ALTON DBA, 27th April 2024

Thank you once again Martin for organising a full yet relaxed day of gaming.
Congratulations, and great kudos, to the other Martin for winning every one of his games, both with and against Skyths. I have no idea how he did that.
Well done too to the other players on the podium. You left many good players in your wake.

In response to the previous post I cannot tell you how to play well with Skyths. I can give you an insight into Rshtuni Armenians.
They are not what you would call a commonly used army. I brought them for two reasons. The first is that I had used Early, Bagratid and Cilician Armenians in competitions last year and wanted to complete the set.
The second is because I thought that the double based cavalry might be able to run amok against the copious psiloi that would be found in this competition, and also have a chance against any bow and blade they came accross.
One can but dream.
In the event the army played 6 lost 5 and drew 1. Only one psiloi was hurt by the cavalry in the course of the entire day.
The potential two or, in the case of the general, three element loss preys on the mind and inhibits the use of the cavalry. The rest of the army is OK, in the context of a light troop heavy tournament, but not enough generally to compensate.
I understand fully why the Rshtuni have an aggression of 0. They would have been mad to book a fighting away day.
Hey ho.
They might return for the Cold Ash Clash in November. You have been warned!

Hopefully Diades on this forum will soon fill you in on the Skythians’ day in the sun. Bear in mind, though, that this tournament requires the player to play with and against his own army, three games of each. And so the Skyths will have won under his command and lost against him in equal numbers. I guess it’s ‘know your army and know its weaknesses’ in equal measure.

Terrain choice for each army is fixed by the owner pre-tournament, which prevents opponents of the oft-invading Skyths from free choice to clutter the battlefield, as would normally happen…another factor in their favour, I assume.

Nicely painted they were, too…👍🏼

I get to go to relatively few DBA tournaments but Alton is always a favourite as it is so well run, in such a good location and has an excellent crowd. Also the theme is always well balanced and challenging. No change this year with and against your own Ps & LH heavy army in equal measures.

My initial thoughts was to take the Order of St John who made the grade with 6 Ps but they proved to be too vulnerable to mounted. I also decided against the Tang and went for II/25 Bosphorans with Alan allies. This had 4 knights, a good balance of 4 LH & 2Ps plus 2 Bow to go LH sniping. The Littoral and Aggression 0 was a bonus.

Game 1 was vs Pete Duckworth’s Kommenian Byzantines. This game went well although I lost terrain and so was fighting on a table dominated by 2 hills and a BUA. Pete Deployed this LH on a hill while his light troops took the Hamlet. I managed to advance my bow with LH support into range leaving Pete the decision of either taking a trickle of casualties from shooting or charging into unfavourable combats. His bravery wasn’t rewarded and I won 5-0.

In game 2 I played with the Golden Horde vs John Saunders. I lost terrain and John kept the battlefield open. The Golden Horde was ill suited to fighting the Bosphorans and although I achieved favourable matchups the low factors made dice a dominating factor and as ever when playing John I had to work had for my kills only to get overwhelmed by poor dice rolls; in the end losing 4-3.

In Game 3 I was back with my army vs Mark Priest’s Rum Turks; a nice army with 6LH, 4Cav & 2Bw. This game was ugly; despite winning terrain and dominating the table with a central fort my dice failed to turn up. I was rolling 1s & 2s for PIPs while Mark consistently rolled 4s (enough to manoeuvre efficiency but not too many to get him into trouble.) He charged into combat and my dice utterly deserted me (three 1-6 combat rolls) and I went down to a 3G-0 loss.

In game 4 I was given NeoHittites & Phoenician allies by Richard Pulley. Sorry Richard but this army was a disjointed pile of crap. He chose a very open battlefield and so I resigned myself to getting slaughtered! I could do no more than charge onto his knights and LH in echelon formed while my Ps were getting slaughtered on the beach on the other flank. Fortunately this is when my dice realised it actually had a 6 side giving me a close fought 4-3 win.

Next up I used Bosphorans vs Steve Etheridge’s Arabs, a nice army but unsuited to its terrain which all piled up on one side of the board; which I kindly donated to my opponent. He had nowhere to deploy and only 2 narrow channels to manoeuvre but I blocked these with bow and knights. Utterly boxed in he bravely opted to come out swinging but went down 5-0; richly deserving his “thrower of 1s” award.

In the final game Pete Phipps gave me Byzantines who promptly lost terrain. He put the fort and wood on one side of the battlefield but with 2 blade in the army I had an edge despite being hemmed in by l terrain. Blade vs Bow is an uneven fight even if they occupy a fort and this fell on my first bound. The Waterway and fort’s TZ meant we were now fighting on a very narrow front where I could mass LH vs his knights and get my blade in against his bow. It got messy quickly giving me a 4f-0 win.

So after a poor morning things picked up in the afternoon giving me a 4-2 record and 99 points, enough for 4th place. The Bosphorans wiped their nose at 3-3.

Thanks Martin for an excellent tournament. I really enjoyed the day. Thanks to all who donated prizes - I’ll enjoy reading my book! Well done to Martin, Martin and Mark who occupied the podium positions. I’d love to know how those Skythians managed to win and loose in such perfect measures!

I actually won with this army against my own 😂

Scythians in Jane Austen country…

Terrain choice, Irrelevant.  Aggression of 4 meant they invaded six times out of six.  They would have chosen two large gentle hills, a large edifice(kurgan) and a small bit of rough.  The fear was narrow boards and/or lots of bad going filled with psiloi and auxilia.

