Swiss Army Blades

Just two people at Jim Dundorf's regular DBA Days at the club (formerly Das Krieg Haus, now The War Office). I don't go often to the club these days, partly because I'm only free every second Saturday, but I took this last week off work to take a breather and catch up on ... stuff. I expect to see many members at the Recon convention at the end of April; I'm planning to go just for a day, mostly to shop.

Every time I visit, the club shelves have been revamped slightly. There isn't room for all the books, some of which are going to a club in Naples. At present there are a bunch of board games, including a handful of non-war types like Munchkin that I occasionally, ahem, borrow for work. I found my copy of Charge!, which I'd left at some point along with my "'45 Rebellion" Wofun figures. 

Having become interested in the Italian Wars, I wanted to try Swiss again. Jim didn't have a historical enemy in his otherwise comprehensive collection, but he had Catalan Spanish only a bit out of time period.

My Early Swiss, mostly halberdiers (or Fast Blades in DBA).

The field of battle - ploughs, hill and forest.

Jim's Spanish - pike, light units and a couple horse, including his CO.

Jim reckoned my Fast Blades (moving three base lengths in all terrain) would kick his ass. As usual, though, my indecisiveness and poor luck with the dice got in the way. Jim feels that - despite the disparity of our armies - the game as a whole is balanced because a player can think like a general, do what that general would do in a situation, and the rules will allow it.

So I tried.

I moved my big halberd-block forward, skirting the too-defensible hill, and sent my light cavalry unit - capable of three moves a turn! - towards the opposing camp. My own was protected behind my army, with two psiloi (light infantry) in the woods on my left.

First game turn, angling towards the center. My command base is to
left of the center block, my one cavalry base is on its way to the rear.

Refused my right to avoid going up the hill, exposed my left in the process.

My General (+6 vs. infantry) tackled an opposing unit, but lost due to the dice
(mine poor, his good!). Luckily, they weren't destroyed and were still close enough
to the rest of the army to "lead."

My army a bit trapped now by that pike unit on the left, I
refused this flank as well.

Meanwhile, my horse were bashing their heads against the Spanish camp.
Its mere camp followers fought back for three turns with potatoes and hand tools.

In the end, I managed to take the camp and sweep my cav down on Jim's right-rear, at about the same time that I also flanked and destroyed his general, and that was the game!

To be fair, Jim was coaching me all the way, or at least stopping me from my usual analysis paralysis to think about my options. I'm still not familiar enough with DBA for it to be second nature yet, but he thinks I'm getting the hang of the rules. A good teacher (and a good GM for the games and tourneys at Recon).

My next step, I think, will be experimenting with Pikeman's Lament. Looking forward to it, at least if I can fully clear off the table...

Heffalump Challenge

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.

I have in mind to move thru the forest along the road, then spread out.

But the elephants head straight for where I'll come out.

So I shift my pike phalanx to a position where its flank is protected.

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.

I'm getting flanked.

I think I can handle those elephants now.

As I move to threaten Jim's flank with my horse,
Jim blocks my artillery's LOS. But that chariot
makes a tempting target...

One chariot is dead, as I start shifting to left to hold off
Jim's light troops.

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.

First combat, as I stolidly march towards Jim's archers at top.
This will prove to be a mistake.

After three or four turns of trying and getting knocked back
by bowfire, I'm ready to charge, but those elephants are being ominous.

A wider view - my cav are ready to support, but the
elephants are behind them...

At this point the dice gods intervened and Jim rolled ones for his order "pips" for a couple turns - which meant his elephants, which require two pips, couldn't move. This was all that kept me alive for a while, but ultimately I still lost by unit losses (first to take four bases off the board loses). It was fairly close, but I too rolled ones (during combats, not for orders) at critical points and in a couple cases failed to win battles that should have been pushovers. DBA is more tactical than it looks to the newcomer, but it's still complex to my eyes. Perhaps if units were labeled?

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!

Hurricon 2024: Sunday

 Last day of the convention.

A couple sports games:

Another of Pete Panzeri's.

I got drawn into a DBA game - Jim was running a small "biblical" campaign.

Some terrain and "camp" objectives.

I got the 1500BCE Hebrews, a mix of foot troops...

... against whoever came after the Hittites, mostly light and fast.

I have got to get me some of this cuttable Cigar Box terrain.

Deployment.

A couple turns in, I've taken the high ground...

... and eliminated one base, though not the general,
which would have won the game outright.

Closeup of combat. You don't have to destroy a unit outright
to eliminate it - you can force it to retreat with another on its flank.

The cardboard is a measuring device in various lengths.
I'm threatening his camp from the woods but his chariots
are close enough to hit me if I go for it. At least they're diverted
from the rest of the battle.

Complex maneuvering.

I ultimately won (and got another certificate), but this was because my opponent was a national champion and coaching me all the way. Still, quite enjoyable. I find DBA complex, but I also find actual play to make things a lot easier - there is nothing like it for learning the rules, as I found with Quar and Charge!.

So, overall a successful, if more leisurely, convention. Would go again. 

