AAR: The Challenge - Normans v Anglo-Danes

This was a four-point grudge match....  "Baron Henri Deux surveyed the area, apart from some grain in the process of being harvested there was nothing to be said for this piece of land. In the distance he could see a band of men approaching on foot. So, this was to be the ground he would revenge himself on the Dane Warlord Meikson for the death of his Father. He and his men moved forward. Peasants scattered to the wind as the Norman horses trotted up to their fields.

The two mighty Warlords approached each other, leaving their forces behind. They nodded to each other then called Challenge. This would be to the death.... let battle commence!"

The mission was simple, get as many wounds on the enemy Warlord as possible. Kill him if you can. In an hour or so, one side should be victorious.

The forces line up - Anglo-Danes hugging the hedge....

The Anglo-Danes put the Fatigue smack onto the Knights and Warlord while moving their Warlord back into the uneven ground of the cornfield....

The Norman levy archers fail to get any shooting off in the face of the Anglo-Dane posturing, so their Warlord decides to hoof it to the rear. Boo!

The Anglo-Danes can't do much else so they move forward, mainly into the bumpy old field of corn. Slowly does it across hedge and haystack.....

The Norman levy prove useless again but the Knights on the right hand hill come down to take a drink from the pond..... Their Warlord sneaks around the back of the field. Ready to lead his troops on and all that.....

Those pesky Danes put their enemy to sleep again with their 3-way Fatigue bomb....

Despite this, the Norman Warlord pulls himself forward to rally his troops. Whoops, is he a bit close to the Dane Warlord......

The Dane Warlord comes forward in his turn and in return, the Norman warlord has no choice but to sit and do nothing or charge his foe. In they go....

Actually, no they don't as the Anglo-Danes remember to use that Norman tiredness to slow down the Knights advance..... they stop short leaving the Boss to have a go himself....

By a hairs breath, the Norman escapes with only one wound. The lucky Dane fails to take a single bit of damage.... first blood to the Danes.

The Danes now shrug off their tiredness and the Warlord charges, taking his two retainers with him...

 Bloody battle ensues, as the Warlords go at it, Danish Hearthguard assisting.

The Danish Warlord escapes at great cost to his Knight bodyguard. Three dead horses and riders.....

With their Warlord exposed and tired, the Normans use all their prowess to move up the large block of Knights in between the Anglo-Danes and "le chef". The Warlord is then free to move back to safety....

The Norman Knights have tired themselves to get so far up the field. The Anglo-Danes waste no time in exploiting this weakness.....

The Danes kill three Knights for no loss.

In return, the Knights lose one more comrade but kill off the tow Dane Hearthguard. the Dane Warlord falls back to sharpen his axe.

Eventually, the Knights get lucky and the Dane Warlord gets tired. He succumbs to a wound. Some terrible luck on the Norman part today. Those dice......

The Danes play their master card. The Warlord takes a sip of something to revive the spirit and calls in another unit of retainers.... they hit the Knights hard. So hard that none survive.... for no loss to the Danes. Wow....
The Normans retreat to the far side of the board and with only one turn left, there is nothing more that can be done. The Sun goes down on this gory scene.....

So, there you have it. After finally getting serious fighting in, Warlord to Warlord, the result was 11 points each, a Draw. Shame the scenario doesn't state that the Victory points act as a tiebreaker. The Anglo-Danes clearly had the moral victory, killing eleven Knights for the loss of just four Hearthguard.

If any lessons are to be gained from this, I would suggest once you do more wounds to the enemy Warlord than you have taken, go off and hide until the end of Turn 7 when the game ends! In all seriousness, the Normans could have done better by taking a unit of 8 warriors instead of the Levy archers. These could have been split into two units of four and left at the back of the field to generate Saga dice. Two more dice per turn would really have boosted the Normans performance.
The Anglo-Dane Warlord should have used as many Attack dice as he could to turn into Defence dice. I think he could have avoided losing that wound and therefore won the game.
Ah well, next time these Warlords can have another go....