Cold Wars Report (4)

Continuing my report of games I played I Cold Wars 2012, I present my third entrance into a DBA tournament, the first that was for 25mm, and the debut of my wooden Early Armenian army in any game. (Which is another way of saying I did not practice playing DBA in 25mm or using that particular army list at all before entering the Grand Melee.)

My other Cold Wars reports are here: one, two, and three.

Games 4, 5, and 6 – 25mm Ancients Tournament (DBA)

First off, it was great actually meeting a lot of the people behind the names of the posts I read on the DBA forum on Yahoo and on Fanaticus.

My first game was against Ron G. (his Fanaticus handle) and his (I believe) Seleucid army. The figures were nicely painted and based and Ron was a real pleasure to game with. In fact, he gave some advice for how to play my Armenian army better (but only after he had kicked my butt). But, I am getting ahead of myself. Game one starts with the Seleucids invading my beloved Armenia ...

So, a 1-4 loss because I (yet again) over-extended my light horse. I did finally kill that bloody elephant, which was my primary goal, so it would not rampage through my army.

Next up was a game against a Greek Hoplite army consisting of ten Spear elements, and two Psiloi elements. I've played a few hoplite battles and always found that the battles against the Thracians and Scythians (or even the Thessalians with their Light Horse elements) were a tough row to hoe.

Game two has yet more Greeks invading Armenia ...

Finally a win at 4-2! I made comment to my opponent (who unfortunately, I lost his name) that I thought that this was a tough match-up and his comment was that he had won two previous tournaments with that army. Well cool!

Game three was against Ted (I hope I got his name right) and his Low Countries late medieval army, consisting of seven Knights and five bows. Again, Armenia was being invaded ...

Another 1-4 loss! I hate saying that it was because I got a bad string of PIP rolls (which is true); I really felt that somehow I could have changed my deployment in some way and done better, but my opponent said he did not think so.

It was an enjoyable tournament, with really nice opponents, and it taught me a lot. Not necessarily how to fight with the Armenians any better, but more that if you really want to do well in a tournament, whether DBA or Flames of War or anything else, you really need to practice. For DBA it is very much about understanding the relationships between elements (what beats what) and being familiar with the combinations certain armies can bring to the table. Hmmm. Sounds the same as Flames of War, come to think of it.

One final note: something I had always wondered about was how the "general wargaming population" (whatever that is) might react to my wooden figures, especially for something as serious as a tournament. The answer is, the reaction was pretty good. At worst I got a grin, but no comment whatsoever. However, I got a lot of positive comments, before, during, and after the games including from passers by. The most surprising comment was "where did you buy them?" Of course one common response was "it must have taken a long time to make them." As indicated on my Wooden Warriors blog, making the Armenian army was originally part of a "12 elements in 12 days" experiment. Although I did not make that goal for a number of reasons, that goal was for making, painting, and basing. And I was not that far off. So no, they do not take that long unless you want them to.

Cold Wars Report (3)

Well, I made it back from my trek to Cold Wars 2012. My first two reports are both on my Dale's Wargames blog. The first report was about my game using the It Is Warm Work Age of Sail naval rules and the second report about my second game using the Pride of Lions rules.

Game 3 – Victorian Science Fiction (Hordes of the Things)

This game was entitled War of the Worlds and was put on by the famous Bob Beattie. After having read so much of work and ideas online, I was finally able to meet the man, and it was a pleasure, as was his game.

The scenario was modelled after War of the Worlds – no, not the Orsen Wells radio drama, but the 1898 book by H. G. Wells. In Bob's version, however, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen call up various Victorian forces for good while the "Martian" invaders bring Earth's forces for evil under its control. Bob adapted a number of characters to troop types from Hordes of the Things (HOTT) and added a few scenario rules.

I showed up first so was given the choice of commands and I chose the Invaders as, well, the flying saucer and tripod war machines looked cool! I later found out that I had five elements that required a PIP roll of '6' to come on and a further ten elements (or so) that were Lurkers that could only enter in special terrain that slowly crept across the board and that no one wanted to enter!

Pre-battle view of the entire board

Bob had some absolutely lovely and ingenious figures that he has collected and built over the years. In the picture below you can see Fu Manchu's aerial troops strapped to kites (on the left) and the Invaders' flying saucer and some walkers.

Posed picture of the Aerial Forces of Evil

Every turn another 6" (or so) hex would be added to the board, in a random direction from where the last hex was placed. This represented the invaders' plat life slowly taking over the planet, much like the plants in the movie War of the Worlds (with Tom Cruise). As you can see in the picture below, it is turn five as there are five hexes on the board.

One of the fiercest weapons the invaders had were the Black Smoke creatures (rated as Gods in HOTT) and the invaders had three of them. In addition it had two very large tripods which counted as Dragons. Each of these elements require a '6' on the PIP roll to bring on. Given that it would be very hard to bring these on using normal rules, Bob gave the Invader 2D6 to roll for PIPs, choosing the highest die. This also had the side effect of altering the odds that Gods went away. Normally, a God in HOTT is brought on when the player rolls a '6' and uses all of the PIPs to bring the God on. On any subsequent turn, however, if the player rolls a '1' for PIPs the God is removed. As I was rolling 2D6 and choosing the best, a God (or Dragon) could be called up if either die was a '6', but would only be removed if both dice rolled were '1'.

