Below are two (2) reports for single day four game DBMM informal competitions that we have run.
Afraid there are no pictures in this edition. Hopefully they will be in a following updated edition.
After Action Report (ARR)
Feb
19 2019 – Bucha Beachhead Game Day – Jontiem Beach)
#78/III
- Scots Islesmen & Highlanders
4x
2hr games, 200AP + 10AP Stratagem, 15mm on 120x90cm
The Islesmen are
a solid heavy foot army, almost entirely iBdO, big enough to cover the whole
width of the table, mostly two deep, across the central deployment area. They have with them a few Highland iBwO
although the army specifications then require them to take matching numbers of
iHdF rabble. My army has a third ally
command, Orkney Vikings, the commander of which counts as a sub-general.
With any common enemy
that quick kill the BdO/I we get a rear rank support bonus in the enemy bound
and with a combat factor of +4 we can grind wins in most frontal battles. The bow group can move in the initial bounds
to block one flank’s outer and non-deployment areas to prevent outflanking
while the other flank, if terrain is favourable, is blocked by a compulsory (in
defence) Sea.
The disadvantages
of the army is that it’s all irregular heavy foot which cost 2PiPs for any move
not straight ahead which makes the Islesmen very unmanoeuvrable in general, in
danger of being surrounded and also quite defenceless against flank marches,
another reason to use the S(ea) as much as possible. There is a sole count of 2 Ps for engaging in
terrain actions, effectively the Islesmen have no terrain capacity. And our real fear is warband!!
The tactics are
to line-up and push the opponents off the rear of the table. We don’t fear KnF because we can take initial
damage from them but our retaliation on their subsequent overlapped positions
and the F effect is usually enough to double them and destroy them soon enough.
The army has
only ever had three outings previously, all in 400AP formation, and their
results have been poor to date, although arguably the battles were much closer
than the scores indicate. Time to prove
their worth. I was hoping to fight
Gary’s Tibetans that were rumoured to be ready to deploy.
Game One – Anthony with #6/IV –
Syrians
Nothing to fear here providing they
didn’t get into my rear and/or flanks especially with a flank march. On the other hand if Anthony avoided combat
I’d find it almost impossible to catch him and thus have no way to force a
victory.
The S was on my left, a GH more in the
centre but to the Syrian side and on the sea edge a BuA was place back into the
Syrian deployment area.
I shortened my line to give it more
depth at deployment and to allow me to pass the BuA as I pressed forward all
across the table. Anthony deployed with
part of his army clearly missing but I decided I had no choice but to press
ahead hoping it was a late arriving flank march or a delayed command that would
still be stuck behind his lines.
In my first bound my two Ps approached
the BuA as my battle line’s flank protection.
Here they discovered Anthony’s very clever ploy of using a Concealed
Command from within a BuA and I had a problem as he would immediately be able
to advance around my left flank into my rear and I had almost no way to stop
him. Well done, that man, I was caught
out.
In my centre I continued forward to
push his units off the hill while expanding to the right to prevent Lh from
getting around my right. As expected I
was winning the centre fights and with the Syrians using LhS against my Bw it
was a tougher fight on the far right but we traded casualties and my line held.
The Viking command on my left, now out
flanked, then had two bounds with a single PiP in each bound which compounded
their problems and prevented them from covering the flank of the central
command. The Syrians exploited the gaps
and the Islesmen had no response other than dice their way out of trouble in
the combats but with factors almost even most of the time, this couldn’t be
sustained and two commands were broken and the battle lost. Deserved defeat of 0-25. Ouch!!
Game Two – Chris with #75/III –
Islamic Berber
The Islesmen were probably the worst
opponent for the Berbers as my Bd quick kill the opposing Sp line which is the
mainstay of the Berber army and as mentioned I don’t fear their iKnF, plus we’d
happily engage any of their other troops.
Chris took, I suspect, some good advice
on choosing the terrain layout and troop deployment. Certainly he made the best of the situation
and I couldn’t see an easy path to victory.
