Basic impetus battle report Arthurians v Saxons

The Dux of the west had been watching events with interest, the Irish warlord had crushed his once allies the Romans. The Irish lord had been defeated and killed by a large Saxon army. Know the Saxons are moving westward's. The Dux calls his lords to a war counsel. War has come to the west.

The Arthurian's

1 CM heavy cavalry + leader
2 CM heavy cavalry
5 FP  heavy infantry (long spears)
1 S     skirmish short bow B

The Saxons

2 FP heavy infantry +1 leader (impetuous)
6 FP heavy infantry (impetuous)
1 S    skirmish short bow B

Two strong armies both made up of heavy infantry, the Arthurian's have the advantage with  their cavalry. The Saxons take advantage of defending a hill and some broken ground in the battle this should give them the upper hand, or at least slow down the cavalry.
The two armies faced each other over a wide valley. The smoke of the smouldering ruins of a small village the Saxons had just raided filled the air. The Arthurian's wanted revenge, soon their chance would come.

The Saxons make their stand on the hill

The Arthurian's move into the valley


TURN 1 Arthurian's win the initiative
Arthurian's move out there cavalry swing to the right to take on the Saxons in the broken ground.
(Arthurian plan is to smash the Saxons on the right then attack the hill with both infantry and cavalry)

TURN 2  Saxons win the initiative
The Saxons in the broken ground hold steady and the bow move to the edge of the broken ground to fire on the cavalry.
The Arthurian's continue to advance

TURN 3 Arthurian's win the initiative
cavalry continues to move forward there bowmen move into range of the Saxon Nobles and fire but miss.
Saxon bowmen fire on the approaching cavalry but also miss.

TURN 4 Arthurian's win the initiative
The Arthurian's cavalry make contact with the Saxons bowmen  ( the dice is rolled  but they fail to hit ) the Arthurian's bowmen also fail to hit there target. There infantry reach the foot of the hill and await the signal to attack.

TURN 5 Arthurian's win the initiative
The cavalry continue to fight the bowmen and manage to hit them and cause 1 permanent damage and are disordered. There bowmen manage to hit the nobles but they brush this aside as they pass there cohesion test  ( in basic Impetus each time a base is hit it must take a cohesion test, failing this test results in permanent losses and disordered if you pass or fail the test )

Note the red marker showing the bowmen are disordered.

TURN 6 Saxons win the initiative
The bowmen fight on but no hits another poor round of dice for the cavalry.

TURN 7 Saxons win the initiative
One unit of Saxon followers charge into the cavalry and cause 1 hit on them the cavalry fight back and also cause a hit the cavalry pass there cohesion test and are disordered the Saxons fail there's and are pushed back and pursue them.

TURN 8 Arthurian's win the initiative
not wanting to be caught again the cavalry  charge the other Saxons unit the fight continues on the right one of the Saxon units go down and the other is badly mauled the Saxon bowman still stand. on the left the bow miss again. One of the Noble warrior's unit move down from the hill to steady the followers in the broken ground
  VDT Saxons 2    Arthurian's 0

TURN 9 Arthurian's win the initiative
The fight continues on the right the Arthurian's leader base attacks the Noble and cause 1 hit they pass there cohesion test. The Saxon Nobles cause 3 hits on the leaders unit by some miracle they also pass but are driven back. The main assault on the hill starts

TURN 10 Saxons win the initiative
in a move to get to the know damaged Arthurian leader the Saxons leader comes screaming down the hill and smash into the petrified Arthurian bowmen who take 3 hits and fail there cohesion test and are destroyed  (that's how it's done)
hard fighting continues on the hill and the broken ground and another Saxon unit falls. This allows the Arthurian's cavalry to move round the rear of the Saxon units
VDT  Saxons 4   Arthurian's 1

TURN 11 Arthurian's win the initiative
a unit of Arthurian heavy infantry see there leaders base in danger and in a desperate attempt to save him move on  the Saxons leader unit.
The fight for the hill gets heavy both side doing damage both passing there cohesion tests.
The Saxon bowman finally fall to the Arthurian cavalry
VDT Saxons 5   Arthurian's 1

TURN 12 Saxons win the initiative
The hill is still in the hands of the Saxon followers at the bottom of the hill the Saxon leader cause another hit on the Arthurian heavy infantry somehow they are still there. On the right in the broken ground the fighting continues.

TURN 13 Arthurian's win the initiative
The Arthurian's cavalry cause 2 more hits on the Saxons in the broken ground they fail there cohesion test and are driven back. On the hill one of the Arthurian heavy infantry failed there cohesion test and are driven back. The Arthurian heavy infantry unit fighting the Saxon leader is destroyed  ( in basic Impetus if a unit in classed as Impetuous it must pursue a routing/ destroyed  enemy all Saxons other than the bowman are Impetuous so the leader must pursue )
VDT Saxons 5   Arthurian's 3

TURN 14 Arthurian's win the initiative
fighting continues on the hill in the broken ground the final Saxon followers unit is destroyed by the cavalry.The Saxon leader can know move on the Arthurian leader.
VDT Saxons 7   Arthurian's 3

TURN 15 Arthurian's win the initiative
The Arthurian's cavalry surround the Noble warrior's in the broken ground but fail to hit them. They in turn manage to hit the Arthurian leader. The dice is rolled a pass on the cohesion test but the unit is know holding on by the skin of it's teeth.

TURN 16 Arthurian's win the initiative
The fight for the hill continues with another Arthurian heavy infantry unit being pushed from the hill and pursued by the Saxons just before the Saxon leader unit can make contact with the Arthurian leader unit the Noble warrior's unit falls to the Arthurian cavalry giving the victory to the Arthurian's
VDT Saxons 10 Arthurian's 3

As night fell remaining Saxons melted away, the Arthurian's were to exhausted to stop them. The Saxon warlord screaming for revenge in the night.

On paper it looks like a easy victory to the Arthurian's, but far from it. If the Saxons leader had managed to get to grips with the Arthurian's leader he would have wiped him out for sure. Lucky the initiative roll went to the Arthurian's and they finally managed to destroy the other noble warrior's unit. The fight on the hill would have gone on for ever with the Saxons winning eventually I think.
Man of the match has to go to two units the Saxon bow for holding out for so long against the cavalry and the Saxons noble warrior's for holding out for so long even when they were surrounded by Arthurian cavalry and still managing to knock lumps out of the Arthurian leader unit.
Another great game of basic Impetus.

Till next time