Picts v Romano-British: Solo DBA Play-Test

This was my second play-test of Richard Lee’s solo DBA variant rules (see the discussion group on Solo DBA development). It involved pitting my Picts against the NPG’s (Non Player General’s) Romano-British army. The Brits defended and this is the battlefield/terrain selection that the NPG chose, using Richard’s selection mechanisms, with a gentle hill, a road and a wood set out:

I varied the positioning rules for the Brit camp as, with my three Psiloi against their one, it wouldn’t have made sense to place it near the wood (marked here by a patch of green felt – minimalism rules!). The camp was garrisoned by the odd unit of Brit spears. I then followed Richard’s deployment rules and this resulted in a mass of Brit spears in the centre backed up by a unit of psiloi in reserve, with the cavalry and light horse on the centre right and far right of the line.

I staffed my camp with a motley rabble of camp followers, and set up a column of psiloi on the right of my line to move into the wood on the left of the Brit position. My spears were positioned in the centre and centre left of my line, with my light horse on the left flank and my cavalry general behind the right end of the spear line:

This is another picture of the Brit lines:

In the first move I ordered my psiloi into the wood in column, which the NPG (who was designated as having a ‘neutral’ temperament) countered with his own psiloi while cautiously moving his spears and horse forward. My own spears and light horse also advanced:

I pulled my light horse back as they were outmatched by the NPG’s mounted. The NPG used the next move to repair and lengthen his line, and reinforce his psiloi near the woods with a unit of spears:

I attacked the British left with my psiloi but was repulsed, as the two lines of spearmen crunched into combat in the centre:

The clash in the centre went badly for me – I lost one spear element, then a second as the NPG repaired his line by moving a recoiled unit back into contact (a liberal but I think fair interpretation of  the ‘repair line’ option). I flanked the end of the British line with my cavalry general:

The left-most Brit spear element was duly dispatched, which meant it was now 2 – 1 to the NPG. The next throw produced a defensive option for the NPG, but I diced to override this (as per Richard’s rules – this can be done a limited number of times each game on a favourable dice throw) to allow the NPG an aggressive move with his mounted troops. There was now fighting all along the left of my line, with my light horse flanked by the enemy’s light horse and confronted with a hostile cavalry unit. My left-most light horse element was killed…the NPG was now 3 – 1 up and clearly in the ascendant:

Back on my right wing I used my cavalry general to flank another spear unit which was summarily dispatched – it was now 3 -2 to the NPG. However, back on the left wing and the left centre the NPG came over all aggressive and moved to flank my left-most spear unit. My poor Picts crumbled, and it was game over, despite the fact that my light horse took out the Brit light horse in a final gesture of defiance.

So an enjoyable and fast game ended with a 4 – 3 win for the NPG:

Richard’s solo rules worked well with some minor tweaking, and provided me with a useful NPG opponent. Great fun!

Viking v Saxon: Solo DBA Play-Test

I played this game primarily as a try-out of Richard Lee’s solo DBA variant rules (currently a work in progress). The two armies chosen were Vikings and Saxons (Anglo-Danish army list), with me running the Vikings and the NPG (non-player general) running the Saxons. The Saxons were defending, and the solo rules resulted in the following board layout, with a road (well, a dirt track really!) running down one edge of the battlefield, and a steep hill and wood making up the remaining terrain items (click on picture to upload a larger image):

The NPG camp was located as per Richard’s rules, and the NPG troop deployment determined on the same basis (Saxons are off in the distance in this picture!):

Note that the Saxons were bunched up towards the centre of the board, with their Spears protecting either flank and their Blades (including the General) in the middle of the line. The far left of the Saxon line opposite the wood was protected by their sole unit of Psiloi. I set out my Vikings in a long line, with Bows on my far right to counter the Psiloi. The battle lines arrayed (Saxons on the left):

The Saxon General’s stance was diced for, and he came up as a “defensive” commander. The NPG therefore advanced cautiously, sending his Psiloi into the woods and focusing on maintaining the cohesion of his line. As I moved forward the NPG pulled his Psiloi back a little and reinforced it with Spear supports:

Almost inevitably, the game came down to a clash of shield-walls, a hard slog which saw the NPG pushed gradually backwards as he attempted to maintain the cohesion of his line at all costs. I tried to over-ride the NPG’s default behaviour on two occasions to push the Saxons into a slightly more aggressive move, as allowed for in the rules variant – this came off the first time but failed on the second occasion. Consequently, Vikings and Saxons in the woods faced off against each other but didn’t move into contact:

Gradually the Vikings weakened the Saxon line, where first one Spear element then another was lost on the NPG’s right as the overlapping unit of Viking Blades swung round to flank the Saxons. Finally the Saxon right collapsed altogether, leaving the Vikings in possession of the battlefield without loss to their own ranks:

The defensive approach taken by the Saxons made their defeat almost inevitable, but I suspect that was a result of my uninspired interpretation of the NPG’s options rather than any flaw in Richard’s rules. The board set-up and deployment worked well, and the NPG behaved in a manner that more or less fitted the period and the contending forces. Next time though I think I’ll try a tougher match-up and a more mobile opponent, to see how well the solo variant works in those conditions.

Oh, Those Mercenaries!

