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Post by martin on Nov 2, 2017 9:58:40 GMT
Neo Babylonians Andalucians Early Philistines
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Post by martin on Nov 2, 2017 10:02:36 GMT
Lithuanians Zanj at the beach German warwagons
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Post by martin on Nov 2, 2017 12:02:19 GMT
Diades' barker marker.....laughing at the Philistines !! Quick round up of my games at the English DBA Open. I chose Early Philistines 1166-1100 BC, mostly because I'd needed some motivation to get them painted, as they had languished primed and ready on the painting bench for far too long. Of the 12 elements that comprise this DBA army there are two light chariots (2xLCh), including his nibs, a couple of javelinmen units (2x3Ax), a couple of light bowmen units (2xPs), the remaining 50% being fast moving infantry swordsmen (6x3Bd). So, an army with plenty of speed, a fair amount of bad terrain capability, and scope for effective close combat with the 3Bd. Potential pitfalls were my vulnerability to knights and heavy chariots, and my high aggression rating. Both of these proved significant during the day. The 12 players were split into two groups by army date, and my Philistines turned out to be the earliest of the early group, which stretched to Ancient Brits at its most recent end. I happened to encounter my opponents in ascending chronological order:- Game 1- we invaded, vs Lindon's Later Neo-Babylonians. My chariots formed in the centre to counter enemy heavy chariotry, with my right refused on a steep hill and my swordsmen advancing swiftly through a built up area ('hamlet') on my left to face off Babylonian archers, bringing down an enemy auxilia element in the process. Lindon wisely manoeuvred the Babylonian chariots to include some of my swordsmen as targets for his attack, subsequent poor dice rolling on my side leaving a trail of dead Philistines under Babylonian chariot wheels, and my own chariots reeling back, with my general killed in the mayhem. Further left the surviving Philistine blades were uncharacteristically ineffective against enemy bowmen, and the game rapidly ended with a 1 - 3+ general loss for my bunch. Game 2- we invading once more, against Bill MacGillivray's Warring States Chao Chinese. Bill's simple terrain had a gentle hill to my front left and a village on my right, either side of a road connecting the centres of the two opponents. My swordsmen rapidly captured the hill, but struggled against the densely packed Chinese crossbowmen and supporting halberdiers (4Bd), a to-and-fro struggle lasting the remainder of the game. 'Solid' crossbows claim a flank support bonus from 'solid' blade colleagues in v3 DBA, and will repulse enemy loose order foot, like my 3Bd swordsmen on a drawn result. This proved decisive in the infantry clash. Philistine chariots dispensed with a Chao horse archer element on our left, but to our right a Chao heavy chariot unit with auxilia support carved swathes through the assembled Philistine swordsmen and javelinmen, the second game in which heavy chariots were my undoing (1 - 4 loss). Game 3- obviously not learning our lesson, we attacked once again, vs the Ptolemaic Egyptians of Paul Clair. He chose not to use his amphibious landing option, but presented a solid front with the Nile on his left. Early successes saw the dreaded Ptolemaic elephantry countered and wiped out by my skirmishers and auxilia, but meantime the Philistine general and his chariot crews were unexpectedly repulsed by a few measly psiloi on my right, a contest he should normally have won with little effort. However, the rot now set in. It had come to 3-3 after we surrounded and stomped a pike column, but with a few minutes of play remaining 'his nibs' was dragged unceremoniously from his chariot by very same troublesome Ptolemaic psiloi javelinmen (6-1 on the combat dice) to secure the demise of the Philistine invasion (a 3 to 4 +general loss). King of the Philistines to be deposed, Ptolemaic skirmishers to be promoted, it would seem. Game 4- "Why change?", thought the new King of Gath, so we invaded Colin O'Shea's C1st BC Hispania, steep hills everywhere. Colin's Celtiberian scutarii, 3Bd much like my Philistine warriors, formed a central core, but in a bold and clever move the Celtiberian caetrati stormed a prominent hill on my left front, using a double move in the first bound. Would they shift? No way....and a rain of Spanish javelins saw another ignominious defeat for my demoralised warriors as the scutarii advanced in support (a messy 0 - 4 loss). Game 