Needless to say, I never lost a God to a bad PIP roll, and I got all three Gods and two Dragons onto the board. I even ignored calling up the Black Smoke a couple of times that I rolled a '6' as I would rather have used the PIPs for movement.

The Creeping Crud of the Invaders

 It was interesting watching the interaction between some of the other troop types in the armies, but in the end, the Gods (three for me, one for John Carter's forces) dominated the field. I lost count of how many elements the first Black Smoke took out, and it was never destroyed nor removed because of a roll of double '1'.

Are those the aerial troops of Fu Manchu?

 The forces of good were unusually timid and did not make much effort to move, much less attack. Eventually, as shown in the figure below, the Creeping Crud started to divide the board and (randomly) provide a barrier of rough going for me to defend. Anyone daring to enter would be attacked unmercifully by my Invader Brains (Lurkers).

The Creeping Crud cannot be stopped!

 Although I had some interesting and powerful elements – artillery and behemoths in sufficient quantities – they just did not compare to the Black Smoke, so whenever I was short on PIPs I simply moved that rather than all of these lovely elements.

The Invaders' Command

Although I was not bored with the game, I can see that such a force would be rather boring after a steady diet of it. Not that a "normal" game of HOTT would ever play this way. A player willfully choosing three Gods and two Dragons as the majority of their force is just asking not to use most of that force in a normal game. This was only possible because of Bob's generous PIP rule for the Invader command (me).

The god-like creatures of each side battle it out ...

Everything thrown at my first God – Hero General, Magician, Cleric – was destroyed. When John Carter's "God" (I cannot recall their name; they were shiny people) was brought on, it started to rampage through the forces of evil. I eventually called for a Black Smoke creature to stop it (after it had killed one of my tripod walkers). As shown in the photo above, I got a lucky roll and the Creeping Crud grew underneath their God, I then rolled a '6' for PIPs, allowing me to call up my Black Smoke, and then with me at +6 and the enemy at +4 (everyone but Invaders were -2 in the Creeping Crud), I was able to barely beat them, banishing their weapon from the board.

... but the Forces of Evil prevail!

That pretty much broke the morale of the enemy players. Still more Black Smoke rampaged through their armies, taking out aerial heroes, dragons, and all manner of creatures.

The Black Smoke creatures are relentless

 At the end of the game, there were not many losses on the side of evil. Most had occurred on the far flanks, away from the Black Smoke in the center.

The far right flank at the end of the battle

 In the center, the Creeping Crud had absorbed quite an impressive section of board. My forces were largely intact (I think I lost one Dragon and one Behemoth) and although the game was declared "close, but an Invader victory", many players declared it a significant victory for evil.

My forces at the end of the battle

Summary

I really enjoyed the game as it was visually impressive and different from all my other games of HOTT, which were the typical Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and Goblins. Even though they were the same rules, they did not feel like a medieval fantasy game.

Bob later said that he should have removed the God if either die rolled a '1', rather than if both did. That would have certainly balanced out the sides, but I think I would have been reluctant to throw in any Black Smoke unless it had been absolutely necessary, given the odds. Bringing a God on would almost certainly have resulted in its loss, unless it came on at the end of the game.

The rules played well, even with some players never having played HOTT or DBA. Clearly some players were more involved than others, so some further balancing of forces is probably necessary, but I am sure Bob will work that out. As it was, for me, it was a fun four hours.

Next up is my DBA tournament using my wooden Early Armenian army.

First Test with DBA 3.0

I finally played my first game of DBA 3.0 (the current test version) and although it was solo, I did not use DBAS; I was simply playing both sides, trying to figure out what rules changed and how things were different.

I played the draft lists of the New Kingdom Egyptians (the b list) versus the Philistines (the a list) and came up with the first issue: the Philistines list the NKE as an enemy, but the reverse is not true. Ah well, hopefully the Barkers have that sorted out.

With an aggression of 3 for the Philistines, and a good roll, they ended up the invaders. The NKE had to place the terrain. As the topography is Littoral, I had to place a waterway. For the optional terrain, I chose a road and a woods; nothing too complex for the first game. The photo below shows the terrain (and troop dispositions at the end of the game). The NKE are at the bottom and the Philistines are at the top.

The first thing that changes is rolling for terrain quarter placement. In this case it was no real challenge as two of the three rolls were a '5', allowing the NKE player to place the terrain as they wished.

On the DBA forum on Yahoo, I could have sworn I saw a statement that the invader could not choose a baseline that contained a BUA, but I could not find the rule that said it. I will have to ask on the forum, but as I could not find the rule I decided to forego a BUA this game.

The NKE decided to setup farther back, in order to get their Bows into action longer. Basically, that did not work. The Bows did nothing except provide the occasional overlap for Blade on Blade battles.

The Blade pursuit made the battles really mix it up. Rather than spending PIPs redressing lines from recoils, I now spent PIPs running my supports to keep up with my pursuing Blades!

Some mention that the games go very fast. Mine was something on the order of 7 turns (14 bounds). Blade on Blade combat is inconclusive. Without a 6-1 roll you will just recoil. Overlaps, even double overlaps, aren't always deadly and a recoil just breaks his line as bad as it does yours.

I liked the extra movement and the 1/2 base width/1 base width recoils.

