DBA, a Bit of Fistful of Lead, and a Bit of Painting

Went up to Krieg Haus 2 yesterday, There were seven or eight people there, but we used three smaller tables instead of one big one, so it didn't feel quite so crowded even in the smaller space. Jim ran DBA and Mark ran Fistful of Lead.

Me, I (or my minis) ran headlong into heavy fire.

A few of the armies on display.

Having been reading up on pike-and-shot lately, I wanted to try Swiss. I ended up doing a mid-Swiss-mercenary army, with seven Pike bases plus a Pike general (who had to be proxied by a Blades unit with huge sword), two Blades bases (halberdiers) and two Psiloi (crossbows). My opponent, Stephen, fielded Hundred Years War troops - mostly archers which turned out terrifying because they can shoot twice a turn!

Opposing deployment ...

... and mine.

Turn One, approaching the hill as the English hastily climb it.

Turn Two, not quite in range to fight.

Turn Three, almost there. My only shooting units are too far to help.

Turn Four, my assault is pushed back.

And back...

And back...

In DBA, you roll a die to see how many units you can activate. You can keep all units touching and count them as one (see both deployments) but if units are forced to recoil or flee this can be broken up and suddenly you have three or four discrete groups instead of one. If you then roll a two on the activation die, your army becomes less effective.

My pikes, strong though they were with a bonus for attacking in column, were fighting uphill (minus one to their roll) and as my force broke up and the victorious enemy moved into the gaps, they had greater support (more minuses).

My command element is surrounded... game over.

My mistakes:

• I was under the mistaken impression that both sides deployed terrain, and was hoping to raise Difficult Hills for my (Hilly home terrain) Swiss to block lines of sight. Nope, once a low hill was raised, that was it.
• And I'd conceded it to my opponent during the choose-an-edge phase.
• My deployment also isolated my camp. If my opponent's mounted troops had tried to take it, there's not much I could have done to stop them.
• While my General's base counted as Pike, it didn't look like one (the center figure is hefting a massive sword instead) and so I failed to support it with more Pike and it was isolated and easily surrounded, losing me two victory points. Lose four and the game is over.
• In the first turn of combat, I fought with only one row of Pike, not realizing they had a bonus to fighting in depth.
• I kept marching up the hill into steady bowfire; even weak enemy bases were able to hold me off with support and an uphill bonus.
• My shooty guys never really got into action. At one point, I could have used them to flank the HYW army, but I only rolled one move for that turn and decided instead to march six pike blocks back into action instead.

Suffice to say that for such a small, quick game, DBA is more complex and tactical than it looks.

On a better note, my Swiss had to proxy their camp with a small square of cloth - a required objective for any DBA force. Afterwards, I asked Jim if I might try making some Paperboys-style base camps for his 15mm DBA armies and he jumped at the prospect. We agreed to trade small DBA hills (of which I could use more for my own 18mm Wofuns) for bases, and I will use the robust 32-pound paper, magnetic bases and various camp elements, appropriately reduced in size, from the Paperboys website and Helion books. For example, the Roman Invasion volume has druids and ritual items that could serve well for any Celtic army.

I had to leave soon after, but I was able to take a few turns at Fistful of Lead. It was a Northwest Frontier scene based loosely on The Man Who Would Be King:

The minis belonged to a member of the club who died last year,
but who loved the period and the movies it spawned.

The scenario had about 45 figures on the board, with British outnumbered by Pathans who spent most of their time charging across the board and (unsuccessfully) providing cover fire with rifles.

I crept up close to get into charge range but
lost nearly everyone. Still an incredibly fun game...

... that makes me eager again to get that damn Picacho Pass
scenario on the table. This spring. Really.
You believe me, right?

Paperboys-wise, I have finished assembling my Fyrd. Just need to slip them all into an envelope and send to Peter, but I'll need to wait til I'm back at work tomorrow to print the labels.

The command strip - my low-class mob only gets a couple flags.

Finally, I picked up some Speedpaint markers from the FLGS, which has finally got them in (and they seem popular, as some colors were already gone). I also received the starter set of ten basic colors. More on them next post!

