Raid on Presteria

While Presterian warriors prevented the main Swartherian army from crossing the pass into the kingdom, scattered bands of raiders were able to sneak in.

One sizable force tried to press deeper into Presteria, with only a band of native bowmen to stop them.

Two bands of barbarian riders swept past the bows, unimpeded by the meager volleys sent their way.

But reinforcements arrived, blocking the road that led deeper into the kingdom.

A company of royal infantry advanced against the raiders.

But were cut down to a man. The road appears open!

One troop of raiders raced down the road. Some native warriors moved to block the path of any other raiders. Meanwhile, more Presterian reinforcements arrived just as Swartherian barbarians overran the bowmen on the hill.

The reinforcements raced to the rescue while the native warriors held the road.

A wild, swirling melee broke out.

Raiders defeated some of the reinforcements. The native warriors faced attacks from the front and flank.

But they held, and even destroyed a band of raiders.

Now reinforced, the native warriors engaged the last band of riders. The barbarians on the hill destroyed another band of defenders.

The last of the horse was eliminated. Seeing that they were outnumbered, the barbarians decided to withdraw.

Once again, the defenders of Presteria emerged victorious!

Game Notes:

• Taking the day off for my birthday (which actually was yesterday) so I decided to squeeze in a game.
• This is another One Hour Wargame scenario - #25 (Infiltration)
• The raiders need to get 2 units off the board from the road exit at the bottom of the board.
• The Swartherian raiders consisted on 3 units of cavalry and 1 of archers. The Presterians had 4 native warriors, 1 infantry, and 1 archer unit.
• I was worried about this scenario because of the force composition. With its preponderance of cavalry, I thought that the Swartherians would be able to ride around the defenders. Early on, it seemed like that would happen. Good activation rolls (and a little gambling with 3 dice) enabled the reinforcement infantry to get into the fray in time. In addition, the native warriors holding the road made excellent defense rolls!
• The Presterians are now leading the campaign 2-0
• And another 6 x 6 challenge game (medieval fantasy) is complete!

On another note, my fantasy boxed portable wargame is pretty much complete. Here is the box, now with a cover page!

And here is the open box. On the back of the cover page I printed a rules quick reference sheet. My 2mm troops are in little tins (I glued magnets to the bases so they won't rattle around)

One final note - today marked the debut of my latest casualty markers. I had some spare auxiliary infantry. I glued them lying down on a thin base. I painted the base brown (mud) and the figures white. Then I added some scattered red (blood). They fit into the squares and stand out from the "live" troops. I'm quite happy with the way they came out and plan to make more.