I've written before about trying - and failing - to win at DBA, mostly because my face-off of choice is Indian elephants versus Alexander.
So I tried again yesterday, during the club's semi-regular "open-gaming" days. Only two of us showed up, but one was Jim, whose enthusiasm for DBA is infectious. (He runs the tournaments at the Orlando conventions.) Fully aware that I'm the worst player I've ever met, I asked him to demonstrate how the hapless Indians could win the matchup, and the obvious place to start was with me as the Greeks.
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| I have in mind to move thru the forest along the road, then spread out. |
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| But the elephants head straight for where I'll come out. |
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| So I shift my pike phalanx to a position where its flank is protected. |
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| Here, I move my auxilia towards my camp to protect it against those cav at upper right, while my war machine moves up the road to target the oncoming elephants. |
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| I'm getting flanked. |
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| I think I can handle those elephants now. |
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| As I move to threaten Jim's flank with my horse, Jim blocks my artillery's LOS. But that chariot makes a tempting target... |
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| One chariot is dead, as I start shifting to left to hold off Jim's light troops. |
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| Jim strongly recommended not isolating my units, as multiple touching units can be moved with a single order. So instead of tackling his camp, I'm using my cav as a mobile reserve and racing them to the left. |
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| First combat, as I stolidly march towards Jim's archers at top. This will prove to be a mistake. |
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| After three or four turns of trying and getting knocked back by bowfire, I'm ready to charge, but those elephants are being ominous. |
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| A wider view - my cav are ready to support, but the elephants are behind them... |
I've just realized I was rolling an Indian die the entire game, even though I was playing the Greeks. That might explain our poor luck...
In other hobby news, I've been reading a couple Paddy Griffith books on WWI, I've obtained an 8th-edition 40K Know No Fear starter set to go with my First Strike box, and I picked up some plastic glue to assemble it (like the Fantasy set, it's not snap-tite) and some pastel colors for Quar skin. I should be working on the latter project, but it's a tossup at present between that and 40K.
Finally, I expect to attend Pete Panzeri's Battle of the Bulge operational game next Saturday. Should be a more impressive report. See you then!
One battle doesn't mean a trend, but it is possible that the Indian army just doesn't suit you. I've played very little DBA (or HotT) but used to play a fair bit of DBM. I used Nikephorian Byzantines, and had very reasonable success with them. I wanted an historical opponent, and plumped for Bulgars. Very good quality horse (light and heavy), but the foot was dross, pretty much.
ReplyDeleteStarted off well: a win and a draw in the first two games. I wasn't until a further fourteen defeats went by before it secured its second win. Here's the sort of thing. On one occasion, my left wing has to traverse a string of hills. It would have been better in column, perhaps, but I figured I could handle a delay of a move or two (if was really unlucky and twice rolled '1' on that command's PIP dice). Got half way through the hills ... and stalled. That command's PIP dice went
1,1,1,2,1,1,3
The two allowed the command momentarily to twitch, but 6 turns out of the action was simply too much. The rest of the army fought valiantly - no error - but 2 to 3 odds were simply too much to overcome.
That was the unluckiest army I ever had. So I decided to employ the same figures as early Georgians. The lads took to it big time. I won a deal more battles than I lost with that army! They were both irregular armies, and approximately similar in quality and organisation. But I think the addition of a small formation of bowmen, and the shock element of 'fast knights' Kn(F) instead of Cv(S) might have made the difference.
Sometimes a small change is all it takes...
Cheers,
Ion
Thanks for the tipsa and the story! I do suspect that, as historically, Indians just can't handle Alexandrians. But yes, pip rolls do make a major difference too. With only a D6 to work with, it's pretty swingy.
DeleteYes, always have to check those dice for bias towards one side or another, hahaha!
ReplyDeleteGood on you for trying (again) Jennifer, especially against a seasoned veteran of the rules—albeit one who sounds like an excellent opponent and a fine wargamer who tried to advise and to help the relative novice rather than to try simply to win—a wonderful fella.
Regards, James
He's good at teaching the game!
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