Skirmish Raid - Open Combat AAR

Last year I reviewed Open Combat and said that I would get an AAR up on the blog 'soon.' Well, nearly a year later, I've finally managed to get a couple of games in. 

Carl agreed to try the game with me, and I used a recently acquired mat from Gorgon Studios to create a small farm, somewhere in Dark Ages England.

The two warbands I created were somewhat similar, from 150 points of Renown:

Vikings
Leader | SPD:4 | ATK:6 | DEF:5 | FOR:5 | MND:3 | Weapons: Hand Weapon, Shield | Abilities: Shield Bash
Spearman x3 | SPD:4 | ATK:3 | DEF:4 | FOR:4 | MND:2 | Weapons: Spear, Shield
Archer x2 | SPD:5 | ATK:2 | DEF:2 | FOR:2 | MND:1 | Weapons: Bow
Berserker x2 | SPD:5 | ATK:5 | DEF:2 | FOR:4 | MND:2 | Weapons: Hand Weapon x2, Double-handed Weapon (One each) | Abilities: Furious Assault

Anglo-Dances
Leader | SPD:4 | ATK:5 | DEF:5 | FOR:5 | MND:3 | Weapons: Hand Weapon, Shield | Abilities: Shield Bash
Spearman x3 | SPD:4 | ATK:3 | DEF:4 | FOR:4 | MND:2 | Weapons: Spear, Shield
Slinger x2  | SPD:5 | ATK:2 | DEF:2 | FOR:2 | MND:1 | Weapons: Sling
Axeman x2 | SPD:4 | ATK:4 | DEF:4 | FOR:5 | MND:2 | Weapons: Double-handed weapon | Abilities: Focussed Blow

Our warbands deployed on opposite sides of the field of battle. I was controlling the Anglo-Danes, while Carl led the Vikings.

Having won the roll for initiative, Carl had his warband wrap around to the front of the building with his archers on the flanks.

The Danes advanced in disparate groups, weathering a few hits from the archers.

The two warbands continued to close, with sling bullets and arrows flitting back and forth.

At last, the Danes closed into combat!

Having weathered some eerily accuate shooting, the Danes were going in at a bit of a disadvantage, demonstrated when an axeman went down after a resounding crack on the nose by Viking archer's fist. The Vikings pushed back the Danes' charge, shoving them back and charging forward.

The Danes managed to take out a Viking spearman, but the Vikings returned the favor. By this point, the Danes were already close to reaching their breaking point.

And after losing their leader and another spearman, the Danes were forced to retreat.

To give an idea of how quickly this game played, it was our first time with the rules, and we still managed to get a standard game of 150 Renown done in 45 minutes! Of course, that did come with some realizations - mostly that we had both completely forgotten about the uses of shield in ranged and close combat! So we decided to set up for a second game, which I'll cover later this week.