Battle Report: Timete incognita

The God of the Deep had always favoured Garzan Thrice-Cut. He had championed the God of the Deep in many fights, always dedicating the spoils to the God. With the God's favour, he had claimed the Armour of the Champion, raising his status among his people to exalted heights, as well as giving him the respect needed to deal with the other races. Three weeks ago, the God had spoken to him in his dreams.

Raise a force in my name, and take it into the dry-lands. Slay all the mud-scrapers you find, sacrifice their blood and flesh to me and I will give you glory. 

With his sworn swords, men he had grown up with who had pledged their allegiance to him, he journeyed into the warrens where his people lived, seeking those young who sought the chance to earn glory. He was able to gather some riders and some foot, before he set off to make a deal with the Beastmen, plying their chief with meat and alcohol, who then allowed him to recruit from his clan. Never ones to shy away from a fight, he was able to take his pick of the unpledged warriors.

With his force raised he set forth into the cursed dry-place, coming upon a village and descending upon it as the great sky fire began to creep into the open space above. Fear and surprise reduced the mud-scrapers to pathetic wretches, easily dispatched, unworthy of sacrificing to the God of the Deep. As they killed the last of the village dwellers, another group of the land-men who smelled somehow different had come along the road. After a brief fight, all but one had been slain, and the last fled back along the road. Just as he prepared to order his riders to hunt down the fleeing creature down, he heard the God of the Deep in his mind.

Let the creature flee, he will bring you more worthy sacrifices, a glorious battle in which you can prove your value to me.

He obeyed the God and called off his riders, despite their obvious frustration.

That had been three days previously, and the warband was growing ever more restless. They had combed the village and all the surrounding lands, finding no more mud-crawlers to slay. Frustration and boredom was beginning to cause the band to fracture, the Beastmen being the worst. Their snarling and barking was almost constant, they were openly scrapping with each other and his people, some of the fights had drawn blood. Without some enemies to fight, soon the band would begin killing itself. Garzan's faith was being tested, and he was almost beginning to doubt when one of his riders appeared. "More mud-crawlers on the road." he reported breathlessly "They wear iron shirts and carry weapons." Garzan smiled as he heard to God once more.

 Kill

In another case of impulse buying an army and rushing it to the field, this game saw my recently acquired and painted Celtos Formorians pitched against my Romans in a game of Dragon Rampant. We were playing a simple open battle with 30 point warbands, set in the time of the Third Punic War. A Roman force has been sent to Gaul to ensure that Rome's preoccupation in the south doesn't encourage the Gauls to misbehave, and then they received a report of a Roman merchant's convoy being attacked near a Gallic village, so send a centurion leading a small force to discipline the Gauls. 

The two forces had the following compositions:

Romans: 30 points, Leader Skill: Bone Shaker, one free attack activation for a unit within 12" of the leader.

2 x Picked Principii, Elite Foot with Short Range Missiles (7 points each) (Leader with one unit)
1 x Hastatii, Light Foot with Offensive and Short Range Missiles (6 points)
1 x Triarii, Heavy Foot (4 points)
1 x Syrian Archers, Light Missiles with Sharpshooter (6)

Note: Technically the Elite Foot can't have the Short Range Missiles upgrade, but I allowed it, but limited their ammunition so as not to overpower the units. As it turned out, the Romans never used this ability, so maybe in future I'll spend the points elsewhere.

Formorians: 30 points, Leader Skill: Bone Shaker, yep both sides rolled the same number for their leader skill, madness.

1 x Formorian Adults, Bellicose Foot with Terrifically Shiny Armour and Mystical Armour, (8 points) (Leader with this unit). Reduced model unit (4 models with 8 strength points).
1 x Beastmen, Bellicose Foot with Terrifically shiny Armour and Fear, (8 points). Reduced model unit (4 models with 8 strength points)
1 x Blood Raiders, Heavy Riders with Fear (6 points). Reduced model unit (2 models with 4 strength points)
1 x Formorian Adolescents with Spears, Light Foot (3 points)
1 x Formorian Adolescents with Swords, Light Foot with Offensive  (5 points)

The table was set up so the Formorians would start on the short table edge in the village and Romans would advance from the other short edge. To simulate the lack of familiarity of the opposing forces with the other neither side was informed about the other's special rules/stats etc.

The sun rises over the suspiciously quiet village, with only the cows and pigs making any noise.

The Formorians deployed first, with the majority of their force in the village positions to move up the road, and the spearmen unit on their left flank.

