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.

Roman Decline? 4 DBA games

Last night we played 4 games of DBA 3.0 based on the 5^th Century decline of the Western Roman Empire. Going by our games, the Western Empire looked like a good bet to still be around in the 6^th Century. Bill commanded the Western Patrician Romans. Rick took the Huns for the first outing. He indicated he wanted Attila’s army but somehow we put the plain vanilla Huns on the table. Chalk that up to too much story telling while setting up.

Next I decided to show the guys how a light horse army should be run. Taking the same force, I advanced rapidly. You can see the result below.

Carl now opted for a Frankish army against the Romans, who opted for a field as close to a billiards table as they could get to maximize their knights

We broke for dinner, accompanied by Carl’s beer and finished with a fig cake courtesy of my wife.

Then Andrew decided to lead a Gothic army against Rome. As in all the other games, the Romans defended, this time seeking lots of bad going to offset the Gothic knights.

Bill ended the evening as the undisputed champ, having repulsed 4 barbarian assaults. I didn’t follow them in the usual detail since I couldn’t recall all 4 games with the same clarity. But you can get the drift.

There will be a pause since I’ll be out of town for a while. Games will resume in October. Perhaps we’ll also revisit Bloody Big Battles along with DBA, and maybe Rebels & Patriots down the stretch.

PS I never seem to notice all the typos until I've saved the photos.