Hail Caesar Fantasy AAR - Trial Game

Last Friday we met at the THS-Headquarter which has been native to Kalle's basement since 1998. With the large game on Good Friday coming we played a smaller game of Hail Caesar Fantasy with three divisions on either side of the 3,0m x 1,50m gaming table. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring my camera this time so I took some pictures with my cellphone only. However they turned out not as bad as I feared...

On our side a force of imperial men (Holger), stoic dwarves (Heinz) and grim Bretonnians (me) gathered to face sneaky goblins (Kalle and Georg), brutal orcs (Robert) and cold-blooded lizardmen (Axel).

My brave Bretonnians with my fellow generals Heinz and Holger in the background.

After a short view on the terrain the dwarves took the center position while the imperial men gathered on the left wing. Therefore I had to place my bold knights on the right flank where the terrain wasn't ideal for cavalry because part of it was filled with hedges and other obstacles. However I was confident to master this challenge since the opposition I was facing consisted of orc skirmishers and rather light armoured lizardmen.Obviously our opponents wanted to bind my heavy cavalry with light troops to buy their heavier troops in the center some time...

Past a few turns of approach the game arose to a fast and heavy exchange of blows. The goblins rushed forward on their right flank and some wolfriders clashed into the imperial knights. Those resisted and threw back the villainous greenskins. Then in steady pace the whole division countercharged and secured our left wing.

The Empire strikes back... The knights forming the spearhead and the infantry following to secure our left wing.

The center was more hard-fought. While Robert drove his orcs forward in a fierce charge on the dwarvish center, Axel sent two units of Saurus infantry to his support. Thereby my flank was only lightly guarded by some archers, skirmishers and two units of light and medium cavalry. But they tried to hide between the hedges and the fields.

Kalle is directing his fellow villains. Meanwhile there are some lizardmen and orcs sneaking around at my flank.

Nevertheless I wanted to bring my division into contact and galloped towards the enemies. The first unit which fell under the hooves of my warhorses was the saurus cavalry. They attempted to charge my light cavalry but failed. So their flank was wide open and the combined power of two units of knights swept them away. Afterwards those brave knights turned around and aimed for the center of the battlefield to support the besieged dwarves.

Axel's unlucky saurus cavalry awaiting their downfall...

Meanwhile the other knights weren't that successful. Although they won their battle they failed to break the orcish archers. These bowlegged creatures fled and gathered behind the hedges to shoot perfidiously at the succeeding knights which were tenderly slowed down by the obstacles in their way. The last unit of knights chased the skirmishers but they where able to evade more than once.

Finally the battle was decided in the center. The dwarves held out long enough to let my close the ranks. With some luck I rolled three action for two of my knight units and so they were able to clash into the backmost unit of Robert's boar riders to shatter them. Simultaneously Heinz's dwarves broke the front unit of them with heavy dwarvis infantry. During the same turn some of my yeoman rushed through the wooded area and charged the lizardmen artillery which was stationed their. After some heavy fighting they overcame the saurians and now threatened the rear of the viallains' attack formation. The day was ours!

My yeomen attacking the lizardmen artillery. In the background you see the last efforts to break the dwarvish defense.

So after the divisions started to break we finished our game and agreed that it was a good and lucky day for the coalition of dwarves and men. A good omen for the battle on the field of Kutteln which will be fought on the 29th day of March in 2013 AD.