The Sea was on my left again but then there were two DH on the centre
line with the axis parallel to the flank edges, spaced apart to create 3
corridors between the opposing armies.
The Berbers deployed well back with massed Ps defending the DH. So if I wanted a victory I was going to have
to get through the corridors while having Ps attack my flanks. In the circumstances, Chris did an excellent
job of frustrating the enemy with sound terrain and deployment options.
The Vikings pushed through the left
corridor beside the sea but once passed the DH were effectively held in place
by massed LhO they weren’t prepared to be surrounded by. The right hand corridor was too far to travel
around so wasn’t pursued while the centre corridor required the hills to be
secured first. So the lone two Highland
Ps when up the left hand hill with very PiP intensive Bd support while the
impetuous HdF rabble were released to clear the right had hill of a line of
Berber Ps.
Due to being out-numbered, neither
hill was cleared. In the meantime the
Berber KnF had impetuously charged down the central corridor into the much
longer and reinforced Islemen line where there were all martyred in a single
bound (maybe quicker than the rules said due to some bound confusion – which I
shouldn’t have missed but did).
So at that point with no further
progress coming any time soon, the time expired. A draw at 14-11 with all credit to Chris for
making the best of this very poor match-up for him.
So at
half way I had only 14VP out of 50, not a happy place to be. L
Game Three – Brian with #16/III –
Khazar
As a high contender in my J19 army
choice I know this army well having experimented with it at 400AP. If it had the KnF included then it could be a
tough fight but I was confident that my size would help out, and their other
troops weren’t such a worry although as mounted, like against the Syrians, if
they didn’t want to fight I’d have trouble catching them.
But I didn’t need to worry, Brian’s
plan was to use his knights to punch through my line so he lined up to charge
en-mass after I’d deployed a double ranked line right across the table. Being so much wider than the Khazars, if I
had PiPs I was going around and into his flank.
It was going to be a short game whatever the outcome.
The Khazars charged, the lines hit,
but few casualties. My retaliation came
up empty, the Khazars re-charged, again with limited effect, likewise my return
strike. Third charge and my damage was
mounting and I wasn’t sure my “receive charge then counter” plan was going to
work as I expected it to. BUT then it
did, a bound of strong combat dice plus the F effect, destroyed the enemy’s Kn
command and in subsequent bounds I exploited gaps to increase the damage.
With my right wing having successfully
turned inward, chasing off the Khazar Lh protection the end was nigh, and despite
the Vikings having been disheartened, a resounding victory 22-3 was
achieved. Great, fun, simple battle but
with moments of despair for both of us as our plans failed to materialise,
albeit mine came through in the end.
Game Four – Peter with #32/II – Later
Carthaginians
Late gathered intelligent (Peter
commented on it) that the Cathies had warband – damn – this was going to be a
tough game then.
Despite invading, I rolled “time of
day” at double so had to deploy first, so I had no idea where the feared
warband were going to be. The sea was on
the right this time and only one Wd in my left deployment zone added to the
terrain. I deployed “lines apart” in
several groups, well back from the centre hoping to be able to respond to the
expected warband onslaught. The shape of
the sea gave me a small outflanking option if the Cathies rushed forward so I
used it for my Ps with a number of Bd.
Cathies deployed with AxS to the left
(mine), plus Cv and Sp in a sub general led command with the CnC on the right
with a large group of Wb and then some Cv & Lh up against the sea.
Initially the Cathies sent the AxS
forward to my left to try and out flank me around the Wd. To counter this I had to use the HdF rabble
on auto-pilot to run interference, which were caught in column, provided n
funny but one-way casualty stream for the rest of the game, but they did their
job as they steadily, but not continuously, died.
The Cv advanced in support of the AxS
but the Sp stayed back, in fear I assume of my Bd’s quick killing skills. The Cv general got into range of my Bw, and
was bounced back. However, he also
stayed put in support of his troops flank still within range and the next bound
of bowshots saw his death. That was to
severely limit that wing’s effectiveness even though they had the high PiP
allocation.
