The Briton army of Queen Brietta and the Pict army of King Morial came to blows as both attempted to take control of the village in the center of the above picture. The Britons approached from the south-east (bottom right) and the Picts from the north-east (top right). The Britons arrived just before the Picts, and as early morning fog cleared away.
King Morial had been advised by his druids that the omens favored all out attack, and to that end he promptly dispatched his Light Horse - his fastest troops - to race ahead and seize the village while he brought up the rest of the army in support. Queen Brietta's druids had advised against an initial attack, and therefore she was taking things a little more quietly.
Due to their earlier arrival, the Briton Light Horse reached the village first, but were quickly driven off by their more numerous Pict counterparts. Seeing her horsemen fall back from the village, Queen Brietta immediately began establishing a defensive position around the bridge that she and her main column had just crossed, with the aim of trying to counter-punch a way through any enemy in the way.
Queen Brietta then pushed her Pict Crossbowmen (fighting against their countrymen - obviously from a different clan. See photo above) - through the woods in an attempt to secure the eastern approaches to the village, and pressed her own Briton archers into the village.
Seeing the approaching Britons the Pict horsemen in the village launched a swift counter-attack. The javelin-armed Whelps (pictured above) were forced to scamper out of the way to allow the archers a clear view, but the archers held their nerve and inflicted heavy casualties as the horsemen raced through their ranks. A supporting Briton warband then raced in to complete the destruction of the Pict horsemen.
Meanwhile, as they pressed through the woods, the Pict mercenary crossbowmen came under attack from King Morial's leading Warband. The crossbowmen fell back through the woods, inflicting casualties at a sufficiently steady rate that by the time the warband reached the far end of the woods, its numbers had been depleted to the point that it was ripe for counter-attack by the Briton warband waiting to greet them.
The initial Pict challenge fended off, (and the above photo taken from Queen Brietta's position on the field) Queen Brietta now began to push her forces into the village and through the wood. King Morial, realizing he was facing a much larger army than his own decided that discretion was the better form of valor, and withdrew, leaving the Britons in charge of the field.
Effectively, all the action had taken place in one small corner of the field, and only really involved a portion of each army. Nevertheless, sufficient losses had been inflicted on the Picts to leave no doubt that this was not going to be their day.
Queen Brietta now prepares for a (tournament Grand Final) showdown against the Pict army of King Cynon. And I face the prospect of not having enough Celtic figures to cover the two armies, even if I rope in my eastern Celts (Dacians and Thracians). Doh!
Hopefully one or both armies will dispatch an outflanking force that gets lost and never shows up!
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