Spartans win again, and Pike and Shot DBA

Taking advantage of the fine weather over Easter, the family once again packed up and went to the beach. This time I took some DBA with me to play in the evenings. The Spartans and Persians fit nicely into a single layer of foam tray, and even though neither are a littoral army, they were quite excited about going to the coast.
I got to play one game, and it went like this:

Persians choose the battleground and scrunch up the Spartan deployment.

Plough are out of play in the first turn and the lines advance towards each other. Not a sensible Persian tactic really...

The Persian left prepares to cross the river and outflank the Spartans, if possible. Persian Shooting is ineffective.

One turn of combat and the Persians lose three elements. This wasn't even a contest...

So that brings the running total of games between these two to Spartans 5, Persians nil. It might be time to go fight some other people, Persia...

While away I was working on a Pike and Shot variant of DBA, and when I got back I blu-taked some metal to bases to try them out. This is Swedes vs Imperialist in the Thirty Years War:

Swedes to the right, Imperialists to the left. Most of the shot is classified as 8Sh, double based and containing pikes o nthe element.

The Swedish left struggles to get out of the enclosure, while the German mercenary Pistols head around the woods on an outflanking mission, only to be held up by Croatian Light Horse. 

A few units have been killed here. Artillery proved effective, as did some of the shooting. The Swedish Dragoons in the enclosure were getting the better of their opposite for most of the game.

The decisive turn. The artillery duel saw the Swedes knock out the Imperialist artillery on the hill, and the Fast pistols on the Swedish left drove into the enemy formation, killing a Cuirassier (Solid Pistols). One more turn and I daresay those same chaps would have been toast, as they had no support, but by this stage the Imperialists were defeated.

The dead, Imperialist in the foreground.

I'll upload my DBA Renaissance variant here after a bit more playtesting, but I have to admit to liking how the rules are doing so far.

Last night I watched Tony Aguilar's video of Persians getting beaten by Athenians (so it isn't just me), and realised that I had based my double foot elements incorrectly. For some reason I thought all double foot elements were 30mm deep, but no, Bow (and therefore Shot) are meant to be 40mm deep. So a rebasing operation has been commenced this morning, on both the Persians and the 30YW.

Finally, hello to Mikayla, Alex and Laura, who were probably hoping that this post would have more anthropomorphic animals featured. Sorry - it's a busy life...

Nate