Watching a bunch of overpaid footballers on the telly always inspires me to get my DBA mercenaries out. This is a picture from my latest battle, featuring Condottiere Italians against Renaissance Swiss. The Italians won, but it was a close call – just click on the image for a full-size version:

Mithridates The Great

I’ve just finished reading Philip Matyszak’s military biography of Mithridates. This is a subject I knew almost nothing about prior to reading the book, and I came away enlightened, amused and slightly horrified. Matyszak’s book is  a short but thorough study of a man whose career was one long struggle against the Roman state. Matyszak is an entertaining writer, and the life of Mithridates makes for great copy. When he wasn’t fighting the Romans Mithridates was bumping off members of his own family, including several of his sons, his sister, and probably his own mother and brother. He was notorious for dosing himself up on a wide range of poisons in order to build up his immunity, developing an allegedly encyclopedic knowledge of the subject along the way. And then there was the matter of the ‘Asian Vespers’, where he ordered the massacre of every Roman and Italian in the region, with the result that 80,000 men, women and children were slaughtered by his allies. So Mithridates is hardly a heroic figure in any conventional sense, despite his tenacity and personal bravery in opposing the Roman juggernaut.

The book is written in a very entertaining style, with a light touch and the occasional laugh-out-loud moment. It also provides a solid narrative of the events from a military perspective, with detailed sections on the battles of the River Amnias, Chaeronea and Tigranocerta. There’s plenty of material here for a promising wargames campaign, which would be all the more interesting for including not only the Romans and the Pontics (whose military organisation changed significantly over the course of the wars), but also Armenians, Greeks, Galatians and others.

Matyszak’s Mithridates is a larger-than-life character, sometimes brutal and always ambitious, but also capable of inspiring great loyalty. And (as the title says) he was an indomitable and remorseless enemy of Rome’s insatiable lust for power and gold – a man who became a legend among foes and friends alike.

Verdict – highly recommended, and another winner from the Pen & Sword publishing house!

Rattlin’ Bones!

I recently played another variant on the ‘static defence’ theme, with an Undead army led by two Magicians facing a heroic ‘Arabian Nights’ force. This is how they lined up (the Undead are at the bottom of the picture):

Here are the Undead in more detail, with Hordes supported by the two Magicians and some Warbands, plus reinforcements off-table:

And here are the Arabians, consisting of a core of Spears plus a unit of Knights, a Flyer, a Shooter, a Behemoth and a Rider General:

The rules were similar to those used previously, but with provision for the following random Undead reinforcements (throwing on a D6):

1 -2 : Witches (Flyer)

3 – 4: Pumpkin Head (Sneaker)

5 : Ghosts (Warbands x 2 elements)

6 : Undead Charioteer (Hero)

As things panned out the Arabians proved far too strong for the Undead Hordes, cutting through them easily and getting to the Magicians before they could do any serious damage. An Undead Sneaker (old Pumpkin Head himself) belatedly arrived on the Arabian flank, but the Undead general had neither the time nor the pips to bring him into the action. So, a fun game but a little one-sided in the end!

HoTT Norsemen!

No, you haven’t accidentally clicked on a Tom of Finland website. Better luck next time ;o) It’s been a while since I got my toys out, but over the past few days I’ve been playing a variant of what I think was the first scenario I ever posted on here. Basically it’s designed to create a static enemy position, but with the added spice of reinforcements arriving unexpectedly. The HPG (human player general) will have little clear intelligence as to when they’ll arrive (if at all), what they’ll consist of, or from which direction they’ll enter the fray. Of course it’s just another variant of one the oldest solo set-ups of all, but it’s been fun playing it…which after all is the main thing!

So, this is how it stacks up. A roving band of Vikings have been caught off-guard, and have taken up a strong defensive position with impassable terrain covering their flanks. They elect to form a shield-wall, and behind them stand their leader – an Icelandic witch of great prowess – and a magician who hides his lack of scruples beneath his pointy green hat. They won’t shift, and they won’t cut and run; to defeat them, they have to be wiped out to the last man (or woman). The NPG (non player general) will simply attempt to maintain the cohesion of the shield-wall, reinforcing it where necessary, and direct the two magic users to take out the most vulnerable or most dangerous enemy units. The Norse army consists of 8 Blades and 2 Magicians.

As the HPG you command a force of Carolingian Franks consisting of 3 Knights, 3 Shooters (bowmen) and 6 Spears. Your most potent weapon is the Knights, and here I’ve varied the usual HoTT rules somewhat. Knights have the potential to “quick kill” Blades in this scenario; if the Blades are beaten (but not doubled) by Knights, throw a D6 – with a throw of 4 to 6 saving them, and anything lower meaning that they are destroyed. Clearly it will be in the interest of the Vikings to direct their magical attacks primarily against your Knights.

To add a little spice to what would otherwise be a static encounter, Viking reinforcements may arrive once per game. After the end of game turn 4, dice at the start of each Viking turn. If a 6 is thrown, reinforcements have arrived. Throw a D6 once more to determine the make-up of the reinforcements:

1 – 2: War Dogs (1 element, Beasts)

3 – 4: Frost Giants (1 element, Behemoth)

5 – 6: Valkyries (2 elements, Flyers)

Then throw a D6 again to determine point of entry (your baseline, your left flank or your right flank). Note that although the reinforcements can move that turn, if  they are out of command range they will need the extra Pip to do so. The priority of the reinforcements is to single out and attack your most vulnerable unit(s), or your General if he is accessible to them. As the HPG you lose as per the standard HoTT rules, so in this sense the NPG has the edge over you!

This has produced a fairly balanced game so far, and naturally has a huge potential for variation and development. Simple but effective! Here are a few pics from three different games:

My Knight General sandwiched between Norse warriors and Valkyrie:

Valkyrie surround a unit of Carolingian archers:

Enter Frost Giants, stage left: