Best game of Dux Bellorum yet!

It is quite a while since I have had a game down at the club with John who has been very FOG centric for a while.  He fancied playing something different last week so we had a straight 32 point game using 60mm base widths  on a 4x4 table.  It was a reasonable game and we said we would have another go soon.

Unexpected circumstances resulted in a last minute change of plan on Monday and we had another go, using the same armies.  Mid era Welsh warrior on my side (including monks and a stampede) against mid era Saxon warrior.

We decided to go for a scenario and agreed on 'End of Reign' .  This was an excellent choice as it made us think about our deployment and involved a lot more jockeying for position.

John was much more aggressive with his generals element - I wimpily kept mine out of harms way all game as in this scenario LPs cannot be used defensively in melee by the companions.  Despite John winning most of the combats I managed to come out on top with a last minute suicide charge by my javelin armed mounted skirmishers with 3 attached aggressive LPs.

Definitely my best game of Dux Bellorum so far.

One rules query I need to follow up on.  I kept my cows to the rear, relying on the fact they move as if foot skirmishers and foot skirmishers can interpenetrate any friends.  John thought it seemed a little strange that I could charge my stampede through my warriors (or even with another army shieldwall) and I agreed  so ended up not doing it. 

Dux Bellorum with Double points on Impetus bases doesn’t work

Particularly when using 2 shieldwall based armies.  I took Romano British against Kev’s Late Romans and after a couple of hours of play we had each lost a skirmishing cavalry unit and I don’t think that any of the other units had lost more than 1 or at the most 2 cohesion points.

The issue remains the use of leadership points to negate hits, particularly against units that already have a high cohesion value.  Hitting on fives or fives and sixes when up to three hits can be taken off is vicious amusement.  The problem is that given the choice of an additional attacking dice roll (hitting on a 4, 5 or 6 depending on troop type) or a 100% chance of negating a hit the maths will always favour negative use

Earlier games, using 32 points and normal base sizes, had been too short for a good evening’s play, which is why we increased the numbers so substantially.   One other change to the rules is that instead of using base widths for moving and shooting we used half base widths giving most cavalry a 24cm which did not seem too excessive.

My plan was to use superior numbers of cavalry on the flanks to win there and then sweep round whilst my centre of shieldwall and the better cavalry held back to suck the Late Roman centre in.

What actually happened was inconclusive sparring on the flanks and then once the two lines closed more inconclusive sparring in the middle.  In short one of the most boring wargames I have ever played.

We have not given up on Dux Bellorum though.  Our intention is to try again with some restriction (yet to be decided) on the negative use of leadership points. 

The one substantial improvement on the other games we have played was the look of the battle.  Much more impressive.  I think we will be keeping the Impetus bases.

I had some photos but it seems blogger no longer allows one to copy a photo in from your PC so I will have to see what other options there are.  Something about Picassa albums???

Second Game of Dux Bellorum – Further Thoughts

First of all let me apologise for the lack of photos – I still am having problems downloading from my camera and have stopped taking pictures until that is resolved.  Rather a pity as some visual aids would have helped this report.

I took an Early Saxon Sea Raider Army made up as follows

Foot Companions

Noble Warriors x 3

Ordinary Warriors x 2

Foot Skirmisher (Bow) x 1

Foot Skirmisher (Javelin) x 1

Assassination

My opponent for the night, Kev, brought a Late Roman Army

Mounted Companions

Noble Cavalry x 1

Ordinary Shieldwall x 3

Noble Shieldwall x 1

Bow x 1

Foot Skirmisher (Bow) x 1

Mounted Skirmisher (Javelin) x 1

Additional Leadership Point

Before we deployed I tried my assassination attempt needing 11 or 12 on 2 dice.  If successful it would have robbed the Romans of 3 of their 7 leadership points but it was not to be so it felt like 4 points (out of a total of 32) wasted at the start.