Catch you next time...

Remote Charge!

Today I taught my brother Josh to play Charge! over Discord.

A bit tricky. But interesting, as it turned out.

I picked the classic Sawmill Village again for the scenario.

Like my previous Charge! game, I reduced the table
size, moves and ranges, substituting cm for inches.

Navarre Regiment, Bulkeley's Regiment and Royal Ecossais.

Essendale, Royal Kempston and Calein Highlanders.

Setup.

As per the scenario, we set up in opposite corners. In hindsight (given it took us three hours to do this) we should have set up across the long edges. The goal was either to seize the center of the field, or reduce two of the opposing three battalions to under 50%.

I took photos after each move and sent them to Josh over Discord. It may have been my phone, but I eventually found that Discord could not save photos I took to immediately post them - I had to go back and forth between Discord and my camera app. My brother was patient, though.

Turn One- we're both in column.

Josh, underestimating distance and moves, formed into line early.

Discovering he hadn't enough room between the buildings,
Josh "obliqued" forward and to the left, keeping his gun
on his right flank...

While my infantry debouched into the field from the hills.

By turn 6, my gun has found a commanding position
on the hill, but Josh has formed his line and is
plinking away at my gun with his own.

Turn 8: I have two regiments in line to Josh's three.
My third is hot-footing it around the tower.

Musketry begins. My gun is
down to one crewman.

The French line is breaking up
as Josh attempts to put all his men
in position to fight. Close-range
fire begins.

Turn 11: the firing is furious.
My gun is now unmanned.

Josh's left-hand regiment is down to half strength and
will have to fall back out of the battle. My 
nearly-equally-reduced right-hand unit forms into
column (meaning it can fight in four ranks to Josh's two).

As the French unit retreats,
Josh hopes to lay on to my
flanking column before his own
lads get into his line of fire.

Turn 12: My column is badly hurt by a volley but then
charges in...

And wins the combat, as my flanking column overruns
the left-hand French and manuevers...

... into position to charge a flank.

At top center, my center regiment is marking away out of range of Josh's swinging right flank, as it is one man from being half strength and thus losing me the game. This is because in front of the French line can be seen my worn-out assault column falling back out of the fight.

On turn 15, the 14-strong French
to the left are retreating; I've narrowly won.

End result:

• Two French regiments reduced under 50%.
• One British regiment reduced under 50%, another at 17 strong out of 32, and gun knocked out.

I'd say honours were about even.

Mistakes were made, of course. 

• Shooting is semi-simultaneous, so that those killed in a turn may return fire in the next. I thought that only happened during the same turn rather than the next, so that Josh (as the first player) lost troops to my return casualties fire, but could not in turn fire his own casualties in his next turn.
• Unit-retreating begins at 50% strength, not 50% minus one.
• An understrength unit is not simply wiped out when contacted, but still fights - if at half effect. This made a difference when my flanking column contacted Josh's understrength unit and we decided that, as in Warhammer, it was automatically eliminated.
• Finally, playing the game photo by photo was wearying, and video would have been quicker and clear. (The catch being that an overhead camera would make it hard to tell flat units apart...) I couldn't figure out how to start; a video call would have done the trick, but then I think I could not have taken photos for this blog.

Ah, well. It was a practical experiment, and above all I got to play a game with my little brother, which happens quite rarely. Even with voice and still photos only, it was enjoyable.

I am almost done with the Saxons for the 960 Project; just a flag or two and a handful of alternate shields to add and then I can send them off to Peter Dennis. (He's offered to base them for those of us across the pond, so shipping in an envelope shouldn't be too difficult.)

There will also be gaming at Das Krieg Haus 2 this weekend, and I'll try to make it. See you after.

A Quiet Year

 
Thirty-five posts for the year. Not much in comparison with past years.

I haven't actually got much gaming in last year. The club has moved closer to me, though, so I hope to visit more frequently.

There has been more "preparation". Things like building up collections and obtaining new rules and terrain.

