Teutoburg Tear-up - Midgard AAR

Introduction

The First Century A.D.  In Roman occupied Germania, Lowenbrau a local warlord has rallied his tribe to strike at the hated invaders.  A small Roman force under Misserablus Buggarus has been assembled to show the Gemans the folly of opposing the might of Rome.

This is a 400 points per side game of Midgard, using Scenario 1: Battle.  The force lists can be found here.

Starting positions

Turn 1

The Germans are the attackers and their leader Lowenbrau wastes no time in sending his whole force forwards.  His impetus young warriors the Geoguth, move twice eager to get at the Romans.  Anxious to enhance his reputation Rauchbier the Minor Hero attaches himself to the unit.  The German Woodsmen Archers end their movement just short of being able to shoot at the Romans.

Misserablus Buggarus orders his Romans  forwards to prepare to meet the inevitable German charge.  Slipiuptus the Roman Optio who is attached to the Auxiliary units, spends his two Mighty Deeds to add to the Archers chances and they Shoot at the German Archers.  Their shooting is feeble  and they don't score a single hit.  The German tribesmen fighting for the Romans score one hit which doesn't cause a loss of Stamina but forces the Germans to take a Command Test which they pass.

It's now the turn of the Germans who didn't shoot to do so.   The Woodsmen Archers hit three times, but it doesn't do any damage and the Auxiliary Archers pass the required Command test.  No one is close enough for Melee so that’s the end of Turn 1. 

The German tribesmen advance.

Turn 2

Turn 2 start (oops wrong markers)

Lowenbrau moves his whole battle line forward.  Shouting their fearsome war cries the Germanic mass move on the Roman line.  The German Archers shoot at the Auxiliary Archers again.  Three hits isn't enough to damage and the Command Test is passed by the Romans.  

Rauchbier the German Minor Hero issues a challenge and Slipiuptus the Roman Optio steps forwards to meet him Single Combat.  They both elect to play their two Mighty Deeds.  The Roman Optio hits four times, the German once.  The three difference equals Rauchbier's Armour value and he falls to the Roman who gains two Reputation Tokens. Rauchbier's Famous Death at least means the Germans will only lose one Reputation Token.  The victorious Slipiuptus moves back to join his cheering auxiliaries. 

Slipiuptus vs Rauchbier 

It's now the Romans turn and buoyed by Slipiuptus' victory, they move on the Germans.  This brings a unit of Legionaries into Combat with a unit of Geoguth, and the Auxiliary Infantry with a unit of German Archers, who try to Evade but fail their Command Test so must stand and fight.  

With all the movement concluded the Auxiliary Archers fire at the second unit of Woodsmen Archers.  As it's now within the Killing Zone they get their full eight die.  The four hits is double the Armour rating so that's two Stamina points lost.  The Woodsmen Archers only have two Stamina so the unit is destroyed with one Reputation lost to the Germans.  

The Local Skirmishers employed by the Romans unleash their javelins on the Germans.  The one hit they score (while not being enough to hurt the unit of Oathsworn Warriors), is enough to force them to take a Command test which they fail.  As they retreat they become entangled with the unit behind and in the confusion both units fail their Command Tests and lose a point of Stamina each.  

The German line becomes disarrayed

The allied Woodsmen Archers hit other Oathsworn Unit just once without any effect.

It's now the Defender's Melee Combat phase.  Spurred on by Slipiuptus' victory, young Pillsner Germanus issues a challenge to  Krombaucher, a German second level hero.  Will this be a rash move?  Krombaucher hits three times against one in reply.  Fortunately, Pillsner's armour just saves him but he's lost the first round and takes a Stamina token while his opponent gains a point of Reputation.  In the Second Round Pillsner rallies and wins scoring two hits against one and gaining the Reputation.  It's honours even as they fight the last round and against the odds the lower level hero Pillsner scores a maximum three hits against two and wins.  The Stamina point Krombaucher is forced to take is too much and he falls.  His death is Food for Ravens and the resulting loss of three Reputation reduces the Germans to only four tokens against the Romans eleven.  Their leader Lowenbrau is the only Hero they have left.  

Krombaucher vs Pillsner

The Roman Auxiliary unit now get stuck into the German Woodsmen that failed to evade.  The Woodsmen manage to hit the auxiliaries three times but it doesn't exceed their armour, and they crumble as the four hits scored exceeds their Armour of two and they lose two Stamina which is enough to destroy them. 