5- my last of the day, saw me invade yet again. Martin Myers' Brigantes (Ancient Brits with Roman ally) chose a battlefield with a menhir edifice feature ('bad going') in its centre, and a few hills scattered about. The Roman artillery were rarely a threat, but his legionaries did sterling work supporting the harassing British light horse on the Brigantes' right, who kept some Philistine swordsmen very busy. In the centre, the menhir BUA feature was occupied by British foot warriors, but countered by Philistine skirmishers, while left of that the main clash took place. Philistine foot sloggers and chariots scored a few successes against the opposing warbands and chariots, but the fighting overall then went against me, with a final score of 2 - 4 at close. A fun day, despite five defeats out of five :-)
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Post by martin on Nov 3, 2017 11:26:12 GMT
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Post by martin on Nov 3, 2017 14:14:12 GMT
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Post by martin on Nov 3, 2017 14:15:16 GMT
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Post by martin on Nov 3, 2017 14:16:44 GMT
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Post by phippsy on Nov 4, 2017 22:21:56 GMT
Looks like a great event again, unfortunately to have been missed. Some great photos going around. Will keep eyes open for winter event. Peter.
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Post by menacussecundus on Nov 5, 2017 11:25:09 GMT
Looks like a great event again, unfortunately to have been missed. Some great photos going around. Will keep eyes open for winter event. Peter. It's on 2nd December. Details of the theme are on the PAWS website.
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Post by martin on Nov 5, 2017 11:35:14 GMT
Looks like a great event again, unfortunately to have been missed. Some great photos going around. Will keep eyes open for winter event. Peter. It's on 2nd December. Details of the theme are on the PAWS website. On the Yahoo paws_list group it's proposed to be the following, though yet to be formally published AFAIK. :- " Here is the proposed theme for the winter DBA competition: How Holy is my Roman Empire? Central Europe in the 12th Century AD III/1a Northern Slav III/40b Viking III/40d Leidang III/53 Eastern Frankish III/63a Early Polish III/68ab Early Hungarian III/73ab Communal Italian III/77 Papal IV/4ab Feudal French IV/5ab Sicilian IV/13ab Medieval German IV/13e Free Canton Because of the geographical restrictions, Army III/40b (and allied contingents drawn from that list) cannot contain Irish 3Ax" Hope that helps. Martin
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Post by mustrum on Nov 5, 2017 11:36:31 GMT
Looks like a great event again, unfortunately to have been missed. Some great photos going around. Will keep eyes open for winter event. Peter. It's on 2nd December. Details of the theme are on the PAWS website. I can't find it on there and need to know :/ Need to get a new army for it
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Post by menacussecundus on Nov 5, 2017 11:52:14 GMT
It's on 2nd December. Details of the theme are on the PAWS website. I can't find it on there and need to know :/ Need to get a new army for it My mistake. I knew I had heard something about the (proposed) theme and assumed it must be on the website. (A new thread here wouldn't be a bad idea either.)
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Post by pawsbill on Nov 5, 2017 15:41:23 GMT
Surprisingly I found myself equal second in the group, three winning draws and two wins, to Bill’s three wins and a draw. Bill kindly resolved that my winning draw in our encounter gave me right to go through to the semi-finals. Kindness had nothing to do with it. The head-to-head result was teh tie-breaker under the tournament rules.
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Post by pawsbill on Nov 5, 2017 15:53:38 GMT
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Post by diades on Nov 5, 2017 16:23:50 GMT
Surprisingly I found myself equal second in the group, three winning draws and two wins, to Bill’s three wins and a draw. Bill kindly resolved that my winning draw in our encounter gave me right to go through to the semi-finals. Kindness had nothing to do with it. The head-to-head result was teh tie-breaker under the tournament rules. Fair comment. Bill's "kindly" resolution can refer to his doing all the hard tournament organising work for us others. 😀 Thanks.
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