6 x 6 - Tomb Raider

Sorry, no Angelina Jolie or even the video game version of Lara Croft. This is my latest game of Song of Broken Legions, featuring the fearless men of the Republic up against the villainous undead of Ptolemaic Egypt.
The year is 33BC and relations between Marc Antony and Octavian are not at their best. The former has been bewitched by the Eastern Queen Cleopatra (true story - read the Roman propaganda errr... histories). Deep in Egypt a tomb of some long sleeping greater demon is guarded by Cultists of Set and a Liche Lord. Should the demon be awakened Octavian fears that he may not have the power to defeat Antony in any future civil war. A party of intrepid and loyal Caesarians are dispatched to find the tomb and destroy the sleeping enemy before it can be awakened.

The Romans arrive near the tomb.

Bird's eye view of the table and the labyrinth of jungle the Romans had to navigate

One group heads right and activates 3 Cultists.

For very failed activation dice the Romans rolled, a die was rolled for the Egyptians. On a 4+ d3 Cultists would appear within 1 medium of the Roman that rolled the failure.

On the left only 2 Cultists were activated.

The Romans on the right struggle against their adversaries.

And the same issue plagues the Sons of the Eagle on the left.

Hidden in the bushes an Egyptian archer misses every shot...

... but the Roman response is far more effective.

The Roman legionaries start to get the upper hand on the right.



While a long drawn out hand to hand fight ensues on the left.



The Frumentarius takes the opportunity to slip away and head towards the tomb.

Having dealt with their enemy the Centurion and his trusty guard chase the last of the Egyptians back to the tomb.

Followed by the missile support.

After far too long the Praetorian takes down the last of his opponents.

The rest of the Egyptian crew comes spilling out of the tomb to face the Centurion and his men. Note the Frumentarius stealthily making his way around the side to the front entrance.

Battle is joined and the Romans find themselves outnumbered but holding a limited frontage to avoid being encircled.

And knock down more of the enemy than they lose themselves.

The Praetorian and the last Cretan Archer start heading towards the tomb.

Ad arrive to help their comrades. The Frumentarius takes the opening and heads into the tomb.

Surprise, the Egyptians left a guard!

The Romans start to get the upper hand in the battle with the eternal warriors.

And it is only the Liche Lord left now.

The Frumentarius kills his opponent and manages to set fire to the tomb.

The Roman expeditionary force won this scenario. Song of Blades and Heroes proved to once again be an excellent system to use. The only downside was that I began to forget which figures had been knocked down and which had been killed. Usually you just remove the casualties, but as I had a necromancer, you are meant to leave the dead on so that they can be brought back by a spell. I think in future when I play with the Cult of Set, I'll use red counters to mark where people have been killed.

I've rejigged some of the stats now, powering up the Romans to account for their mail, tower shields and their skill with the gladius. This will mean less troops to provide missile support, but to be honest, that was pretty useless in the last couple of games anyway.

Next up, Antony will try and unleash the Argonauts on a mission to reach a sacred relic and get it away before Octavian's men take it for themselves.

Nate