I will definitely be switching. Plus, my Philistines can now have their LCh (Gen) dismount as a Bd (Gen). Time to paint three more figures!

By the way, the Philistines won, 4-3. The Philistines lost two Bd and one Ps, while the NKE lost two Bw, one Bd, and one LCh.

UPDATE: In reviewing the rules I may have made a mistake and the NKE won 4-3. The problem arose when I realized that the Ps providing rear support to a Bd against a LCh should have been destroyed when the Bd was destroyed on a 6-1 roll. So, that is how close the game was!

Battle of Ashkelon - Philistines versus New Kingdom Egyptian

We have started getting a weeknight DBA going here in Sierra Vista - meaning we have had two games now :) - and I thought I would write up the interesting ones. This particular game was against Steve, who is just getting back into DBA and gaming in general. His last DBA game he used my New Kingdom Egyptians (option b, with the Warband) and I used the Philistines (option a, with the Blades). He didn't do that well with them so he decided to try the Philistines this time, so we reversed the armies.

I am going to try and write this battle report up using some of the ideas from my Writing Battle Narratives blog entry. Narrative will be in plain text and game notes in italics. This report is (mostly) written from the Egyptian point of view. Let me know if I succeeded in writing a better, more interesting battle report.

This is a timed game.

The Battle of Ashkelon

"If we do not find these pestilent Philistines and put this rebellion down, the Pharaoh will surely send me to the Fields of Aaru before my time!", the Egpytian general muttered. What was this, twice in as many years that the Pharaoh has had to send an army to punish the tribes around Ashkelon? Nebkare's thoughts were broken when a scout came riding up. "We have found the rebels sir! They are hiding in the next valley."

The Philistines are defending and the New Kingdom Egyptians attacking. My opponent, the Philistine general, sets up a crossroads and has a long woods and a medium-sized Steep Hill flank the crossroads. This makes for a narrow pass between the two terrain features, restricting the battle. I try and approach from the direction that would leave the open area to the Philistines, but the board rotates on me, leaving my troops in the open.

As the Egyptian army approaches the valley where the rebels were spotted, another scout barrels up to General Nebkare shouting, "Sir, the rebels have taken a secret path through the hills and have shifted their army onto our right flank! They are approaching us through a narrow pass on the road to Ashkelon!" Quickly the general orders his troops about and presses forward to the attack, lest these slippery rebels wriggle from his grasp through another "secret path".

The Egyptians are arrayed with their Blades pointed down the road, towards the pass, lest any Philistine chariots charge through the gap suddenly. The archers are to the left, to cover any flanking chariots, and the Gasgan mercenaries (the Warband), are on the right to move through the woods and spring an ambush on any Philistine Blades that pass too close.

I did not want to commit three chariots to the open left flank, so I placed one on the right, in hopes of drawing the enemy towards it. In hindsight that was a stupid idea as I was facing a slow army and he had already deployed his chariots in the center rear. No one was going to chase the lone chariot down.

My typical battle plan calls for me identifying four elements (or two, plus the enemy camp) that I will destroy in order to win. My game then revolves around hunting down those elements. Sometimes the enemy throws me a curveball and races other elements forward, getting them killed, allowing me to stop hunting some of the elements on my list.


This matchup is a tough one, as the NKE army is not really a good match for the Philistines as much as it is for itself. With three Bows facing all of those Blades, the NKE army is almost "outnumbered". The best you can hope for is to use the three Bows to take out the Philistine chariot, then move them to the rear so they are not easy targets for the Philistine Blades. It is a possibility that they could gang up and take out the Auxilia, but that is very hard to pull off given the speed advantage of the Auxilia.


With four chariots to the Philistine two (or, not counting the Generals, three chariots to one), it should be a quick victory for the NKE chariots, leaving them free to attack the enemy camp. With the Bows targeting the chariot and my chariots targeting the camp, that leaves one more element to get to 4 VPs. I decide that the best chance is either the Bows ganging up on an Auxilia or the Warband and my General ganging up on a Blade for the win. We will have to see which develops.


Given my targets the Bows go on the left and the chariots on the far left, the General stays in the center, with the Warband moving up through the woods.


This is not going to be easy...


All of the confusion of shifting the army to the right caused for great distress amongst the Egyptian troops. It takes some time before they get moving. Meanwhile the messengers from the right flank indicates that the whole of the Philistine army is on the move towards the pass.

Suddenly, a plume of dust rises, indicating a fast moving body. "Sir, the rebel chariots have appeared in the pass and are moving rapidly to our open left flank!" "Send forward the chariots of the Reed and Sky Squadrons and destroy them!" The swirling dust from the battle obscures both sides' chariots from the rest of the army, but soon a cheer is heard from the rebel infantry on the hill. Out from the dust come the remnants of the Sky Squadron, with the Philistine chariots not far behind!

The Philistine general opted for a daring move with his chariot unit and force marched them down the road within charge range of the Egyptian chariots. I rose to the bait and charged his chariot, easily getting an overlap in the process. But, Ra was not favoring my Egyptians that day as I promptly rolled a '1' to the Philistine's '6', getting doubled on the first combat. This did not bode well. Philistines 1-0. The chariots continue to press the attack on the remaining chariot, causing it to recoil.

