Jacet Sepultus

Southern Gaul, 147 BCE

The smell of the burning enemy stronghold’s buildings and fields and the screams of the barbarians suffering their just end hung heavy in the air, or at least that would be what the report to the Senate would say. Truthfully, the three farm hamlet that was burning was no stronghold, and the ‘rebels’ had mustered perhaps ten men, only one of whom had a real weapon, the rest wielding farm implements. Now the survivors were nailed to cross, some still had the energy to scream, the rest were moaning softly as Gaius Portius Carbo marched past, summoned by the praetor.

It was clear that something was not right as he marched into the tent’s secluded rear compartment, the praetor looked impatient, a strange man wearing a hooded cloak and a mask across his face waited in the corner, and on a table was a sack full of something. “Centurion, we have a task for you. You are being asked to volunteer, succeed and you will be greatly rewarded, but we cannot reveal the nature of your task until you do volunteer and swear yourself to secrecy. Naturally, this task will be dangerous.” With the current Primus Pilus due to retire soon, Gaius felt he couldn’t turn down a chance to ingratiate himself with the upper ranks. “I’ll do it sir.” he said “What is it you require?”

The first thing they asked of him was to swear a fearful oath binding him to secrecy. With that complete he faced the two men. “The massacre of the tax collecting party we are here to punish the locals for” the praetor began “was not in fact carried out by the locals. It was carried out by… another… group of barbarians.”

The masked man stepped forward “The enemy massacred the party they ran into and barely lost anyone in the process. As will become clear, when it comes to facing them in battle we will need to have every advantage to overcome the morale disadvantage, especially given our first encounter.”

“Our masked friend here speaks true. He has located the burial ground of a legendary spear, one said to be able to slay any of the foe with the slightest graze. You will take a small party and retrieve it.” Gaius was, to say the least, confused. Roman legionaries feared no barbarian. “What is so special about these barbarians that they warrant such concern?” he asked.

The masked man upended the sack, and some heads spilled out, twisted featured, pointed ears, one with horns like an ox. “These barbarians are monsters Centurion, not men.” the masked man said needlessly. “This legendary spear may be the critical weapon in our fight against them.”

“You are to retrieve the weapon and bring it back, under no circumstances are you to attempt to use it. We do not know what power it has, nor if rituals are needed to wield it. The priests will attend to that when you return. Pick your team, take only those you feel to be most reliable and the bravest, if the enemy learn of our intent you may have to face these horrors.” 

The Warrens

Garzan was sitting on his throne as Sargessir Blood Bound approached him, consternation writ large across his face. The seer was standing by his side, looking as tranquil as ever. “Sargessir, I have a task for you.” Garzan said. “The mud-crawlers we defeated on our last raid, the seer has seen them plotting revenge, and their leaders claim to have located a spear.”

“A spear, said to be able to slay any of our kind with the slightest touch.” the seer joined in the conversation. “A weapon they claim will enable them to destroy us.”

“I have never heard of such a weapon.” Sargessir said.

“Do you not remember the old tales, our ancestors were driven from the dry lands, and the mud-crawlers came into our warrens and scorched them. Perhaps this weapon was involved in that war.” Garzan replied. “Regardless, they believe it will be useful, so we must deny it to them. Take a warband, retrieve that spear. Kill any mud-crawlers you encounter.”

As a follow up to a previous game where the Romans were utterly smashed by a Formorian raiding band we recently played a game of Broken Legions at the office. This game pitted a small band of Romans tasked with retrieving a legendary spear against a Formorian band sent to stop them (using the Barbarian faction list) in the Shrine of the Ancients scenario. The forces consisted of:

Romans 152 points:

1 x Centurion with Tower Shield
1 x Frumentarius (Spy) with Light Armour
3 x Legionary
1 x Legionary with Spear
1 x Praetorian [Side note, since this is a Republican era game we called him a picked Principius]
2 x Numerii

Formorians 152 points:

1 x Tribal Chieftan with Battleaxe
1 x Tribal Champion with Battleaxe
3 x Warrior with Celtic Lance
2 x Warrior 
1 x Beserker with Warpaint
1 x Druid with Familiar and Arrow Warding
1 x Huntsman

The legendary spear was said to be buried in a stone circle, and both bands convered on it (and the two additional objectives in play).

A half forgotten stone circle is about to become the centre of attention.

