DBMM Forum
General Category => Battle Reports => Topic started by: LawrenceG1 on October 12, 2013, 12:11:13 AM
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Sung Chinese at Wintercon 2013
This tournament was organised by Canberra Games Society with a theme of "The Mysterious East". I had worked out a Sung list a couple of years ago but not got as far as actually purchasing any figures. Luckily I was able to borrow an army from Dave Turner, supplemented by additional elements from Chris Berg as Dave said he was "not mad enough to buy all 16 Chinese hordes."
The design is based on the principle that Reg Bw(X/O) double bases are too cheap in points, so you can't go wrong by buying as many as possible.
CinC CvS, 4 CvO, 6 BdF, 6 Bw(X/O) DBE, 2 HdO, 1 BgS 27 ME High PIP dice
Sub CvS, 4 CvS, 7 Bw(X/O) DBE, 4 HdO, 1 BgS 27 ME Middle PIP dice
Sub CvS, 4 Bw(X/O) DBE, 10 HdO 16 ME Low PIP dice
Army baggage 3 Irr BgI, 3 Reg BgI. 9 ME
Apart from the horde and most of the baggage, everything is regular.
The basic plan is a frontal attack with the BwX, which are more or less invulnerable to everything. They are vulnerable to KnX, Artillery and Blades, but I can lose nearly all of them without even having a command disheartened. Everything else is either filler or reserves. A practice game against Dave's Tibetans showed that in practice they are better against KnX than you might think.
Game 1: Dave Quilty, Mongol Conquest
I defended and placed a 2 FE marsh and 1 FE BUA. Dave placed a small gentle hill. Other terrain was either lost or played no part. The weather was a strong wind that reduced my shooting range, but also gave a disadvantage to the Mongol artillery.
The Mongol army had 4 commands plus army baggage:
CvS general, 10 LHS
CvS general, 10 LHS
CvS CinC, 3 CvS, 2 ArtO, 4 LHS
LHS general, 6 LHS (PIP dump)
6 baggage.
Dave deployed well back which allowed me to march forward and take the gentle hill on the first bound.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9652G1-1_zpsae9e8f1f.jpg)
Dave moved LH round my left flank and prepared to punch through my cavalry on the hill with his small LH command supported by the CinCs CvS and artillery. The two large LH commands attacked the front of the BwX but might not have done if Dave had remembered that regulars count as (O) in close combat, not (I).
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9654G1-2_zps61e2534c.jpg)
Single rank cavalry versus LHS is a bit of a lottery that I didn't want to risk at this stage and Dave didn't want to come uphill against me, so we had a standoff on that flank. On my left, Dave elected to attack immediately rather than try to get further round and deeper. My CvS reserve moved up to counter this threat. There was now a gap through which I could push my blades towards the artillery. (Next picture from the Mongol side of the table)
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9655G1-3_zps98b96a24.jpg)
I attacked wherever I could and the Mongol guard cavalry counterattacked against my blades. Both sides took losses.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9656G1-4_zps9938fa9c.jpg)
The Mongol PIP dump feigned flight to avoid further casualties. This had little impact as My CinC had the high PIP dice and many of his troops wanted to advance anyway. The Mongol commands were now all close to being disheartened and if I could break one, the loss transmission would doom the army. However, time ran out so we had a 13-12 draw.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9657G1-5_zps6b907779.jpg)
Game 2: Anton Verster, Mongol Conquest
Terrain was a marsh on one side, difficult hill on the other, both constraining Mongol deployment. A gentle hill formed the centre front of the Mongol deployment area and a BUA protected my left flank. Anton deployed CvS on the reverse slope of the gentle hill , with 4 elements of artillery beside it, and two commands of 17 LH including generals either side of the hill.
I forgot to take any photos until half way through the game.
The weather dice meant I was disadvantaged by dazzle for the first 6 bounds so I advanced cautiously, while Anton moved LH columns around my flanks through the difficult going. He kept his central command on the reverse slope except for two elements of artillery (O) that emerged over the crest to shoot at me as I advanced. They inflicted some losses, but my blades were able to get into contact with and eliminate them. CvS counter attacks then eliminated those blades. I had been worried about being charged downhill by the Mongol CvS while I was dazzled, but I then realised that I would be on the shady side of the hill, so advanced up it and was able to take the crest and start shooting down on the Mongols.
Meanwhile on my right I used the CvO to delay the outflanking force, but on the left the BwX had to fend for themselves as I had sent my CvS to support the assault on the hill.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9658G2-1_zps41422a3c.jpg)
The BwX on my left stood up better than expected to repeated flank and rear attacks, though eventually they succumbed. On my right the Chinese cavalry did just enough to protect the rear of the infantry and even inflicted some losses on the Mongols. In the centre, the shooting continued to logorate the Mongol cavalry and the blades charged down one of the stone-throwers, breaking the command. The 2 ME penalty broke one of the other commands, taking the army for a 23-2.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9661G2-3_zpse6db41cc.jpg)
Game 3: Doug Mellville, Sui Chinese
I invaded and the only terrain of consequence was a 2 FE marsh on the right hand side.