Shock waves ripple through the Egyptian army as the men call out "Ra! Ra! Do not abandon us! We beseech you!" The army was paralyzed. Only the chariots on the right obeyed Nebkare's orders, shifting from the right to the left flank. With a roar the Philistine army continued to march towards the pass, ready to deal justice to their oppressors.

General Nebkare comes to his sense and realizes that his army is crumbling before his eyes. He signals his chariot squadron forward and races along the battle lines yelling commands and encouragement, just as the sun pokes out from behind the gray clouds... "A sign! A sign from Ra! Forward!!!"

Both the Egyptians and the Philistine have a brief spell of PIP starvation. With the Philistine chariots on the other side of the hill from the General, they need two PIPs to get moving, so when they roll a '1', things started to look bad. The Egyptians finally broke their long spell of poor PIP rolls with a '6', causing the army to come to life.


The chariots of the Sky Squadron on the left pulls back, allowing the archers to deploy into line. The chariots of the Blood Squadron on the right continue to shift to the left flank as the whole Egyptian battle line lurches forward.

The archers ready themselves for their advance to the Philistine chariot - this is their chance for some glory - when the enemy charges forward and slams into the archers, running down the right wing!

This is the second close combat of the evening and with a light chariot charging my bows with overlap support, I still managed to get beaten and quick killed. The Philistines are still winning, 2-0.


Nebkare barks to his messenger, "Go to the Sky Squadron and tell them that to flank the rebel chariots and destroy them, or prepare for the demon Ammit to eat all of their damned souls! They must not fail!" On the right the Gasgans move into the woods in an attempt to encircle the left flank of the Philistine main battle line, which is already bending  as it enters the narrow pass between the woods and the steep hill.

A great crash resounds on the left as the Sky Squadron encircle the Philistine chariots, with support by the remaining archer units. With a hail of arrows from all directions, the Philistines are destroyed by the combined might of the Egyptian left flank.

The Philistine chariots actually only recoiled, but they hit the Auxilia on the Steep Hill at an angle, so they were destroyed. The Egyptians are finally on the board, with the Philistines ahead 2-1.


Ra continues to smile on the Egyptian army, as the Philistine army takes flight and retreats up the valley, leaving one unit behind to block pursuit. "This seems too suspicious. Surely the rebels have not given up so easily." Nebkare, unsure of the Philistine ploy, halts the battle line as he considers how he will defeat the enemy hiding behind the hill.

One observing the game, without knowing the rolls or the rules, might have interpreted my moves as being stumped on how to proceed, but in fact I rolled a '1' on PIPs again. But it was funny because it looked like the Egyptian general paused, trying to figure out if the Philistine retreat was a trap.


The original plan of hunting down the single light chariot, sacking the camp, and destroying one auxilia still looked good, however, the Philistines had not had enough PIPs to retreat one of their Blades, who was close the Egyptian General and the supporting Warband. So, I decided to try and pick the Blades element off with the General and the Warband while the two light chariots swung around the hill on the left flank and threatened the camp.


Nebkare knew that he had to push out of that gap so he could turn the flank of the main battle line before the enemy reserves swung into action and turned his own left flank. Ordering the soldiers of the Sky Troop to push down the road, Nebkare swung his chariot squadron to the right, and with the Gasgans, advanced to attack the isolated Philistine unit. These promptly retreated towards the Philistine reserves, while the main battle line sprang forward.

The Royal Guard Troop give way as the Weshwesh come screaming down the hill in attack, while General Nebkare swings his chariot squadron back to the left to support the Sky Troop being pressed by the enemy left. Seeing an opening the isolated Philistine unit advanced towards the right flank of the Egyptians, threatening the General. The combat swings wildly back and forth as each side tries to turn the flank of the other.

Again General Nebkare swings his squadron to the right, but this time the Philistines cannot retreat fast enough and the Gasgans catch them in the flank. The Philistines do not give up easily, but they die nonetheless. However, the enemy reserves advance forcefully, ready to take the Gasgans' flank in turn.

Much of these turns was spent recoiling, using PIPs to recover the battle line, and threatening units on the flank, who in turn retreat. Finally the Philistine Blades get too close and the Egyptians get too many PIPs, resulting in the Egyptian General attacking the Philistine Blades, who also get flanked by the Warband. I still lose the combat though - I rolled another '1' - and end up in a very bad position as I recoil into the woods. Fortunately the following turn sees the Philistine Blades follow up and get doubled, resulting in their destruction. The game is tied at 2-2.


General Nebkare says a quick prayer of thanks to Ra as he quickly moves his squadron out of the entanglement of the woods he was forced into and rejoins the battle line. His archers on the left are still entangled with the Sky Troop soldiers and cannot effectively bring all of their bows to bear, but they are nonetheless effective at forcing the Weshwesh back up the hill. The chariots squadrons have disappeared from view, so Nebkare suspects they are rounding the hill and on their way to attacking the enemy camp. On his right the Gasgans are threatened by several thousand rebel warriors, but no panic is ensuing.

Slowly, as the Weshwesh are driven back by the archers, a gap starts to appear in the rebel line between the hill and the right of the rebel heavy infantry. With a roar the Green Troop soldiers charge forward into the flank of the enemy heavy infantry, destroying them. This sends a convulsive wave through the rebel line.