Formorian starting positions, the spear adolescent unit is hidden behind the small building.

The Romans had deployed intending to use the marshes to protect their archers and then push up the road.

The Roman raiding party marches onto the field, intent on exacting revenge on the Gallic village.

The opening move saw the Romans conducting a general advance towards their objective, maintaining a fairly solid battle line.

Roman forces on the march.

An archer discusses the centurion's interpretation of the word "leading." The primus pilus back at the Legion would doubtless be mortified.

The Formorian forces responded by advancing to exit the bottleneck at the village's edge, aiming to reach the Romans as rapidly as possible. 

Is it just me, or are the Gauls uglier than usual centurion?

The next couple of turns saw both sides continue their advance with mostly succesful order rolls. The Formorians began to shift to their left to keep out of range of the Roman archers, while the Romans right flank began to lead the left. At this point the Formorian players (following the exclamation "Maybe we should read all this stuff" in reference to the special rules on their unit cards) realised they could move their Bellicose Foot into rough terrain without penalty and prepared to outflank the Roman line.
 

The two forces close, and the Romans really begin to wonder if the hideous creatures are actually Gauls. Also, why the horses have fangs.

The Roman force has become rather strung out as Formorians push into the woods around their right flank.

It was at this point that the Goddess Fortuna deserted the Romans and they failed their first order roll of their turn, paralysing their forces at the very moment of contact. The Formorians capitilised on this opportunity, charging their Formorian adults into the flank of the Hastatii, easily beating the terrified Roman troops in the ensuing melee. 

Roman troops first experience the fury of their opponent as strange monsters storm out of the forest.

The Hastatii were unable to retreat due to the presence of the Triarii on their flank, but passed the roll to avoid additional casualties. The Formorians used the rest of their turn to move the Beastmen and Blood Raiders onto the Roman right flank.

Unfortunately for them, the Romans again fluffed their first orders roll of the next turn, so their forces were unable to respond to the flank, leaving the Hastatii to face the fury of the Formorian Adults once again, losing another two men in the progress. This time they failed their unable to retreat test, and two further men were cut apart as they tried to flee. The unit then failed its courage test and became battered, effectively destroying their combat ability, and were then hit by a charge from the Blood Raiders.

Sometimes it's just one of those days.

This charge wiped the unit out, and left the Triarii next in line to face the Formorians. For a third turn in a row, the Romans failed their first order roll (these rolls were 5+ on 2d6, meaning that the odds of this happening 3 times in a row is of the order of 1 in 216, sometimes the dice gods are just cruel). Clearly the centurion had lost all ability to command as his mind processed the sights of actual monsters.

The triarii were hit by the Formorian leader's unit and fell back only to be hit by a charge from the Beastmen.

Beastmen storm into the triarii.

They managed to hold their own against the horned monstrosities, cutting one down for the cost of two of their own, forcing the mosters back although they did end up battered. The next turn saw the Romans rediscover the ability to roll decent order dice (once), moving up the rearmost of their elite troops while the triarii prepared to face another wave of charges. The Formorian leader led the charge again, cutting the triarii apart and forcing them back in disarray. Another failed courage test saw one man drop his weapon and shield and flee the field (or alternately drown in the swamp).

In Rome, the saying "It's all down to the trarii" means a situation that is critical. What do you call a situation like that when the triarii are already breaking?

The sight of a pair of terrified, fleeing soldiers was too tempting to resist for the Blood Raiders and they swept in to clean up the remnants, which they did in short order while the Formorian Adolescents moved up to support their leader.

Another Roman unit evaporates.

The Roman forces finally managed to make something of a response to the Formorian presence now, using their free attack activation to charge the Formorian leader with their leader and his picked Principii, while the Formorians used their free attack activation to automatically counter charge. 

The centurion attempts to restore the situation in person.

The fight saw both sides lose one strength point, enough to remove a model from each due to an earlier hit on the Formorian leader's unit by the triarii, forcing the principii to fall back. Meanwhile the Roman archers shot down one of the Blood Raiders and the other Principii unit moved up to hold the line with their centurion.

The Romans stubbornly fight on, and a glimmer of hope begins to show as they inflict losses on their opponents.

On the Formorian turn, another round of combat saw both leaders' units lose another strength point, critically putting the Roman unit on half strength, cutting it's combat dice from 8 to 4.

