3- Melee-no contact. 

Card 4- Move, The Roman flank cavalry roll low and so choose not to move. The Roman Centre crosses the boggy ground. The Legions roll high and even, changing formation and moving to secure the open flank. Card 5 - Melee- no contact. Card-6 Command- Some of the archers lost unit integrity is recovered. 

More next week and thanks for reading.

After a little delay we continue.

After a little delay we continue.  Army Dice Roman 6 v Pict 1-. Five Cards in play. 

Card 1- Move, On the Roman Right the Commander throws low but manages to get the slingers out of contact with the Picts. In the Centre poor dice prevent movement. The Legions move up. 

Card 2-Lull-no action. Card 3-Army Morale- no action. Card 5-Manouvre, The Roman Centre forms up in two deep units each flanked by a deep unit of archers in preparation for assaulting the Pict archers. The slingers retire through the cavalry. 

Card 5- Move, On the Left the Roman commander throws even on a winning dice.  His cavalry, in Drungus, assault Casno’s Picts on a roll of 12 to 3.  The Picts are sent reeling back, Shocked and with many casualties.  The flank of the Pict archers is now uncovered.

The Picts: Card 1- Group Move, The Pict cavalry moves out on the Roman flank. 

Card 2-Lull- no action. Card 3 Command, The High King rallies Casno’s men but fails to restore all of their lost unit integrity. Card 4 Chariots reload- no action. Card 5 Army Morale- no action.

Army Dice Roman 2 v Pict 6-. Four Cards in play. Picts: Card 1- Lull- no action. Card 2- Command, a failed attempt to restore all of the lost unit integrity of Casno’s men. Card 3-Missilery, three units of Pict archers each shoot twice at their Roman opponents.  

One Roman unit is forced out of the battle line taking many casualties and becoming Shocked. The other Roman unit is also Shocked. Card 4-Melee-no targets.

We’ll the battle’s developing and both sides are bearing up to some heavy blows.

Casno and his lads will need a lot of luck to stand another cavalry attack. 

The next installment is tomorrow by which time we’ll know his fate. Thank you for reading and I hope you are finding it as enjoyable as I am. 

Apologies for the late arrival...

Sorry folks I'm having difficulties in uploading photos and so the play test is delayed.

Please bear with me.

Thanks.

And We’re Off!

The Romans being Comitatenses have a higher Army Dice (D12) than the defending Picts (D8) and throw a 10 versus 2. Therefore 8 Cards are in play with the Romans going first.

Card 1-Lull-no action, Card 2- Army Morale-no action, Card 3 Melee- No troops in contact, Card 4 Command-no action.

Card 5 Move- The Roman Left moves up to sling range, its cavalry forming Drungus. The Roman centre first line moves forward stopping when it reaches some boggy ground.   The Legions in the second line slowly move forward (bad movement dice).  The Roman right flank cavalry hold their position covering the army's flank.

Card 6 Melee- No troops in contact, Card 7 Command-no action.

Card 8 Missilery- The Roman slingers shoot twice at the Picts shocking the leading group of warriors.  In the centre both units of Roman archers shoot twice at their Pict counterparts causing one unit of Picts to become shocked.

Picts: Card 1 Command- The Pict leaders successfully rally their shocked troops. Card 2- Manoeuvre- no action. Card 3 Army Morale- no action. 

Card 4- Move- Casno commanding the Pict Left throws his Leader Dice in the hope of being able to charge and melee with the Roman slingers, he rolls poorly and on an odd number so can only move into contact. 

Card 5 -Manoeuvre-no action, Card 6- Lull-no action. Card 7- Move-no action.

Card 8- Melee- Casno’s warriors attack the Roman slingers who fight back with sword and buckler. Poor dice scores (3 Pict-2 Roman) results in one hit per side but the Picts hold the advantage.

So far, so good I think.  There are a few things to note.  The Roman missile troops are Specialist for Shooting but their commander thinks it wise to hoard his Army Morale Points until he can see the full size of the Pict army.  The Roman slingers, plucky lads though they are, have been very lucky and need to get out of the way of that Pict war band. We can also note that the Pict archers are holding their fire for maximum effect.

More tomorrow and thank you for reading.

Just a note before we get into it

Just a note before we get into the play test. 

The Romans are on a punitive expedition.  They intend to destroy the Pict army and then kill and burn every living thing they can find. This was standard practice on the Imperial frontier and seems to have happened about once every 25 years.

