Broken Legions: Chance Encounter

My friend Michael visited yesterday for the first time in a couple of months and I was eager to introduce him to Broken Legions - the upcoming Osprey title by Mark Latham.

When introduced to the three warband options that I currently have; Romans, Germanic Tribes and Dacians, he opted for the Dacians - their option of having a Strigoi (vampire) swayed him. This meant that I had the chance to play the Romans for the first time.

It being a long time since I played last and Michael a complete novice we choose to play the Chance Encounter scenario - each warband starts in a corner and will then try to slaughter each other.

These are the warbands we chose the following for 200 points:

Romans - Soldiers of the Eagle

Primus Pilum
Frumentarii
Praetorians x 2
Legionary x 4
Numeri scouts x 3
Balearic slingers x 3

Dacians

Chieftain
Strigoi
Nobles x 3
Falxmen x 4
Warriors x 2
Standard Bearer
Warhounds x 2

The first couple of rounds were spend moving up the board - the fighting style of the Romans with the option of going into a Shieldwall lends itself to a cautious approach, while the Dacians look like they would be better served by being aggressive.

By the beginning of round three both warbands were beginning to get into melee and being Locked in Combat. Pick of the bunch was the Primus Pilum who charged the Strigoi. Melee in Broken Legions between Heroes is not something that is over in a few rounds, while it is a bit faster when the Henchmen are fighting.

My Numeri scouts managed to kill a Warrior, and take a wound of a Noble. The Balearic slingers shot a Falxman. I made the mistake of breaking my shieldwall and instead charging the Dacians, thus losing an advantage.

The rest of the game were spent more or less in melee with many close fights and the upper hand switching between the two warbands constantly. In the end the deciding factor was the Strigoi who's vampiric abilities made him difficult to take down.

The game lasted for 3 hours, a bit long, but I forgot about several rules along the way could perhaps have sped up the game. I know that the author Mark Latham speculated about reducing the amount of point with which to buy your warband and it might a good move.

Michael quite liked the premise of the game and the game itself. It has an enormous potential with the addition of Auxilary (mercenaries)  - everything from Cyclops, Sicari assassins and Necromancers.

Next up for my Broken Legions gaming is trying to convince my friend Chris that he should try it.

Here are some pictures from our game,