In the next Roman turn, the second unit of Principii charged forward to relieve the pressure on the centurion and the, with 8 dice needing 3+ to cause hits, did precisely no damage, taking a casualty in the process. To add insult to injury, a catastrophic roll for a courage test saw the unit go battered in the face of the two most powerful enemy units.

Fear gets the better of the pick of the Legion, leading to a shameful performance.

Beginning to accept the inevitable, the Roman centurion begins to retreat from the battle area. More shooting from the archers fails to have an effect on the Blood Raiders, adding to the ignomy of the round for Rome. 

At this point, the Beastmen clearly felt the need to sort out the pecking order with the death of one of their number, failing to launch a wild charge into the battered principii unit, meaning the Formorian Leader had to deal with it, inflicting a further casualty on them but failing to destroy them. The Formorian adolescents were now rapidly moving to sweep around the last Roman units and cut them off from any chance of escape and the Blood Raider moved to set up a charge on the Syrian archers.

The Roman turn saw the principii rally, their leader dither behind his two surviving units and the archers shoot down the surviving Blood Raider, although it was now clear it was a matter of when, not if, they were going to be destroyed.

The archers shoot down the enemy riders, but the situation remains grim.

The Beastmen continued to disappoint, refusing another Wild Charge opportunity, while the Formorian leader left the remnants of the principii alone to hit the archers. (Note: Allowing this was an error on my part as it involved moving within 3" of the principii, although at this point such an error had no impact on the game's outcome). Unsurpisingly, the archers suffered horribly under the attack, losing 3 men. The sword armed Formorian adolescents charged into the Roman centurion, cutting down his remaining principii guard at no cost to themselves. The spear armed adolescents threw themselves at the principii who were now surrounded, but were driven back with one casualty by the grim faced legionaries.

Defeat is now certain, but the Romans courage somehow holds. They brace themselves to take as many as possible with them before they die.

Keen to end the defiant legionaries, the Formorian leader charged into them with his retinue, both  sides losing a strength point, before the Beastmen rushed in, finally having sorted out whatever had been distracting them. 

Eager to get back into the fight the Beastmen charge down the defiant principii.

The last principii was cut down, as his centurion was run down by the sword wielding adolescents, not even being able to take one with him in his final moments. The loss of their leader demoralised the Roman archers, who were then charged by the Formorian leader. Only one man survived the fight who then fled to the hills. 

With that, the last Roman unit was destroyed, a resounding victory for the Formorians. A couple of lessons came out of this game:

1) Remembering the 3" separation rule is critical, especially that it probably applies to friendly units too. We ignored this rule through a lot of the game (at least in part due to lesson 2). While this probably did not affect the outcome, it's something to watch out for.

2) The terrain was probably too close for fighting across the short edge. Either using long edges or less terrain would a) give units more space so the 3" separation rule would be usable and b) defang units that can fight better/at full effectiveness in rough terrain.

3) The unable to retreat rule is one of the most elegant ways I've seen to give a benefit to flanking in a game without unit facings. Its ability to cut units that are unable to retreat apart is an excellent reward for players who manage to put their opponents in such a bad position.

4) Not knowing what the enemy's special abilities are can be brutal. 

The last lesson in particular in this game was massively amplified by the failure on three successive crucial turns of the Romans to perform any orders. This allowed the Formorians to throw their heaviest forces at the two weakest Roman units and eliminate them without any real risk. From that point on, the game was always going to be an uphill struggle for the Romans. Despite that, everyone seemed to have fun, and the rules gave a fast paced and fun game.

Garzan surveyed the site of the battle, satisfied at the performance of his little waraband, even with the unfortunate loss of the Blood Raiders. Some of the mud-crawlers had been found alive, often wounded, and were now trussed up ready to be taken back to the warrens. Some would undoubtedly die on the journey, and if they knew what would happen to those that lived they would consider themselves the lucky ones.

The Beastmen were beginning to feast on the corpses of the slain, tearing into the flesh raw regardless of whether it was still clothed and armoured or not, barking and laughing loudly as they bragged about their exploits. His people were more civilised, and were making the fires to roast their feast prior to eating. 

Garzan walked to where he had seen the enemy leader with his distinctive helmet fall, stepping over the corpses of the tough enemy troops who had stood against his forces for far longer than he had expected. As they walked, he felt a hand grasp his leg and looked down to see one of the adolescents who had joined his band. He'd been stabbed twice, once in his leg and once in the stomach, and he was now holding in his innards. "Please" he whispered "help." Garzan wrenched his leg from the creature's hand, nodded to one of his guards, reminding himself he needed to find a new warrior worthy of taking his fallen comrade's place and walked on. 