The Roman Legionaries pile into the Geoguth young warriors.  Eight hits is four times the German's Armour rating so that's four Stamina removed and they are destroyed in one lethal attack.  Before their destruction the young warriors attack had no effect on the Romans.

At this stage the Romans have eleven Reputation Tokens against the Germans one!  It doesn't look good.

Turn 3

Turn 3 start

Feeling it's better to die gloriously than suffer a coward's retreat, Lowenbrau shouts for Wotan's help and leads his warriors in a final charge.  This brings two units of his Oathsworn Heathguard and a unit of Oathsworn Veteran Spearmen crashing into the Roman line, with two units in support. The unit on the far right flank failed it's Command test and didn't reach the Roman line. 

Lowenbrau calls for the Roman leader to meet him in single combat.  Miserablus knows that his force is on the brink of victory so he doesn't risk himself.  Although this costs a Reputation Token the Romans  can afford it.  In a fury Lowenbrau uses all three of his Mighty Deeds and leads the first Oathsworn Heathguard unit in a crunching charge against a unit of Roman Legionaries.  Of the twenty die thrown, after re-rolls there's only seven hits.  That's four more than the Roman Armour value.  There are two Roman Legionary units in Support which cancels one dice, but that's still a loss of  two Stamina.  In reply the Romans score five hits which with the Heathguard's four Armour means they lose one Stamina,  The Heathguard have won the combat and the Romans retreat in good order.  The Veteran Legionaries that were immediately behind them do not need to take a Command Test.  The Germans Pursue the retreating Romans.

The next Heathguard unit now attacks another unit of Legionaries, scoring five hits, causing a loss of one Stamina point to the Romans,  Their response is an impressive eight hits, with two losses of Stamina to the Germanic Warriors.  The secondary Roman unit in contact with the Heathguard score  attack but without any effect.  The German warriors have lost this combat and as they retreat they collide with a unit behind which fail their Command Test and lose a point of Stamina.  The Romans decide to Pursue keeping the pressure on their foes. 

The final German unit to fight are a unit of  Oathsworn Veteran Spearmen.  They are up against a unit of Roman Legionaries and Tribal Archers.  The Archers had failed their Evade move so must fight.  The German Spearmen score six hits wiping out the Archers.  The remaining two hits are absorbed by the Legionaries.  That's it for the Germans, 

The Romans respond.  The Auxiliary Archers and Infantry under Slipiuptus change facing, as does one Legionary unit which hits the flank of a unit of Oathsworn Heathguard.  The Roman Veteran Legionary unit also moves in on the same unit of Heathguard.  Miserablus attaches himself to the unit of Legionaries that had won in the previous phase of combat.  The fourth and final unit of Legionaries aligns itself against the unit of Oathsworn Spearmen that had vanquished the Roman Tribal Archers.  Seeking more glory, Pillsner attaches himself to this unit.  The Tribal Skirmishes stand their ground. and unleash a barrage of javelins on the nearest Germans, which is completely ineffectual. 

Miserablus spends all three of his Mighty Deeds to add to the dice pool of the unit he is attached to.  Six hits are scored which takes  another point of Stamina from the German unit.  The Heathguard score four hits with a point of Stamina lost from the Roman unit.  The Germans retreat into a supporting unit, and as they do they fail their Command Test which results in another point of Stamina lost and the unit is destroyed.  With the resulting loss of three Reputation this pushes the German forces into negative Reputation and they break.  Victory to Rome. 

 

Conclusion 

Lowenbrau was foolish to challenge Rome.  The discipline of the legions alone would probably have been enough to ensure defeat.  However, losing two of his heroes in single combat was his real undoing.

This was only my second game of Midgard, the first one being back in December (AAR here).  This was a more enjoyable game, mainly because I'd got a better understanding of the rules and used the game mechanics more.  It was also a lot quicker game, which suits me as not having a dedicated gaming space I can't leave a game set up for hours at a time.

This was the first game for this collection of figures which I'd bought in October 2023.  I'd been working on them for quite a bit of the second half of 2024, and it's always good to get a first game with a new collection.  That's actually a quick turn around for me, some collections have waited years before an outing!  I originally bought them to use with Infamy, Infamy, but I'd revised the basing to also work for Midgard which they did very well.  This also contributed to the game flowing better as the units were all built to work with the rules.  I was also better prepared this time with having all the various markers needed to hand.

This game has reinforced my thinking that Midgard will be my rule set of choice for Ancient, Medieval and Fantasy battles.  It's an excellent ruleset which I think has got the balance between detail/nuance and speed just about right.