Post by martin on Jul 11, 2019 18:59:00 GMT
Five games of DBA v3 against Richard P., with a variety of armies, the first two games using forces from the forthcoming PAWS Autumn DBA, 21st September, the rest a random, but historical, selection:-
1. My Early Byzantines (III/4b) defended against an incursion by Later Pre-Islamic Arab nomads, who lined up between a gentle hill on their right and a patch of scrubby woodland on their left. In the centre, a to and fro battle commenced between Arabic swordsmen and Byzantine skutatoi and kavallarioi. This lasted the whole game and was inconclusive, the highlight of it being the inability of my Byzantine cavalry general to do anything but lose combats on a regular basis. Over on the flanks things were different, and a swirling melee on the left saw cavalry, light horse and camels manoeuvering, charging and countercharging in a see-saw struggle, until Arab bowmen joined in to tip the balance ( Byzantine loss by 3 to 4).
2. My Central Asian Turkish (III/11b) invaded vs the Khazars, an army of similar composition, except that the Khazars fielded an artillery element and the Turks had some foot archers. The battlefield was very empty with just two gentle hills remaining at the end of terrain placement, ideal for the horse archers predominating in both forces. Avoiding the enemy artillery on a hill to my left, we redeployed rapidly to the right and attacked. The Turkish levies (2 x 7Hd) simultaneously pushed forward in the centre, eventually trapping Khazar horse archers against their own camp. The outnumbered Khazar left soon succumbed to Turkish pressure, to give a 4 (+ 1 x 7Hd) to 1 victory.
3. My Marian Romans (II/49) tried to fend off an invasion by Mithridates. Despite my Greek cavalry successfully dealing with the Mithridatic scythed chariots, they and the accompanying Syrian horse archers were badly mauled by the enemy mounted, who then turned on the advancing legionaries to clinch the game. (lost by 2 + SCh to 4).
4. My monotype early Spartans (11 Spears and one helot horde) faced off an Athenian incursion. Clashes began in both flanks, with helots and enemy psiloi coming to blows on one side, while the Athenian cavalry were eventually made to flee from the board by some stout Spartan spearmen on the other. As the main hoplite lines clashed things looked okay for the Spartans. However an unlucky dice roll saw a gap appear in the Spartan line, leaving the general’s flank exposed, and after three attempts the Athenian general managed to crush the Spartan general opposing him. (Spartan loss, 3-3g +Hd).
5. Last game, and my Polybian Romans decided to try their luck against the Seleucids, invading along a coastline. With scythed chariots and elephants both threatening, my velites and Triarii stepped forward to deal with them. However, the Triarii were steamrollered, and returning chariots sealed the fate of the velites, who were occupied flinging missiles at the advancing pachyderms. Legionaries fought pikemen, and then Seleucid heavy horse joined in, to see the Roman lines crumble under intense pressure. (0-5 Roman loss)
An enjoyable day of games, with plenty of variety and some very tense moments.
1. My Early Byzantines (III/4b) defended against an incursion by Later Pre-Islamic Arab nomads, who lined up between a gentle hill on their right and a patch of scrubby woodland on their left. In the centre, a to and fro battle commenced between Arabic swordsmen and Byzantine skutatoi and kavallarioi. This lasted the whole game and was inconclusive, the highlight of it being the inability of my Byzantine cavalry general to do anything but lose combats on a regular basis. Over on the flanks things were different, and a swirling melee on the left saw cavalry, light horse and camels manoeuvering, charging and countercharging in a see-saw struggle, until Arab bowmen joined in to tip the balance ( Byzantine loss by 3 to 4).
2. My Central Asian Turkish (III/11b) invaded vs the Khazars, an army of similar composition, except that the Khazars fielded an artillery element and the Turks had some foot archers. The battlefield was very empty with just two gentle hills remaining at the end of terrain placement, ideal for the horse archers predominating in both forces. Avoiding the enemy artillery on a hill to my left, we redeployed rapidly to the right and attacked. The Turkish levies (2 x 7Hd) simultaneously pushed forward in the centre, eventually trapping Khazar horse archers against their own camp. The outnumbered Khazar left soon succumbed to Turkish pressure, to give a 4 (+ 1 x 7Hd) to 1 victory.
3. My Marian Romans (II/49) tried to fend off an invasion by Mithridates. Despite my Greek cavalry successfully dealing with the Mithridatic scythed chariots, they and the accompanying Syrian horse archers were badly mauled by the enemy mounted, who then turned on the advancing legionaries to clinch the game. (lost by 2 + SCh to 4).
4. My monotype early Spartans (11 Spears and one helot horde) faced off an Athenian incursion. Clashes began in both flanks, with helots and enemy psiloi coming to blows on one side, while the Athenian cavalry were eventually made to flee from the board by some stout Spartan spearmen on the other. As the main hoplite lines clashed things looked okay for the Spartans. However an unlucky dice roll saw a gap appear in the Spartan line, leaving the general’s flank exposed, and after three attempts the Athenian general managed to crush the Spartan general opposing him. (Spartan loss, 3-3g +Hd).
5. Last game, and my Polybian Romans decided to try their luck against the Seleucids, invading along a coastline. With scythed chariots and elephants both threatening, my velites and Triarii stepped forward to deal with them. However, the Triarii were steamrollered, and returning chariots sealed the fate of the velites, who were occupied flinging missiles at the advancing pachyderms. Legionaries fought pikemen, and then Seleucid heavy horse joined in, to see the Roman lines crumble under intense pressure. (0-5 Roman loss)
An enjoyable day of games, with plenty of variety and some very tense moments.