Tormentus IV. My DBA return adventure

ABOVE: Just one of the games played. Romans V Burmese.

Hi All

Well that was fun! Last night I played in a DBA tornament hosted by the 'MONDAY KNIGHTS' WARGAMERS. It was the first time in over 3 years since I'd played in a tournament or played DBA.

And I must say it was a hell of a lot of fun.

The details were:

This will be an open tournament with players able to draw 15mm scale armies from any list in the DBA version 2.2 rules. Only one variant may be used for all four games.

• 45 minutes will be allowed per battle, with no more than 5 minutes for deployment.
• Terrain will be fixed. The defender will nominate and dice for board edge. Deployment then continues as normal.
• BUAs are treated as impassable terrain for all elements & no other BUA rules apply.
• Dismounting elements may only dismount at deployment.
• All streams & rivers are paltry.
• Swiss Chess Draw will be used.
The winner of each battle will receive 15 points less the following:
• 1 pt for each element destroyed other than the general
• 2 pts if general element was destroyed
• 3 pts if own camp was captured
The defeated of each battle is awarded the following:
• 1 pt for each enemy element destroyed other than the general
• 2 pts for destroying the enemy general
• 3 pts for capturing the enemy camp
In the case of a draw neither player receives any points.
I only had one option as a choice of Army to use; Trojans (as it was the only Ancient army in 15mm I have painted and based).

It consisted of:

1 x LCH General 'HECTOR'

3 x LCH

4 x Sp 'Spearmen'

1 x Bd 'Warriors with Axes'

1 x Ax 'Auxilia'

2 x Ps 'Skirmishing Archers'

My LCH (Light Chariots) could dismount as 'Hero Warriors' (Blades).

Not a bad army, but nothing really special about it either. Spear are 'OK' in open ground, and Chariots are niether brilliant nor crap as a mounted force. The single Blade and Auxilia would prove useful however.

The real issue was not playing in a little over three years.

Essentially I just wanted to have some fun, push some lead and throw some dice. And what better way to get re-aquinted with the rules of DBA 2.2? 

So how did it pan out?

ROUND ONE: V HUSSITES. (Or "We need some firewood")

Ok, wall to wall freaking War Wagons (WWg). Seriously, who uses WWg? They just sit there and shoot at you. (Oh yeah, I forgot they shoot).

BELOW: Deployment. I'm defending. I see a center full of WWg, a cheeky Light Horse (Lh) element on my left and FOUR Bd elements on the right. And what's that I see on the right of the WWg? a Knight (Kn) general and a ruddy great Artillery (Art) piece!

 Right then. Simple plan. Stall the Lh with Ax and Ps, (maybe even draw him into the woods and 'Choppy choppy'). March my spearmen and axe wielding Warriors up to the WWgs and try and smash them up and scoot my Chariots around the woods, kill the Lh, (assuming they havn't been dumb enough to get into a tangle with my Ax and Ps) and attach from the left rear.

ABOVE: From left to right. WWgs, Kn General, Artillery and (behind) four flair wielding 'Blade' elements.

BELOW: My spearmen advance and my Chariots with Hector in the rear, (don't laugh) commence their 'flanking' move.

 BELOW: Ok, so the plan already is going to poo. The bloody WWgs are SHOOTING at me!! (Did I mention I forgot WWgs can shoot)? Hector peals off the flanking command to support (how I don't know) the infantry.

 Oh what to do? What's this? The Kn General is trying to flank me! "YIKES". I turn a Spear element with Ps support to face and charge into 'Jan' the General. I inflict a recoil on him and he crashes into a small 'inconvieniently placed' hut. Jan is dead. Game over. "Phew".
BELOW: That Crazy Jan dude comes off 2nd best. "BRAVO trusty Spearmen and loyal Archers"!

ROUND 2: V VIKINGS. (Or "Blades blades, as far as the eye can see"):

I find myself confronted with a wall 12 elements wide of Blades. I decide to move my Ax, Bd and 2 Ps into the wood on my left flank and place my spearmen behind a plouged Field, (Bad Going). My spearmen hold on and delay as the Blades pick their way through the field. Meanwhile my Chariots attacke and pin the vickings in the center. Eventually my Ax and Bd launch out of the woods and roll up the center.

BELOW: My Bd and Ax flank the Vikings central elements.

Below: My spearmen prepare to hold back the Viking blades.

Below: End game. The Viking center is overwhelmed by my Ax, Bd, and Chariots lead by Hector, (in Red Chariot).

 ROUND 3 V LATER IMPERIAL ROMANS (OR "This will take some careful timing,.."):
Round 3 begins with two wins under my belt. So now I'm facing Romans. This is a tough Army to fight. A Cav General, 2 x Knight, 2 x Light horse, 3 x Blades, 2 x Axilia, 2 x Psilo.

Initially my plan was to try and try and single out the two Roman Lh elements on his right flank and sweep around behind..  But true to form that plan was soon abbandoned as the Romans hunkered down due to a bad roll of PIPS.

I was able to manouve into a fairly adventagous position, as you can see BELOW:

BELOW: The situation just befor the clash. I'm covering my left flank against two Lh and a Kn element and holding my center with the spearman. Hector  is supporting my main effort on my right flank. It's here I will attack with a Bd element Axilia element and a Psilo element.

Unfortunatlyly for my my attack on my right fizzels out so I resort to my original plan and attack on the left hoping to get the better of the Roman Lh dispite the presence of the Kn element. Luck goes my way, and the two Roman Lh are soon wiped out.  BELOW: The Roman right flank is exposed as the two Lh elements vanish.

Te success over the Lh is enough to secure a win combined with the minor victories over the Romans on left where things had looked grim. A close game and the biggest challange thus far in the tournament.

 ROUND 4 v NORMANS (Or, "Ok, this is just silly"):
Ok, look at the terrain. Almost no room to set up in and I'm facing Normans, Knights galore, a Lh element, some spearmen and a psilo.

Ultimatly we end up staring at each other and neither army is prepared to take a chance and commit to an attack. I blink first and launch an attack. It starts well but then disaster.My spearmen who had been driving back the knights, (just comming up short of actually destroying them) surcumb to the knights.

The game ends in defeat for Hectors men, but Hector lives to fight another day.

BELOW: The stand off on my right flank.

BELOW: The Spoils of War. Thrid Place Trophy and a trophy for "furtherest Distance Traveled", (91Km). And the LOOT, a $10.00 Gift Voucher from EUREKA MINIATURES



All in all I had a great couple of hours fun. Thanks to the MONDAY KNIGHTS (and in particular Phil the Umpire / Organiser) for hosting the event and thanks to all the guys (and one young girl) who participated. I had 4 excellent games and will be playing some more DBA soon.
Thanks also to EUREKA MINIATURES for the VOUCHER and I must mention
 JOE DODGY'S DICE and GAMES who had the sole trade stall. Mitch provided some excellent wares at very competitive prices. Check out Mitch's online store for some bargains.
Well, that ends my wrap-up.
A heap of more PHOTOS can be seen here: MORE PHOTOS
Comments Welcomed as usual.
Cheers