Having a much superior Aggressor factor it was almost inevitable that the Saxons would take that role which they duly did leaving the Romans as the defenders (repellors)

My plan was to punch through the centre with my 4 best warrior units, covered by the skirmishers, leaving an ordinary warrior unit on each flank to either to hold an attack or exploit the position if possible.  I intended to target the weaker shieldwall and bow units with my better troops and then move on to the harder troops who would hopefully be on fewer leader ship points having lost some units.

Kev’s Romans deployed with his 2 units of cavalry on his far right with the shieldwall and bow alongside them so his right and centre were fully occupied with the skirmishers covering his left.  I think his plan was to hold the main body of infantry back, sweep the cavalry round and then catch my main force both in the front and from the flank.

We had decided to play this game using Impetus bases (12 cm wide) but at half base width movement to make the game playable on a 6 x 4 board.  This greatly improved the look of the game and I think we will almost certainly continue to use this approach for future games.  What we did not do was increase the amount of terrain (probably a mistake) so we ended up with 2 hills, one on each flank with both our left flanking units having the opportunity to use them to their benefit in later combats.

The early moves were fairly predictable as I advanced along the line and Kev's cavalry and skirmishers also advanced.  Throughout the game there was only one occasion when damage was done by shooting when the Roman Bow unit took 2 cohesion points off a noble warrior unit.

I had a bit of luck on the right where I was able to catch the mounted skirmishers with my ordinary warrior unit and fairly quickly despatch it.  On the left the two cavalry units and the warrior unit on the hill started a melee which ground on for some time – more on that later as it was to prove to be the most controversial part of the battle.

My centre units closed with the Roman line and very quickly took out the bow (another leadership point lost by Kev).  I had detached the furthest left noble warrior unit to prevent the line being outflanked in the side where it was up against the noble shieldwall and a unit of ordinary shieldwall.

I threw good dice all night and before long another 2 Roman units had been destroyed, including the noble shieldwall.  By this stage, with the Saxons having lost no cohesion points at all in combat, Kev conceded.

Whist all this had been going on my ordinary shieldwall unit had stood firm on the hill, twice throwing back the opposing cavalry and causing 3 cohesion points of damage on the Roman mounted companions.  Both of us had been giving the units between 2 and 3 leadership points a turn, but I had used them in defence whist Kev had used them in attack.  Although I was always throwing less dice I was able to negate all the hits on my unit whist Kev had to take any his suffered.  The moral of the story was seemed to be that defensive use of leadership points is much more effective than using them for attack.  My dice rolls in that combat were certainly a bit better than Kev’s but the difference was by no means extreme.  It did seem a little odd that one 3 point unit could not only hold up 2 x 5 point units but actually be winning the combat hands down because of the way the leadership points had been declared.  Not only that but if the Roman leadership points had been used more effectively in defence there would have been a complete stand off barring some rather extreme dice rolls, which would still have been very much to the Saxon’s favour.

What was our conclusion? 

1) Stick with the Impetus bases but half base width movement on a 6 x 4 table but consider more terrain

2) Think carefully about the use of leadership points.  One option we talked about was that they could in the first instance be used to counteract each other, so 3 in defence and 2 in attack would deny any additional attacking dice and retain 1 to cancel a hit.

3) Give the game another go soon (without making any changes) whilst the rules are still fairly fresh in our minds.

4) It still seems an awfully quick game – we started a bit late but the game took barely an hour. Once again I was home early not really having had a fully satisfying night’s gaming.  Next time we might consider bigger armies or try to get 2 games in.

Dux Bellorum – First impressions

I had my first game of Dux Bellorum on Monday. We used the Welsh and Saxon sample armies from the book.  I took the Saxons and Kev and Stewart between them the Welsh.  My 25mm collection provided the figures - I even managed to dig up a couple of cows to provide a mini stampede.  The monks were more Feudal than Dark Ages in appearance but at the end of the day a cowl is a cowl.

It was not a very subtle game. The Welsh cavalry and warriors charged forward and crashed into my shieldwall.  The skirmishers did very little damage on the flank but one of my Irish elements managed to take out the light cavalry.  The other one intercepted one of the Welsh warriors (I thought in the flank but not as I had not taken care to start from far enough back). The cows did their job by destroying themselves against the shieldwall but weakening a unit in the process. The monks were not keen to advance too far but were just close enough to provide spiritual help in the form of extra leadership points to most of their line.

