Forest Foray, 11/12 October 2008
Only 10 DBM players
at this 25mm singles competition, outnumbered by the 12 playing Flames of
War. But there were some rip-roaring
games and a great spirit, nonetheless.
I took Later
Carthaginians, pre-Hannibal version (for the cheaper Irregular infantry). It was a small army, the command break points
being 6.5, 6.5, 4.5 – one command with the spearmen supported by Ax(S), psiloi
and one artillery element, a second with two elephants, cavalry, light horse,
psiloi and Auxilia (mostly Ordinary), and a small third command with two more
elephants, light horse, a few Ax(S) and some psiloi.
The first game was a
historical one against Polybian Romans, who also fielded an elephant and lots
of Auxilia, half
The first action of
the game saw my artillery destroy a Triarii element with a 6-1, which did
nothing for the Roman player’s morale. I
also bagged the Roman elephant, and quickly broke the smallest Roman command,
but Achaian peltasts in Roman pay, supported by velites, crushed my smallest
command. A shoving match between
legionaries and spearmen in the centre was indecisive so the important action
was on my right where I confidently expected to beat the Italian
auxiliaries. The Ax(I) proved to be
surprisingly tough, holding on for ages while a dribble of casualties elsewhere
threatened to break my C-in-C’s command.
However, the Italians succumbed in the end and the Roman army broke for a
9-1 win to me.
Then I faced
Medieval Germans – a 13th century version with one Imperial and
three City commands – hardly any knights but lots of Blades, pikes and
spears. I invaded and placed some rough
going which all landed on the Germans’ side of the table (I ought to have
placed a road and steep hills instead – a bad mistake there). I tried to outflank the German right, which
was held by an allied command of mainly Sp(I), with cavalry and elephants but
made little progress, and elsewhere the Germans Bd(X) carried all before
them. I inflicted very few casualties
before my army collapsed. 0-10 defeat.
The third game was
against Siamese – enormous numbers of Wb(F), lots of elephants and not much
else. I defended and placed orchards,
which fell so that I could place ambushes in two of them while a third got in
the way of the largest warband block.
The orchard on my right flank contained two elephants and some psiloi in
ambush; risky as the elephants can only just move out in one go, but it proved
effective as their emergence was a horrible shock to the Siamese warbands. On this flank elephants, Ax(S) and light
horse massacred the warbands who had charged spontaneously all over the place,
breaking the Siamese C-in-C’s command.
On the other flank another orchard was held against Wb(F) by Ax(S) and
Ps(S), and looked secure – but a great string of combat dice by the Siamese
ended with all the Ax(S) dead and my flank shakily held by a few psiloi. Meanwhile I was mopping up the occasional
element in the centre but also taking casualties so my centre command was in
danger, while many carefully arranged attacks failed (my artillery had four
shots at an elephant-mounted general, admittedly into the wind, and
failed). Then a superb combat round saw
6 Wb die to Auxilia and cavalry, breaking the Siamese army for a 10-0 win.
In the last match I
faced Later Sargonid Assyrians – small commands, but very tough troops. I invaded and this time I did place a road
and steep hills; three of the hills were on the Assyrian side but the fourth,
on my left flank, enabled a couple of Ax(S) to keep the main Assyrian cavalry
force out of the game. Spear and Ax
faced Spear and Ax in the centre, while on my right all four elephants faced
the Kn(S) chariots.
The game started in
mist, and poor PIPs prevented my elephants from advancing rapidly. The Assyrians were able to screen the
chariots with two waves of psiloi; the first wave were all trampled but the
second killed three of the elephants. My cavalry then rode down all the psiloi,
while a LH sub-general destroyed a chariot which had come forward to support
them. The other chariots then trundled
forward and charged, but failed to beat my Cv(O) – my LH general destroyed
another chariot, and then bagged the sub-general. The Assyrian command held but was crippled,
and was soon finished off – like mine, the Assyrian commands had small break
points.
In the centre the
main heavy infantry forces clashed; the Assyrians had generally better troops
but I had more of them and overlaps (given at one end by the artillery, which
chased a LH off the table and then had repeated shots at a Cv(S) general). I lost a pair of Ax(S) and one Ax(O), but
killed some Sp(O) and then a double-overlapped pair of Sp(S).