Doug's army consisted of (all regular except where noted):
CvS general, 3 CvS, 5 CvO, 4 PsO, 2 BwO
CvS CinC, 4 Irr LHS, 6 Bw(X/O) DBE, 2 BwO, 2 PsO
Knx general, 6 KnX, 6 LHF, 4 PsO
6 (Irr?) army baggage.
The KnX command was deployed behind the CinC's and the cavalry was on the left from my point of view.
Again I forgot about the camera until well into the game. In the initial moves, Doug moved his cataphracts in column around the end of his infantry line as if to end in front of them. However, I advanced on them rapidly with the BwX while they were still a bendy column and he ended up using single element moves to deploy into a line extending that of the infantry. The LHF were also caught in column and a couple of elements destroyed by shooting. The psiloi started in the marsh and began moving towards the action but never got close enough to make any difference.
In the centre I thought my CinC's combo of BwX, BdF and CvO shoud be able to get to the artillery, kill it and roll up the rest of the command. However, it got broken up and stalled by low PIPs. Two of my elements managed to get into contact. One blade killed an artillery element, but the other was destroyed by BwX in close combat.
On the left, Doug's cavalry, reinforced by the CinC's LHS, attacked my small command, which had too many open flanks. Although the command can survive the loss of all the BwX, I carelessly allowed the general to get caught.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9662G3-1_zps2b3cce9f.jpg)
The victorious blade turned on the flank of some BwX, but promptly died and the command also suffered a number of casualties from shooting. Another blade got into contact with another BwX and killed it. Meanwhile the general of the small command was destroyed along with most of his BwX, which broke the command, and the 2 ME penalty disheartened my CinC. A cataphract charge resulted in losses to both sides.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9664G3-2_zpsfc820909.jpg)
Low PIPs limited my ability to exploit the cataphracts open flanks, but I was able to get the general in against one and IIRC a BwX with hard flank support against the cataphract general. My general killed his opponent, but even with the wingman bonus I failed to beat the enemy general. Meanwhile the disheartened blades struggled valiantly to continue their attack with little success, and the cavalry managed to hang on a little while longer. Cataphract counterattacks destroyed my remaining subgeneral, disheartening that command. This effectively neutralised it as it now needed 3 PIPs to move the BwX and it was running out of CvS, but I somehow managed to kill something and break the command. The cataphract general charged in again but this time was destroyed. However, this was little more than a consolation prize as the CinCs command finally went down to a combination of frontal shooting and flank and rear attacks. Sui losses were over 30%, so 6-19.
Game 4: Michael Stone, Hsiung Nu
The barbarians invaded us in the summer. Terrain was a large marsh protecting my left flank and a difficult hill plus BUA protecting my right. I deployed between them. Michael deployed 2 commands which were roughly:
7 KnF including brilliant CinC, 13 LHF, 2 PsO
7 KnX including subgeneral, 13 LHF, 4 PsO
6 army baggage (so I know there was another comand somewhere).
The KnX command was in front of me, with the skirmishers in penny-packets. The CinC's command was positioned to hit me in the left flank if I came out of my terrain fort. Flank protection is always a problem when attacking out of a defile.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9665G4-1_zps84813b2d.jpg)
High PIPs and the inability of skimishers to prevent march moves allowed me to close to shooting range on the first bound. This left me vulnerable to front-and-flank attacks, but I managed to survive most of them.
Michael had too few PIPs to remove the numerous groups of skirmishers in front of me from danger, so these were soon shot down, or, if they were lucky, spent themselves in close combat. My advance on the right was slowed down by the need to bring up the reserves and keep flanks covered. On the left I managed to turn a column of BwX to face the large group of fast knights that was being positioned to charge, and position other elements to protect all the flanks with threat zones. I prepared the CinC's cavalry to form a second line against the fast knights and started shifting some blades across to reinforce the command facing the cataphracts.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9666G4-2_zps990a2f90.jpg)
The knights advanced, my shooting had little effect, and then they charged. The CinC and wingman broke through, but the rest of my line held.
(http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q735/Lawrence_Greaves/Winercon2013/IMG_9668G4-4_zpsdddc0b13.jpg)
My initial counterattack failed, but eventually I was able to exploit the exposed flank and kill the general, breaking that command. However, I was not able to relax on that flank and concentrate on the other command (the one with KnX) because the flank march had now turned up, ready to step into the breach.
Luckily, the KnX command had lost so many LH to shooting that I did not need to kill much more to break the command. A last-ditch charge by the Hsiung Nu did little damage but exposed KnX to hard-flanks and LHF to CvS, enough of which worked to give me a 25-0 win.
Total score 67, gaining me 3rd place in a field of 9. The army does work as intended and I never went into a game feeling outmatched (which I often do with some of my other armies), though one needs to take care to mitigate the effects of being outflanked (which happened in every game).
Many thanks to Dave and Chris for supplying the figures, Doug for organising, and all my opponents for good games.
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Thanks for the report Lawrence. Sounds like you had 4 good games. A shame we didn't have a better turn-up, but them's the breaks.