To the rear of the rebel army the Sky Squadron has finally charged into battle against the chariot squadron of the Philistine general. Although initially repulsed, the Blood Squadron begins to maneuver to support the Sky Squadron in another charge against the enemy general. It is only a matter of time...

Unfortunately, the curtain draws to a close on this game as two frowning librarians kick us out of the library before we can complete the game. This, of course, will lead to much speculation about why each of us would have won the game had we been able to complete it. :)

The game ended with the Egyptians in the lead 3-2 as they had destroyed a Philistine Blades element in a flank attack. I rolled my PIPs for the following turn and it was a 5. My move would have been to hit the Psiloi from the front and flank with two Blades elements. The question would have been whether to take the overlap (making the combat 4 to 1) or to risk the General in an overlapped combat with Blades  supported by Psiloi. Probably not...


Summary


So, my plan was to take out one light chariot (check), one auxilia element (not even close to happening, especially once I lost a Bows element), and the camp (getting there, but it would have been three to four turns before that happened). Instead I got one light chariot and two Blades. I honestly cannot remember if I got the first Blades element by doubling with the General or by quick killing it with the Warband.

As I said in the beginning, the New Kingdom Egyptian army is not designed to take on an army like the early Philistines with six Blades (or the Sea Peoples, with their eight Blades). The NKE have too many Bows, making them vulnerable to easy destruction by the Blades.

What I notice with my play is a bad tendency to not use PIPs when I have high rolls; there is this "pull" to use them all as they are such precious commodities. However, sometimes using a PIP causes you to commit an element that should not be committed. In fact, this is what happened to my opponent when he played the NKE and I the Philistines; he used PIPs to move the Bows closer to my Blades so he could shoot. It is this desire to "do something" with everything every turn that is so hard to resist.

In this game I was fortunate in that I kept some discipline and kept the Bows away from the enemy Blades, putting a steep hill between us. This allowed me to stand off 2" and shoot into the enemy Auxilia on the end of the line, in an attempt to keep my Blades from being overlapped or flanked. For the most part it worked.

As for the chariots, my play with them was horrible. My choices were to drive up the right flank and try and go through three Psiloi-backed Blades - not too probable - attack the right flank of the Philistine line, which happened to be Auxilia in Bad Going - also not too probable - or swing wide around the left and try to attack the Philistine camp or rear. The last course still looks like the best course, but that is such a PIP drain that it is unlikely to succeed. Upon reflection one other choice is available, and that is to serve as a second line reserve and plug any gaps or exploit any breakthroughs. But that is not very sexy... :)

All in all this was a very good game. We played slow because it was tense, swinging back and forth, but that proved our undoing as we did not get to finish. Next time then!

By the way, let me know whether you like the use of Battle Chronicler for mapping out the game. There is a sharp learning curve and time spent developing the core components, but once that is done, future battle reports can be generated faster and with less effort, so I just might keep investing time in this tool.

DBA Solo Game - Baltic Greeks vs. Skythians

I finally picked up working the De Bellis Antiquitatis Solus rules again (found in the files section of the Solo DBA Development forum). I am not happy with the table that scores moves (i.e. determines which move is best for the non-player opponent to make), as it is too complex. So, I decided to simplify. Rather than five levels of aggression for the non-player general (NPG), I reduced it to three. Rather than have that factor affect both the types of move preferred and the score of each move, I decided to drop the latter modifier. These changes made calculations much faster.

It also struck me, during the test below, that some moves into combat can be considered both combat moves and defensive moves. This has led me to consider cataloging all of the basic moves and naming them, so I can refer to them in the scoring system. Not sure if that is insane or not, but it is my current thought.

The game I decided upon needed to be vastly different than the previous ones - which should not be hard because they were almost all Polybian Roman versus Ancient Spanish - so I chose to use my new Skythian army. Rather than have both sides be NPGs, I decided that I would run the Skythian side and its opponent would be the NPG. Looking through the list of opponents, and what I had available, I resisted the idea of playing yet another Bad Going Infantry army (like the Thracians, of which I have two lovely armies) as it would be too similar to the Ancient Spanish with an NPG. Something really different would be the Black Sea Greeks (II/5i) - a hoplite army against a Light Horse one.

This is an interesting match-up because the Light Horse are weak in combat factors (+2 versus foot and mounted), but they quick kill Spears (which are +4 versus foot and mounted). Because of that, the Light Horse will kill the Spears 17% of the time, get no result 11% of the time, recoil 47% of the time, and flee 25% of the time. If the Light Horse get an overlap (+2 versus +3) the chances change to 28%, 14%, 47%, and 11%, respectively, so getting overlaps will be critical.

In the Greeks favor is that they have enough Psiloi to form Spear "T" formations, or three Spears in a line with one Psiloi in the rear directly behind the center Spear. This allows the Psiloi to provide rear support to all three Spears facing forward, raising their combat factors to +5. If this happens - and it should be the primary NPG tactic - the factors become +2 to +5 (8% to destroy the Spears, 8% no result, 50% recoil, and 33% flee), unless the Light Horse get an overlap while also being overlapped, in which case it is +1 to +4 (8%, 8%, 42%, and 42%, respectively). As you can see, the odds favor the Greeks heavily, but note that the worst result the Spears inflict is to force the Light Horse to flee. In order to win, the Greeks are going to have to either use their other elements, Auxilia and Cavalry, to destroy the Light Horse or they will have to start flanking them, which will break up the hoplite line and create gaps for the Light Horse to exploit.

