Delhi Belly
Having
run my Samanids in various DBM tournaments for the last three years, with other
armies in between I decided that I needed to try something new. I had just
completed my Later Muslim Indian Army for the Delhi Sultanate and having played
one game with them and then revised the army slightly thought that I should use
them at Caesaromagus 400 AP Singles DBM tournament this year. So a new army only used once before and
slightly revised – what could go wrong? We did a totally random draw and my
army was organised into four commands:
Command
1 20E/16.5 EE/5.5 D
Command
2 20 E/18 E/6 D
Command
3 20 E/18 EE/6 D
Command
4 1 E/1 EE/1 D [Rathor Ally]
Army
60 E/53.5 EE/27 B
Saturday
Game 1 Jer Morgan with Later Crusader
Jers
army was a Irr Kn F version with a Military Order command. I placed a waterway
thinking to use this to protect a flank and force Jer into combat frontally.
Jers army was 64 EE strong so could afford to lose a few more elements than
mine before it started to sweat.
I
threw my Blades forward into his Crossbowmen in the round dice were rolled lots
of 1’s appeared and defeat awaited. I then threw in my cavalry to try and break
his centre and yet more 1’s were thrown. Jers report confirmed how bad a
morning I had crashing out to a 30-2 Defeat and 8th place after the
1st round.
Other
Games Pictures
Saturday
Game 2 Peter Hockaday with French Ordnnance
The
one practice game I had managed before the tournament was against Peters French
so I was happier in that I was expecting to be able to turn around the mornings
defeat. Peters army was 54.5 EE so similar in size to mine but his third
command was the Swiss Mercenary sub-general that this list allows.
I
deployed my CinC in the centre with the mounted arms on each wing. As luck
would have it one of them ended up facing the Swiss which meant I could screen
the15.5 EE Swiss elements out of the game with 8 mounted elements whilst I
concentrated the rest of my army against his remaining 39 EE. On my other far
wing I pushed my six mounted infantry as far forward as possible opposite his three
flanking mounted crossbowmen cavalry At
the same time I pushed forward the rest of my line to pin his infantry back and
reduce the options for his knights to redeploy. The rest as they say was
history. My blades hit his bows whilst my elephants chased down his mounted knights.
I was not far away from breaking his army when time was called so I only got a
20-12 Victory. Still leaving me in 8th place.
Other
Games Pictures
Sunday
Game 3 Tim Myall with Western Chou Chinese
I
had already played times army in the Essex Warriors DBM Tournament this year
where he managed to beat my Low Country army. So for me this was a “grudge” match
– only joking.
Tims
army was 65 EE strong organised into three differently sized commands. He
deployed centrally and narrowly to give him time to react to my deployment. As
luck would have it I also deployed centrally with only the mounted infantry to
my far left to take some forward rough ground. Tim didn’t disappoint he
advanced as quickly as possible forcing me to push past his open right flank
with a part of one mounted command whilst my elephants were lined up nicely
opposite his irregular chariots. His chariots were dropping like flies in the
centre and on the far left I managed to break up and take apart his CinC’s
command meaning that I only needed to break his largest command to break his
army. Despite all my efforts when time was called I only managed a 24-8 Victory
due to his last remaining chariot surviving three turns of combat two of which
when it was tripled outflanked. This placed me on 46 VP in joint 6th
place.
Other
Games Pictures
Sunday
Game 4 Ian Pudney with Classical Indians
This
wasn’t a game I wanted to have to play. I needed more practice and to be honest
I threw the game away with bad choices and indecision. I then adopted a waiting
and try and stem the tide of defeat to survive unbroken. Ians army was the huge
Irregular version and was 77.5 EE in size spread over three commands. I had my
blades and skirmishers shot away which broke that command and I stupidly
decided that I wasn’t going to attack when I should have just thrown everything
in and hoped for the best. I ended up losing 23-9 with a total of 55 VP and 8th
place. So I ended up exactly where I started the weekend.
Other
Games Pictures
Congratulations
to Dave Madigan on winning the tournament with Andalusians as he submarined
from 4th place in the 3rd round. We had ten different armies taking part and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
