Today's Practice Game

Today's Practise game for Iceni

Andrews inexperience with DBM manifested itself greatly today.

He kept harking back to mechanics that were part of the old 6th and 7th Edition WRG rules as well as FoG. I must confess it was an easy victory that didn't do much to test my skills, but gave me one more game so I could get used to how my Iceni army operates. Given some practise and a decent choice of army Andrew has the making of a good player. Relearning DBM after not playing it since v1.3 must have come as a bit of a shock. He has picked up on a few things and I showed him a few good moves towards the end of the game and explained how and why I was doing things along the way. He took the game in good spirits but a run of poor dice rolls in combat didn't do him any good along the way. More details about my army of choice after Iceni. Now the Runners and Riders for Iceni 2014 have been announced I can reveal the army I used during this game was my Iceni entry, Khurasanian (Samanid), 963AD DBMM.

He is planning a Carthaginian Army at the moment so it will give my Polybian Romans something to have a historic match up against.

Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel's Wargames World: ICENI 2014 Entered

Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel's Wargames World: ICENI 2014 Entered: Iceni Here I come ! I have just submitted my formal entry to Iceni 2014 in Hoveton Norfolk. Its a DBM Open Doubles competition at 500 AP u...

Yet Another Army Created Out of A Morph

Whilst Researching for Iceni

I had looked at Arab-Indian List as a possible morph a while back. The Khurosanian Army List allows the Saffarid's to have a small contingent of Indian infantry so I painted these up a couple of months back.

I then had a look at the main Arab-Indian Army List and saw that by just painting up some more Indian infantry and adding some cavalry elements and an elephant I could also field this list one day. Because DBM allows players to also use the DBMM army lists subject to any corrections to army point costs or troop reclassification adjustments I realised that the DBMM version of the Arab-Indian army is in fact much better to use than the DBM version so this is now my next painting project.

I saw a suitable Indian army based up for Impetus on EBay last week and against my better judgement I put in a bid for it and no one bid so I won it. So now I have sufficient figures to make up elements to represent 6 El O, 12 Cv O or I, 3 Kn F, 2 LH O and 2 WWg O plus theres 72 archer figures which will need rebasing and will end up as a mix of Ps and Bw elements.

Well they are now all on their new bases and just waiting until I paint up some more bits that are missing from this army then its a mass base finishing effort and a fresh coat of varnish.

Been painting up some mobile baggage to use with the Arab Indians over the last week. Once they are based up I will put some pictures on the page.

I have done a first attempt for a DBM Arab Indian Army list at 400 AP. Getting the balance right with this list is difficult as it has very few strike troops but will be hard to defeat in return. I have yet to work out an OOB that gives me three identically sized commands. So it must be considered a work in progress.

3/38 Arab Indian [MM List] 901 AD – 1206 AD

Dry Ag 1. W, Rv, Wd, E, RGo, D or G, Rd, BUA

[S, Rv, Wd, E, RF, D or G, Rd, BUAf, F]

Command 1

1 x Ghulam CinC Reg Cv S 30 AP

4 x Arab archers Irr Bw O 16 AP

10 x Hindu archers Irr Bw I 30 AP

4 x Hindu blades Irr Bd F 20 AP

4 x Hindu javelinmen Irr Ps S 12 AP

2 x Camp followers Irr Hd O 2 AP

1 x Elephant Irr El O 16 AP

26 E/23 EE/8 D [126 AP] [25%=6 EE]

Command 2

1 x Ghulam sub general Reg Cv S 30 AP

3 x Khurosanian cavalry Irr Cv S 27 AP

4 x Arab cavalry Irr Cv O 28 AP

4 x Sindi cavalry Irr Cv I 20 AP

8 x Arab infantry Irr Sp I 24 AP

4 x Arab archers Irr Ps O 8 AP [may support Arab infantry]

24 E/22 EE/7.5 D [137 AP] [25%=5.5 EE]

Command 3

1 x Ghulam sub general Reg Cv S 30 AP

3 x Khurosanian cavalry Irr Cv S 27 AP

4 x Arab cavalry Irr Cv O 28 AP

4 x Sindi cavalry Irr Cv I 20 AP

8 x Arab infantry Irr Sp I 24 AP

4 x Arab archers Irr Ps O 8 AP [may support Arab infantry]

24 E/22 EE/7.5 D [137 AP] [25%=5.5 EE]

Command 4

6 x Immobile Army Baggage Irr Bg I 0 AP

Army [400 AP]

74 E/67 EE/33.5 EEto break

500 AP Practice Game of DBM

First 500 AP DBM game in well over 15 years.

John from Essex Warriors turned up yesterday with 500 AP of Neo-Assyrian Later Sargonid troops.

After some discussion about the legality of my terrain choices, which I did get wrong but made no difference in this game [thankfully]. We started our game at 10 am, by 5 pm we had still not got a result, I tried to play as fast as possible but a combination of John's deployment tactics, his lucky dice rolls, winning or surviving when he should have lost meant that whilst I had kicked the door lock open he was still firmly standing behind the door pushing back. 

I managed to kill one of his four Reg generals which meant that the command that was about to break sucked away the highest dice from his PiP's in the game.

I was half an element away from breaking this command with two Ps sitting within easy range of 2 Cv S in my next bound. I also managed to start rolling up his Kn S chariots in the centre. On his left flank I finally got my ally command into position and was pushing him slowly back awaiting for that first good dice roll against his Bw O that was anchoring the end of his line.

I am pleased how the army performed, it has sharpened my ideas on what to do.

I now have some perfectly legal terrain selection options to choose from having made some purpose built terrain pieces to use as necessary.

I have another practise game on the 31st against Andrew L who is using some of my Arab collection to use as Kurds.

ICENI 2014 Entered

Iceni Here I come !

I have just submitted my formal entry to Iceni 2014 in Hoveton Norfolk. Its a DBM Open Doubles competition at 500 AP using v3.3 of the proposed amendments. It takes place on 13th and 14th September. I don't have a doubles partner as no one at Essex Warriors is able to take part for the weekend.

I have chosen a draft army to use and have a couple of practise games planned between now and the 31st August when I have to submit my army list for checking. Once I have taken part I shall publish the list here and a review of the weekend. I haven't played DBM Doubles since the days of the old BHGS Doubles tournaments many years ago so need to get my thought processes up to speed to ensure I can at a fast enough tempo.

Following on from my entry I asked for some practise games at the club and one of the members said he would like to but would need to borrow some figures off me to use the army he wanted to try out.

So after much tooing and frowing and discussion about the merits of using an ally command etc at 500 AP he eventually game me a list of troops he wanted but no command structure.

DYNASTIC KURDISH 950 AD - 1085 AD

Dry. Ag 1. H(S), H(G), Wd, Rv, RGo, BUA, Rd, O, E.

Only Marwanids:

C-in-C - Reg Cv (S) 1 @20 AP                                  x1 20AP

[includes -10 AP reduction due to v3.3 change as its the only Reg Gen in the army]

Kurdish ally-general Irr Cv (O) 0-1 @ 12AP             x1 12AP

Sub generals - Irr Cv (O) 1-2 @17AP                        x2 34AP

Georgian ghulams - Reg Cv (S) @10AP                    x5 50AP

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) 24-62 @7AP                 x48 336AP

Kurdish scouts - Irr LH (O) 0-6 @5AP                      x6 30AP

Kurdish infantry - Irr Hd (F) 0-10 @1AP                  x10 10AP

Town militias - Irr Hd (O) 0-8 @1AP                        x8 8AP

Immobile Army Baggage – Irr Bg (I) 8 @0AP             x8 0AP

81 E/72 EE/ 36 E to break 500AP

I looked at his list selection and came up with my own structure based on what he chose.

Command 1

C-in-C - Reg Cv (S) @20 AP                            x1

Georgian ghulams - Reg Cv (S) @10AP             x5

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP                  x10

Kurdish scouts - Irr LH (O) @5AP                     x2

Kurdish infantry - Irr Hd (F) @1AP                     x1

19 E/18.5 EE/ 6.5 To Break [25%=5 EE]

Command 2

Sub generals - Irr Cv (O) @17AP                        x1

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP                   x16

Kurdish scouts - Irr LH (O) @5AP                      x2

19 E/19 EE/7 To Break [25%=5 EE]

Command 3

Sub generals - Irr Cv (O) @17AP                        x1

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP                   x16

Kurdish scouts - Irr LH (O) @5AP                      x2

19 E/19 EE/7 To Break [25%=5 EE]

Command 4 [Ally Command]

Kurdish ally-general Irr Cv (O)@ 12AP              x1

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP                    x6

Kurdish infantry - Irr Hd (F) @1AP                    x9

Town militias - Irr Hd (O) @1AP                        x8

24 E/15.5 EE/5.5 To Break [25%=4 EE]

Command 5

Mobile Army Baggage – Irr Bg (I) @0AP             x8

Whilst not an army I would choose because whilst very mobile it only has one attacking troop type it might be interesting to see how it performs against my army choice. I originally went for a micro ally command as a deployment spoiler but since the army has no surprise troop types I realised its not worth the bother.