The enemy leader's final expression was a mixture of fear and anger, lying in the field of his defeat, staring sightlessly into the sky. "If this is how well the mud-crawlers fight we will be able to take the whole dry place from them." said one of his guards, wiping the blood of the now dead adolescent from his blade. "A tempting idea" admitted Garzan. He took one more look at the dead mud-crawler, feeling a slight chill of trepidation run up his spine.

"Make sure our dead are given to the marsh." he said, a harsh tone creeping unbidden into his voice. "When the sky fire leaves the open space we make for home. Once our sacrifices have been given to the God of the Deep, then we can talk of defeating these creatures once and for all."  

Battle Report: The Battle of Ramla

A while back I got myself a copy of the rules Soldiers of God because the battle plan/card activation system sounded like a lot of fun and I figured I could adapt for my ancients collections. One quick playtest later I was hooked on the rules.

And then I remembered that I'd always wanted a medieval collection for the Crusader era ......

So after a few weeks of misery, painting and more misery I had a Saracen and Frankish army (without flags due to distractions and exhaustion) painted and ready to go. Rustling up some willing volunteers at work I put on a straight up fight for control of the town Ramla.

The armies stare each other down, the Crusaders to the west, the Fatimids to the east and the town of Ramla to the north.

The Crusaders had a defensive Hold the Line battle plan, giving them rally cards on their flanks and a loose card in the centre. Their army began with a morale rating of 23.

The Crusader right, two units of knights, one of three stands and the other with two, with a mounted men-at-arms unit of three stands in support (to the rear of the formation).

Centre battle, front to back two units of three stands of men-at-arms, two units of three stands of archers and a two stand unit of knights.

Right battle: Two stand unit of Holy Order Knights (Templars in this case), a four stand unit of mounted men-at-arms and a three stand unit of turcopole mercenaries.

The Fatimid army began with a highly aggressive All Out Attack plan, giving them the initiative for the first turn, with a charge order for the centre battle and march orders on the flanks. Their initial army morale was 19.

Saracen right battle, a four stand unit of Mamelukes, four stands of Horse Archers, three stand unit of Arab Tribal Horse, three stands of infantry and a three stand unit of archers.

Centre battle: Two four stand units of Mamelukes, a four stand unit of infantry and a three stand unit of Arab Tribal Horse.

Saracen Left: Two units of Horse Archers, one of two stands and another of three, a unit of Mamelukes, Infantry, Archers and Arab Tribal Cavalry, each with three stands.

The battle began with a general advance by the Saracens, on their right the four stand unit of horse archers made it as far as the town of Ramla in preparation to flank the Crusader left wing. Hampered by the lack of movement cards in the battle plan and some poor draws, the Crusader forces did very little beyond pushing their left wing forwards, minus the Turcopoles who were hit with a mercenary grievance special event by the Saracens.

Clouds of dust and sand rise as the battle begins with massed cavalry movement all along the Saracen line.

The next phases saw both sides push closer together, the Crusader left pushing towards the join between the centre and right battles of the Saracen forces, and the Crusader right moving towards the Saracen centre, while the Saracen left moved to outflank them. Once they were in range the Fatimids began to rain arrows on the Crusader forces, to little initial effect.

The disadvantages of not having missile weapons to hand begins to hit the Frankish forces as they enter bow range of the Fatimid forces, mostly in the form of arrows.

At this point, the Fatimid players used a special event to switch their battle plan, changing to a Harass and Advance order, giving the centre battle a March order card, and the two flanks Advance, Loose, Withdraw cards. Using these cards, they began to hammer the Crusader right especially, although in what would become a recurring theme some spectacular rolling resisted all lasting harm, while the centre withdrew out of charge range. Faced with an escaping foe to their front and fire coming in from their flank, the Frank's right battle turned to face the outflanking Saracens hoping to charge them down.

"Sir, the arrows appear to be having no effect. Well, except that they're now mad and coming this way."

On the left, the mounted men-at-arms took a battering from massed fire from the Mamelukes, archers and Horse Archers, but the Franks used a "God Wills It" special event to clear all the accumulated disorder and keep the unit fighting. While this was happening, the Fatimid centre battle's Arab Tribal Cavalry were pulled off the table for a flank march, aiming to appear behind the Crusader lines.