On my right I’d pushed the Bd & Ps
along the beach to engage the Lh & Cv and cause a danger of outflanking to
the Wb if they advanced. The low PiPs
for the Cathie CnC were mostly spent on controlling the Wb so my manoeuvres
were not challenged much and I had got the best possible formation I could
think of to receive the Wb when they finally came at me. But I wasn’t comfortable.
Eventually Peter, with continued low
PiPs, let the Wb go impetuously so he could defend the beach area threat. This allowed me to get the first hit on the
Wb and to limit their return charge possibilities. With QKs both ways in alternative bounds, the
casualties mounted, although my combat dice were stronger than Peter’s and my
engineered position a little better with the possibilities of hard flanks
present. Having locked up the rest of
the Cathies line to prevent them supporting the advancing Wb, the Wb got into
more dangerous positions and the Islemen started to surround them. I risked two general Bd in the combat area,
not to fight but to make hard flanks with only 1PiP as otherwise there was not
enough PiPs ever to maximise damage on the Wb.
The risk paid off, they both survived,
my combat dice, mostly 1 factor up on the Cathies by now remained strong so the
victory was obtained, 23-2. I was very lucky that the random death of the
Cathie sub-general had such a negative effect on them and that my back-side
clenching engagement of Wb with Bd came out in my favour, nothing was certain
until it was all over.
So,
two afternoon victories boosted my dismal morning’s efforts to a respectable
finish.
I had forgotten
to use my Exaggerated Size stratagem in 3 of the 4 games and I don’t think
Anthony noticed it anyway when I did.
Of course I must
say thanks to all my opponents, all played in excellent spirit and it was fun
even when I wasn’t doing well. And a special
note to Nash & Gary for organising and hosting, nothing would done without
you guys – thanks to you all.
I was surprised
how much I enjoyed the 200AP format. I
had approached the day as simply a method of testing the location as a suitable
venue for J19 without expecting much from the games themselves. But it proved that the format was so much
more fun than I’d ever imagined – I hope we do it again in the future.
Thanks all, Wayne.
After Action Report (ARR)
May
05 2019 – Chester Watts Testimonial Game Day – Bangkok
#39/IV
– Navarrese Company (in Greece)
4x
2hr games, 200AP + 10AP Stratagem, 15mm on 120x90cm
After 16 months of ‘engaging’
(polite words, I must be nice) with the NZ government regarding my wife’s visa
status, suddenly, after a complaint or two well up the chain of command, a
burst of action at a most un-bureaucratic speed, saw the whole long ‘discussion’
(still being polite), where we missed a parent’s funeral & another’s 80th, was
wrapped up in less than four days!! Add
in a few other family items including the 11 year absence, and the decision was
made to head back in short order for an indeterminate number of months.
Nash, supported by
the rest of the ‘BKK’ gang, most kindly stepped up and organised a “going away”
gaming day based on our previous February 200AP fun day with Brian generously
offering to host the event at his home where there is available dedicated gaming
space and as it turned out, spectacular catering as well!!
The Chester Watts
Testimonial game day was named after my embarrassing habit of finishing tournaments
with no wins and no losses, or in Nash’s 2016 words – “a chest of draws!!”
In honour of the
event name I eventually decided to take the origin ‘chester’ army, the Navarrese
Company in Greece, which, as I wanted the Condottieri regular knights and the
Gascon BdS dismounted knights meant I’d need 3 commands including 2
allies. That would make it small and
prone to unreliability. The positives
were some highly manoeuvrable Kn, which at 200AP I saw as a very good option
and overall the rest would be very tough defensively, again a good point as the
enemy would need to be aggressive to win in the shorter time frame. Fairly classic tactics, use a difficult
terrain piece to anchor a defensive line, while the other flank uses manoeuvre
to create advantageous and winning positions and matchups, with a late battle
general press forward to soak up enemy PiPs.