Andrew has just sent me his command organisation which is only a little different from my idea, I did recommend he move a Horde from command 4 to command 1 to increase its break point level by a half but he said he was happy with how he has it. He also decided to go for immobile baggage in the end. It should make for an interesting game. 

Dynastic Kurds [Andrews organisation]

Command 1

C-in-C - Reg Cv (S) @20 AP x1

Georgian ghulams - Reg Cv (S) @10AP x5

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP x10

Kurdish scouts - Irr LH (O) @5AP x2

18 E/18 EE/6 to break [25%=4.5 EE]

Command 2

Sub generals - Irr Cv (O) @17AP x1

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP x16

Kurdish scouts - Irr LH (O) @5AP x2

19 E/19 EE/7 to break [25%=5 EE]

Command 3

Sub generals - Irr Cv (O) @17AP x1

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP x16

Kurdish scouts - Irr LH (O) @5AP x2

19 E/19 EE/7 to break [25%=5 EE]

Command 4 [Ally Command] [this command must be deployed first]

Kurdish ally-general Irr Cv (O)@ 12AP x1

Kurdish cavalry - Irr Cv (O) @7AP x6

Kurdish infantry - Irr Hd (F) @1AP x10

Town militias - Irr Hd (O) @1AP x8

25 E/16 EE/5.5 to break [25%=4 EE]

Army size 81 E/72 EE/36 E to break

Immobile Baggage to be allocated to Commands 1, 2 or 3 after deployment.

Seljuq Turk Ideas

Ideas on a Seljuq Turk Army design.

C1

1 x CinC Reg CvS

1 x Gd Reg CvS

1 x Ghulam Reg CvS

3 x Askar Reg CvO

7 x Turkmans Irr LH S

13/13/5

C2

1 x Sub Reg CvS

1 x Gd Reg CvS

1 x Ghulam Reg CvS

3 x Askar Reg CvO

7 x Turkmans Irr LH S

13/13/5

C3

1 x Sub Reg CvS

1 x Gd Reg CvS

1 x Ghulam Reg CvS

6 x Dailami Reg mtd AxS [horses]

3 x Dailami Reg mtd PsO [horses]

1 x Askar Reg CvO

13/11.5/4

C4

1 x Turkman Ally Irr LH S

6 x Turkmans Irr LH S

7/7/3

6 x Mobile Baggage Irr Bg I

46 E 44.5 EE 22.5 to Break

The alternative option is to dump the Turkman ally general and use his AP to upgrade 6 Askar to Reg CvS thus and move the 6 spare Turkman LH into C1 and C2

C1

1 x CinC Reg CvS

1 x Gd Reg CvS

4 x Ghulam Reg CvS

10 x Turkmans Irr LH S

16/16/6

C2

1 x Sub Reg CvS

1 x Gd Reg CvS

4 x Ghulam Reg CvS

10 x Turkmans Irr LH S

16/16/6

C3

1 x Sub Reg CvS

1 x Gd Reg CvS

1 x Ghulam Reg CvS

6 x Dailami Reg mtd AxS [horses]

3 x Dailami Reg mtd PsO [horses]

1 x Askar Reg CvO

13/11.5/4

6 x Mobile Baggage Irr Bg I

45 E 43.5 EE 22 to Break

Both armies are still very small and brittle and to be totally honest I am unsure of the utility of having horse mounted Dailami infantry as they move quite quickly in the first place.

Preparing for a big Age of Eagles game

I decided that all being well I am going to run a big Age of Eagles game during the Essex Warriors Mega Game Weekend.

This means that all my painting is taking a back seat whilst I finish up the terrain for this game. The terrain is already constructed using graphic artboard but it needs covering with Javis Terrain Mat to make it look like a proper game.

Just adding the finishing touches to the last two boards, taken longer than I thought to do the terrain but it looks quite good. Hers a small part of the finished terrain. The large brown patches are the forests and woods.

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