This should be an interesting game.

Black Sea Greeks versus Skythians
Pre-Battle Sequence


1. Determine Your Army Composition
My army will be the Skythians (I/43) with 1x2LH(Gen) and 11x2LH. The army type is Mounted and the force type is Light Horse. Its condition type is that it Fears Bad Going.

2. Determine the NPG Army Composition
The NPG army is Later Hoplite Greek, Others (II/5i) with the following required elements: 1x4Sp(Gen), 7x4Sp, and 1x2Ps. This makes the army type Foot and the force type Spears. There are still three elements to select. The choices are 1x3Cv or 4Sp and 2x4Sp or 4Ax or 2Ps.

The first optional element to deal with (section 2.2.2 Selection Criteria for Optional Elements) is the Psiloi. As the force already has one Psiloi, it must select at least one more. Once that second Psiloi element is selected, however, the NPG army gains an additional force type, Psiloi Support, as it now has two sets of three Spears plus one Psiloi.

The next optional element is Spears. As the enemy force type is Light Horse, only two elements need be selected, so this criteria is met.

The next optional element is Cavalry. As the NPG army does not have four Cavalry elements it will select the one element available.

The next optional element is Auxilia. As the NOG army does not have four Auxilia elements it will select the one element available.

The NPG army is this: 1x4Sp(Gen), 1x3Cv, 7x4Sp, 1x4Ax, and 2x2Ps.

3. Roll to Determine the Attacker
The Skythian aggression is 4, while the Greeks are 1. The rolls determine that the NPG is defending.

4. NPG Determines the Terrain
Although the Greeks do not Favor Bad Going, the Skythians Fear Bad Going, so placing Bad Going terrain is to the advantage of the NPG. As the Greeks have a Home Topography of Arable they are allowed (up to): BUA (1), Road (2), River (1), Steep Hills (2), Gentle Hills (2), Woods (2), and Waterway (1).

I am still fleshing out the terrain selection and placement rules, but I thought I would give you my thought process.

First, as a BUA is allowed, I determine if that will be in play. A BUA gives the defender more control over the board as it restricts the attacker from not being able to select two sides as the favored side when determining baselines. (Essentially, it changes the odds that the defender will get the baseline that they want.) As mounted have a hard time attacking BUA, and I have plenty of Spears to defend it with, using a BUA is favorable to the NPG.

The primary advantage of the Skythians is their mobility, especially around the flanks of their opponents. To hinder that mobility it is best to place Bad Going terrain close enough to the board edges so that elements must go through the terrain. Further, it is best to use line of sight-blocking terrain to hinder the enemy's command and control, should they try to sweep around the flanks. Given my LOS-blocking, Bad Going terrain choices, Woods are my favorite. So two Woods it is.

The basic plan is for the Greeks to dominate the center of the board, anchoring their flanks either between two Woods, or the BUA and a Woods, depending upon which board edge they get as their baseline. So, using those three terrain pieces, the goal is to set it up such that:

• There is no gap 40mm or wider between the Woods or BUA and the board edge(s).
• The distance between each terrain piece is roughly the frontage of the Greek army, no matter which baseline the Greeks end up getting.

As the NPG is Psiloi Support and the enemy Mounted, you should already have in your mind the basic deployment. The NPG will group the elements into two sets of 3x4Sp plus 1x2Ps, garrison the BUA with 1x4Sp, leaving 1x4Ax, 1x3Cv, and 1x4Sp to be placed separately. So, that makes the frontage of the NPG army a maximum of nine elements wide, or 360mm. This will help you gauge the distance between the terrain pieces.

These factors help me determine that the BUA and two Woods will form a triangle, with the terrain pushed towards the edges, cutting off flanking moves. As I am allowed a Road, and Light Horse armies gain little advantage from them, I choose to run one up the middle, should I need to reinforce the BUA. (In hindsight, I should have selected two, so I covered all possible baselines I could get.) Here is the terrain placement for the game. (I'll go over troop deployment and baseline selection later. I just forgot to take a picture before putting all of the troops on it and rotating it.)

5. Roll for Baselines
As I am the attacker, I get to choose the favored edge for my baseline. However, because of the BUA placement I am limited to only two of the four edges for my choice. My roll indicates I don't get my choice and I end up with the BUA on my right flank, as shown in the picture above. (All pictures are taken from the Skythian baseline.)

6. Deploy the Camps
As the NPG had a BUA, it had no camp, so that decision did not have to be made. The Skythians (I) placed my camp in the far left corner, as far away from the BUA and road as possible.

7. Deploy the Defending Army
7.a. Divide the NPG Army into Deployment Blocks
As indicated earlier, with the NPG army a Psiloi Supported force type and its opponent a Mounted army type, two of the deployment blocks will be two sets of 3x4Sp plus 1x2Ps. With the BUA on the board, the third deployment block will be the 1x4Sp garrison. That leaves 1x4Sp, 1x4Ax, and 1x3Cv, none of which are defined to work together in a deployment block, so they become three separate blocks.

