Call to Arms (CTA): A few musings and short reports are in the photo captions from my four DBMM games.
First, thank yous to: Alastair and Martha who put me up on Saturday night, Paul Graham who ran the DBMM competition, the Wellington Warlords for putting on CTA, my four opponents (scholars and gentlemen, all), all the DBMMers for the friendly vibe, and all my old friends I caught up with at CTA 
Musing about my four games: I was rusty, had not played DBMM for more than three months, had not used Maurikian Byzantines for more than three years, and my word it showed! I scored 20/100 over four games. A dismal score – lucky I really enjoy DBMM and I have food for thought. Gotta have a plan. In my first game I didn’t really have one at all and in my second it was crap. Averaging dice was bad - not doing that again. Flank marching is an interesting option I chose to use three times, with limited to no success. BIG numbers of elements have a magic of their own. My army is little and I need to prepare carefully for armies with heaps and heaps of elements. My army also has no foot – I should play on a six feet deep table as often as I can. Back to my first point, play more games.
Rules of engagement: At CTA DBMM is played in 25/28mm on fixed terrain inspired by historical battles and players move around the tables, which are 8’x 5’. The defender chooses sides and the attacker can move one area terrain feature up to a D6 x base width. Army lists are up to 500AP and players use 450AP for each game. Most players have one or two pre-prepared lists and are not creating a new list each game.
Recap: As you probably know, the venue became aware of a double booking the day before CTA’s original start date and the Warlords had to postpone at crazy short notice. DBMM players were already travelling from around the country and Paul produced a feat of magic and cleverness, finding an alternate venue to run DBMM. Last weekend CTA ran on its new dates and Paul ran DBMM V2. Thank you so much to all involved, a top effort.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/824840264342234/posts/2475712655921645/
 |
| First, Hastings. I played Graham Starkey (Parthians) and was the invader. In this game I showed how having only the vaguest plan and averaging the three lower dice of my four commands is a recipe for unmitigated disaster. A thoroughly deserved 0-25 win to Graham. My vague plan was that I would somehow attack on one flank but it did not register until actually put toy soldiers on the table that each of my commands included Cv(S) or Kn(F), neither of which can deploy in a flank. I had no clear idea of how I would move to mass on a flank nor how to delay on the other side. Doh! As my “holding” command was being overwhelmed by a deluge of LH(F) I had a brief moment of a possible counterattack to at least shore up that flank. My three lower PIP dice produced five PIPS, but I could use only one per command because averaging made them 1, 1, 1. Never again! |
 |
| Second game, Marathon. I invaded again and played Daniel Wade, who thoroughly deserved best presented army for his Ancient British – so many Ancient British! Already being heavily out-numbered, I thought I would reduce the size of my army by using a brilliant general with a brilliant stroke flank attack and three commands. Do you see the problem? My flank attack arrived on my bound five (bound nine of the game) as the command it was to support broke under a tsunami of chariots and light horse. I was using the CnC’s command to delay most of Dan’s army, which was a waste of my biggest command. With the flank command broken and some better maneuvering than in my first game but still less than ideal, this command eventually broke, too. 4-21 to Dan. |
'/%3E%3Cpath d='M16.0001 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.9996-7.9995 7.9996S.001 12.4176.001 7.9996 3.5825 0 8.0006 0C12.4186 0 16 3.5815 16 7.9996Z' fill='url(%23paint1_radial_15251_63610)'/%3E%3Cpath d='M16.0001 7.9996c0 4.418-3.5815 7.9996-7.9995 7.9996S.001 12.4176.001 7.9996 3.5825 0 8.0006 0C12.4186 0 16 3.5815 16 7.9996Z' fill='url(%23paint2_radial_15251_63610)' fill-opacity='.5'/%3E%3Cpath d='M7.3014 3.8662a.6974.6974 0 0 1 .6974-.6977c.6742 0 1.2207.5465 1.2207 1.2206v1.7464a.101.101 0 0 0 .101.101h1.7953c.992 0 1.7232.9273 1.4917 1.892l-.4572 1.9047a2.301 2.301 0 0 1-2.2374 1.764H6.9185a.5752.5752 0 0 1-.5752-.5752V7.7384c0-.4168.097-.8278.2834-1.2005l.2856-.5712a3.6878 3.6878 0 0 0 .3893-1.6509l-.0002-.4496ZM4.367 7a.767.767 0 0 0-.7669.767v3.2598a.767.767 0 0 0 .767.767h.767a.3835.3835 0 0 0 .3835-.3835V7.3835A.3835.3835 0 0 0 5.134 7h-.767Z' fill='%23fff'/%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3CradialGradient id='paint1_radial_15251_63610' cx='0' cy='0' r='1' gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse' gradientTransform='rotate(90 .0005 8) scale(7.99958)'%3E%3Cstop offset='.5618' stop-color='%230866FF' stop-opacity='0'/%3E%3Cstop offset='1' stop-color='%230866FF' stop-opacity='.1'/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3CradialGradient id='paint2_radial_15251_63610' cx='0' cy='0' r='1' gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse' gradientTransform='rotate(45 -4.5257 10.9237) scale(10.1818)'%3E%3Cstop offset='.3143' stop-color='%2302ADFC'/%3E%3Cstop offset='1' stop-color='%2302ADFC' stop-opacity='0'/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id='paint0_linear_15251_63610' x1='2.3989' y1='2.3999' x2='13.5983' y2='13.5993' gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse'%3E%3Cstop stop-color='%2302ADFC'/%3E%3Cstop offset='.5' stop-color='%230866FF'/%3E%3Cstop offset='1' stop-color='%232B7EFF'/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=small}
 |
| Third game, Philippi (the Roman civil war one), still the invader. I played Keith Trye and his Early Burgundians – Keith went on to win the competition. This game produced my best result, 13-12 to me. I had worked out how to use pairs of cavalry, a general and a buddy, to block marches, went back to my four command army and flank marched on my right, the side not including a marsh in Keith’s deployment area. Keith wouldn’t come out of his defensive box, and I didn’t want to try to break through, longbows, dismounted knights (Bd(S), and pikes. When we called it a draw in Keith’s seventh bound (14th of the game) my flank march had still not rolled successfully to come on. |
 |
| Fourth and last game, Cannae, yes, I invaded, this time vs Alastair Duncan (Hittites). With a river on my right flank, the centre full of some crazy number of Pk(F) supported by Kn(O) chariots, and on my left a rough hill, it seemed a good idea for me to use four commands and a flank march on my left. My delaying commands worked well and their occasional sniping caused casualties. Cunning use of light horse on the rough hill (they still move 240p) working with a few Cv(S) gave the Hittite auxiliaries and psiloi a bloody nose. Unfortunately, the flank march arrived on bound 17 (my ninth bound), which gave Alastair plenty of time to prepare a welcome party and to push my delaying commands all the way to my base edge. Still, the flank march disheartened the welcoming Hittite command and my CnC’s command destroyed the Hittitie CnC and some of his friends. Sadly, my flank marching sub-general then rolled one on his combat dice when two was sufficient to not be doubled. With the casualties already taken this was enough to break them, leaving my CnC’s command facing the Hittite counter with no flank protection. 3-22 to Alastair. |
 |
| My army |
No comments:
Post a Comment