A number of battles with Nick

Despite plans to start a regular evening DBA meeting this year, it’s yet to happen, but I have caught up with Nick for a number of enjoyable games. One back in January saw a BBDBA contest in which my Marian Romans with Numidian allies were defeated by Nick’s Romans. We didn’t take any photos. I think my Numidians forgot to be defensive and were defeated before I could win elsewhere.

A fortnight ago we had a couple games using some of my newer armies. My Numidians defeated Nick’s Marian Romans.

The Numidians face Roman interlopers in a very green season in Numidia.

The Romans’ view.

I rushed forward to trap the legionaries next to the woods. I didn’t succeed, and I had the auxilia on my left that I didn’t want to meet with psiloi. From memory I was on the verge of defeat when I was lucky enough to create a hole in the line of the blade (I’d been falling back; I’d lost my only psiloi on the right and my commander was trying to retreat over the hill). This brought me back into the fight, which was looking over for the Numidians. I had been saved by good PIPs that allowed me to retire the general while keep pressure on in the centre. I was lucky to win.

The next battle was between my Campanians and an Italiot Hoplite army. It was fought on a battlefield with no Bad Going, but only a boggy and a scrubby patch, both Rough Going.

Campanians facing Italiot hoplites.

The Italiots.

My Hoplites created a breakthough in the centre, but I was so obsessed with winning on the flanks I didn’t exploit it. Instead, when I rolled 1 PIP I chose to take a risk with my general facing enemy cavalry so that I could develop an advantage on my right flank. This cost me the game, as my General was 6-1ed and destroyed. The Italiots managed a close victory.

Last weekend we caught up again. I got the Marians and Numidians out for a BBDBA game. Nick fielded his Early Imperial Romans. This game was interesting, as my centre destroyed his in record time and my Numidians were able to break their opponent with this support. I’ve not seen blade go down to blade so fast before. My dice were very good. the element that did it was a ring in. To get the 10 elements of legionaries I needed I used an element with different shield patterns. These are an element for my Mithridatic army, one I’ve described as Marian exiles fighting for Mithridates. Clearly they are dedicated defenders of the Republic.

The heroic Marian exiles.

The game was nearly over before the left wing made contact. My elephants were still stuck in rough going (my new hamlet), and I was nervous of the Roman knights.

The righteous defenders of the free Republic face off on hills against the supporters of the tyrant Augustus.

The EIR wing on my left, cavalry, knights and auxilia.

The EIR centre, auxilia, blade and bow.

The EIR wing on my right, blade, auxilia and rogue Numidian LH.

The battle from the side; the centre led by Cato is between two difficult hills; Juba’s Numidian psiloi are on one hill while his imitation legionaries, elephant and cavalry are in rough going; Labianus on the right wing is in a hamlet with elephants, cavalry and solid auxilia; he has psiloi and fast auxilia on the other hill.

Clearly the Numidians were not keen on fighting each other, as there were a number of rounds of combat that saw no casualties on that wing; the Romans were not so delicate in their attitude to each other. This is my first victory with this Marian BBDBA army. I’m still not sure how to get it to work well. I will probably get my Carthaginians out as a BBDBA army again soon. They are similarly winless, but I now have a better idea of how to organise commands.

AWC Chariot DBA Day

This DBA Day took place at the Auckland Wargames Club on 18.12.17. Nearly four months on I have no great memory of the individual battles, though I enjoyed the day greatly. The participants and their final points were:

Name – Army – Points
Grant – I/6b Early Bedouin – 32
Philip – I/7b Early Libyan – 25
Kieran – I/18 Minoan – 23
Nick  -I/22a NK Egyptian – 21
Mike – I/24b Hittite Empire – 18
Mark – I/19 Mittani – 17
Simon – I/34a Later Hebrew – 15
Dave – I/20a Ugaritic – 13

My first battle was against the Ugarites. I either won or it was a draw that I was ahead on. I do know my horde were victorious, which is grounds for celebration on its own.