Before the Saracen left could stop it, the Crusader knights launched a charge, with the larger unit slamming into the Arab Tribal Cavalry, where appalling dice rolling saw them only inflict one point of disorder plus their bonus heavy cavalry charging point, while suffering one point themselves as they charged home due to galloping.

Somewhat less impressive results than intended by the knights sees them in a precarious position.

The Frankish attack had exposed their flank and the Saracen centre battle moved to exploit the opportunity, swinging around to line up a charge.

Determined to smash the infidels, Mameluke cavalry move in to smash the knights in the flank.

And without further ado, they charged into the knights, and immediately met the ridiculous resolve rolls of the Jerusalemites, meaning very little damage was caused, and the knights inflicted more damage on the Arab Tribal Cavalry in the fight, which was cancelled out by the use of  God is Great special event. A further round of combat saw the knights and Arab Tribal Cavalry take a point of damage apiece.

Outnumbered, but defiant, the knights fight on.

At the northern end of the battlefield, there was a lot of back and forth as the Saracens hammered the mounted men-at-arms with arrows and good rolling with the rally card removing the disorder before it became too much for the unit to cope with.

The next round of combat on the Saracen left saw the knight unit taking so much disorder they became disrupted, before an excellent roll on a rally card saw them return to action, although still in open order leaving them less effective in combat. Their return from the brink of being routed did not please the Fatimid players. On the plus side, the outflanking Arab Tribal Horse reappeared behind the Crusader right at the first opportunity. A champion from the knights in combat challenged the champion of the Mameluke unit they were in combat with, and dispatched him in a savage duel, although this eventuality didn't phase the rest of the Mamelukes.

Desperately rallying after taking a beating, the knights prepare to make a last stand taking as many of the infidels with them as they can.

"So we're behind them, now what was step two?"

The next round saw the Crusader right come under more pressure, while the Arab Tribal Cavalry executed a swift escape from the melee with the knights, the Mamelukes and their infantry supports inflicted four points of disorder on the knights, enough to rout them if that stayed the same at the end of the turn. The small knight unit managed to charge a unit of Mameluke, although in the fighting the Franks got the worse of it, while the mounted men-at-arms tried to run down the Horse Archers, getting several barrages of arrows for their pains.

Combat rages around the knights, while the men-at-arms begin to take a beating.

A good rally roll saw the three stand unit of knights come back from the brink, although they were still vulnerable, preventing a large hit to the Crusader morale. 

On the Fatimid right, concentrated arrow fire devastated the mounted men-at-arms, leaving them in complete disorder, while the Holy Order Knights slammed into the Mamelukes, inflicting significant harm, but not breaking them. More fighting at the southern end of the battlefield saw the large unit of knights take a hammering again. Both the left flank men-at-arms and the right flank knight unit routed at the end of the turn, causing the Crusader army morale to drop significantly, giving the Saracens the initiative for the first time after the opening round.

In the final turn, the Saracens poured missile fire, using two special event cards to get additional moves with their skirmish troops in addition to their normal fire, into a unit of archers from the Crusader centre battle and the mounted men-at-arms from the Crusader right. Both units shattered at the end of the turn, leaving the Crusader army on -2 morale, giving the game to the Saracens who had lost only a handful or morale points, but none to damage to units, only to special events and cards.

A hail of missile fire from all directions shatters the resolve of the mounted men-at-arms

The battlefield as the fight ends with the Franks beating a hasty retreat from the liberated town of Ramla.

All the players had a good time, even the Saracens who had faced significant frustrations with the astounding toughness of the Crusader troops, especially with added rally cards and some excellent dice rolls to keep them going, but eventually good tactics saw the Sarcens to victory.

Some lessons I think the game brought out:

1. Rally cards can make tough units incredibly hard to shift, knights and Holy Order Knights in particular.
2. Defensive battle plans without move card make it very hard to maneuver, which can hamper options for both sides. A highly mobile foe can easily use this to concentrate on part of your army.
3. Combat is a real card sink, between knocking off disorder and trying to keep units inflicting damage. 
4. Good tactics can overcome ridiculous dice rolls, mostly, which is (I think) a sign of a good rule set.

 This set of rules and figures will undoubtedly be back at some point.