As the time-limit
approached my C-in-C’s command had lost nothing, my smallest command was close
to breaking but had no real opposition, but my centre command, which had lost
both elephants, 3 Ax and one Cv, was half an element from breaking. The Assyrian spear command was two elements
from breaking, but more importantly one more loss would make half the Assyrian
army gone. Unfortunately the Assyrians
then destroyed some more Ax to break my
centre command. On the last bound I
arranged as many combats as possible, with good chances, but failed to get any
kills so the game ended at 5-5. A fair
result to an excellent, hard-fought game.
Attack! 12/13 July 2008
An interesting time at Devizes. Russ King and I planned to use Neo-Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar’s army, with Kn(S), heavy chariots, some decent cavalry and a few light horse supported by double-based Bw(X), Bw(I), some Sp(O) including mercenary Greek hoplites, a few Psiloi and some Hordes. Plus a Median ally with cavalry, archers and spearmen. On Saturday morning one team didn’t show up so I had to get out the reserve army, Medieval Germans, and leave Russ with the Babylonians.
My German army had a sub-general’s command with 16 pike elements, some crossbowmen and Psiloi, the C-in-C with knights (Ordinary), cavalry (the compulsory Kn(I) downgraded to Cv(O)) and crossbowmen, an ally with more Kn(O), Cv(S), Cv(O) and Psiloi, and a Swiss ally with 16 Pk(S) and 5 psiloi.
The first game was against Khazars – many light horse backed by Superior Cavalry and some not very good infantry. I refused my right flank, relying on the Swiss to drop off rearguard elements as they advanced, and aimed to attack strongly on my left with the C-in-C’s command with the German ally (the Duke of Bavaria) on his left. Unfortunately the Bavarians were unreliable, nearly scuppering my plan. Khazar light horse contained the two pike commands, while more headed for my undefended camp. The Emperor’s mounted troops hit a line of light horse – and all three Kn(O) elements died in successive combats. Despite this discouraging setback, the cavalry and crossbowmen exacted a toll of LH and Cv(S), driving the Khazar command to retreat. However, the sub-general’s command was in trouble with Khazar LH riding down crossbowmen (even when 1-4 down) and then trapping and killing the Kn(I) general. That command broke – then so did the Khazar command harried by my C-in-C, bringing the Bavarians in at last. Too late – baggage losses brought my total loss to half the army so the Germans broke for a 1-9 defeat. An excellent, close game.
Next I faced New Kingdom Egyptians. Again I refused the right flank, leaving the Swiss with an unsupported flank, and attacked with three commands on less than half the frontage. The Egyptians attacked my Pk(O) with a command of 10 Wb(F) plus a Psiloi general; they killed two pike elements but with a break point of only 4 they didn’t last long and this left a hole in the Egyptian centre. The Bavarian Psiloi, rushing out of ambush in a wood, kept most of the Egyptian archers occupied while the C-in-C’s mounted troops attacked chariots and Ordinary Blades – the C-in-C himself charged and rode down four Blade elements. The Swiss, after chasing off a line of Psiloi and “pressing forward”, got into some Ax(O) and started butchering them. A second Egyptian command soon broke for a 10-0 win to the Germans.
On Sunday morning one of the missing team turned up wanting to play, so Russ and I teamed up again with the Babylonians. As the luck of the draw would have it, we faced the Khazars who’d beaten me on Saturday. The Babylonians were able to hold off outflanking moves by LH, with some loss on both sides, and attack strongly in the centre; unfortunately our combat dice were awful and several Kn(S) chariots were lost against light horse and even cavalry. But then the luck turned with a vengeance; a Cv(S) Khazar general was shot dead by our archers, and another was hit in the flank by a Psiloi, with one overlap and no recoil for the general. The combat dice were 6-2, the general died and both Khazar commands then broke for a 10-0 win.