My first encounter taught me a valuable lesson for the day.  Up against John Saunders’ (and his double entendres) Golden….Hordes.
My army had nine Light Horse including the general and three solid hordes.  The base plan for the day was frustrate with the hordes and gang up on one side.  The terrain was relatively open.  I had few PIPs, so remained with the benefit of a gentle hill on my left as hostilities started with my forces very much in a line.  Relying on my hordes to hold their ground nearly proved fatal as one was swiftly destroyed by enemy cavalry, allowing the golden horde general to tackle double ranked light horse with the benefit of a hard flank when the victorious cavalry pursued through the hole where the horde had been.  I was much more careful about where I chose to place the hordes in later games.  Thankfully in the meantime my light horse general with hill as help managed to gain enough success for the rest of his light horse to win the left flank.  A close contest, four elements lost on each side, fortunately one of mine was a horde. Scythian win 4-3.

 I then handed my Scythians to Marc Priest and invited them to attack Seljuk Rum.  The Seljuk army had a large piece of rough going on their left, around which the scyths sent a party to threaten the Seljuk camp, but were dissuaded by the Seljuk general and some bow support, the latter rushing through the rough.  Meanwhile the Seljuks advanced wide on their right and gradually picked off enemy elements, including at the end, the brave Scythian general trying to save the day. Scythian loss 4G-0.

Next I commanded the Scyths invading maritime neo-Hittites.  A waterway down my left flank with a tight coastal road and two large pieces of rough, concerns for me about narrow field and no way to manoevre… General Richard Pulley landed his allies near my base edge and brought his mounted troops down the road, with his lighter foot troops advancing through the rough.  The scyths turned for light horse and horde to counter.  The obvious thing seemed to be to turn the axis of the battle, so the remaining scyths advanced up the right and wheeled to create a perfect left to right set of opposing battle lines with the hittites and friends in the rough with their backs to the waterway.  The scythians initiated combat at the far end, light horse prepared to tackle auxilia and psiloi with front edges out of the rough, whilst hittite psiloi emerged to tackle Scythian horde nearer my base.  In between the two bits of rough, the light horse faced the heavy chariot Hittite general.  The hordes steadily pushed and fled Hittite psiloi and advanced after them into the rough.  The far battlefield end was evens.  Then lightning struck!  The Hittite general with flank support 5-2 up on double ranked light horse was 6-2’d by the dice!  I was so surprised a contact lens popped out…picture the general’s monocle being dropped!  Richard then rolled a 6, so still had three moves, but the Scythians’ luck held.  Scythian 3G-0 win.

After lunch I Used Stephen Etheridge’s littoral EMNAS.  I deployed with a large steep hil on my right next to the waterway.  Three units of fast auxilia in reserve to land.  This caused the scyths to counter the landing threat by placing their hordes on that flank.  The auxilia landed in column by the difficult hill and marched steadily through it in column to support the left, whilst the horde were stranded, advancing slowly only to be met by psiloi firmly entrenched on the hills.  The real action happened on the left flank. The Scythians seized an opportunity to attack light horse on light horse with a slight double rank advantage on the extreme edge.  Scores and PIPs were low all round and much swirling mounted action ensued.  The Muslim bow managed to get a few vollies in.  The mounted battle had become staggered. The Muslim left flank pushed back, their cavalry general mid way and the scythains pushed back to his right.  A gap in the centre of the field let the Muslims close the door on the general’s right with success, before the Scythians did likewise,but with less success.  Eventually the arrival of the Muslim auxilia to the left turned the day.  Scythian loss 4-1.

My final outing with the Scyths was against Peter Phipps’ Early Byzantines.  The Byzantines deployed in two rows on their left.  The scyths advanced the hordes centrally and threw their mounted troops around the right flank of the Byzantines.  This largely negated the Byzantine heavy foot and knights and allowed the scyths to grind out a light horse on light horse victory with superior numbers.  Scythian 4-1 win.

In the last game Bill MacGillivray suffered the nightmare scenario, I had been lucky enough to avoid.  The Shang Chinese deployed with a city and a large wood diagonally opposite with lots of auxilia and psiloi to make use of it. Bill deployed the Scythian hordes in the wood.  I suspect he had thought they were fast and would emerge in front in time to prevent the Chinese from exploiting it.  Unfortunately for the scyths that was not the case.  The Shang waited until the scyths had almost made it and then charged in and carved them up.  The psiloi were then able to exploit the wood to move unchallenged to crest flanks and threat zones, whilst the Shang heavy foot blocked Scythian mounted advances between the city and wood.  The scyths, despite some losses, had enough PIPs to retire to their base edge away from the woods forcing Shang psiloi to pursue in the open.  The Scythian general and mates came over to help, but were not lucky…too little too late. Scythian loss 4-0.

The venue was fine.  The organisation smooth.  The prize table superlative.  Thank you to Martin for arranging.  I know how tough playing and organising can be…to finish second under those circumstances…well done, sir!  

Thank you to all for making it a fun enjoyable day.  I think the own worst enemy format does well for bringing out variety and the low combat factor troop theme made for different games than some other tournaments.  More variety, more interest, more DBA longevity!

I used the Massagetae in Coventry because I had just finished painting them.  This time I had just finished painting the three units of solid horde….

…well, the army did for only half the time…😁