The Roman force is drawn from the field army and has 3 units of cavalry, two Legions and supporting troops, ten Comitatenses units in all 5 of which are elite.  There are four Roman commanders, the Romans have a total of 22 Army Morale Points.

Now to see if any additional Army Morale Points are available to Romans. The Romans throw two ones and so their total remains the same at of 22 Army Morale Points.  They will have to rely on superior equipment, training and command against the more numerous Picts. 

The Picts Are Ready - Tactics

The Picts have mobilised against a Roman incursion.  To maximise their chances, the infantry has formed in Big Units the better to absorb punishment.  Every effort will be made to make best use the ground to disrupt and slow the inevitable Roman advance.  

Once the Romans are committed against the spear men the Pictish cavalry will launch a hopefully irresistible flank attack.  

The aims of the Kings of the Picts are to halt the Roman advance and preserve the army for future engagements. The Picts have 4 elite units and 5 leaders and 14 units of warriors giving a total 28 Army Morale Points.

To see if any additional Army Morale Points are available the Pict player rolls a D6 versus a D12.  He throws a 5 v an 8 and so adds 3 additional Army Morale Points to their total making a grand total of 31.  

The Card Decks

Here are the Cards for At the Ends of Empire as you can see there are three Roman armies to reflect the Empire's options for dealing with opponents. All armies have the same number of cards but not all the same type of cards so we will see Persian arrows blocking out the sun and Celtic chariot warriors racing to death or glory.  I'm still thinking about British, Germanic and Hunnic Cards but they will follow in due course and benefit from the lessons of play tests. 

Card	Action	Pict at Home Army Dice D8	Irish or Pict Away or Limitanei Army Dice D10	Sasanian Army Dice D12	Comitatenses Army Dice D12	Palatinate Army Dice D12+1
Army Morale	Army Morale check	3	3	3	3	3
Artillery (Only loads with this card)	Artillery is loaded	-	-	-	1	1
Command	Commanders can move and rally	3	4	5	5	5
Lull	No action	5	4	3	3*	2
Manoeuvre	Change formation or facing	3	3	3	3	3
Move	Troops can move	3	3	3	3	3
Group Move	One command can move	1	1	1	1	1
Melee	Troops can melee	3	3	3	3	3
Asavaran Missilery	Asavaran are loaded	-	-	2	-	-
Missilery	All missile troops are loaded.	3	3	3	3	3
Chariot Missiles	Chariot troops are loaded.	1*	1*	-	-	-
Tactical Advantage	Up 1 Dice size for any action	2	2	2	2	3
Total		27	27	27	27	27

Here are some of the Card images.

After some indecision I went with an Irish image for the Irish/Pict 'away' deck .  This was because the warrior seems to have limed his hair which is very suggestive of a very old Celtic practice that interests me- and it is a colourful image. I will probably do a separate Pict 'at home' deck as well.  Anyhow I'm pleased with them and I hope you like them too.

Formations

Soon we will be having a full play test for At The Ends of Empire.  Just like the Have a Heart one it will be a card by card battle report . 

In At The Ends of Empire different formations are represented visually and have an impact on play. I thought it would be helpful to introduce them here to make the play test easier to follow. Most of them will be familiar enough.

Line

These troops are Jutes formed up base to base in a single line it is the default formation for melee and missilery.

Skirmish

These are foot or mounted troops who move quickly without the need to maintain order they spread out to minimise the effects of difficult ground and of casualties from incoming missilery. Skirmishers on an even dice can advance shoot and retire on a single movement card. As a formation it is vulnerable to melee.

Mass

These troops are Scotti warriors formed up two deep to maximise their impact in melee. As a formation it is more vulnerable to missilery.

Parthian

A cavalry formation that is limited to specialist horse archers and it minimises the impact of incoming missilery and maximises manoeuvrability while being vulnerable to melee. Troops in Parthian can move in any direction without formation change. These are Hun horse Archers.

Drungus

A cavalry formation that enables hit a run tactics while maintaining both missilery and melee capabilities.

Foulkon

A Roman formation of locked shields on all sides good against missilery and increases the chance of a rally but poor for melee and can only move at half speed.

Column

This single base wide four deep line of Cymry light troops is good for movement but poor in melee and against missilery.

The army lists will specify what formations are available to each army.