Our final opponents were Palmyrans – lots of light horse, two blocks of cataphracts, many archers and an Arab ally with 13 Inferior Blades, whose job was to deploy behind the Palmyran archers and move through them to engage suitable enemy. The Palmyrans started confidently, redeploying to get the cataphracts away from our Bw(X) and masking much of our front with LH. They made an error in moving a column of cataphracts too close to an area of rough going, enabling a Ps(O) to attack their flank. That Psiloi destroyed three Kn(X) elements, including a general, and demoralised the opposing player if not his command. The main action was on the other flank, our left, where our strike force attacked a mix of assorted light horse and bows. Our Kn(S) chariots were useless, all four on that flank going down without inflicting any loss on the enemy, but our Cv(S) and Cv(O) fought much better and slaughtered many LH – the Palmyran command was soon close to demoralisation. The weakened Palmyran command on the other flank was broken, mainly by archery. At this stage our C-in-C’s command was one element from breaking and so was the Palmyran command engaging it. I arranged as many shots and combats as possible – nothing died on either side. But in the centre our Sp(O) and Bw(X), which had been fighting various Palmyran archers and Arab swordsmen, killed three Bw(I) elements to break the centre Palmyran command and with it the enemy army. Another 10-0 win.
My four games garnered 31 points which would have been enough to win the competition. However, I didn’t count my Saturday games with a different army so our final score was 27 points (Russ having scored 7 on Saturday with the Babylonians), giving us third place.
Paul Apreda’s new competition in the DBM SW Doubles League, Venta Silurum, went with a swing. There were 16 teams (five of them single players for various reasons), and a good mix of armies ranging from Akkadian through Early Vietnamese and Khitan-Liao to Later Hungarian.
Russ King and I took Gauls, Fast Warband version. Our C-in-C’s command had Cv(O), Wb(F) and Psiloi; a second large command had Cv(O) and Wb(F), an ally had smaller numbers of the same and the Gaesati consisted of 20 Wb(S). A large army with a lot of shock power but rather brittle and distinctly unmanoeuvrable.
Our first game was against another Gallic host commanded by
Duncan Robinson – presumably we were the Aedui and the Arverni.
We tied up the right wing successfully with the C-in-C’s
chariots and psiloi, while our ally-general’s warband rushed into the marsh and
impetuously charged out at the flank of the enemy cavalry. This was combined with a frontal attack by our
cavalry, and proved successful; the smallest enemy command broke. The main action in the centre comprised two
masses of warband, Fast and
Next we faced Graham Philpott and Steve Tromans with Swedish Leidang. I’d played this lot before and knew that they had a command of mainly Bd(O), one of mainly Ax(O) and another with 10 Fast Knights plus lots more Ax(O) which normally flank-marched. They also had a large fortified camp. The terrain placed lots of rough going on our side of the table, with their side mainly open. Our Wb(S) faced the fort, manned by Bd(O) and Bw(O), while two of our warband commands faced nothing at all on our right and centre. The enemy Ax(O) command set up behind more huscarls to the left of the fort, and rapidly marched in column to turn our left flank. The knights were evidently flank-marching.
We let all our Wb(F) go impetuous right away and they raced at double speed towards the fort, while we moved all our cavalry to confront the expected flank march on our left. The Swedish knights arrived on turn 4, leaving their infantry off table, and took on superior numbers of Gallic cavalry. Several of them died, but they rode down numerous cavalry. Meanwhile our warband assaulted the fort, without success – only the Gaesati general actually broke in, and lots of Wb(F) died (strangely, mainly against the defending bowmen rather than the huscarls). Accumulated losses to Wb(F) and cavalry broke first the allied command and then the C-in-C’s. 0-10 defeat.
On Sunday Russ was called away to stand in for a player who’d unexpectedly not made it, so I played solo. My first opponent was Nick Coles with a Spartan army (Later Hoplite Greek). Nick had had terrible matchups on Saturday, first Akkadians with wall-to-wall pikes and then Galatians with wall-to-wall warband, so he was less than thrilled to meet yet more warband. He’d learned from experience, though, and set up in a corner with his hoplites at various angles. It booted not – the warband raced across the table (excellent PIPs) and pretty much sorted themselves out and wrought havoc. Wb(F) easily beat Thracian Ax(S) and some Sp(O), while the Gaesati tackled the Spartan Sp(S) and punched several holes on impact. One hole was plugged by the Spartan C-in-C, who killed two Wb(S) but was then attacked and cut down by two more. The Spartans collapsed for a 10-0 win to me. The bright spot for Nick was the performance of his 6 Bw(I), who shot dead 5 Cv(O) elements leaving my C-in-C’s command two elements from breaking.