Non fortunatam nocte

73BC Near Vesuvius

Spartacus' orders had been clear and simple enough. Of all the Roman forces approaching the hideout, one was clearly under the leadership of a superb officer. That man posed a serious threat, and to ensure the outnumbered gladiators and other escapees stood the slightest chance in the coming fight, that man had to die. Now Umbrus was leading a small party, ten men with another group guarding their backs against Roman patrols, to a small peasant farm to carry out those orders they seemed less simple and more suicidal. The dark night was playing tricks on his mind as he crept forward with his men, each slight clink of metal armour or weapons, each shifting rock or animal noise seemed deafening. Ahead, he could hear the crunching of hobnailed sandals on gravel as the Roman sentries paced about. He nodded to Silas, who led his small team off to the east, the plan being to hit the farm from two ends. It had been a long time since Umbrus had fought against the legions, and now he would have his revenge on the nation that had taken everything from him.

The Scenario

After a quick playtest with my Dad over Christmas of his gift from yours truly, Osprey's new Black Ops rules, I had to get myself a copy for the stealth rules alone. This duly done, I set about devising a game to make best use of them with my current collections (although I won't rule out getting some ultra-modern or sci-fi special forces and foes at some point). The game is set in the immediate aftermath of Spartacus' escape as he is first gathering a following. Romans are closing in and one particularly capable officer has been targeted for removal by the gladiators. While the stealth rules will be those from Black Ops, the combat will be run via the rules from Osprey's Ronin (with the Gladius supplement)

The Romans were set up encamped in a small farm, with the officer, one Lucius Vorenus, a centurion acting as a prefect for the city of Capua, his trusty sidekick Titus Pullo (thanks to Warlord Games handy character models), leading a force of 12 local militia and 4 veteran triarii. Eight of the militia would form the sentries, the rest of the troops were sleeping in the farm buildings. The milita were Level 2 troops, with Medium Armour, swords and shields, while the veterans were level 3, armed with spear, sword and shield, with heavy armour and the attribute "Intuition" giving them an extra defense token each combat round, given these guys would have come through some pretty tough fighting in the civil wars immediately preceding the Spartacan revolt they must have had a solid survival instinct.

The farmstead at the heart of the action prior to the arrival of the Romans, looking east. The gladiators entered the playing area from the north (left)

The gladiator assassination squad consisted of 10 individuals. The first group consisted of Umbrus, a level 5 champion, armed with a trident with the powerful, fast and acrobatic attributes, Hyspax, a level 2 Hoplomachus armed with spear and shield, Xilus, a level 3 Dimachaerius with the fast attribute, armed with two swords, Bomilcar the level 3 Secutor with the powerful attribute armed with spear and shield and Scylax the level 3 Retiarius with his traditional trident and net and trident mastery as his attribute. The second group was two led by Silas the level 4 Crupellarius, armed with sword and shield, wrapped up in heavy armour with the Intuition and tough attributes, Corvus the Thracian, level 4 with sword and shield, with sword mastery and powerful attributes, Vestus the Murmillo, level 2 with sword and shield, Garrus the level 3 Secutor with sword mastery and Silo the Provocatore with sword and shield.

The Game

The farm was close, so Umbrus signaled the group to leave the track they were on before they were spotted. Bomilcar followed him off to the east, heading behind some scrub and a hedgerow, while Xilus lead the other two of his team to the west of the track into the marshy area. The Roman sentries could be heard ahead, they were far enough off that they couldn't see the approaching gladiators, but it felt like there were several heading in his general direction. Umbrus hoped the interest the Romans were showing in this end of the village would clear Silas' route into the village.

As quietly as they could, Bomilcar and Umbrus clambered over the hedgerow into a field, slipping out of view of Xilus and his two companions. Scylax cursed softly as he slipped in the marsh, seeming to draw the attention of a pair of militia who advanced on their position. Xilus was certain they'd been spotted, and he waved his men forward, hoping Silas and his team were on schedule and hitting the farm from the east. He and his men burst from cover, startling the sentries who began to call for help. Xilus grimaced as he, Scylax and Hyspax formed up opposite the two Romans as he saw a third militiaman rushing to their aid. As the men sized each other up, just for a moment Xilus though he heard the sound of fighting.

Roman sentries are surprised by the sudden appearance of gladiators from the marshes.

Silas could only watch as the rest of his group began to outpace him. Even flat out, the weight of his armour was slowing him enough they could outpace him and get ahead. They were advancing up the eastern edge of the fields north of the farm. Corvus had reached the corner and glanced up the track into the farm. "Two sentries coming this way." he hissed "Don't look like they know we're here." Silas nodded. If those sentries came much closer, chances were they'd spot them and the advantage of surprise would be lost. "Take them." he whispered. With that, the entire group rushed out from the hedgerow, pouncing on the terrified looking Romans. Silo and Garrus caught the nearer Roman, as he turned to face Silo, Garrus stabbed over the Roman's shield, slicing into his neck and felling him instantly.

