Had a DBM Practise Game Today
Peter K at Essex Warriors kindly agreed to give me a practise game today at 500 AP so I could try out one of my potential army choices for Iceni next month.
I had worked out a list for the Communal Italians 1266 AD-1320 AD. This was an army I had used back in 2012 for the first Caesaromagus tournament with average results. Peter used Yuan Chinese which consisted of three commands
C1 = 33 E/28 EE/9.5 D [25%=7]
C2 = 27 E/19.5 EE/6.5 D [25%=5]
C3 = 28 E/27.5 EE/9.5 D [25%=7]
Army = 88 E/75 EE/37.5 B
He had a small Ps ambush on his right flank which caught me out on the first bound when I blundered into it, but this was a blessing in disguise as the 4 x Ax O and 5 x Ps S were the exactly number of elements required to break this command and it was outnumbered by my infantry at this exact position.
The army was designed as follows using the MM list version converted to DBM:
Command 1
1 x CinC Reg Kn O
6 x Popolo Reg Sp O
4 x Mercenary Crossbowmen Reg Bw O
2 x Communal Axemen Reg Bd I
2 x Mobile Towers Reg WWg S
4 x Plaustrella Reg WWg X
8 x Condatini Foot Irr Hd O
27 E/23 EE/8 D [25%=6]
Command 2
1 x Sub general Reg Kn O
3 x Italian City Knights Reg Kn I
4 x German Mercenary Knights Reg Kn O/I [DBE]
4 x Communal Spearmen Reg Sp I
4 x Communal Archers Reg Ps O
6 x Communal Javelinmen Reg Ax O
4 x Communal Crossbowmen Reg Bw X/O [DBE]
1 x Condatini Foot Irr Hd O
27 E/24.5 EE/8.5 D [25%=6.5]
Command 3
1 x Sub general Reg Kn O
3 x Italian City Knights Reg Kn I
4 x Berrovieri Reg LH I
4 x Communal Spearmen Reg Sp I
2 x Communal Archers Reg Ps O
8 x Communal Javelinmen Reg Ax O
4 x Communal Crossbowmen Reg Bw X/O [DBE]
1 x Condatini Foot Irr Hd O
27 E/25.5 EE/8.5 D [25%=6.5]
Command 4
1 x Sub general Reg Kn O
1 x Carroccio Reg WWg I
2 E/4 EE/2 D [25%=1]
Army Baggage
8 x Irr Bg I
Army Total
83 E/77 EE/38.5 B
Command 4 was the PIP dump and protected one flank of the baggage.
We arrived at 09.30, put up the tables and cloth. I lost the dice roll and was the invader and elected to place three half FE of RGo. The terrain wasnt that kind to me as the invader and Peter had a couple of gentle hills to anchor his left flank on.
I deployed as follows:
C2 C1 C3
BG C4
Peter deployed as follows:
C2 C1 C3
After set up I rolled the first PIP dice at 10.30. Because we have all day to game we didn't fight using tournament time limits because one I wanted to see if it could win and two I like to get a conclusion even if I end up losing.
We finally finished the game around 15.00 with me winning 9-1 or 27-5 in BHGS terms. We effectively played for about five hours from arriving at the prepared table.
Today's game reinforced my opinion that this army will struggle to achieve anything much more than a winning draw and lacks a certain poke which against the wrong enemy can leave it open to being totally taken apart as I did against Gareth at The Challenge earlier this year with my Samanids. Gareth managed 50 VP out of a maximum of 128 VP which is only 39%, although going into the third round he had scored 14, 16 & 18, it was the last round against my Samanids that ruined his tournament average when I won 30-2.
Its one advantage is having four Regular generals which means you are rarely short of PIPs. The Reg LH I were pretty much useless as they failed to take a single element off despite being uphill and hard flanking a Cv S at one stage and fighting up hill for about four bounds before getting destroyed. The Mobile Towers and Plaustrella are totally scratch built by myself and look quite visually imposing. The Yuan Reg Bd F were quite effective in killing Warwagons but took quite a lot of losses to distant shooting whilst they moved forward.
Below are a some pictures of today's game taken throughout the day.