The Ugarites with their heavy chariots.

What the Ugarites saw.

Towards the end, when the Ugarites had suffered several loses.

I next faced the Egyptians and was rapidly defeated, if I remember rightly. I guess I blotted that defeat out!

Against the Egyptians.

From above.

And from the other direction.

After lunch I played the Hittites. I think I lost again, but I don’t have the score sheets any more.

Facing the Hittites.

Another angle.

The last battle was against Hebrews, and I know I won this one. However, I’m pretty sure the deployment in the river was illegal.

What the Hebrews could see.

I think I destroyed the two psiloi and then triumphed over the auxilia that came forward to meet me.

Some statistics for the day are:

Own general killed:

Grant I/6b Early Bedouin 0
Philip I/7b Early Libyan 1
Kieran I/18 Minoan 2
Nick I/22a NK Egyptian 0
Mike I/24b Hittite Empire 1
Mark I/19 Mittani 1
Simon I/34a Later Hebrew 2
Dave I/20a Ugaritic 0

Enemy generals killed:

Grant I/6b Early Bedouin 3
Philip I/7b Early Libyan 1
Kieran I/18 Minoan 1
Nick I/22a NK Egyptian 0
Mike I/24b Hittite Empire 0
Mark I/19 Mittani 0
Simon I/34a Later Hebrew 1
Dave I/20a Ugaritic 1

No camps lost or taken.

Mitanni

This army was started at the end of 2016, and finished at the end of last year, with the all the foot options (10 elements) being done first; and the six LCh done just before a Biblical themed DBA day at the AWC. The figures are Chariot figures from Magister Militum and I’m pleased with the way they came out.

I’ve always liked the way the heavily armoured Mitanni charioteers looked in the WRG book Armies of the Ancient Near East. It’s from that book that I learnt they were the developers of the iconic light chariot and the economy to field them. As a DBA army they’re not fantastic, but do look very good.

All the Mitanni.

All the foot.

A compulsory horde and bedouin psiloi.

Another angle.

Two archers, either 4Bw or Ps.

Another angle.

And another.

Two spearmen, either 4Ax or 3Ax.

Another angle.

The six chariots.

I had the idea to put the chariots on an angle and then have the crew face forward. Unfortunately, there was no room in the chariot to allow this to happen, and now it’s a little ambiguous what the front edge is.

From the front.

And the side.

The rear.

The other front.

Numidians

The Numidians are now compliant with DBA 3.0. I have been very disciplined this year and only bought one pack of figures (I saw them on TradeMe). They were Corvus Belli Numidian archers. I can now have my fifth Ps as archers instead of javelinmen. Painting this element is an excuse to update the page, and to take the photos again with a better camera.

All the Numidians.

The camp (a mixture of Old Glory and Freikorp figures, as well as Donningtons and Essex, I think.

Another angle.

And another.

An elephant or some archers.

Another angle.

And another.

The archers, for full DBA 3.0 compliance.

The javelinmen.

Another angle.

And another.

The cavalry.

Another angle.

Camps

I took the photos for this (and another of other posts) last year, and then never got around to posting it. Hopefully this will jump-start getting these posts done.

When I came to look at making a camp for my Mitanni army, I looked at my earlier camps that used two lots of 20x40mm strips with donkeys on them and realised I wasn’t using them (you can see them here). I decided to redo the two tents and the four lots of donkeys, along with two more tents, a few more camp followers and a lot of supplies to create four fairly generic ancient camps.

Four new camps.

The camps still have the angry ladies throwing amphorae on the ground and the slaves beating donkeys, but they also have a couple of hussies (courtesy of Old Glory) and some Egyptians (Essex). The camp supplies are from Baueda.

A Roman style tent.

A Hellenistic tent, with hussy (likely to have an amphora tossed at her.

An Eastern style tent, and a slightly less shameless hussy.

Another Eastern tent and some porters with Egyptian headdresses.