7.b. Divide the NPG Deployment Area into Deployment Zones
The deployment zones are:

• The open area on the Greek left flank (the right side of the picture above).
• The woods on the Greek left flank.
• The open area between the woods.
• The BUA.

Note that a battle plan goes with every terrain setup, so the deployment zones, and how they are utilized, are mostly pre-defined.

7.c. Determine the Deployment for each NPG Deployment Block
As mentioned previously, one deployment block, 1x4Sp, will go into the BUA. As the battle plan for this terrain setup calls for placing the Spear T formations in the center, between the two woods (after the battle line advances, of course) that only leaves three one-element deployment blocks to commit.

At this point, I will admit that I have no rules for determining the position of these elements. So, I am stuck with either logic, dice, or both. I choose both.

The 1x4Sp element, along with the two Spear T formations can be placed in one of three configurations, shown below.

Essentially my decision was either to place the single element on the left or right of the two Spear T formations, or to put them between them. As that element is without Psiloi support, and is thus more vulnerable to a mounted attack I chose option B; to place the element in the middle of the battle line. As I did not want the General to be without Psiloi support, it was a normal Spear element in the center.

With the General being present in a Spear T formation, I had to decide which one, left or right. As the battle plan was to advance the right flank while executing a left wheel, I felt that having the General on the flank where the advancing was going on made more sense. In addition, this was the side where the enemy would be cramped and possibly pinned against the woods, so it was deemed safer. So, as shown in B in the figure above. the darker gray deployment block contained the General (with the Psiloi directly behind it).

With only two elements left - the 1x3Cv and the 1x4Ax - it got a little easier. Both of these elements are best suited for the flanks. I was unsure of whether the Greek left flank or right flank was more at risk. The right flank could be at risk if the Skythians got good early PIP rolls and moved quickly around that flank before the "door swung closed" (so to speak). Putting the Cavalry there would help prevent that from happening, but once the line was anchored, the Cavalry's movement would be as constrained as their enemy's.

Putting the Cavalry on the left flank gave it the potential to move left into the wide open terrain, possibly making a charge if the Skythians somehow mounted a serious attack against the BUA. I

The Auxilia could start in the woods on the left flank, guarding it while the hoplites wheeled left. This would have made that end of the line very hard to attack. Putting them on the right flank makes them vulnerable until their flank is anchored on the woods, but once they were there, they had complete freedom to move about in the woods, and they might possibly even make a strike at the Skythian camp.

I rated the left flank a better spot for the Cavalry and the right flank a better spot for the Auxilia and gave the odds at 1-4 the indicated deployment and 5-6 the opposite. The 1x3Cv ended up on the left flank and the Auxilia on the right.

8. Deploy My Army
The first picture shows the deployment of both armies.

9. The NPG Army can Swap up to Two Element Pairs
There seemed to be no reason to change any element positions.

10. Determine the Initial Strategic Stance of the NPG
The process for this step is fairly simple:

1. Calculate the Army Rating for Your Army
2. Calculate the Army Rating for the NPG Army
3. Divide the NPG Army Rating by Your Army Rating
4. Lookup the NPG Strategic Stance

10.a. Calculate the Army Rating for Your Army

Basically, the Army Rating is calculated by adding up the combat factors for all of the elements in the army. However, some elements are worth more (or less) depending upon certain factors. As the NPG army is Foot,  my army rating is calculated using the combat factors versus foot.

1x2LH(Gen) +3 x 1 = 3
11x2LH +2 x 11 = 22
Total = 25

However, I said that elements are worth more or less, depending upon certain factors, and they are:

• +1 if the opposing army has any elements that are quick-killed by this element
• -1 if the opposing army has elements that quick-kill this element
• +1 if the element is capable of multiple moves in a bound

As my army is entirely Light Horse, any modifiers will apply equally to the entire army. Light Horse quick-kill Spears, so as long as the NPG army contains Spears elements, the Light Horse will be worth an additional point. As Light Horse are not quick-killed by any elements that the NPG army has (at least, as long as it stays out of Bad Going terrain), it does not lose any points. Finally, as Light Horse are allowed multiple moves per bound, all the time, each are worth an additional point. At +2 points per element, that is an additional 24 points, for a total Army Rating of 49.

10.b. Calculate the Army Rating for the NPG Army
Using the same method:

1x4Sp(Gen) (+4 +1 -1) x 1 = 4
7x4Sp (+4 -1) x 7 = 21
1x4Ax +2 x 1 = 2
1x3Cv +3 x 1 = 3
2x2Ps +2 x 2 = 4
Total = 34

The -1 for the Spears reflects that Spears are quick-killed by Light Horse. The two Psiloi will be worth +1 point each on turn one, as Psiloi can make multiple moves on turn one, but it immediately disappears at the start of the NPG second turn.

Note: as there is a road in play, any element on the road temporarily adds +1 to their value due to the multiple move capability. Again, these values can fluctuate due to casualties, terrain, and enemy casualties, but the Army Rating is only calculated at the start of the NPG bound, before PIPs are rolled.

10.c. Divide the NPG Army Rating by Your Army Rating
34 / 49 = 0.69

10.d. Lookup the NPG Strategic Stance
Anything at 0.75 and below is Cautious and anything at 1.25 or above is Bold. The NPG is Cautious.

