Dux Bellorum: The Battle of Mount Hardon

The Roman General Quilpius Claudus, named Lame Quilpius after his unfortunate encounter with Pictish chariotry, fought the next rung of the ladder campaign on Ermine Street.  Seeing yet another hilltop defence in progress, and as the resident Saxon Warlord, I enquired of our Roman adversaries if this was Mount Badon.  Turns out I got one syllable wrong!

The Romans had attempted to ambush us.  They had also entrusted some of their precious points to fielding a unit of mercenary fanatics.  These were the new Pictish King's brother and his warband, and to be quite honest, they looked unhappy, lurking behind a Roman army.

The Pictish Saxon Alliance tried using Monks as our strategem.  Given that the Picts had a larger and more mixed force, the Pictish King, Norris Dewar McWhirter took the extra Leadership Points (or cows as he quaintly calls them.)


As a Saxon my tactics are restricted to punching the enemy on the nose, so probably not too useful for me. 

The Saxon line advances as the Romans repeat that hilltop trick.

On the crest line, they look pretty impressive.

Behind that hill there is some Roman dithering going on.

The Picts see that big marsh and have the urge to get muddy.  The Romans actually begin to reverse

Those Picts look pretty snazzy.

I do have some questions about where the Pictish Commander was off to in that chariot. 

Jarl Skvirt read the rules wrong again, got too close to the Romans hilltop trick (again) and launched himself against that hill.  Those shields lead me to believe that this unit is the Manus Gothica or "Jazz hands."

Iammius Gittus attempts to move the Britannia Hesitatus down the hill, nearer to the Saxons.  They refuse!  

The Saxons begin infiltrating through the woods

The Picts join the fight at the hill.

Once again I must ask, where was old Norris going in that chariot?

The Romans day begins to go badly.  The Picts use those extra LPS to manoeuvre on the flank.

The Saxons come raging out of the woods in high dudgeon because I mis-read the rules again and my trickery tactics failed.   Pushed back by the X rated legion. 

The claw of Quilpius lays an LPS down.  Interestingly "The Claw of Quilpius" is the name of a novel by English Mystery Writer Agatha Marbles.   Turns out the Butler did it.

The Saxon Revenge begins!  The fanatics are destroyed by the Vankguard in one round of fighting.  The Pictish King's rival is killed.  King Tossa leads his warbands through the woods to get at the Romans.

And the centre is unmoved, still a points soak.

The Saxons play "Ignore the Huns."  Here we also have the arm of Quilpius.  Interestingly this too was an Agatha Marbles novel, but failed to sell, mainly due to the fact that the butler did it this time too.  

The Jazz Hands manage a push back, and the Hesitatus get into a fight.

The Picts begin to swarm the right flank.

And here we must pause, for a trip to the pub, and a "how's it going" discussion.  The troops were left in situ.  
If the forces of Barbarism win there has been some discussion of burning the Quilpius Miniature in an on table wicker man, and damn the fire regulations!