(Historical Miniatures)
As the ranks of painted Malays on my desktop grew, I think my Khmer army sensed its time in the sun was nearing its end. The time that my Khmers would be my newest army -- and thus, the one I typically play in tournaments -- couldn't last much longer the way I was breezing through the Malays.
So, the Warparty tournament could be their last for awhile, excepting next month's Big Battle Tourney. The elephants seemed nervous, stamping their great feet and trumpeting loud, shrill blasts. Something very good or very disastrous was about to happen, I felt.
Our first battle at Jim Williams' tourney was against Charley Elsden, who was borrowing one of Jim's Polybian Roman armies. He was defender, so set up only a waterway along one edge and a pair of gentle hills. There would be no difficult ground for my auxilia to operate in. He deployed with a his legionaries (blades) broken into three groups, the largest in the center, backed by light troops (psiloi). One his left were his two cavalry. Against his mounted, I threw a hodgepodge of my one cavalry, blades backed by psiloi, and two bow. The center featured my auxilia, my left the elephants.
Charley sent a strong end run with his cavalry, hoping to skirt my flank and go for my camp. My hodgepodge force wheeled to intercept, while trying to fend off the legionaries that marched forward to support the cavalry. His cavalry closed while overlapped at a disadvantage, and that, with poor combat rolls, resulted in one of his cavalry destroyed. On my bound, I finished off the other, and wheeled to threaten the flank of the oncoming legionaries.
Charley began to pull back his bloodied left, but not quick enough to prevent my cavalry from riding down his psiloi. With little choice, his center and right now hurried to close before they were rolled up. No match for his legionaries, my auxilia recoiled, with one destroyed. The elephants fared better, though, and trampled one legionary to finish the game with a 4-1 victory for my Khmer.
My next opponent was David van Hoose with another of Jim's borrowed Polybian Romans. I was defender so made the battlefield a morass of jungle and swamp. I deployed ready to race forward and assault a large patch of jungle in his center. It so happened that David deployed most of his army in there. On my first bound, I force marched a psiloi to pin his cavalry general, who was slogging through the woods with the legionaries. The auxilia and elephants hurried behind to try to catch the Romans at a disadvantage.
David began to force his way through the woods, his general fleeing clear
of them, though, when beaten by my psiloi. My auxilia made it in time to
catch the legionaries before they could emerge. However, poor combat rolls
saw one auxilia destroyed and the others recoiling. To our right and rear,
the elephants and bow straggled forward to prevent his left from interfering
in the woods. I redoubled my efforts in the center, taking advantage of
the hole in his lines where his general had been.
Slowly, we began to flank and kill legionaries. However, David's Romans fought back valiantly, and it was soon 3-3. Next element lost would decide it. His left had contacted my elephants, and it was one of them who struck the final blow, trampling a legionary to end this game, as well. Final score -- a tight 4-3 game.
It seemed to be an East meets West kind of day, as my Khmer faced three of the four Roman armies among the eight entrants at Warparty. I defended, once more making the battlefield a morass of jungle and swamp. However, this handicapped Robert Boggs' Romans little. His army had four auxilia to match mine, plus bows and an artillery piece to worry my elephants.
I deployed with my auxilia in two columns ready to advance through a large woods that covered his left flank. The center was composed of my elephants, screened by my psiloi, with my cavalry tagging along. On my left, I had a column of two bow and my blades. Opposing me, Bob sent four auxilia into the same woods mine had targetted. Stretching across his center was his artillery, bows, and legionaries, with his cavalry general in support in the rear.
It would be a tough fight. Bob had deployed cannily. I held no advantage anywhere on the board, I felt: His four auxilila vs. my four on my right; His artillery and bows against my psiloi and elephants in the center; His legionaries against my bows and lone blade on my left. Where to attack? I thought a bold push in the center MIGHT pay off, if I could prevent artillery shots on my elephants. So, the army advanced.
I was successful in screening my elephants against his fire, and was able to seize an advantage when two auxilia rush forwarded and destroyed his bows which had moved too close to the woods. He countered with his cavalry and auxilia against mine. Mine were hurled back, and I brought another auxilia forward to bolster the line. So did he, and we fed units into the battle in the middle until he ran out of units, and I had one psiloi left over. This flanked the end of his line, and began the Roman's eventual downfall. On my left, the elephants held off his legionaries when they surged forward, but perhaps too timidly refused to close with my bows and blade who were hanging back at the jungle's edge, guarding the elephant's flank.
Slowly, we rolled up the auxilia battleline until victory was won. The score was 4-1, but does not reflect the closeness of the fight. Bob is one of those relatively new DBAers I have watched over the last year or so steadily improve. I like to give my opponent advice throughout the battle, especially if they aren't as experienced. However, Bob's (and many other's) skill has progressed to the point where I clam up in crucial moments and hope they don't spot my vulnerabilities.
So, my Khmer, nervous about being replaced as "Army du Jour," fought their way to victory in the Warparty tournament. Really, they needn't have worried overmuch. As the centerpiece of my SE Asian project, they will always remain a favorite of mine. I doubt they will gather much dust while in my collection.