Last night three of us got together for our routine Dux game. Rather than getting through a full month, we instead carried on with a raid that was a result of some clever politicking by Nate. Grontoft, to the north, had earlier been paid tribute to Nate, and the Rovian warrior societies were unhappy and agitating against the leadership of the province. So, after some negotiating, the deal was struck. Nate would wipe out the leadership of the warrior societies and if he did so, would take the land, protect it from the gobblins, and leave the leadership of the province below him intact.

The rumours sent out before we met up confirmed the location and also gave an idea of what the rest of the month would give:

Grontoft
– There have been leadership disputes
– Large number of levies being called up (which is atypical) as many warrior societies have moved south to a town called Mahlen
Greenwood
– Gobblins have been seen moving in the wood but the recent rains have driven them deeper into the wood
Markadal
– Horsemen seen moving south to raid Wegrik
– An envoy from the Unconquered City has arrived with a few guards to discuss something
Athramere
– Is having a large fair. Its troops are protecting travellers to and from the fair.
Olin Dashi
– has a new war leader eager to prove himself in battle. He is, by all accounts, young and seeks glory

The Fight

This fight was interesting and showed some issues with Dux Britanniarum ruleset so most of my time was taken up looking up rules and making rulings. This was exacerbated by me misplacing my good camera so there will be only 1 picture for this one.

The Iron Band arrived in force, leaving only a few levies and their cavalry back to guard their home. The warrior societies set up behind a stout fence in the fields, and guarding the gap in the old walls of the farm. Cavalry faced out towards the woods, but no forces were obvious there. As the Iron Band moved up, they saw undead in the woods and decided to hit the Rovians head on.

Forming their troops into larger formations, the Iron Band moved forward across the front, and here is where we saw some issues. Matt’s Rovian cavalry rode out to get around the advancing forces. Under the rules, it’s impossible to charge cavalry with infantry unless you use a Carpe Diem card. But, if you approach within 4″, you can effectively lock down the cavalry. This means that the cavalry cannot move, and can only sit there or attack. While this 4″ zone of control makes sense when dealing with infantry, the ruleset doesn’t mention cavalry.

Matt negated this discussion by charging out from behind the fence into Nate’s Iron Band forces at the same time that Nate attempted to make it through the broken wall. Here the fight bogged down. Matt lost troops but put so much shock on Nate’s elites that the dice were even. Eventually Matt’s Rovian warriors recoiled from the violence and the blood and Nate was free to concentrate on the other fight.

There, beyond the fence, Matt threw first 2 units, and then a fresh one at Nate’s line, again trading casualties for shock, but this time forcing 2 of Nate’s units off the table before rushing back to cover for the final assault.

Arrows first, then fighting along the fence. At the end, every Rovian warrior-society fighter was dead. Nate lost 17 dead across his units, so will take 3 month to get them all back, but he has kept his word and taken out the Warrior Societies in Grontoft. Now he has to keep both lands safe with his depleted forces.

Another issue with the rules as written, is that shieldwall is more effective for the warriors than for the elites. Warriors are killed on a 5-6 on a d6. Elites on a 6. Formations in shieldwall ignore the first kill of each round. Warriors are twice as likely to receive a kill, and so receive a greater benefit from the formation. It seems that Dux was a great idea (it is elegant in most things) but wasn’t play-tested as well as the other Too Fat Lardies rules (of which I am very fond). What shall we do? Well, we have played Hail Caesar before, but found the game unsuitable for smaller battles and skirmishes. We do have the Shieldwall modifications, and may try that out in the coming weeks (life has meant that the next Dux fight will be in about 2 weeks). If that doesn’t work, we’ll house rule this thing for cavalry, shieldwalls, etc.