DBR Condensed 400 pts

Played game of DBR 400pt Condensed scale at Stephens.

My Catholic TYW vs his Swedish

Played on 6ft x 2ft board.

Much wider deployment area than in normal scale but of course less depth.

Took awhile to get used to the smaller moves (20mm per 50p rather than 40mm) but game played with feeling of being a bigger battle overall.

Swedish Regt guns (ArtI) proved effective killing 3 PsS (!!).

Catholics lost when main command broke but 2 Swedish Cmds on brink

Nice game. We are going to try again using 1 inch to 50p on 6x3 ft board

FOG 800pts Punic Roman vs Parthian

Played another FOG game with Stephen using my Romans vs Parthians

He had 9 BGs of 4 LH Bowmen 3 of LF and 3 BG of Cataphracts

He won initiative and of course went for steppe so generating a vast open plain (the terrain setup rules combined with deployment are really awful)

LH highly manouvrable (they really whizz around flanks etc) and shooting can be effective enmass, but not any real use in melee. Roman HF have torrid time trying to get into contact with skirmishers (a game of 'chasies' with my HF and Cav vs all the lights).

In fact Romans would have been better served forming a defensive 'square' as just out classed in open play by Parthians. But what sort of game would that be if Parthians decided not to attack !!??

Systems once again very easy to use and we have most general Factors/POAs etc learnt. Very few rules queries (ZOI and Interception Charges) and resolved easily once relevant rule tracked down.

Long game taking awhile to resolve combats.

I still miss the Inertia/Commands/Deployment/Stratagems etc of Dbmm but FOG definately easier to play and more competition friendly.

Hard decision coming up about which set to concentrate on this year with view to attending a UK competition (Britcon ?)

Command Piquet playtest 10mm Malburian

Used Cmd PK as playtest using 10mm WSS troops (Austrian Imperial vs French)

Love the PK card/initiative system. Cmd PK like a streamlined PK with a few nuances differing from Field Of Battle. Quite bloody as always once combat/firing starts. Lots of broken units.

French brigade advances

Prussian Brigade defends right flank
The French line of battle

View from behind Austrian lines

FOG 800pts Maurikian Byzantine vs Arab Conquest

Played FOG today using Byzantines vs Stephens Conquest Arabs

Interesting game with me conducting an out-flank with 2 Cav units but coming acropper as my other Cav died on the quite tough Offensive Spear Islamic foot (my whole centre succumbed).
Terrain placement usual arnitary affair.
After some rustiness (we almost forgot about death rolls !) the rules flowed easily.
Shooting by Byz ineffective, one really needs to acheive a concentration of shooting units to have any meaningful effect.
An enjoyable enough game (if still lacking the buzz/excitement of Dbmm) but I still struggle with the tactics of the system. Certainly the mechanics are straighforward and easily learnt/remembered.

DBR 400pts Imperial Catholic vs Ottoman Turks

Played 400pt DBR game with Stephen for a change

I used my TYW Catholic Imperialist and Stephen his Ottoman Turks

I had great terrain (big hill centrally) upon which I deployed 2 ArtO in breastworks flanked by Pk/Sh with Pistols & LH on wings...........................BUT......................through a very specific combo of dice rolls Stephen was able to conduct a night attack on my static force. He had 6 turnns of fast moves during Dusk followed by 30+ moves at night.
A mistake in my deployment (no pickets deployed) allowed him to basically surround my entire army and assault it at daybreak before a single Imperialist had moved !

Result of course inevitable especially as my CIC was charged to rear and whose death killed another 2 Pistols (6ME gone !) After a mere 2 turns of combat game was over............................

Still fun stuff that DbX games allow.

Warfare 2008

Went to Warfare 08 show in Reading on Friday 21/11/08 until Sunday 23/11/08 with Stephen and his brother John.

Great time had by all and way too much money spent !!

Played a turn or two of Warlord II game being run by author Trevor Halsall

Another visitor snapped a photo, my presence noted due to pink bag which I had on table at time :-)

Watched a few competition games with several Irish players of Dbmm present, lots of FOG games too as well as FOW. 6th Edition, POW and some WH40K

Lots of lead to paint now and rules to read :-)

DBMM 400pts Avar vs Central Asian Turkish

400pt Dbmm game vs Stephen Brittain

I used Avars vs his Central Asian Turks

Very quick game (4 turns!) which saw my Avars hemmed in by terrain and struggling to gain room to manouvre (including being out-flanked by Flank March) and yet destroying eenemy in course of 2 turns of combat (loads of 1's thrown by Stephen) and for loss of a mere 3 elements !!

