Age of Arthur WAB One Dayer Report (Part Two)

For our second game we would be playing singles with just our basic 1500 point lists.
Scrivs decided that the Franks were proving a threat to Post Roman stability in the region and that Saxons were the men to restore some sort of order to the situation. Once again my allied Saxon commander had a club-mate in the opposing ranks, so rather than him play Grahame again that honour fell to me. I did try to point out that having played against Grahame at several Cold/Hot/Steel/Lead events I'd probably played him almost as many times as Mike had, but my protests fell on deaf ears.
Sadly, although I've played Grahame many times I've yet to beat him. Still there's a first time for everything, after all Andy Hawes had already won a game and the world still appeared to be rotating on it's axis...

The scenario was a Pitch Battle variant with extra points for killing the general. Or something.
While Grahame made a map I thought about deployment. A bit.
I decided to occupy the side with the village.

 You shall not take our pig-pen!

Grahame deployed his fiendish Franks opposite

I advanced as only a Saxon can. Quickly and with a minimum of manoeuvre. And soon the fighting began.

 This fight did not end well.

Grahame punched through my lines with one unit with rather alarming ease. For some reason he seemed reluctant to allow my Gedrith to charge him in the face and instead I was reduced to javelinating him from a distance. Grahame, as I have learned in the past is a master at WAB hit and run tactics. He has, in previous encounters, Parthian Shotted me to distraction, but on this occasion saw fit merely to surround me with skirmishers and let a hail of pointy things do their worst.

Owwww! That hurts!

When I did finally get to grips with one of his units I was unceremoniously charged from behind by some allied skirmishing Duguth, which rather took the shine off things.

 Yowwww!

Finally Grahame managed to fit one of my remaining units into a Cavalry sandwich, and with that all hope was lost.

 Squish!

 Some pigs take advantage of a newly deserted churchyard

Surrounded and javelinated

In the end, a  fairly comprehensive victory to the Franks. But much more importantly a fun game played in good spirits. 

Scrivs has been on at me for some time to include more skirmishers in my AoA forces, and this game was a good indication that he's right. I end up getting outmanoeuvred and whittled down by armies with more skirmishers and their attentions mean I lack the punch to really claw it back by the end. The problem is (or rather are) that firstly I always struggle to use skirmishers effectively and secondly that I much prefer the idea of big units clashing to weedy me throwing stuff at one another. Still, if I want to win (or at least compete in) more games I may need to rethink. (That sound you can hear is Lord S at Gripping Beast rubbing his hands together in anticipation of a re-think of my army)