Rome vs. the barbarians, 4 games

Yesterday evening we played a number of DBA games set in the Western Roman Empire of the 5^th Century. 3 of our members were unable to attend due to illness, either personal or in the family. Here’s hoping all are well by our next meeting.

Last time we played, Bill led the Western Romans to 4 wins over Huns (twice), Goths and Franks. I challenged his Romans with Attila’s Huns to start the day. Bill selected the terrain below. And off we went.

I then went up against Rick.

Next up was Carl.

Then we set up a modified Dig Battle DBA game.

My lesson from this is that using double-ranked light horse to gain the +1 bonus in combat is fraught with peril. First, should the enemy double you, the lead element cannot flee and is destroyed. A quieter problem is that while your double-ranked formation can move more easily, it is also easier to flank and eats up any extra units you may have. I know that Light Horse armies are seriously under-powered in DBA. I have Mongols (1/72 plastic), Huns (15mm) and am currently painting 15mm Parthians. Guess I’m a glutton for punishment. I do so miss having horse archers actually shoot, along with other missile armed troops. Also, some of the fussiness of DBA when contacting units gets tiresome. Perhaps at some later point we may try Basic Impetus. One issue with that rule set are the troop type initials translated from Italian translations, so heavy cavalry are CP, etc. Another issue which has bugged some in the past is that you can throw the kitchen sink at an enemy unit, scoring hits. If they roll a 1 on the cohesion test they shrug off the damage. That bothers some more than it does me. I’ll trade that for less fussiness.

In any case, our next session in two weeks will see my little Vendee rebels take the field against the green troops of the Revolution, amid my little-used hedgerows. Rebels & Patriots will be the rules for that one.