Hail Caesar Fantasy - Siege of Kuttel

Within part 1 (here) and part 2 (here) of my Good Friday AAR triology I presented the battle on the fields of Kuttel. As you might remember the allied forces of men and elves were able to stop the hordes of united villains who tried to set the finishing blow to the besieged city of Kuttel. Although we were not able to destroy their forces we blocked the way to Kuttel long enough to relieve the defeding garrison and the greenskins and the comrades were forced to retreat.

While this epic struggle happend nearby the garrison of Kuttel had to overcome the fierce attack in front of the walls of Kuttel. Only inadequately equipped to hold the walls the brave dwarves and halflings under command of Bernhard, Mark and Liam decided to meet their foes at the banks of the "Mäusefluss" (Mice River) to fend the united hordes of undead (Carsten), lizardmen (Axel) and beastmen (Georg) off.

The battlefield on the banks of the Mäusefluss. In the background the fortified city of Kuttel.

After the initial deployment on either side of the battlefield the dwarves moved slightly forward to enhance their defensive position. They dragged their artillery pieces to points with good overview of the battlefield and sent out their handgunners to overwatch the fields and the swamps in the center.

The battle is unfolding...

Meanwhile the beastmen were unusually hesitant. They dropped back on the left wing of their army while the lizardmen in the center bolted into their natural living environment and prepared a massive attack through the swamps. The undead advanced on the right flank and did their very best to browbeat their dwarvish opponents.

The cold-blooded lizardmen infiltrating the swampy area. (pictures provided by Axel)

First blood was shed in the center of the battlefield. After some well-aimed handgun volleys the dwarves produced their swords and axes and knocked off the first charges. While the lizardmen fell back to regroup the undead tried to break the defenders' left flank to coil up their battle line.

The dwarves readjust their formation to take the attack.

But the well trained dwarves and the lion-hearted halflings reformed quick enough and were prepared when the wavering hordes of rattling skeletons came in. They closed their ranks and condensed their untis that much that the fiends bounded off.

Meanwhile it became late on the near Kuttel and the sun sank outside our marvellous gaming location. On the field of honour itself the dwarves and halflings had suffered losses but had been rather in rather good shape still. The attackers on the other hand had suffered more than just a bleeding nose. The lirardmen as well as the undead had suffered severely but the beastmen were nearly fresh since they "executed the rearguard" for some time during the battle.

However the situation for the defenders seemed to be solid but not secure. So the commanders agreed to end the game as a draw on the battlefield but a success for the defence of Kuttel of course. A pleasant ending for a great game as all generals attested.

Bernhard, Mark, Liam Georg and Axel discussing the final situation.

So both games on this epic day ended with a draw but stratagically the alliance of men, elves, dwarves and halflings held the city of Kuttel and forced the united hordes to withdraw.

I hope you enjoyed the AARs of that day and got a feeling how much we enjoyed the great games.

Next week I'll return to less epic topics. First of all I'll be proud to present my finished french retreaters which I clumsyly converted from Victrix plastics (you might remember those pictures here). Later during the week I might be able to show you some AWI scots if I manage to finish them. However I'm on a good way...

Hail Caesar Fantasy - Battle on the Fields of Kuttel - Part 2

Finally here comes the second part of my AAR about the battle on the Fields of Kuttel (part 1 here). As you might remember the two armies were set up and ready to engage when hunger overwhelmed the generals.

So after lunch break we were ready to readopt combat operations:

Evolution after lunch
The line of the allied forces of men and elves stood firmly. On the outer right flank Holger lead his handgunners into the dense terrain of fields and took position behind one of the stonewalls. Additionally he formed a firing line with his second division to secure our right flank. It was one of our fundamental ideas that he had to withstand the wild charges of the savage orcs to give me time to attack on the left flank with my fast and furious knights.

Imperial men behind the stonewall.

Firing line on our far right.

Savage orcs on boars and mammoths.

Knights advancing (picture provided by Axel).

Meanwhile I ordered my knights to the top of the hill carefully estimating the speed and range of their orcish enemies since their large warbands of snarling green monsters impressed my slightly...

However while the dark elves held their center the united villains tried to rush forward. But this time luck was with us. The wild orcs managed a small progress only and on my flank one of Kalle's divisions was affected by a blunder he rolled. The orcs and trolls on their outside flank left the battlefield and opened an excellent corridor for my attack.

While I rolled up my sleeves and prepared for attack Holger unleashed deadly fire on the savage orcs. While several of Robert's units suffert minor casualties a large warband broke and fled for good.

Robert removing the broken warband.

Heinz and his elves were steady in the center and were engaged in some kind of ranged combat with their dark brothers.

So the knights' finest hour arrived. For units of knights rushed over the hill with the tremendous speed of pure-bread warhorses. Two units were fast enough to turn in and catch the goblin wolf riders in their right flank. The greenskins reform hastily and turn their front to their approaching fate. But they weren't able to use their long Kontos lances and were entirely crushed. Yet that didn't slow down the impact of bretonnian knighthood. The noblemen dashed further on and reached a unit of boar riding orcs. Reforming as hastily as their comrades in arms they met the same fate. Having destroyed two enemy units I ordered the knights to regroup and pivot to await the returning orcs and trolls from the left. However this round of combat was top-notch for me and my knights!

The enemy cavarly doomed to fall under the hooves of my noble knights.

Despite the succesful turn for us allies the united villains weren't beaten yet. After a much better command phase they managed to stabilize their right flank with Kalle's reappearing division and build up severe danger for my knights who might have hurried ahead a bit too far. With the my second division pressing from behind it became really narrow on top of the hill and the orcs had the important tactical advantage of space to manoevre.

The orcs reappearing while my knigths were crowded on the hill.

