It turns out this is the first DBA tournament run at this convention, so it was pretty small. Well, the convention is small, too. In any case, I had a lot of fun, learned a bit, and did far better than I anticipated. So it was a good day.
My first game was my II/5c Thebans vs II/5b Spartans. I chose to go with the 4Sp options instead of 8Sp, which was probably a mistake in retrospect.
Lines getting close. I'm trying to use the plough to help anchor my flanks, and it sort of worked.
The end. I couldn't roll well to save my life and the Spartans blew holes in the Theban's line which they used to roll up isolated units to a 4-1 victory.
Next was a civil war. II/53 Ancient British match up, and we both picked the same options so it was a chariot-o-rama. The Battle of the Boudiccas!
The lines hit. The false Boudicca's light horse got all tangled up in the woods, allowing my guard chariot to (attempt to) handle them piecemeal.
After much pushing and shoving, the false Boudicca falls and the army soon departed the field in defeat. My left flank chariot did its job and kept the light horse occupied.
That ended in a 5-2 victory for me, much to my surprise.
Next up was II/5c Thebans vs II/33 Polybian Romans. This time I did pick the 8Sp options which helped.
Initial Contact. Wait, what?! The Psiloi shoved the spears?
...and then the Roman cavalry is summarily dispatched. This is an auspicious beginning.
As expected, it was a big shoving match.
Which all ended up in this nice little situation. Sadly I lost that one, and then lost a narrow 4-3 defeat.
Finally, we have II/53 Ancient British vs Polybian Romans. I went for all the warbands and that turned out to be a good decision.
Light horse supported by a warband take out a blade and protect the vulnerable flank. On the other side the psiloi and light horse in the woods tie up that end.
A hard-fought shoving match ends quickly with the British right flank absolutely slaughtering the Roman line with three quick kills in succession.
Resulting in a surprise 4-1 victory.
The end result for me, which is a great surprise. I went in expecting to lose 4 of 4, I came out with this.
Also, as a bonus, I threw my Macedonian elephant into the painting competition, and got this:
So today was a very good day.
Resulting in a surprise 4-1 victory.