(Historical Miniatures)
My Khmer army marched north to Drums Along the Maumee this weekend, entering Steve Smith's DBA Tourney. There were eight participants, which meant that once we were split onto opposite sides of the table, we would fight everyone on the other side. I played in his "Whirlygig" Tourney at Little Wars last month, and was looking forward to another good time.
My Khmer elephants on the march to Toledo...only two would get to play per game, though!
Round One
My first game was against David Cannane and his Alexandrian Imperial army. I was the invader and had only one long gentle hill just past my deployment area. David had two woods cramping his army into a relatively narrow funnel between them. He placed his pikes in a column along his base edge, light troops either in or beyond the woods, and fronted his army with his two knights and own elephant. I centered myself them with my two elephants and one cavalry in the middle, four auxilia and two psiloi split to either side, and my two bows and one blade on the left.
My battleline raced across to seal off the funnel and trap them between the woods. The right hand auxilia peeled away to enter to woods on our right. Seeing that my auxilia would soon outflank him, he charged his knights and elephants into my center. Perhaps Alexander's horse Boukephalos was spooked by the Khmer elephant opposite him, and tossed the general. Either way, Alexander wasn't so great and rolled a "1," trampled by my elephant. Game over.
I call the guy in the center 'Conan the Khmer'...and we needed all his strength in Round 2!
Round Two
Next, I faced John Lawitzke's Ango-Danish army. I thought with it being all foot, and his 8 spears susceptible to "quick kill" by my elephants, it might be another easy victory. No way. John wisely deployed his battleline so it was his three blades (backed by one psiloi) that was opposite my elephant center. I deployed with all four of my auxilia on the left of the elephants to race through the large dunes on our left and turn his flank. The right, with bows and psiloi, was meant to delay, with the cavalry and blades guarding the elephants' right.
My auxilia slowly battered our way through his right flank, and gradually began to turn it -- not without losses, though. First he destroyed an element, then I evened it up. Then he got another, and I evened it up. I killed a third, only to have him tie it up again at three. At this point, the Khmer elephant general and two of his auxilia were bearing down on the flank of the Anglo-Danish blade general and his psiloi support. I detached an auxilia to hit the psiloi from behind. They fought us off, and the Anglo-Danish general turned to contact my Khmer general. The fight swayed back and forth until finally my auxilia drove the psiloi behind his general, cutting off his recoil when the elephant forced him back.
It was a hard, 4-3 victory. John fought extremely well, and his army's
ferocity was quite surprising.
The Khmer Auxilia -- heroes of Round Three
Round Three
The Khmer were invaded for the first time in round three, by Doug Weber and his Later Hungarians. Not only was this not a kind matchup to Doug (my elephants quick kill his 2 war wagons and 3 knights), but the terrain was in my favor, too. We deployed with our rear against the mighty Mekong River, while two narrow marshy areas (rice paddies) stretched away from us nearly the length of the board. This channelized the battlefield into three long columns. I deployed so that I could swap my two pairs of elephants from their center location to either the right or left. His war wagons went to my left, and my elephants followed them.
Although we delayed on the right flank, sticking to the rice paddy, my center and left began an immediate advance. Two auxilia marched up each rice paddy, while his foot did the same on the left. He shook his two stands of bow out into a line, and my auxilia charged them. The elephants lined up alongside, and both bow went down. As the knights ponderously redeployed towards the center, my own bow shot down a Hungarian light horse that had crossed the paddy into the center. Another Hungarian bow tried to hold off the charge of the auxilia and was destroyed.
In all our combats, Doug never rolled higher than a "3." Bad terrain, a bad matchup and bad die rolls sealed his fate, as the Khmer won 4-0.
Although only one of these blades fought in Round 4, he was the star of the battle.
Round Four
I was 3-0 at this point, but didn't want to jinx it by finding out how everyone else was doing. I knew my opponent would be tough one -- Greg Crane and his Burgundian Ordonnance. As it turned out, we were the two highest point scorers so far (though Greg was 2-1). Once again, blind luck had followed Steve's Whirlygig format and somehow, randomly succeeded in matchup up the two appropriate players for the final round. How he does it, I don't know. It is obvious that it is not because his living well! (Sorry, Steve, couldn't resist...).
With the random roll, I stayed in place on the battlefield and once again defended the rice paddies. Greg's army had the waterway at his back, though, but I still felt fortunate with the terrain. I placed my elephants and cavalry in the center, auxilia in two columns to either side, ready to run up the paddies, again. One bow, psiloi and blade guarded the left, another bow and psiloi the right. Greg deployed his three dismountable knights in the center, with (surprisingly) a pike stand guarding their flanks on either side in the rice paddy. Outside the rice paddy on my right were his two other knights and a bow, and on the opposite flank were two more stands of bow and his dreaded artillery. Once again, I was facing knights with my elephants, but his artillery is just as nasty two my pachyderms, quick killing them.
I advanced quickly in the center, delaying on both wings. Greg began the game with an incredible series of die rolls. It seemed he was rolling nothing but 5's and 6's, while I was throwing 1's and 2's. Although I'd lost only one auxilia, my confidence was shattered. An auxilia on my left had died to a pikeman in the rice paddy (!), while his first ranging shot with his artillery had blew away its companion. As his artillery advanced to zero in on my, now exposed, elephants, I sent the one lone Khmer blade into action against his right. The blade attacked the flank of the bow/artillery/bow line, and began to roll it up. This element is often a forgotten stand in my army, being too slow to keep up with the elephants and auxilia, and often reduced to merely guarding the bow. However, he was the hero of the day as he evened out the score at 2-2.
The Burgundian knights in the center had long ago dismounted, and it turnedthe center into a shoving match with my elephants and cavalry. My Maiden Guard auxilia then put us ahead by killing his bow that had boldly advanced on my left. The remaining auxilia and psiloi finally were able to kill his pikeman guarding the right hand rice paddy. This was a long, nerve-wracking game. His pikemen were heroes, repeatedly pushing back or destroying my auxilia (who SHOULD have walked over them), while his psiloi-supported cooly held off my elephants and cavalry. My own blade was doubtless the hero of the Khmer side, personally smashing his force on the left flank and neutralizing the threat there. Nevertheless, when the game ended, his pike on the left were poised to lap my elephant and his knight on other flank was threatening my Maiden Guard.
The game could have gone either way, and caused me many nervous moments. I am normally a very fast DBA player, but Greg can attest that I slowed down my pace of play considerably, fretting over whether to surge ahead in the attack, or safeguard my vulnerable troops. The Burgundians had definitely put the fear of God(s) into my Khmer.
So, it turned out that my Khmer were the tourney victors, the only 4-0 army. It was their first tourney win, and MY first time winning at a Great Lakes convention. All the years of playing at Advance the Colors, and I had never won a DBA Tourney there! Thanks a bunch to Steve for running the tourney -- Drum's first -- and to all the players. Besides my opponents on the opposite side of the table, the players on my side were Allen Sams and hisLydians, Mike Cannane and his Parthians, and Steve and Greg's friend John, whose last name and army I forget.
It was a blast, and I think's Steve's Whirlygig format is a success!
Here they are -- the conquerors of Toledo! Time for a victory dance (watch out for the elephant feet)!!!