A 25-0 :-)

Still a good fun game

DBMM 400pts Hsiung Nu vs Kushan

400pt Dbmm game today vs SB

Used Hsiung Nu vs Kushan

I used Brilliant General option with KnF and LhS with couple of PsO & HdO against Stephens Kushans with KnX, LhS, ElO and some LhO AxO & PsO

Another fun and close game which I lost mainly due to my KnF suffering at hands of LhS. Very hard for KnF to kill LhS in own turn and very vulnerable to LhS (due to -1 for F and +1 for S) in Lh turn.

Both right flanks broken but my CiCs central Cmd was broken as well

Great stuff

DBMM 400pts Sassanid vs Hunnic

400pt Game today with my Persians vs Stephens Huns

Another win for me !! (23-2)

Basically down to very poor combat rolls by Stephen out of some 30+ combats (over 1-2 turns)he lost some 11 elements of LhS and did not even recoil a single CvS (did kill a LhI)

Only vs my Inf command did he have any success (disheartened).

No complaints from me :-)

Dbmm Rome vs Carthage

Fought a 400pt battle today using my Polybians vs Carthaginians (S.Brittan)

Romans 198-105BC (ie not strictly historical matchup but close)
Cic CvO with 12 BdO 6 PsS 2 SpS 3 AxS 3 PsO
Sg CvO with 8 BdO 4 PsS 2 SpS 2 AxS 2 PsS(Achaians)
Sg CvO with 2 CvO Romans 4 CvO Italians & 2 LhO Tarentines
Army Baggage with 6 BgF
all Regulars No stratagems

Carthage fielded 3 Cmds (with 4 Army Bag) with Cic commanding a block
of around 20 WbO with some PsS AxS and some SpO a SG with AxS LhO CvOand a SG with CvO LhO and AxS.
A mix of Irr and Regs.

Carthos invaded in spring (weather n/e) and terrain placement saw ariver on Roman right flank with GH in Roman centre the remaining 2 SH1 GH 1 V & 1 RF all ended up in Cartho half of table and was to play no part in battle.

Romans deployed 1st with 2 Inf Cmds side by side with right anchored on River and Bd deployed on central hill. Cav Cmd was on Left just behind one Inf Cmd.
Cav Cmd was allocated 1st the baggage the lowest and the 2 Inf Cmds averaged (shock! horror!) the remaining 2 dice.

Carthos deployed with Cav Cmd on right, Warband cmd in centre and the Spainish AxS with Cv/Lh on left

Initial moves saw Romans deploy off the hill into standard 3 line formation with Velites joined by PsO Cretans and the AxS Extraordinarii.
Roman Cav moved to their left to opposse their Mtd Carthos mirror image.
Carthos moved Wb cmd forward screened by their AxS and PsS (AxS Ligurians part of Mtd cmd emerged from vineyard to extand their screen)
Their Cav cmd moved towards Roman left and a group of Numidiam Lh moved across the river to threaten Roman right.
Bad Pips for Carthos saw all but their Cav Cmd slowed to crawl the Romans with Great Pips (6 5 5 & 1 on two successive bounds) saw them deploy their Cav against the Cartho Mtd and form a defensive flank vs the river.
In the centre the Carthos moved up towards the Roman Light Inf screen but feel short of contact. More poor Pips from Carhage played a part in slowing their advance.
The Roman Light Inf however were forced to hit their Lt Inf opponnents as Ps became impetuous in enemy TZ.
This turned out to be a major plus for Romans as their AxS and PsS made mincemeat of the Cartho equivalents (lots of 1s from Carthos andthe S grading counting against them).
First blood to Rome :-)

The Roman Cav then charged into the Carho Mtd and again luck favoured the brave with the Carthos going Disheartened in one fell swoop !
Of course having done no damge to Roman mtd whilst fresh the disheartened sods then killed 2 Italian CvO ! but it was too late to stop them going Broken themselves.

Meanwhile the Warband finally cleared away the Velites but hit the waiting Principes Bd line piecemeal losing a couple of elements.
On Roman turn they managed some flank contacts on Wb and with QKs several Wb elements disappeared and their Cmd was disheartened.
Carthos had to throw their SpO into the fray to try to shore up their right flank and they did kill a couple of AxS but suffered from Cav and being flanked by Lh.

On Roman right the Carthos were causing some problems at end of Roman line as they managed to outflank some AxS but again a dearth of Pips slowed their progress (just as well as the Cv and Lh could have caused major problems).

