The first sign or trouble that My lord Coel received of the Pict and Scotti invasion was when couriers from units along the wall reported refugees from our ally kingdom of Alclute. The Picts had moved south of the old embankment of Antonine. They overran several of our outposts and ambushed and scattered our allies, Aeternus and the men of Lothian. Coel Hen, Dux Britannorum, had tried to set the Scotti and the Picts against each other, but it had apparently backfired, and now the area between the walls was overrun with raiding parties and warbands from those northern peoples. The Dux sent word for his commanders to meet him at Caer Luel with their cohorts.

This is the background for a short solo campaign I've been playing. I had nearly finished painting a Pict army to go with my Sub-Roman Britains and wanted to have a background for the battles I intend to play. I have had one and plan on at least two more before the campaign is finished ( assuming neither are crushing defeats) I use a variety of tactical rules when playing solo, depending on my mood, I tend to like simple rules like "Groans of the Britons" (Saga Vol. II number 6, November 1986) , "Warlord" or Richard Davidson's "1066" (Saga Vol. III number 2, August 1988). Two new rules sets have interested me lately Warhammer Ancient Battles and Medieval Warfare and these are the rules I plan on using for this campaign. My first battle was an encounter with all my Picts that were painted and a small Sub-Roman army. For this battle the point values were from the Late Roman and Barbarian lists published in Wargames Illustrated (issues 85, 87, 89, and 90).

Coel's Army

Coel Hen C in C Mtd, sword, lt armor 175pts
Cenau tribune Mtd, sword, shield, lt armor 53
Kiedyaw tribune Mtd, sword, shield, lt armor 53
17 Cenau's Horsemen Mtd, sword, spear, shield, lt armor @19pts ea 338
12 Kiedyaw's Horsemen Mtd, sword, spear, shield, lt armor @ 19pts ea 233
24 Coel's Guard Spear, sword, shield @11pts ea. 279
24 Guinion Cohort Spear, sword, shield @7 pts ea 178
24 Frisian Federates Spear, sword, shield @ 7pts ea 178
10 Bowmen Bow @3 pts ea 35
10 Bowmen Bow @ 3 pts ea 35

Total 1557 pts

Picts:

1 Warlord (Drust)and musican (horn blower) Spear, shield 102pts
2 Chieftains Spear and shield @ 52points each 104
30 Warriors Spear and shield @ 6 points each 195
30 Warriors Spear and shield @ 6 points each 195
20 Crossbowmen Crossbow @ 8 points each 160
20 Bowmen Bow @ 6 points each 120
10 Horsemen Javelin and shield @ 10 points each 100

Total 976 pts

Three days later our army began to gather in the flats of the Eden River valley. Cenau, the young commander in this region, had come with a large band of horsemen. His Frisian federates were still in their fort about a day and a half march to the northwest. The Caer Luel (Carlisle) cohort was assembled and ready to march. Garbaniaun (Germanianus) and his forces were making a sweep north towards Dun Eidyn (Edinburgh) then west to Dun Barton (Dumbarton). We are to clear the old Selgovae and Novantae tribal lands.

The weather was wet and misty for several days when we first set off towards the site of our base in the west, a stronghold Coel remembered from his youth patrolling the Ayr area. He said it would serve us well as a supply base for maintaining patrols in this area and launching attacks on roving warbands.

On the fourth day after our gathering at Caer Luel our scouts located a large band of raiders. These were Picts that had overrun King Clemens' kingdom and were now busy pillaging Alclute. My lord Coel selected a small force to deal with them. This Small Field Army consisted of men from three cohorts of infantry and two alae of cavalry, plus two small bands of levy archers, the rest of the army was to make ready for our march and await the final cohorts we expected from the eastern regions of the wall.

Our scouts returned to report that we had been detected by a small group of raiders returning to the main band. As we cleared a thick patch of woods we could see Picts gathering on a small ridge with woods on both flanks of their army. They had skirmishers in each wood, and two strong warbands between. Our army deployed in the clearing facing the ridge. Cenau and Hussa,the federate chieftain, would command the Left wing. It was made up of Cenau's horsemen, to the right of them the Frisian federates and preceeding both a small group of bowmen. Coel and Keidyaw would have the men of Eburicum -- Coel's own guard cohort on his wings left to maintain contact with the Frisians, a cohort from Guinnion, and the Alae from Catraeth in reserve behind them, plus one band of levy bowmen, which was supporting the guards.

