Dux Bellorum Campaign (6)

The Saxon host pressed on swiftly. They knew the Romans were in the area, they'd seen their scouts along the crests of the nearby hills. Cnebba suspected that word had been sent by some of the people who'd recently sworn homage to his warband hoping that their neighbours would send aid. The Saxon smiled to himself. Once they'd bought this leader to his knees he'd return and root out the ones who'd sworn him loyalty only to betray him. He'd make blood soaked examples of them to keep their fellows in line.
Ahead the advance men began to call back and Cnebba hurried to the front of the group. their path was blocked. Across the valley a wall of shields blocked their way.
"Turn back Saxon, there's nothing for you here" came a cry from the Roman lines. "Depart from our lands in peace and we will not follow"
Cnebba merely laughed and turned to his men "At last," he snarled, "a fight!"

Faced with an evening in a Swindon hotel room I decided to try playing Dux Bellorum solo using the paper soldiers I made a few weeks ago. I had my reservations, playing games with yourself seems a bit like drinking alone. Or possibly a bit worse. So I opened a bottle of red wine to get me through it.

Despite my misgivings it was actually a reasonable way to pass an evening. I played the Romans reasonably defensively and split their LPs equally, occasionally randomising when I couldn't decide what to do.

The game itself degenerated into something of a slog as the Saxons found it hard to break down the shieldwall, but the Romans couldn't do enough damage to throw them back. The Saxons lost the first units and I feared I was actually going to manage to lose a game without a real opponent, but eventually the dice turned in my favour and I was able to rout the Romans.

No pictures as cardboard squares on a hotel room carpet do not make for an enticing visual spectacle.
However it was a better way of passing the evening than Swindon sometimes offers.

As the last sunds of battle died away Cnebba bent and cleaned his seax on the cloak of a fallen Roman. "They fought hard, eh lads?" he asked "And died hard too" someone offered.
Cnebba smiled grimly "Gather the men together" he ordered "we move on"

If anyone wants the paper soldiers, I've updated and improved the file. To stop blogger resizing it or doing anything weird I've uploaded it to my Photobucket account here
It now has a bigger variety of both Romans and Saxons to cut out and keep.