Dhingis Khan
04-24-2007, 07:06 PM
The Fencibles returned to DBA last night, shifting to the medieval period with 15mm metal after last week’s classical ancient games in 1/72 plastic. Bill had two brand-new armies, his Burgundians and his Italian Communal, both by Mirliton. We played three games and the Communal army didn’t get a tryout.
Bill took his Burgundian Ordonnance army and Rick fielded my Italian Condotta force. With an aggression factor of 4 against 1, Bill was a shoe-in to invade. Rick placed two woods and a steep hill that ended up bisecting the table along the center, from one base line to the other. Both deployed and began marching forward. Rick’s Hungarian light horse feinted around Bill’s right but nothing much came of that. Then came the frontal clash. Rick surged ahead 3-1. His general bulled into the midst of the Burgundians and then was slain when a stand of pikes took him in flank while knights charged frontally. Leaderless, the Italians had trouble putting together attacks. Bill managed to cobble together some strong attacks in the midst of the scrum and ended up winning 4-3.
I took over as Italian leader and exchanged the artillery for a stand of handgun skirmishers. As defender I placed two gentle hills diagonally across the field and placed a wood dead center. Bill formed up opposite my left. I sent the skirmishers into the woods, where they embarrassed his advance for a while. Then Bill’s archers got into the woods and chased the handgunners out. I made threatening gestures on my right with the light horse but they ended up heading for my left behind the lines as Bill’s troops closed. Bill spotted crossbows among my knights and dismounted one squadron of his knights. I pulled the bows out and replaced them with a squadron of knights, who then rode down their dismounted foe. My general managed to survive a fight with Bill’s pikes. Our knights slammed together to the left of the woods. In short order it became the most confused scrum I’ve seen in years of DBA, with knights advancing impetuously in all directions. One of my squadrons was on the verge of breaking through his whole army and one of his was doing the same to me. This last squadron had the bad luck to advance past my general, recently escaped from the pikes. My general wheeled and struck them in the flank, taking them out. Then my light horse teamed up on another squadron of knights and did them in. I won 4-3 or 4-2.
Rick now took the reins of the Burgundians. I made some minor changes in the terrain and away we went. I sent both my crossbow units and the handgunners into the central woods while my knights maneuvered to my left. I opened fire on Rick’s archers. This made them angry and they killed one of my crossbow units. They then advanced on the woods and slowly cleared it of Italians, in time slaying the handgunners too. Another knight scrum broke out, though not quite as chaotic as the previous one. I was too close to my base line and started to worry about knights recoiling off my base edge. Rick’s pikes advanced on my right center. I charged them frontally with knights and flanked them with light horse. They threw off the attack and the pikes deployed into a single line. Again the light horse came on, one recoiled and the other fled. The knight scrum continued. I managed to kill a squadron of Rick’s knights, possibly with my pikes. With both sides in disarray and a pip roll of 3, I looked for a way to put the pressure on. I found a way, the wrong way. My light horse attacked one of the pike units and bounced off. Then Rick advanced against the light horse and recoiled them into the woods, killing them. I lost 1-4.
It took about 2 hours to play the 3 games. Bill’s army had done well on the maiden voyage, winning two of three games. Honors were equal among the players, with one victory each. The Italian Communal army still needs to ‘see the elephant’.
We now have double-sized Italian Condotta, Burgundian and Communal armies plus French and English Hundred Years War forces. I need to make a list of how many stands of each type we have. It sounds like there may be a DBA Big Battle in our future.
Bill took his Burgundian Ordonnance army and Rick fielded my Italian Condotta force. With an aggression factor of 4 against 1, Bill was a shoe-in to invade. Rick placed two woods and a steep hill that ended up bisecting the table along the center, from one base line to the other. Both deployed and began marching forward. Rick’s Hungarian light horse feinted around Bill’s right but nothing much came of that. Then came the frontal clash. Rick surged ahead 3-1. His general bulled into the midst of the Burgundians and then was slain when a stand of pikes took him in flank while knights charged frontally. Leaderless, the Italians had trouble putting together attacks. Bill managed to cobble together some strong attacks in the midst of the scrum and ended up winning 4-3.
I took over as Italian leader and exchanged the artillery for a stand of handgun skirmishers. As defender I placed two gentle hills diagonally across the field and placed a wood dead center. Bill formed up opposite my left. I sent the skirmishers into the woods, where they embarrassed his advance for a while. Then Bill’s archers got into the woods and chased the handgunners out. I made threatening gestures on my right with the light horse but they ended up heading for my left behind the lines as Bill’s troops closed. Bill spotted crossbows among my knights and dismounted one squadron of his knights. I pulled the bows out and replaced them with a squadron of knights, who then rode down their dismounted foe. My general managed to survive a fight with Bill’s pikes. Our knights slammed together to the left of the woods. In short order it became the most confused scrum I’ve seen in years of DBA, with knights advancing impetuously in all directions. One of my squadrons was on the verge of breaking through his whole army and one of his was doing the same to me. This last squadron had the bad luck to advance past my general, recently escaped from the pikes. My general wheeled and struck them in the flank, taking them out. Then my light horse teamed up on another squadron of knights and did them in. I won 4-3 or 4-2.
Rick now took the reins of the Burgundians. I made some minor changes in the terrain and away we went. I sent both my crossbow units and the handgunners into the central woods while my knights maneuvered to my left. I opened fire on Rick’s archers. This made them angry and they killed one of my crossbow units. They then advanced on the woods and slowly cleared it of Italians, in time slaying the handgunners too. Another knight scrum broke out, though not quite as chaotic as the previous one. I was too close to my base line and started to worry about knights recoiling off my base edge. Rick’s pikes advanced on my right center. I charged them frontally with knights and flanked them with light horse. They threw off the attack and the pikes deployed into a single line. Again the light horse came on, one recoiled and the other fled. The knight scrum continued. I managed to kill a squadron of Rick’s knights, possibly with my pikes. With both sides in disarray and a pip roll of 3, I looked for a way to put the pressure on. I found a way, the wrong way. My light horse attacked one of the pike units and bounced off. Then Rick advanced against the light horse and recoiled them into the woods, killing them. I lost 1-4.
It took about 2 hours to play the 3 games. Bill’s army had done well on the maiden voyage, winning two of three games. Honors were equal among the players, with one victory each. The Italian Communal army still needs to ‘see the elephant’.
We now have double-sized Italian Condotta, Burgundian and Communal armies plus French and English Hundred Years War forces. I need to make a list of how many stands of each type we have. It sounds like there may be a DBA Big Battle in our future.