First try of Dux Bellorum

Saxon battle lines close

So, Salute is coming up and Tom and myself have volunteered to assist James, Steve, Andy M and Andy H with the Dux Bellorum game at the event. It may be a good idea if we could actually get a game in before the 20th April when Salute is on.

Last night it was round to Toms and we had our first crack at Dux Bellorum, I used Saxon, representing an Early Saxon Kingdoms list, while Tom used Sea Raiders again with Saxons. As it was our first game we decided on 24 points, Tom used:

• Foot Companions - Move 2, Bravery 10, Aggression 6, Protection 6, Cohesion 6
• 2 Noble Warriors - Move 2, Bravery 9, Aggression 6, Protection 5, Cohesion 6
• 3 Ordinary Warriors - Move 2, Bravery 7, Aggression 5, Protection 5, Cohesion 5

My list was:

• Foot Companions - Move 2, Bravery 10, Aggression 6, Protection 6, Cohesion 6
• Noble Warriors - Move 2, Bravery 9, Aggression 6, Protection 5, Cohesion 6
• 4 Ordinary Warriors - Move 2, Bravery 7, Aggression 5, Protection 5, Cohesion 5
• 2 Skirmishers with Slings - Move 3, Bravery 8(6), Aggression 1(2), Protection 4, Cohesion 2

Saxon on Saxon

Both armies had 6 Leadership Points (LP).

Looking at the scenarios, we decided on the Annals Battle as it seemed to be the easiest and then we randomised that I would be the Aggressor. The game played out ok, and once the initial concepts were garnered it seemed to flow well and is quite simple enough.

I am really not impressed with how the rules are laid out, we spent quite some time trying to find out things like support, which I think after a first play do not seem to work very well at all.

The lines finally clash

Toms Companions were fighting against my Companions and a unit of Ordinary Warriors, rather than me having the advantage for outnumbering him, Tom had the advantage as he was able to direct all the attacks against my lower protection Warriors where I just got an extra attack from the supporting unit.

Skirmishers seem to have no role in the game at all, if you fire your bows, you cannot move so soon get splattered by a unit of Warriors (costing you a Leadership Point) as you cannot move if you shot, and if you support a combat with them then the opponent gets an advantage as described above.
In the end, I did finish off Toms Companions meaning he could not allocate Leadership Points, and having whittled down Toms other units eventually his army routed while I was left with a unit each of my Companions, Noble Warriors and Ordinary Warriors.


No doubt Tom will soon update his blog with his version of events.

More Saxon action

We are going to have another try in a couple of weeks so will get a couple of games in before Salute, it may be that we find out what we are doing wrong and the next game plays better.

Here are some more photos from the game, I need to do some more work on my movement trays in time for Salute as they are just plain brown at the moment: