There are Picts on my lawn!

Another Dux Britanniarum campaign report from our TSA campaign.  This time, another Hostage Raid as Pictish Raiders landed on my shores.

It was a sunny day as Clustfeinad strolled his gardens.  Soon his noble, Petif would arrive with his retinue.  But then word reached him that Picts had landed and where on a route that would make them intercept his vassal.  Clustfeinad immediatly raised his warriors to try and relieve the nobleman... again for the second month in a row.  Petif should really learn to keep his pants up.

So yet again Hostage Raid, it seems my nobles are popular with the opposition in the first of three Raids I have to fight this campaign month.  I knew the set up, and once again, the enemy would arrive right next to my small force with my noble.

So like last time, I set up the groups and immediatly formed them in a shieldwall.  Now the good thing was, even though his entire army would appear from the go, that they are raider class troops.  This means that while they are harder to kill, they would be far more susceptible to shock... and I hoped to hold on and get my forces to the other side of the table asap.

However, contrary to the last battle, the raiders split up, so I needed to keep the force containing my lord, a noble, his champion, the elites and a regiment of mercenary warriors at the back to hold the pictish force off, while the warrior cavalry raised to the aid of the beleagured noble.

The pictish tide crashed on the noble`s shieldwall... and was subsequently thrown back, even with some bonuses to his lord.  His archers and skirmishers harrased the wall in the meantime, as he prepared for another go.

My lord`s force stood ready to intercept the other horde of picts that tried to pass by my slow moving shieldwall line.

The Picts came again at my lord... and once again where thrown back as kills and shock took their toll on his groups.

On the other side, the lord and his retinue engaged the other two units of raiders.

The cavalry arrived at the scene right on time.  While the pictish where regrouping, the mercenary warriors legged it due to even more shock being caused by the skirmishers.

The Lord and his followers threw back the raiders on his flank in the meantime.

The cavalry charged the raiders containing his lord, and as his champion had fallen in the previous combat against the shieldwall, ran them over.  This caused them to flee of the table, having had enough of the battle, and drag his lord with them.

A small group of raiders and his skirmishers where now the only thing present of the pictish thread, and the noble and his loyal warriors steeled themselves for a fresh assault.

The lord and his men attacked the other raiders in the meantime again, and threw them off the table, taking their noble with them as well.  This left the pictish with no characters on the table for the moment.

My noble charged his missile troops, who immediatly dispersed, and contacted the last Raiders, taking them all down.  All they had to do now was turn and try to get the grabs with the skirmishers, with my cavalry in aid.

But then the pictish lord returned for a final vengeance... only to be wounded twice and dropping the morale of the invader to 0, securing victory for the Dyffed troops.

Well, another victory in the campaign, seems we are on a roll here of late.  The +4 victory resulted in some talents, and my warrior cavalry group receiving two extra soldiers.  This means I ordered the Grippin Beast plastic horsemen immediatly, as I only have 4 horsemen and will need 6 for the next battle, which will be against Scotti raiders according to the campaign calendar sequence.  Probably in about two to three weeks time.

And the Picts?  They limped home with some troops out of commission, and will think twice before setting foot on my shores again!