Well, that’s the general idea anyway.
I like this army a
lot at 400AP because it’s generally strong and flexible in most areas although it
can suffer the difficulties of an irregular command structure and, as its
results show, it annoys the combat dice gods often as its biggest failing is rolling
low combat numbers too regularly!!
Game One – Anthony with #52/III – West
Frankish – William the bastard AD1066
Interesting outlier choice (again)
from Anthony who often gets away from the common options and finds strong
alternatives. I should have quickly checked
the list before deploying as I’d have seen the possibility of both Cv & BdO
and would have deployed differently.
A ½ DH was on my left, a road attached
BuA in the right-ish centre with other small terrain pieces irrelevant on the
enemy rear edge. I deployed in line,
with the Kn mounted and light troops holding the DGo on the flanks. I intended to charge through the enemy using
the damage of their F rating to make headway while the Condottieri when around
the left DH and came at the enemy flank.
All ruined by the Gascon command being
unreliable. So I had to wait for them to
be bribed or the enemy closing up on them (they’d need to for a victory) and
spent time getting the Condottieri into position. Anthony had Breton Cv which tried to run
around the BuA, the long way around, to get into my rear (I only had a single Bg)
so I was forced to counter them with AxS which was a PiP waste.
Eventually the Norman irregular Kn got
enough out of control that they had to advance and engage or go spono in
full. But by now time was running down,
and while a few casualties occurred on both sides, the bell rang without any
command breaking although one of mine, they are small, had disheartened.
So 13-12 to Anthony. A game of jockeying for position rather than
a combat ridden encounter, and no clear advantage had appeared by the time
limit.
Game Two – Nash with #79/II – Northern
& Southern Dynasties Chinese
The BuA secured my left, the DH on the
far outside on the right, other terrain irrelevant. I deployed from the DH leftward, the light
troops to advance over the hill and into flanks if possible and the Condottieri
on the left flank where they had room to manoeuvre.
Disaster – both Gascons & Condottieri
were unreliable!! The CnC command on the
right had next to nothing to fight, Nash having deployed towards my left, with
two WWgO covering his flank on my right.
Nash spent the game trying to get some
Ps & AxS(?) around the unreliable Condottieri while I spent all the time
trying to get enough “entirely away from enemy” moves for my regular Kn to
prevent him getting into the rear and to be able to respond when he finally
closed to strike. No combats occurred on
the left flank but I won the game of manoeuvre with an unreliable command!!
In the centre, I tried several times
to get the Gascons back in the action, finally achieving it the same bound that
a Chinese element recoiled off a flank contact into activation range
anyway. Mostly my light troops battled
with no headway against a Chinese WWgO and his Ps friends while the 2nd
WWg tried to move across the centre blocking my Kn and BdS combo from closing
up with favourable matchups.
I did initiate a few combats
eventually and Nash returned the effort but it was too small a frontage and too
late to get a result. When time expired
we’d lost a Kn & a Ps each, with no prospect of a result even on the horizon. Result recorded as Nash 13-12 Wayne, in an
interesting game with limited combats.
Game Three – Bob with #62/III – Sung
Chinese
We know Bob’s Sung army for its massed
artillery power so there had to be a change in tactics here, as surely that
wouldn’t work in a 2 hour 200AP game. So
sure enough, his composition had just one ArtS and plenty of Bd, both O &
I, some mounted mixture of CvS & KnF and some Bw.
WW on my left, extended by a March
(where I put an illegally placed invader’s ambush) and on my right was also a
useful Marsh while Bob got the benefit of a GH behind one of the Marshes to
place his ArtS. As I was okay with the
match ups I effective lined up with Kn dismounted as BdS to oppose the enemy
BdI although they did have support from some BgS drummers in the centre.
Pressed forward to force a fight,
immediately attracting Art shots on my few still mounted Kn including the CnC
so I had to re arrange that side a bit to keep him alive. In the centre the +1 from the drummers made
the fights tougher than expected but the BdS eventually did the job against Bob’s
lower graded Bd.