The last game was against Paul Apreda with Seleucids – a 36-element pike command, including 12 Pk(S), one of various mounted troops (cataphracts, cavalry, light horse and Fast Knights) and psiloi, and a third of elephants and supporting light troops. Paul invaded and launched an all-out attack, with the phalanx immediately advancing to 200 paces from the Gaesati and a block of Wb(F). The supporting cataphracts and cavalry, however, had to stop after spotting some of my Psiloi hiding in a handy area of rough going. Paul then sent his own Psiloi against mine: Gallic Ps(S), supported by a bunch of Wb(F) rushing up from behind, made short work of Seleucid Ps(O) and before long ten Ps(O) had gone down. The Gaesati cut down 4 Pk(O) elements on impact, but then their general was on the wrong end of a 6-1 and died. I saved the command, but the fanatics evidently thought they were demoralised because they slew no more pikemen, took more losses and broke. Their Wb(F) comrades, though, did much better and the pike command was soon teetering.
On my right the elephants trampled one cavalry element but I managed to pull the rest back while threatening the enemy flank with warband coming through rough going, while over on the left wing more warband caught some Galatian mercenary cavalry in the flank and killed them. The battle was decided when Wb(F) slew 4 two-deep Pk elements to break the pike command and with it the Seleucid army for a 9-1 win.
It was an excellent weekend all round, with a friendly atmosphere and no problems despite the unexpectedly snowy weather. I hope Paul runs it again next year.
Russ King and I took
Pre-Feudal Scots; the C-in-C was Macbeth, depicted with three witches and a
cauldron. His command had a large block of Ax(X) spearmen supported by 9
LH(O) and assorted psiloi; one sub-general had more of the same, the other sub
(a Warband element) had Ax(X), psiloi and the 8 Wb(S), and a Galwegian ally had
32 Wb(F). A big army, 128 elements, relying on size to make up for the
lack of quality (it was dwarfed by a 200-element Early Libyan army, though).
In the first game we
faced Nigel Poole's
On Saturday afternoon we played a Serbian Empire army led by two new opponents (so there are still some about). The Serbs had only about 12 Kn(S), in two small commands, and two large infantry commands, one a Bosnian ally. We got the deployment right and our Wb(S) raced towards assorted Bw, Bd and Ax(O) while the Galwegians assaulted a steep hill held by Ps(O). The Bosnians were unreliable, which didn't matter much as we attacked them anyway. The Bosnian archers were no match for the Wb(S), the Galwegians swept the psiloi aside and the Bosnian command was quickly broken. The Wb(S) then turned on the adjoining Serb infantry, who were engaged against Ax(X), and started mangling them too. Meanwhile the Serbian knights eventually charged a mass of Ax(X) and exchanged 3 Kn(S) for 10 Ax(X), leaving Macbeth's command close to breaking - but then the Wb(S) finished off the Serb infantry (slaughtering the reserve Hd(F) after breaking through) and the Serbs broke for a 10-0 win to us.
The third game was against Mark Clarke and Dino Monticoli's Scythians. We knew they had a large hoplite ally, so placed our warband facing the hoplites' likeliest positions. Dino had been studying the army list in Book 3, but was still taken by surprise - seeing me deploying mounted huscarls opposite his Sp(O), he asked if they were Kn(F) and was disconcerted to be informed that they were mounted Wb(S). A large Scythian command flank-marched and was signalled on the second turn - some Ax(O) and a lot of LH(F), but they were handicapped by low PIPs after arriving and were contained by our LH(O). On the other flank a big LH command was faced by Macbeth's Ax and Ps in convenient rough going and couldn't achieve much. In the centre the 30 hoplites were assailed by 9 Wb(S) and 32 Wb(F). They killed four Wb(S) in the first two combats, but then our die-rolling improved and the hoplites went down in masses. The remnants fled and the Galwegian Wb(F) ran riot, racing in all directions and splitting up the LH(F) trying to contain them. They and the Ax(X) trapped and killed quite a few LH, so that by the last bound we needed two and half elements to break the Scythian army. We arranged combats against three trapped LH, killed two but failed with the third. Timed out at 6-4, just half an element from 10-0.
Finally we defended
28 points got us a pleasing 4th place and all four games were exciting and bloody. An excellent weekend.
Russ comments: