A Meroitic Kushite civil war

 

Steven home usually means a game. So, he said 'Didn't you have a load of Zulus you used as Kushites?' Yep, looked up armies. Meroitic Kushite. Saw it could have a elephant general... intriguing, couldn't resist myself, so sorted out 2 DBA armies - Indian elephants acting as general as I don't have any Meroitic elephants.

Steven lost dice roll and had to set up first. I mirrored him to a degree except I put my Ps element next to my blades (well, guys with spears and shields pretending to be blades). Ready for spears mayhem in the middle as our generals slog it out.

I let my left flank get too close to him while he partially refused his...

OK, I thought. Lets take out the Psiloi element - straight dice roll, I win, he flees, unless he doubles up I just recoil. No, I died... Happily, one of archery elelents succumbed to a hail of arrows leaving a gap in his line.

Just before contact I had stopped a bit over a move away from Steven. That meant I got to be the one making contact and choosing order of combat. As I had given myself a right flank overlap to start with, and as I had also made sure his single ranked spears next to the general were facing a double rank, I had given myself a slight combat advantage...

Steven threw a 2 for PiPs...meant he took out one of my archer elements but couldn't then roll up my line... 

Anyway, the way the combats went I finished up with a double overlap on Steven's middle spear elements. Steven had a dice roll advantage over me early in the game; that changed and I got three sixes in a row. Including here... two dead elements, suddenly the game moved to my advantage...

Last move of the game. Steven's single element of spears succumbed.

I did actually get my flank attack in on that last move. It bounced! But, having taken out four elements, game over and I finished up winner!

So it proved to be a very close game. It would be easy to say that it depended on dice rolls - true, but that's true to a certain extent of every game. When his Psiloi took out my archers we both thought it was game over; I would his line being broken by the loss of his arher unit was more important - broke his line and made him more dependent on PiPs. At the wrong time he threw a two, couldn't dress his line and attack as much as he wanted and was left vunerable. Meanwhile, throwing three sixes at the right time helped me - but my tactics had given me a +1 or +2 advantage across the whole of my right wing and centre anyway. If the dice rolls on that combat that took out his two spears elements had been reversed I would simply have been pushed back!

Mongols v Sung

 Bit late getting this one out...

As part of Steven's visit he wanted to have a DBA battle involving his 15mm Mongols and Sung.

Steven took the Sung, I took the Mongols.

My tactic was to head for his left flank and take it out. In retrospect, my right flank light cavalry should have gone round his left flank!

I was a bit slow getting round his right flank - we both threw a few one's in this game. Not used to PIPs!

Steven closed off the right flank pretty well and held me up. I had forgotton one important fact - I was using Cv, not Kn. Kn break if beaten in first round of combat by Bw so I was a bit too wary of them!

Fair to say my attack wasn't doing too well!

I'm still too slow! Everything seems to be just that bit slower moving than I had expected.

The final result may have been in doubt for much of the game, but the Sung finally prevailed.

And to the victor... a very smug look.....  -  though, to be fair, it was a deserved victory.

New boys in action - rules and an update

It seems like a good idea to give the new Persian units an outing so... Actually, to start I thought it best to outline the 'rules' used - basically DBA changed a bit....

Move rate Infantry 6", light infantry 8", cavalry 12". LMI and MI bow types have a 6" range - Ps as part of combat factors only.

All 'Persian' infantry are given a -1 in combat.

River crossings, D6 1,2 no problems but move at half speed.
                                 3,4 failed to cross this move but OK to move next turn
                                 5,6 cannot cross - dice once more only to see if can cross.

Everything set up - simple river crossing. I'm using my trees to mark which move it's on - no trees on the the hill or behind the Persian forces so it's Move O!

Meanwhile, new metal having arrived I started casting horses between moves...Probably start major casting effort tomorrow.

Anyway, this post is just to put the rules up as a separate item so they don't distract from the battle - to be posted later today or tomorrow depending when I get the pictures sorted and write up completed.

Spain v the Celts - double DBA-ish Part the Second

Second phase of the battle as in second session - so  I've also reset the tree counter!

Scene at the end of movement in Move 5.

Another river proved no obstacle for the Celts - both rivers threw a 1, could have made a difference on the other flank if it had proved uncrossable on a 6. Really, though, on this flank nothing much happened!

The Spanish forward hill is starting to get a bit surrounded by Celts...

While the other hill awaits the onslaught. The Spanish general and other cavalry are meanwhile fully occupied.

The battle for the Spanish left continues...

Move 6 sees the Spanish advanced hill looking a bit fragile as it's completely surrounded.

And... the onslaught starts on the other hill.

And... The Spanish left is a bit crumbly.

End of the move see dead warbands and auxilia all over the place. Mostly warbands.

The position is pretty even at this point - both sides have lost 7 elements. The Spanish are a mix of troop types, the Celts are all warband! Mainly due to frontally charging Auxilia on hills.

It isn't as even as the casualties imply though - the Spanish left flank is about to go under.

Meanwhile there is a clash of generals. The Spanish general is actually Carthaginian - ex-Harry bodyguard, and the fact they are on palominos suggest he painted them - think Harry likes palominos. Don't remember where I got the general from, could have been Harry.

Closer view of the Spanish left at the point of contact.

Closer view of the Spanish left after contact - LI pushed off the edge of the world and cavalry pushed back without being able to go anywhere.

Lots of infantry dying on a hill.

View from the Spanish right...

View from the Spanish left... At which point the Celts had lost 8 elements, the Spanish 12. More importantly, the Spanish position didn't seem to be viable so battle over.

An interesting battle. I tried to play it as a battle rather than a wargame - as a competition wargame I wouldn't have launched the warbands against the hill the way I did here and I would have held the Spanish left back rather than go for the river line. I would possibly have been a bit more aggressive with the Auxilia on the second hill. Might even re-run the battle doing that sometime. It was good finding out the way the terrain affected everything - good battle.

Spain v the Celts - double DBA-ish

That very uneven and hilly terrain setup just seemed to shout 'Spain'... so gives me a chance to use the Spanish component of my Minifigs PB Carthaginian army - though 3Ax are being fielded a 4Ax. As an opponent, thought a Celtic invasion would work - gives me a chance to use the Garrison Celtic infantry though they have yet to be rebased. Which is fine - treat them as if they are single based and they look better with the added depth anyway. The rules themselves, again doing things solo allows me to use and alter them as I like.

At the start of the battle the Spanish plan is to try and hold the high ground and river banks.

However the Celts easily crossed the river on their left flank... I'm doing my usual thing of using trees as move markers.

On the right, the Spanish lights reach the line of the other river before the Celts reach. In the centre, the Spanish are perched on two hills - with the disadvantage that there is a gap between the hills.

The fight on the Spanish left has started and the Spanish cavalry are facing the ends of the Celtic right centre. I used 15mm trees for this battle as they fit in with the terrain better size-wise.

The forward Spanish hill is about to get attacked to the front.

Those Spaniards holding level ground between the hill and the river don't fare well.

A view of the Spanish right flank show it under pressure - the Celts on the other bank are approaching the river as well.

Meanwhile on the Spanish extreme left the Celts are making headway.

The Spanish left and left-centre. The cavalry are doing well, the light infantry less so.

Right centre is a similar story - Spaniards on the hill killing off an assault while the Spaniards on the plain die bravely.

Spanish right flank the Celts are quickly approaching the river line as the Spanish try to cover any possible crossing.

Meanwhile the second Spanish line awaits the onslaught.

Spanish extreme left looking increasingly fragile.

A view of the battle at the end of Move 4 taken from the Spanish left flank.

And a similar view from the Spanish right.