Athenians

Painting has not been easy this past month - work has soaked up a good amount of hobby time, so I was pleased to get a DBA army finished this week. Army I/52d Later Athenians in the Early Greek Hoplite list. My Spartans needed some opposition, and who better than the sons of Attica? I just need to paint up one more psiloi element for the Spartans and a Light Horse for the Athenians and these guys will be able to morph into Bk II/5a and b, albeit the Spartans will look a bit anachronistic without their pilos helmets.

Athenian army gathered for battle

Close up of the cavalry and psiloi.

They had their first outing last night against the Spartans, and have hence recorded their first loss 4-2. It was a rainy day and the ploughed fields were rough going, which led to some interesting moments. Their general may have learned a few lessons though. The Spartan shield wall is a real pig to pull apart, but the Athenians almost managed it! The cavalry was sacrificed needlessly and the Psiloi were on the wrong end of a 6-1 roll which essentially turned the game. I'm still at a loss as to what to do with the Spartan horde element. It usually just sits back and looks after the camp.

In my next battle I'm planning on using this Time of Day display that Stevie whipped up. I printed out the images and glued them to a cut down desk calendar. It means that there are a limited amount of turns within a game to achieve victory for an invading force. I'm thinking about playing it alongside the quick linear campaign that has been outlined here.

In other news I finished Craig's Star Wars Legion stuff.

I think they came out pretty well - certainly look war-torn.

Some DBA battle reports soon I hope.

Nate

Huns at home

I set up a DBA game this afternoon wondering if the Huns would ever be able to make anything of themselves in this game, and to my surprise their first roll was a 1 vs the Eastern Patrician Roman 6. That meant the Huns were playing at home, and they duly selected their terrain, the last of which didn't fit on the board and was discarded.

The armies line up. Both kept their general and an element in reserve

The first turn was notable for both sides rolling a 1. Nevertheless, both made aggressive moves on opposite flanks.

It didn't take long before the Hunnic light horse had the upper hand against their Roman counterparts. The Roman response was some bow fire at the Gepid knights that got a recoil result.

A clash of arms in the centre as the Hunnic warbands charged the Roman archers and auxilia, managing to kill off an auxilia.

The last Roman Light Horse goes down. Now to deal with those pesky legionaries.

The result was the flight of the first of the Hun light horse. In the centre more flanking moves were carried out.

By now all of the Light Horse have been forced to flee by the Roman Legionaries, while the centre remains stalemated.

This Hun facing the wrong way in between the legionaries and competing cavalry managed to somehow survive the game.

 

But the camp is unguarded and seized and plundered by the Huns, signalling the end of the game. Bacon for dinner tonight!

4-1 victory to the Huns

I've never seen the Huns do so well, and a lot of it had to do with some poor Roman PIP dice, but also the manoeuvrability of the Light Horse. Spreading the legionaries between the two wings might have been an answer, but I was trying to keep them away from the Warband quick kill ability.

At any rate, I was very pleased wit hthis Hunnic performance, as I felt that they were totally outgunned by their Roman opponents in past games.

Nate

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

More fun for the Hun

After their disastrous showing in their first game I decided to take the Huns out for a second crack at the Eastern Patrician Romans last night. This time I was a little more thoughtful in my deployment, utilizing the lessons from the previous night.

The Hunnic hordes deploy facing the Romans.

First moves - light cavalry skirmish on the flank. And the first PIP dice sees the plough out of play again.

First blood goes once more to the Roman archers, taking down a Light Horse with a 6-1 opposed roll.

Mean while the Roman lines angle themselves to allow the general to enter the fray against the warbands

Closing the door on their left flank, the Huns take their first ever kill - a Roman Light Horse element.

In response the Clibinarii charge the offending Huns, but merely recoil them.

Warband clash with blades supported by Gepids, while the Hunnic left deploys for a telling overlap on the remaining Roman Light Horse.

Down goes the second Roman Light Horse, and on the other flank warband kill their blade targets. But elsewhere things are not as good. Blades manage to destroy the Gepid knights who end up overlapped on 2 sides. The resulting dice roll is once more a 6-1, and the Attila is forced to send his element into the gap. The Hun Psiloi is also destroyed by the Roman bows, again with a bad 5-1 roll. 

Having pursued through the Roman lines the Hunnic warband is exposed to a flanking and rear attack. 

There is only one outcome for this. The Huns lose their last elements and can-not make up the deficit elsewhere on the field. 

 Game over, but a much closer battle this time. To be fair, the Huns had some rotten luck with key dice rolls. Rolling 1s against 6s is never good. Had just one of those rolls gone the other way, who knows what may have happened.
One constant has been the very impressive shooting of the Roman bows. They have been a major contributor in both battles, taking out 2 Hunnic elements this game. Losing the psiloi also effectively isolated the warband and allowed it to be surrounded and destroyed.
I feel yet another game is needed.

The causalty list. The loss of the two warband elements at hte end of the game makes it look nowhere near as close as it was.

Nate

Being given the Hun-around.

Yesterday afternoon I completed the bases on my brand spanking new Hunnic DBA army, so last night I took the opportunity to take them out on the table against an Eastern Patrician Roman army. This list is Attila's army, and I have to confess, I'm not exactly sure how to approach an army with so much light horse in it.

Attila himself, and to his right, some Gepid knights for a bit of extra power hitting.

The Romans were defenders (only just though), and deployed first, with Auxilia in the woods, blade and bow in the centre, heavy knights and light horse on the flanks and knights in reserve. The Huns deployed in two groups, one with all of the warband and the other with all of the heavier mounted.

First PIP die is not a 1, so the ploughed fields are removed.

The Romans advance in an oblique manner while the Huns send forward their light troops on the right and their warband in the centre.

The Hunnic lights face off against the Auxilia and the newly advanced Roman line. They are in bow range but that shouldn't be a problem really.

Ooops. It appears that it is - the first Hun element is forced to flee, but can't pass through its supporting comrade and is destroyed (I think I've played this right). First blood to Rome.

The warband barrels into the blades hoping for a quick kill and supported by the Hun general, but it is a draw. The rest of the warband pulls back out of the Clibinarii Zone of Control (ZoC), and the light horse advance to create their own ZoC.

On the right the Hun Light Horse is recoiled shooting again.

Combats are happening all along the line now. The Gepids repositin themselves in the centre.

And now a knight battle extends the combat.

The Huns lose another Light Horse on the left.

Attila is pushed back, while the rest of the Roman line looks solid as a rock.

The door is closed on the Hunnic Psiloi as combat rages everywhere.

But while the psiloi win against the odds the supporting light cavalry are forced to flee.

Things are coming to a head - the Roman blades have killed a warband, and pursue into it's supporting element.

The Roman Auxilia advance and destroy the Hunnic psiloi, and with that the Huns are forced to abandon the field.

The Hunnic casualties from the game.

 I really hadn't expected Attila to be so soundly defeated. 4-0 is quite a drubbing, but I have to admit to not really knowing what to do with so many Light Horse against so many knights. And the Hun deployment wasn't good, because the Gepids soon realised that charging the bows opposite them was potentially suicidal. In the next game I will probably also split the warband apart from each other, as they ended up facing knights which wasn't a desirable outcome either.

Two questions arose for me around support. Does a supporting element die when it's friends to the front are destroyed, and does a fleeing element that can't interpenetrate explode if it has to flee through its supporters. Both questions for Fanaticus I think. I read the recoiling and fleeing rules and interpenetration rules a few times, and I think I have done it correctly.

The Hunnic army, smarting from its recent defeat.

The Patrician Romans, who are intended to be able to morph into Late Romans as well.

Nate