The SAGA of the 1st wild ride of the Strathclyde Welsh

Freshly raised Strathclyde face off against the Irish

My Strathclyde warband currently stands at one mounted warlord eight mounted hearthguard and twelve mounted warriors not a numerous warband but enough to start a saga of Warlord  Dyn’mawr Ar’gefn’ceffyl (big man on a horse in welsh)

Dyn’mawr leads the warriors

David volunteered to provide opposition with his Irish no doubt hoping for a solid victory against the novice warband. We agreed on six point warband in a pitch battle. Normally I would have preferred a special scenario but it was the Strathclyde’s first outing a simple battle seemed a more logic introduction. Also I could not find any scenario themed around battle between the Strathclyde and the Irish.

At six points the Strathclyde consist of Dyn’mawr leading two units of four mounted hearthguard, two units of six mounted warriors, one unit of twelve foot warriors and one unit of twelve levy. The force was drafted after reading the requirements for the Strathclyde for the first time. On paper they looked a bit ‘mmh’. They seem to be a medium cavalry type fraction lacking the punch of Norman heavy cavalry and the agility of missile armed light cavalry. They rely on the tried and trusted Welsh tactics of harass, isolate and destroy the enemy (ie annoy the sh’t of their opponent until he/she makes a mistake and then swarm them). The Irish consisted of a warlord leading two champions, one unit of six Hearthguard, a unit of eight Flemish mercenaries, two units of eight warriors and a pack of  eight hounds.

Strathclyde on the march

For the battle Dyn’mawr lead his foot units and deployed in the centre of the line. Mostly because he was not allowed to outflank like the rest of the mounted units rather than for another reason.  The remaining four Strathclyde mounted units opted to stay off table to maximise the effect of their battle broad.  In response the Irish warlord lead his hearthguard, a champion and a unit of warriors to one flank while the Flemish mercenaries and remaining Champion and warriors covered the centre with the warhounds deploy on the other flank.

The Strathclyde announced their presence by putting spears into the backs of four Irish warriors in the centre as the off table harassers made their presence known. The remaining Strathclyde foot shuffled forward towards the Irish masses.  Slightly perturbed at losing warriors to an off table menace the Irish advance trying to get away from the table edges to prevent further losses from unseen foe.  

Strathclyde Hearthgaurd flank the Irish warhounds 

The Irish push forward brought them in range of the Strathclyde levy who fired a deadly salvo dropping five Irish warriors despite them hiding in the woods (there may have been many expletives in Irish at this point) Elsewhere the Strathclyde piled on the pressure with a unit of mounted hearthguard appearing out of nowhere to threaten the Irish flank and piling on fatigue on to the units has they moved to get away from the missiles firing coming from off table. Infuriated the Irish warlord lead his hearthguard into the Strathclyde levy and with several combats cut them to pieces while  Dyn’mawr and his warriors rather cynical watched as the Irish tired themselves out on the levy.

Once the Irish were finished with the levy  Dyn’mawr charged with his warriors and the exhausted Irish hearthguard were destroyed. Another shower of missile from the unseen did in an Irish champion leaving the Irish warlord and three warriors to represent the Irish flank.  Irish reinforced tried to rush to his assistance but fatigue slowed down their progress.

The Irish warlord looks on as the Strathclyde annihilate the Irish hearth guard 

More Strathclyde hearthguard arrived to threaten the beleaguered Irish warlord. After a short push to rest  Dyn’mawr once lead his warriors into combat quickly overwhelming the warlord to break the Irish warband.

Overall not a bad debut for the Strathclyde the combination of hitting an enemy within L of any table edge with missile fire combined with the ability to add fatigue to an enemy unit that more than L from a table edge makes for a tough choice for the enemy. But the cost is high most of the Strathclyde warband had to be off table to maximise the effect meaning the Strathclyde warlord does not have a lot of friends on the table.

Irish war hounds race to the rescue but fatigue slows then 

That is all for now thanks for stopping by.