Another turn saw the game end in Romans favour as the Legions broke the Warbands.

As always with Dbmm a fun game with lots of incident and the 'feel'of having fought a battle.

Few rules queries arose with corner to corner contact counting as contact and allowing lining up being only one we had to give much thought too.

However Reg SpO as a troop type feel very weak and poor value for Pts.
Sp are QK by so many troop types and their changed rear support from Dbm makes them very vulnerable and impotent.
Even CvO can deal with them effectively never mind S Mtd.
How anyone fields an army of Sp (such as Hoplites) is beyond us !!??

Anyway another fun game and my first victory (in some 15 attempts) versus Stephen !!!!

Roma Victor :-)

DBMM 400pts Byzantine vs Hunnic

Dbmm 400pt game today vs Stephen (just for a change)

I used Maurikian Byzantine vs his Huns

Another superb game with the Byzantines actually coming close (I had great Pips but usual poor Combat dice).

Situation end of turn 2

400pts DBMM Minoans vs Hittites

400pt Dbmm game today vs Stephen

I used my Minoans vs his Hittite Empire

Great game with oppossing Chariots cmds both being broken.

Hittite Inf combo of PkF & WbF rolled over my lowly PkX/I to give Hitties an 18-7 win

Minoan Chariots arrayed

Hittite Chariots

Minoan right flank

Nasty Hittite Infantry

Strongbow Dbmm 200pts Sat 30th Aug 08

Foreign sojourn to Dublin with Dbmm 200pt Maurikian Byzantine army.

3 games played 3 lost but still managed to win a prize !!!!???? (a mistake sorted later with organizer).

3 good games each played in good spirit

1st vs Jan van Embden with Zanj Revolt army (not a good matchup for my Byz)
2nd vs Brian Roynane Ghaznavid (a good slog that was close at end)
3rd vs Phil Waldron Hindu indian (Desert Rajiputs)

In hindsight I made a lot of mistakes with rule recall (especially in 1st game) forgetting essential stuff like the back rank of my Dbe Cav counting against foot not just mounted and forgetting to count +1 is scoring less when shot at with all my S Mtd !!!

Only real 'learning' was that corner to corner is classed as contact and therefore allows 80p shift. Not how we have been playing it but does seem to be how its done.

Dbmm 200pt Game Turgesh vs T'ang

200pt Dbmm game today (as practice for Stronbow comp we have entered)

I used Central Asian Turks vs Stephen's T'Ang Chinese

A fun and quick game. Even at this reduced scale Dbmm has epic battle feel to it (so glad I did not enter the 400pt FOG comp).

Am going to use Maurikian Byzantine at Dublin

DBMM 400pts Sassanid vs Kushan

Dbmm game on 7th Aug 08 with Stephen

First Dbmm in awhile !

Fun game with usual outcome ie I lost drastically :0(

Dbmm still feels like a battle compared to FOG but certainly a more complex set

FOG 800pts Galatian vs Marian Roman

FOG game on 29th with Stephen

I used Galatians vs his Late Republican (Marian) Romans

A close fought fun game with Romans showing thier prowess vs other foot. Galatians suffered in Melee rounds as always down a POA (ie always needing 5's)

FOG 800pts Sassanid vs Elpthalite Hunnic

FOG game today with Stephen

Sassanids used again vs Hunnic type (with Indian subjects)

Much better game with more incident and fun factor

Still prefer Dbmm at heart but FOG definitely an easier prospect

FOG 800pts Sassanid vs Late Roman

FOG game with Stephen

I used Sassanid vs his Late Romans

Fairly mundane, predictable draw.

Terrain awful for foot army (FOG pro-cavlary re terrain)

I still find FOG uninspiring in so many aspects

If only DBMM had more clarity.........................

BattleGroup PzGrenadier Scn

15mm WWII

Solo scn (Gavrus) with excellent BGPzGr rules (also played it with Overlord last week)

FOG 800pts Galatian vs Alexandrian Macedonian

FOG game today using my Galatians vs Stephens Macedonians

Good game with very few rules queries (FOG definately scores highly in this respect)

Galatian Foot slogged it out with Pikes and eventually were ground down.

If Celts dont win at Impact they are fighting disadvantage for all (most) ensuing Melee phase (ie 5s vs 4s) and will be ground down.

Elite Agema cavalry with a General in front rank fighting are mean re-rolling 1-3s !

FOG does not really have an equivalent to Warband or IrrA or Firece trrops of other sets.

Galatians seemed quite impotent/diluted compared to other sets, not sure if this is good or bad ??