On to LOOT:

• Three painted British policemen, useful for VBCW.
• A handful of extra Quar - three Crusader Rhyflers, three Crusader Trench Raiders, and three Coftyran Sharpshooters.
• A box of 30 Wargames Atlantic BEF/Home Guard, also useful for VBCW if I ever get around to building and painting them... also bases, which I learned are not included in the boxes.
• An extra, slightly battered Perrys' Portable Wargame. Will be interested to see how it goes on a 2x2 board.
• Featherstone's guide to the Peninsular battlefields. Coincidentally, it mentions Pete Panzeri as someone who came home from fighting in Desert Storm and immediately wargamed it.
• An Osprey on the British Army, 1816-1853 - a period I've never looked closely at, except some of the Indian campaigns.
• A Squadron/Signal on the T-34 tank - another I'm unfamiliar with. This series is one I grew up with (we had one Osprey in the house and a dozen Sqn/Sigs), but I don't see it around much these days.
• A book on Market Garden illustrated with miniatures, a good companion to Pete's game.
• A Munchkin box, which I might find use for at work.
• A copy of Beneath the Lily Banners, an older edition. I've heard a lot about this game (and understand it's inspired by Stephen Simpson's) but never found it online. I was tempted by the newer hardcover edition, but I'll start with this one.
• And of course, in order to run the Charge! game from last post, Wofun starter sets of WoSS and '45 Rebellion, 30 dice, and a "Rattlesnake Ranch" Cigar Box mat (which Peter Dennis has started using for his more desert/Western minis, so like the Grasslands one it matches all the Paperboys I've got).

Speaking of which, I've somehow, in an 800-sq-ft apartment, misplaced all the Fistful of Lead material I acquired last time out. Jeff reminded me that I'd planned to run a Picacho Pass scenario at some point, and that has hung fire for years. Must get back on that...

Gaming can be either a whirlwind or a slog, depending on mood. I think this was a good time all around.

DB Oops

 Participated in a small club tournament yesterday. De Bellis Antiquitatis was so popular last time that it went off swimmingly.

Game one was between Romans (me) and Carthaginians (my opponent). 

While he was new to DBA too, he had the advantage of familiarity with the troops and tactics. So, for example, he was sanguine when I assaulted light cavalry with my heavy, knowing they could just run away. Our generals met on the field, and mine was flanked and thus eliminated when he lost, ending the game quickly.

In my second game, the sides were reversed:

I discovered that light cavalry could move multiple times in a turn, and raced mine in an end-around hoping to reach my opponent's camp. Didn't go too well. Both of us being inexperienced, we asked for lots of help with the rules and ended the game without a decision.

My third game was nearly a repeat of one from last month, Playing Classical Indians with elephants again, I managed to avoid running them onto Alexandrian pikes this time, but was badly compressed by terrain and never got many of my troops into action.

In the meantime, my opponent's light cavalry took my camp, and I didn't realize I could try to take it back until near the end of the game.

So, having ended up with approximately three points over the course of the tourney (the winner amassed 25), I received the coveted Snake Eyes award:

As usual, the conversation and food were the highlight of the day. We had a potluck, and there were favorable comments on the overstuffed sandwiches I brought from my favorite deli. I picked up a copy of DBA 3.0, some more terrain (including a sandy sheet I will use for the Fort Wagner scenario), and was gifted with a small selection of Spanish Civil War figures by one of the members. Post to follow. Happy gaming!

De Bellis Antiquitatis

 Today's South Florida Miniatures Gamers (SMG) meeting was to learn the classic DBA (3rd editon). Member Jim, eager to introduce us to his favorite game, provided six boards and a dozen armies for about ten of us to try. The club generally does 18th century and up, so this was new to most of us. I got in two games.

The first was between Hundred Years War English and ancient Egyptians. (For whatever reason, the French weren't available.) I ended up playing Jim, which meant this actually resembled my home solo games quite a bit because he was moving about answering questions from the other players. This made the game fairly relaxing, and I had plenty of time to contemplate my moves.

Bottom: two units of knights, seven of archers, and two of 
men-at-arms on foot. Top: Four chariots, four archers, four spearmen.

My opponents:

We rolled for weather, and on a 1, the fields were wet and boggy. So much for the chariots! In the knowledge they couldn't reach me, I aimed to do an end-around of the Egyptian right with my knights (below).

What I hadn't considered was that this put them in range of the Egyptian archers. They spread out and concentrated on my commander unit, on the grounds that if the commander is destroyed and his side has lost more units, his side loses. So if your general is the first casualty... luckily the dice were with me. Not only did I win most of the roll-offs (higher scores force your opponent back, while doubling their score kills them), Jim kept rolling ones for activation, meaning he could only move one of his units.

The mobility of cavalry makes a difference however, and finally two of the chariots raced over to cut me off. By that time, I'd shot away some of his archers and had also got my knights into position to charge. I won by destroying four of his twelve units before he'd killed more than one of mine.

The second game was Indians vs. Alexandrian Greeks. My Indian army had three (!) elephants, two chariots, two light cavalry, one skirmish unit, and four archers.

I made the mistake, however, of just charging straight ahead. In hindsight, I should have chosen the option to move two of my (defending) army's units and stuck the elephants all the way on my right flank, which you can see above was facing normal infantry.

It turns out pike phalanxes can hold pretty darn well
against rampaging pachyderms.

Flanking makes a difference, too.

My own archers never got a look in, though my chariots managed to overrun the Greek war machine and then take their camp - a backline objective in every game that is worth two units. That made the game surprisingly close, three casualties to my four, which ended the round.

Several of the games were quick, enabling players to start again and try several different periods and armies during the day. And with small (2x2foot) boards and quick terrain layout, army creation and deployment, DBA and its variants are appealing for clubs like ours.

When I told him of my summer plans to run games at work, Jim generously donated one of his boards, a handful of terrain and a couple measuring sticks. (I'll make the armies with Paperboys.) Given my small tables for home solo games, and my hope of running small demos at work, these will come in handy even if I don't play DBA - though I certainly will try it again.

A 2x2 carpet square, fields, hills (that can double as forests),
a handful of lichen, and two measuring sticks.