Silas' team rush two hapless militiamen, cutting one down in a heartbeat.

Silas snarled, unable to reach any enemy, but pleased to see his men were doing well. He watched as the second militia soldier faced off with Vestus and Corvus, terror was etched on the Roman's face, but he clearly wasn't going to back down. As Vestus closed on the soldier, the Roman feinted low and Vestus' dropped his shield just as the Roman reversed his swing.

The Roman's swing (those are 6s)

Vestus' block.

With his shield in the wrong place, Vestus was next to defenseless as the sword sliced through his arm just below the shoulder, nearly severing it before carving into his neck. Vestus dropped like a stone, leaving Silas almost as stunned as the militia soldier. Corvus avenged his comrade moments later with a thrust into the Roman's guts. He went down screaming, leaving the gladiators free to seek out fresh blood.

At the cost of Vestus, the gladiators cut down the first pair of Romans they come to grips with.

Ahead a pair of Roman sentries had reacted to the sudden assault by rushing to form up, presumably as their basic training kicked in, but their two person shieldwall looked almost tragic and far too good a target for Corvus to pass up. Heedless of the risk, he charged the pair of them alone, with Silas and the rest trailing behind him. He slammed into the shields, knocking the Romans off balance, before fending off their attacks, snatching a fleeting opening in his opponents' defense to get in a strike that drew blood.

Corvus clashes with a pair of militia, getting the upper hand despite being outnumbered.

The sound of steel on steel and screams reached Xilus, convincing him that Silas' men had engaged the Romans. Knowing Bomilcar and Umbrus would be sneaking towards the farm buildings, he needed to keep the nearby sentries' attention fixed away from the fields. With a roar he and his two companions charged the three sentries.

Xilus, Scylax and Hyspax clash with three Roman sentries to the west of the farm.

Hyspax tried to use the reach of his spear to strike his opponent before the Roman could get in range to use his sword and was rewarded with a slash across his forearm for his trouble. Stung, he made a more measured attack, outwitting the Roman who took the spear through his hip, the strike was angled up to emerge from his lower back just below the rib cage. The Roman fell back and Hyspax placed his boot on the Roman's chest to help lever the spear free. Scylax used the prongs of the trident to trap the next Roman's sword, before twisting to rip it out of it's owner's grip. In desperation, the Roman slammed his shield into Scylax's foot. The pain seemed only to enrage the Retiarius, and two quick thrusts later and the Roman's thigh was ripped open and his flank was punctured, leaving him in a heap on the ground, bleeding profusely as his lungs slowly filled with blood. The final Roman fended off Xilus, taking a flesh wound but managing to stay alive.

The town militia prove inadequate to the task at hand, and pay for it with their lives.

Silas felt like things were going their way, when suddenly he heard the cry going up "To arms! Intruders!" from the buildings. The doors burst open and Roman troops rushed out. Some were militia like the men they'd been fighting already, but others were clearly better armed and equipped, older and tougher looking. One he caught a glimpse of was clearly a brawler, a legionary and the final man he saw emerging was an officer, his transverse crested helmet identifying him clearly. Their target was at hand, but he was out of reach, standing in the door to the large farm building beyond two of the Roman spearmen. Two of the veteran looking Romans joined the two militia fighting Corvus, surrounding him, while Silas found himself being rushed by three militia. In a vicious melee of blows and blocks, Silas fended off the militia, not having enough time to inflict any real harm, but Corvus could not stand against the veterans coming at him, taking a spear thrust through the chest and falling, spitting blood into his killer's face as he fell.

Romans rush the gladiators as they emerge from their quarters, the sudden assault costing Corvus his life.

Xilus heard the arrival of the Roman reinforcements as he blocked a blow from the militia soldier he was fighting, enjoying the look of surprise that passed over the man's face as Scylax's trident appeared in his stomach. A savage twist before it was wrenched clear left the man curled up on the floor trying to hold his innards in. Knowing he was no longer a threat, and seeing their comrades needing their aid, Xilus led his men towards the fighting, seeing Bomilcar storm towards the Romans from the field, while Umbrus tried the farm's side door and slipped inside. Ahead, Silas and his surviving comrades turned on the militia emerging from the smaller farm building, squaring off. With almost disdainful ease, Garrus parried a poorly executed blow, before delivering a strike on the withdrawing sword arm of his opponent, cutting it off. The man fell away, curling up to protect himself from a finishing blow even as he tried to stem the flow of blood from ruined limb. Garrus didn't even pause before stabbing the helpless man just under the shoulder blade. Silo fended off his opponent, leaving a small slash on the man's shin that was sure to slow him down, while Silas failed to inflict a telling blow on his target, although his heavy armour protected him from any harm.