Coel gave a short rousing speech to the soldiers and then ordered an advance towards the ridge. Between the two armies on our right was a small lightly wooded hill, now we could see the Pictish bowmen moving into the light woods. Soon the sky was darkened with arrows that pelted the Guinnion cohort. The air was so thick with arrows that the men from Guinnion halted. Lord Coel saw their plight and ordered His guard cohort to swing towards the left end of the hill and woods, after a brief clash of swords and spears the Pict bowmen ran back to their ridge. Keidyaw rallied the Guinnion cohort and led them in their advance through the woods, his horsemen following close behind.

Coel re-ordered the battle line, only the skirmishers moved forward. On the left flank the Pict crossbowmen kept a steady fire at the skirmishers, but to no avail, the skirmishers stopped at long range and all missile fire was ineffective. Once all units were reformed Coel moved in front of his guard unit so the whole line could see him and ordered an advance. Cenau moved his horsemen up beside the skirmishers. As the Battleline reached the foot of the ridge the two Pict warbands let out a horrible warcry and charged down hill led by their chieftain. (an uncontrolled advance due to a warband control check) The crash of impact echoed off the surrounding terrain. Kiedyaw's horse broke and ran back up the wooded hill. The Guinnion cohort held their ground and prevented the Pict warband from pursuing the broken horsemen. The clash of arms, shields, and the roar of battle continued as both sides vied for supremacy over their foe.

On the British left the Pict crossbowmen advanced out of the woods, at that moment Cenau launched his horsemen into the hapless Picts, who broke and routed back into the woods. The horsemen pursued and caught them in the woods. It was during this slaughter that the Pict horsemen appeared from over the ridge and charged into the flank of Cenau's men. Disordered with most of the unit in the woods the British horsemen broke and scattered, and then were themselves caught by the pursuing Picts and eliminated. After finishing their deadly business the Pict horsemen turned their attention to the skirmishers. As the Horsemen charged the skirmishers let fly their last volley and incredibly routed the Horsemen before contact.( 9 skirmishers (bow) vs 10 horsemen, skirmishers eliminated 4 horsemen before contact requiring a panic test (25% or more casualties from missile fire)on the horsemen's part-they failed miserably and broke and routed to the other side of the ridge to reform.)

On the Britons right flank the Guinnion Cohort was giving ground, the casualties taken from the Pict bowmen had weakened the cohort enough that it was slowly being overwhelmed and soon was down to 50%. With Cenau rallying the Horsemen on the hill behind, the cohort was using its normal leadership rating of 6 to pass leadership tests. Soon they broke and ran uphill, but the pursuing Picts caught and destroyed them. Now the race was on, the Pict warband at about 55% was advancing up hill while Cenau was trying to rally the horsemen at the top of that hill. As the Warband reached the summit it saw cavalry charging down on them, Cenau had rallied them and charged the Picts, who broke and were destroyed as the cavalry pursued them downhill.

All that remained was to decide who the winner would be in the center. Coel leading the Britons and Drust leading the Picts. Both sides were evenly matched and the battle line swayed forward and back neither side braking the other. Gradually Coel and Drust moved toward each other through the swirling melee. After an epic fight Coel slew the Pict Chieftain Drust and the Picts broke and routed off the field. (This stage of the battle was like in the books and movies, one side gains some ground and then loses it, then gains it back. It was a real see-saw fight. All units present were nearing the 50% casualties level but as both army commanders were present, both sides passed their leadership test of 10 or less on 2D6 until finally Drust was killed. Then the battle only lasted one more turn and the Picts routed taking the rallied Pict bowmen and the rallying Horsemen with them.)

My lord Coel new his army was exhausted and did not make a concerted pursuit. He rallied his army on the ridge the Picts had vacated. He needed all the men he had to continue the recovery of these regions. He would continue to the Stronghold in Ayr to patrol and try to bring another warband to battle.

This battle was played out over a one week period using the Warhammer Ancient Battle rules. They would not normally take this long but we would play a turn or two in our spare time then leave it for a day or two before playing again. (I must say it was very easy to pick up play again.) It was my second try at using them and I'm not sure we did everything in accordance to the rules, but we had fun and a good game. The rules were easily grasped and fun. One thing I did forget to do was work out a point value for the armies, as it turned out the Britons of Coel had about 525 points more that the Picts. Though I planned to play it solo, my son Michael (age 9) wanted to play also so he played the Britons and I played the Picts.

The background for the campaign came from a short article in the Early British Kingdoms web-site under Kingdoms of Northern Britain: http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2 which related Coel Hen's last campaign. I thought it would make a good background and so used it. I'm not sure what the sources were for that article, I have read something similar in John Morris' "Age of Arthur".