Let the Game Begin

Now that we've gotten the preliminaries out of the way, it is time to start the game. If you want to understand how the Tactical Engine, used to determine which choices the NPG will make, use the document Using the Tactical Engine in DBAS as a guide. There are extensive examples in that document.

Rather than give a blow-by-blow, I will hit the highlights.

By the Skythian turn five, the right columns surged around the Greeks' left flank. One element was trying to push past the woods and get into the Greeks' rear (or draw off some elements - doesn't quite work against a solo opponent though!), while two elements on the left were waiting for the Greek right flank to commit so they too could sneak around the woods.

First blood is drawn by the Skythians, however, when the Greek Cavalry is destroyed on an unlucky roll. Skythian 1-0.

On the Greek turn eight the hoplite battle line has made contact and literally won every combat roll after losing that first element. Of course, winning the rolls only mean recoiling or fleeing Light Horse. The Greeks will need to break ranks to overlap the enemy is they want to destroy something.

Note the Skythians on the left flank have started to move around the woods, while the element one the right had is actually in the woods, but still stuck in it. (Not too many times when the Skythians have a spare two PIPs lying around...) The Light Horse facing the Auxilia in the woods have wisely broken off from combat before they get flanked, or contacted by the Auxilia in the woods.

On the Skythian turn nine they finally get enough PIPs to really get in and attack the hoplites. Below you can see a Light Horse element hit the right flank of the Greek line. Because one Spears element had peeled off to attack the Light Horse in earlier turns, the General's element was exposed to the flank attack. Although the odds are not great for the Light Horse (2-6), a 6-1 roll would have ended this game quickly.

As it stood, the hoplite's left developed a gap which the Skythians exploited. The Skythian General attacks a Psiloi-supported Spears element, both of which were flanked. Here is where the Skythians got the good roll. The score is now Skythians 3-0, and I figure that this game is probably done for the NPG.

One the Greeks' turn nine they roll good PIPs and quickly reconstruct their battle line (save for the General on the right flank). Better yet, the Auxilia leaps forward and attacks the exposed Light Horse that recoiled from the General. As they are in Bad Going, the Auxilia destroy the Light Horse, bringing the score to Skythians 3-1.

On the Greeks' turn 10 they rolled a six for PIPs and were able to shore up the battle line. The Auxilia moved onto the right flank, the spare Spears moved towards the left flank, and the two Spears isolated on the left flank retreated, so a recoiling Light Horse would not automatically destroy one of them.

On the Skythian turn 11 the Skythians are poised for a big kill, possibly ending the game. In their right flank they have flanked a Spear while keeping the other Spear occupied.

Unfortunately for the Skythians, they lose the combat badly (being doubled). Even worse, the fleeing Light Horse ends up behind there Skythian General such that if the General recoils next combat, he is destroyed.

A note to any Fanaticus readers who saw my question regarding this situation. When I asked the question I thought the Light Horse to the left of the General had fled, but after recounting the score, it was only a recoil. However, that was after my question...

On the Greek turn 11 what should they roll but one PIP! The Greek hoplites flank the Light Horse still in combat on their left, eliminating it. The score is now Skythians 3-2. Although it looks like the Greeks are back in the game, the Greek line is shattered on the left and the Skythians are swarming all over.

The Skythian turn 12 does not grant a lot of PIPs, but it allows enough for them to move the fleeing elements from behind the Skythian General, removing the threat from a recoil. One element attacks the left end of the battle line, turning it around. Unfortunately, the hoplites hold (the result is a tie) and the game goes on. The Skythians just cannot win any rolls since turn nine.

The Greek turn 12 finds them with a good PIP supply, so the Psiloi springs from the battle line, attacking the Light Horse in the rear, helping to eliminate it. The score is Skythian 3-3. The Greeks could actually win this one!

Let's Pause for a Brief Moment to Review

At this point the Skythians have lost three Light Horse elements. As their elements were worth four points apiece, their Army Rating is now down 12 points from the original, for a total of 37 points. The Greeks are down one Cavalry, one Psiloi, and one Spear element or 8 points, putting their Army Rating at 26. Unfortunately at 0.70 that makes the NPG Strategic Stance still Cautious, so nothing changes. I just wanted to point out that these value change over time and it is possible for an NPG General to gain a little courage if things go their way early.

Now Back to Our Battle

The Skythian turn 13 proved to be the end. The Light Horse lined up with the General and swept in to attack the end of the hoplite line, where the Spears were presenting their rear, having finished off the Light Horse element last bound. In this case they must not have turned fast enough.

Skythians win 4-3!

Summary

Boy, this was one of those battles that you thought sure was going to go a certain way, but just would not seem to die. For the Greeks this is a really tough battle. They just don't have enough fast troops to be able to flank the enemy, especially when they are Light Horse. Add the quick kills in there and it is no wonder that the Greek NPG was cautious all along!

Lessons for Solo Gaming

First and foremost, this was a playtest of the solo rules De Bellis Antiquitatis Solus, trying to refine the Tactical Engine and add more to the deployment section of the rules. Although I did not do much of the latter - I still rely on generating a battle plan to match the terrain laid down, none of which have been adequately cataloged - I came to realize that a number of moves that I classified as Combat Moves can also be considered Defensive Moves, thus increasing the choices that a Cautious general can make.

What's next? Another revision of the Tactical Engine document, plus perhaps an update to DBAS itself.