Meanwhile the elvish forces in the center were only seperated by a narrow strip of lawn and exchanged bolts and arrows over a small hedgerow. Both sides took casualties but none of their units broke until three units of bretonnian longbowmen swung in and sent a cloud of arrows to the unlicky unit of dark elvish corsairs in the corner of the hedherows. The combined firepower of those peasants and the elven archers at their side was enough to diffuse the raiders.

The two elvish battlelines severely affected by enemy fire. Observe the free space beyond the second bolt thrower were the corsairs broke.

Unfortunately it was getting later and later while both armys exchanged blow after blow and none of the armies faltered. Although we reached some success in earlier turns we weren't able to lead the decisive blow against the united villains. On the other hands their forces were heavily wore down and it was more than doubtful whether they would be able to reach the desired break through.
So at dead of night we all agreed that a draw would be a fair outcome for the epic battle. Although both sides might have been able to enforce the decision the leader were to considerate to take the risk of sacrificing their last men. At least the allies (aka. we) were able to push the villaineous troops from Kuttel.

The final situation: A steady center with fierce fighting on the right flank. Unfortunately the left flank with orcs, trolls and knights in close-combat isn't pictured.

However it was a great day at Erkrath and we six took part in an epic scenario between good and evil. It was great fun and probabaly the next two turns might have brought the decision. But unfortunately none of us had the condition to find it out...

Anyway there was a simoultaneous battle fought at the walls of Kuttel. Although I wasn't able to follow the whole game I'll present you some pictures during the next days.

Hail Caesar Fantasy - Battle on the Fields of Kuttel - Part 1

Last week was too busy to get anything posted on Monty's Caravan. Somehow it was one of those weeks which were packed with appointments and I didn't find the time to sort the hundred pictures which I took on Good Friday. However I'm on a good way to restrain my backlog and here comes at least the first part of the report:

On Good Friday we had a special meeting with our wargaming group and gathered for a large game of Hail Caesar Fantasy. It was the first time we tried this apart from some trial games and the fewest were really familiar with the rules so we decided to use simple army lists from the core book and the official add-ons to depict orcs, goblins, dark elves and whatever.
For future games we might use some more sophisticated lists. For this I can recommend the Yahoo-group hosted by Scott Bowman from Scott's Wargaming Blog. He and the other members collected a large number of ideas and army lists for fantasy peoples. They even developed some rules for magical powers. Really good stuff. Thanks for your efforts, folks!

Background
The picturesque city of Kuttel is one of the metropolises of the fantastic land Gelbien ("Yellow Land"). Gelbien has been hard-fought for years. The human Empire and its allies are waging war against the invading hordes of wild orcs and goblins, awful undead, cold-blooded dark elves and other villainous brood. The war tossed and turned but now the final decision casts a cloud over Gelbien. A horde of beastmen, lizardmen and undead managed lay siege to Kuttel. A force of loyal and brave dwarves decided to make an excursion and face the enemy in front of their city.

The fortified city of Kuttel, target of the united villains.

Meanwhile an even larger army of orcs, wild orcs, goblins and dark elves approaches the another flank of Kuttel and prepares to cross the Mäusefluss ("Mice River"). If they are stopped they'll attack the Kuttel defenders from the rear and most likely annihilate those brave fellows.
But the Empire of Men was well informed about those troop movements by own reconnaissance and thus summoned a relief force of Imperial, bretonnian and elvish troops to stop the united villains. Those two forces met on the Fields of Kuttel nearby but were too far to gear into the siege itself. So both battles had to be fought disjunctly but both were likewise decisive Gelbien's fate...

The large board: The Fields of Kuttel.

A view of all forces present on the two boards. The empty trays helt some civilians and stronghold troops of Kutteln which were positioned already.

Initial Deployment

Bird's eye view of the Fields of Kutteln with the two forces arriving.

With my brave Bretonnians I had the honour to fight on the Field of Kuttel to refuse the hordes from getting to the city. Our allied force was led by Holger the Imperial commander-in-chief and we were supported by Heinz and his steady elves. Our troops took position on the right hand side of the board with Imperial men on the right flank (at the top), the wood elves and the high elves in the center and my two Bretonnian divisions on the left flank (at the bottom). We were facing a strong united force of wild orcs on the left flank (at the top), dark elves in the center as well as orcs and goblins on their right flank (at the bottom).

The board itself depicted the Fields of Kuttel with the Mäusefluss at the left flank (bottom of the picture, only indicated with reed bases), a large hill on our left flank and some fields and hedges in the center and on the right flank. On the very far right flank we faced the small foothills of a large forest.

First Movements
During the first turns we had some cautious approach. The horde's flank commanders missed their command rolls rather early so only the dark elves in the center were able to advance.
But we allies weren't sure whether this was by mistake or some kind of weird tactics...

The dark elves with a warband of frantic corsairs two bolt throwers on their flank.

So Holger decided to employ the same manoevre and missed the command roll for one of his divisions as well. With our right flank as firm as a standing stone Heinz and me advanced considerately:
His elves moved at mediocre speed and formed two battle lines. Afterwards my archers closed ranks with their pointed eared comrades-in-arms and the knights trotted forward to prepare a swing to the center. The men at arms following as fast as possible to secure my divisions' left flank.

The allied battleline. The bretonnian and elvish archers shoulder side by side and in the background the Imperial troops.

The bretonnian knights on the far left trotting towards the united villains.

After these initial movements on both sides tension was in the air since the fate of Gelbien was to be decided.

But before any swords were crossed or any blood was shed an event occured that is mightier than the orders of emperors, kings or generals:

Let me finish the first part of my AAR with this impression. Be sure that you'll be able to read more of sneaky goblins, brutal orcs, steady elves and brave knights soon. I'll do my very best to get part two online until friday.

Part 2 online here.

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.