I used leadership points to minimise casualties on the shieldwall which gave them plenty of staying power and I was eventually (with the aid of some good dice rolls) able to wear down the opposition to less than 50% in units.  The subsequent morale rolls went against the Welsh and they fled the field.

So what were   my first impressions of the rules?

I  like the mechanisms which generate good period flavour and are elegantly put together.  The rulebook itself is attractive and generally well laid out.  On the downside there seemed to be very few figures on the table (about sixty in total) and the game seemed to be over in no time at all.  Certainly not an evening’s entertainment, although to be fair we had not tried to be particularly sophisticated in our tactics. 

Definitely interesting enough to play again though and Kev and I have agreed a rematch in 2 weeks time, Late Roman against Saxon sea raider.  We will attempt to play two games in the one session.  25mm again, normal 60mm wide basing for the first game with the second using Impetus bases at 120mm wide, on a bigger table,  but keeping movement rates at 60mm base width equivalents.

Perhaps unsurprisingly it is difficult to give a rounded review of Dux Bellorum after just one game.  I want to like them as I approve of well written and presented period specific rules that try to capture the feel of a particular era.  However can deliver a satisfying game?  For me the jury is still out on that one.

Just Recieved Dux Bellorum

This is the most excited I have been in a long time (really!)

Having had a quick read through they seem excellent and a real step forward from Dan Mersey's earlier Glutter of Ravens, which I also like.

First game in a fortnight - look out for my report of the game.

Well done Osprey  - wargames rules don't have to be huge tomes costing megabucks

Claymore 2012

Claymore is Edinburgh's long established wargames show and I always get over for a couple of hours at least.  I thought the standard of games was excellent this year and there was a substantial trade presence.  There is a good sized bring and buy as well.

Falkirk put on a game based in Latvia in 1919 with the Freikorps taking on the Soviets. The game was designed by David Burns using Triumph and Tragedy rules.  He provided most of the figures although I lent him a few of my Germans.  All figures painted by Marco of Rif Raf Miniatures

Some photos of the Latvia game

Overview of the game with David on the right and Chuck on the left

I really like the Freikprps Cavalry converted by Marco

The Soviets advance

Soviet Sailors and Siberians

My Germans

A Soviet strongpoint

Another view of the cavalry!

My acquisitions were modest.  10 28mm ECW clubmen from Reiver Castings.  An interesting first hand account of the Indonesian Confrontation - 'The Last Conflict The Durham Light Infantry Borneo 1966, A copy of the first edition Ga Pa rules from the bring & buy (£1!) and a pot of red paint for my Warmachine models.

I have slowly been collecting the old Knights Battles for Wargamers series and was gutted when I was Chancellorville being bought on the bring & buy.  Still it shows that there are still copies around.

One company that I will definitely be buying from in the future is 4A miniatures.  I really like their Sci Fi figures .  As soon as I get my Pig Iron figures painted I will be putting in an order.

Both Dux Bellorum and A World Aflame were on sale at Caliver Books.  I have them on pre order from Amazon and decided to wait until they are delivered but they did look good.

No game played which makes 6 in July unlikely but at least another blog entry done.  Now for some painting.....

A World Aflame - Interwar Wargame Rules 1918-39 by Paul Eaglestone

Now pre-ordered on Amazon.  At £8.69 they have gone below my price point for a stand alone set of rules that I have figures for and which sound interesting.  They have Dux Bellorum at that price now as well.  Osprey are looking for more rules authors to expand the series which is excellent news.  Regular readers of this blog may have spotted that I like variety.

Dux Bellorum by Dan Mersey

Having played and enjoyed Dan Mersey’s previous offering for this period, Glutter of Ravens, I had no hesitation in placing a pre order on Amazon (it’s due out in August)

For more information have a look at the author’s blog

http://boardgamegeek.com/blog/444/dux-blogorum

I can provide figures for both sides for Glutter of Ravens and should be able to do so for Dux Bellorum as well so if anyone is interested in a game give me a shout