In an effort to speed up the grind
into a victory I took a risk and pushed the Gascon KnO general through my line
into a gap in Bob’s to challenge a CvS that was looking to fill the gap next
bound. Although I was giving up first
strike I hoped to use my QK the following bound as it would potentially be a
game changer because Bob’s flank wouldn’t last much longer with such a hole in
it so I took the risk. Bob, I suspect,
seeing his weakness on that flank took his own risk and charged my
general. Of course I rolled a 1, and the
S effect then caused my general’s destruction, disheartening the command. Another bound, another loss and the Gascons
broke.
Luckily I had enough subsequent PiPs to
hold enough elements to maintain my line until the danger passed while further
to my left, using Kn & AxS with overlaps we broke a Chinese command also.
As the clock ran down I still had a
way to go to victory but was happy with my position, the score was in my favour
14-11.
Game Four – Brian with #16/III – Khazar
I had encountered Brian’s Khazars in
our February game day, it’s CvS generals, plus a mix of KnF, CvS & CvO. If I dismounted, he basically couldn’t touch
me but I couldn’t win either as I’d never be able to catch him and even if I
did, it would then require a grinding series of combats to get anywhere.
So the plan was to stay mounted, use
Kn QFs on the Cv & trust the F effect worked to my advantage and that the
regular Kn could work a flank well plus I’d use the terrain to close the table
down. The terrain plan work out
perfectly with the table width halved and a DH anchor provided for my AxS to
operate from, in fact it worked so well I only just had enough deployment space
left.
Brian decided his best option was to
meet the charge but with a staggered line, keeping as far left (mine) as
possible into the wider deployment zone allowed to CvO thereby being outside my
Condottieri Kn who’d need to realign, but it also left my two right hand Kn
overlapping his line although these were countered by a few deeper deployed Lh.
Two of Brian’s Lh did go far wide on
my right looking to cross DH & BuA to annoying get into my rear but these
encountered a (legally) deployed ambush, recoiled off it and returned to the
main fight.
In the main clash I worked out that
the Condottieri could just match the enemy line’s length on the left by
realigning and with a couple of generals joining the line so I advanced as fast
as possible to contact. Because Brian’s
line had a stagger in it and my realignment had slowed down part of my line, we
didn’t hit neatly but it was enough for my QK to take casualties off the
Khazars, including a general, with a 2nd general thereafter almost
permanently locked in combat. We fought
on another bound until the S effect from the Khazar CvS hit me big time and I
had 3 gaps in my line.
And the Condottieri then had only 1
PiP!! With careful use of generals and
another free Kn I was just able to cover all the break-through dangers,
although lost several options of QK combats in the process, except I couldn’t
prevent the very outside enemy CvO hardflanking the last on the left
condottieri Kn next bound. We exchanged
casualties.
In the Khazar bound casualties hurt
both armies – but – the outside condottieri won his combat and remained in
place along with a Gascon Kn who had pushed so far through the line he’d been
rear attacked, also surviving!! So it
was now the NavCo’s turn to hit back. I
took a few risks, leaving some element rears potentially open to future attack,
but I need not have worried, the flanks engineered and QKs devastated the
Khazars and they only lasted another bound before fleeing the table.
However my own casualties were high
too, leaving only a 17-8 victory. A
really fun, stand up fight type game that went back and forth until the very
end.
So a final placing at
3rd, only a single point above Nash at 4th and also a single point behind Brian
in 2nd.
The day’s bragging
rights go to Anthony with a well handled unexpected style of army. Well done.
Thanks one & all
for a great day.
Especially Brian for
the location and truly outstanding self prepared catering – amazingly good.
And for Nash of
course, for organising.
Four excellent games,
all in different styles, but most importantly the NavCo’s chester voodoo was
finally broken!!
Thanks again, Wayne.
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