• I have some Warlord Pike and Shotte on the way.
• Games Workshop terrain to paint.
• Speedpaint markers also on the way.
• The Paperboys Hastings 960 project - 300+ figures cut.

Ready to edge and stiffen.

I've been wanting to take some time off. A lot of time off. The first week of the new year will do for a start; I will not be back at work until Monday the 12th. Some of this time will be spent on self-care - making appointments, visiting the bank, housecleaning. But I'll try to do some hobby, too. I ought to be able to finish my portion of Hastings 960 at the very least. Painting some terrain is the next part - the GW hills and barriers. I hope to have the Speedpaint markers in my hands next week, which (as there is a grey) will be used on the stone walls, while leather-brown will do for the fences. In the meantime, I've had a large brush, green and brown paints waiting for me to try them on the hills. So those are my hobby goals for the first third of January.

Looking ahead? I want to try some Pikeman's Lament, and minis for that are coming. For the club, I have really got to get cracking on the damn Picacho Pass scenario, and March or April would be a good target. I also need to practice Charge!, and the scenario books I picked up last year should help with that. I might be able to run a remote game or two with my brother.

Farther ahead, my employer is planning to commemorate the United States' 250th birthday. I doubt I can get away with a wargame at work, but painting or papercrafting minis is a possibility, for display if nothing else. Last year's Olustee diorama went over well, as did a display of WWII facsimile memorabilia. Another thing I'd like to do would be a folk music concert. 

And more time off. Undecided whether I'll go to the Orlando conventions this year, but am thinking of visiting the UK at some point, and maybe New Zealand to visit my sister (she's near Christchurch on the South Island). If the former, I would like to visit Nottingham, meet Peter Dennis and do the "lead belt" tour. I have about four months saved up, so we'll see.

Wish me luck. Here's hoping your own "gaming resolutions" are as successful. Keep your friends close, and take care. Thank you for reading.

Miscellanea, and a Treat

Work has been <bleeping> tiring this week. Hopefully that will turn around tomorrow, as we have a couple new staff joining us. In the meantime, I've only got bits and pieces done, but they are usefully inspiring nonetheless:

• Basecoated my Citadel hills in white. Will finish them in speedpaint green, brown and grey.
• Received and read much of Talking Miniatures:

A remarkably good oral history of Games Workshop.

I'm serious. It's worth the money.

• Started on my bit of the Hastings960 project:

Three sheets of Saxon Fyrd (300 figures).

Trimmed.

Frames separated...

... and folded.

Next is gluing them all - then cutting with my new Beaditive and Fiskars scissors.

This is a test strip on 80gsm paper rather than the
requested 120gsm. If you see a green tinge, it's because
I experimented with a speedpaint marker on the edges.

• Tested a speedpaint marker on a couple Reaper Bones orcs (no good pics).
• Finally, a treat - my talented brother has made some progress on the LDV I sent him. Here's the first Scottish militia!
  
  

A how-to, mostly Speedpaints:

Undercoat: Slap-chop
Cap: Caribbean Ocean

Skin: Pallid Bone
and Crusader Skin

Straps: Pallid Bone
Hair: Dark Wood

Uniform: Noble Skin
and Tyrian Navy

Boots: Grim Black

Weapons: Broadsword Silver

Base: AK Muddy Ground

Base highlight: Pro Acryl Pale Yellow

Base detail: Vallejo Scorpy Green

Ready recruits.

My intent was to have only the guys in tam-o-shanters be in Scottish Republican grey, with the other twenty being more generic, but my brief confused my brother who has never painted historicals before. Part of the problem may have been a picture that scanned fuzzy.

He was a bit disappointed, but hey, I'm not going to look a (beautiful) gift horse in the mouth here. I'll take what he gives me and work with it. The guys in caps could be Scottish BUF, or Republican militia who couldn't find tams. VBCW offers plenty of explanations!

All in all, a productive week for him, not so much for me, but still - making progress!

Happy Solstice, Merry Yule, or whatever you celebrate. Life gets brighter from today (in the northern hemisphere, anyway). See you around.