The Roman party advances towards the stone circle, braced for the horrors awaiting them.

The horrors await, aiming to frustrate the Roman attempt to retrieve the spear.

In the first turn, the Romans moved their spy into sight of Grawl, the Beastman beserker, aiming to lure him out into sight of their two archers. Overcome with bloodlust, Grawl duly obliged and stormed ahead of the other Formorians as they moved into the nearby woods containing one of the objective shrines.

The enemy are sighted.

The Formorians move into the woods to shelter from the threat of the Roman archers, leaving Grawl to face them alone

With the main Formorian force in the woods, the Romans shifted to face down the onrushing beserker, knocking off one of his hit points with archery, while the Formorians pushed towards the stone circle. Grawl charged rapidly at the two archers, getting rather too close for the comfort of the Romans. 

Don't stand there, keep shooting!

Formorians start to swarm the stone circle.

 Grawl's lone charge allowed him to reach the archers, his warpaint allowing him to shrug off another arrow on the way in. Unfortunately, as he was unsupported, the Romans were easily able to swarm around him and before he could strike a blow he was cut down. 

Defiant, but defeated, Grawl falls in a flurry of blows.

The Formorians meanwhile were massing on the far side of the stone circle, aiming to fall upon the Romans.

Formorians await the order to charge.

Recovering from the fight with Grawl, the Romans rapidly rebuilt their shieldwall, felling a Formorian warrior with arrows as they did, while the Formorians moved across the stone circle, ready to strike at their foe. 

Training, discipline and pointy things, the barbarian killing trinity in action

 

The Formorians swarm forward, siezing control of the stone circle containing the legendary spear.

The next turn saw the action reach a climax. The Formorians edged closer, preparing to rush the Romans in the following turn, only to be surprised by a Roman attack which isolated and cut apart two more of their warriors, while another fell to arrow fire. 

A space opens between the two sides as Formorian warriors are cut down by the Roman legionaries who can sense victory is at hand

The final turn we had time for saw the Formorian priest entreat their God of the Deep, gaining a bonus Fate point for all the Formorian heroes, which they put to good use in the ensuing combat rounds to prevent any harm coming to them. Unfortunately for the monsters, being outnumbered, they were unable to inflict any harm upon the Romans by way of reply. 

The clash of weapons finally heralds the full engagement of both sides.

At this point it was getting late, and, heavily outnumbered, the Formorian players conceeded, leaving the Romans with a decisive victory. Only their spy came close to harm, having been shot at and having to use a fate point to avoid taking a wound. The rules were easy to pick up the basics of and kept the game interesting, although our unfamiliarity with them probably prevented us using the various abilities in the most advantageous way, but we'll try better in future games.  

Garzan Thrice Cut was, to put it mildly, apoplectic with rage when Sargessir met him at the campsite. He had brought a raiding force on the assumption with the cursed spear safely out of human hands he could pillage the land at will and drive the mud-crawlers back to their homeland. After he had calmed himself by tearing apart a captive with his bare hands, Garzan turned to his cowering underling. 

"We will retrieve that weapon, and you will bring it to me yourself or die in the attempt." he snarled.   

A few things seemed to be highlighted in the game that we found either odd or confusing. Firstly, Roman Legionaries are really tough, easily comparable to some hero classes (like Tribal Champions). Given the Formorians were never in a position to use their numbers to their advantage, this really hurt. 

Secondly, massing for a charge or similar is very hard, and given the advantages that it conveys this can severely hamper a side. Again in this game, this hurt the Formorians the most. I suspect this is more of a familiarity and implementation issue than a rule one, and will hopefully lessen in future games.

Heavy weapons seem more of a liability than a benefit. The minor damage bonus seems vastly offset by the loss of agility, particularly if the defenders can bring any allies charging into a fight. Maybe it's a case of using them better, but I might well aim to use them less often. 

Finally, the Shieldwall rule is a bit confusing, and open to some generous interpretations. I'm probably going to house rule out some of the more obvious exploits before any future game.

Despite these quibbles, everyone had a good time, even if there were some glum faces among the Formorians towards the end. With the legendary spear in Roman hands, it now remains only to see what the Formorian response will be, and what game that will result in next.     

The Romans were mostly Warlord Games, with the triarii coming from the Crusader Miniatures range, while the Formorians come from the Brigade Models Celtos range.