An unholy mess of a melee dominates the farm, leaving the dead littering the ground, while the wounded and dying try to drag themselves clear.

Umbrus rushed through the farm building, knocking aside the jumbles of gear the Romans had left scattered about, aiming to get to grips with the Roman officer who was standing in the door ahead of him. At the last second the Roman turned and faced him and they began to spar. To the right, Umbrus was aware of Xilus and his men smashing into a ragged line of militia and the veterans, joined by Bomilcar, while ahead Silus, Silo and Garrus faced more Romans, both Silo and Silus taking on two apiece. Silo managed to hold off the two militia he faced, doing better than Umbrus had ever expected of him.

The rookie gladiator holds off two Romans, buying time for his compatriots to achieve their objective.

To the right, Scylax cut down by the Romans, while Xilus managed to overwhelm one of the militia and put him out of action. In the central melee, Umbrus saw Garrus take a spear through his knee, leaving him unable to fight. A second blow, delivered with the haft to the side of his head, knocked him unconscious. Umbrus realised that if Garrus was luckless enough to survive the fight, only a cross awaited him. The fleeting distraction this thought provoked proved costly, as the Roman centurion found an opening and smashed his shield into Umbrus' arm, the pain from the impact slowing his ability to move it. Fortunately, the Roman caught his shield on the door frame, leaving just enough of an opening for Umbrus to catch him with a blow from his trident, only a small cut, but a start, probably bringing them back to an even footing. Beyond his personal duel, Umbrus caught a glimpse of Silas, surrounded by four Romans, getting a gladius thrust between his shoulder armour and his helmet, leaving his head hanging at a crazy angle. Not content with cutting down one opponent, the tough looking legionary who had killed Silas then turned and attacked Silo, inflicting a savage blow across his back.

Defiant to the last, Silas goes down amid a scrum of Roman blades

The gladiators were finding themselves increasingly outnumbered, as more of their number fell. Silo was surrounded by four Romans, while Xilus and Hyspax, toiling with wounds already suffered, were felled in quick succession. Bomilcar took a powerful blow, a large cut across his ribs. Silo was cut down in a flurry of blows, never having a chance to strike out before he died. Umbrus faced the Roman officer, the restriction provided by the doorway preventing nearby Romans assisting him. Not that he seemed to need assistance, as he stabbed Umbrus' thigh just below the hip. Umbrus dropped to one knee, realising he would now never be able to escape.

Silo goes down against overwhelming odds.

The Roman officer clearly was thinking the same way, and he prepared to deliver the final blow to Umbrus. Drawing back his sword, his shield moved slightly, but it was all the gap Umbrus needed, he struck hard with his trident, punching through the man's chainmail, puncturing his lungs. With a shocked expression, the man fell away, into the melee outside.

Despite his wounds, Umbrus manages to fell the Roman prefect, snatching victory even as the gladiators are being massacred by the Romans.

 Fully aware that he was going to bleed to death from his wound, Umbrus dragged himself deeper into the building. Outside he heard the arrival of a Roman column, screaming as the last gladiators outside were caught, overwhelmed and massacred. After the fighting died away, he heard more screams as the Romans cut apart the wounded gladiators scattered about the farm. From his dark corner, Umbrus saw the hated sight to Roman crests as the men stormed into the building, and then a flash of steel.

Results

With the death of the Roman prefect, the game was a victory for the gladiators, although given the death of almost the entire force before that happened, and the near certain death of the two survivors, it was very much a Pyrrhic victory. The Romans would certainly not be bragging of the nights events, with most of the militia having been killed. The loss of Vorenus and the determination shown by the gladiators would not have done the morale of the force any good, giving the gladiators an edge in the coming battle.

Everyone who was playing had a lot of fun, both with the stealth section of the game and the main fight. Both sides had a good shot at winning up to the last turn, and the victory snatched from the jaws of defeat was a good end to a fun game, worthy of the best Spartacus film or TV adaptions.