Well, last night the forces of Orthodoxy crushed the Monophysite rebels of Nubia, in the most one-sided game of DBMM I've played.
I was the invader, and chose two gentle hills for my terrain. David chose a couple of dunes and a patch of rough. The hills ended up in my deployment zone, on left and right. The two dunes ended up in David's deployment zone, left and right. The rough couldn't be fitted in anywhere. Weather and time of day played no part in the game.
David deployed first. His C-in-C had a large mob of Wb (F) in the centre, with a couple of Cv (S) in reserve. On his right was a mass of Cm (S), with some LH (O) and (I) on the outside. On his left was a large number of Bw (O), with a couple of Cv (S) in reserve, and some LH (O) on the outside.
My army was Nikephorian Byzantines under the command of the Brilliant Emperor Ioannes Tzimiskes. The Emperor had 12 Skutatoi, plus 2 Kn (X/I) wedges and 2 Cv, deployed on the right. The first sub-general commanded 5 Cv and 4 LH, deployed on the left. The second sub-general commanded 4 Cv, 1 LH and 8 Ps, in the centre. The baggage was a 4th command. I gave the C-in-C the highest PIP dice, the lowest to the baggage, and averaged the middle two for the two Cv commands.
In the centre, I mingled the Cv (S) and Ps (S) to face the Wb. On the right, I placed the Kn wedges either side of the C-in-C, next to the centre command. The Skutatoi were beyond them, positioned in such a way that the dune would cover their flank. The 2 Cv were in reserve. On the left, the Cv were inboard, and the LH were on the outside.
David advanced steadily, faster on his right with the camels, less so in the centre, and most cautiously with the Bw on his left. I initially sent the LH on my left forward to face the Nubian LH (I), but then pulled back to support the Cv facing the Cm (S). By chance, the Cm fell millimetres short of contacting most of my Cv, allowing me to charge in the following turn. In the centre, I was also able to charge my Cv/Ps mix into the Wb. On the right, the Bw started exchanging fire, with Dave losing one or two elements. Dave's shooting allowed the C-in-C and one of the wedges to press forward into contact, so I took advantage of the opportunity to declare a Combat Brilliant Stroke. This combat wasn't very decisive - the C-in-C killed his opponent, but the Kn didn't.
In the main combats in the centre and on my left, however, things were *very* decisive. In the centre, the Cv and Ps ablated almost the entire front rank of the Wb command. On my left, the Cv killed a couple of Cm, making good use of an overlap to pull the Cm factors right down.
Another couple of rounds of combat was enough to break and then shatter the Cm command on Dave's right. Some of the Cv were then able to intervene in the combat in the centre, where the pace had slowed a little from the initial contact. Dave counter-attacked, and was able to spend a couple my Ps, but I had Ps (O) to cover the gaps.
On the right, the Bw (X) made it into contact, and began to kill some more Nubian Bw, while the C-in-C and neighbouring wedge broke all the way through the line, and began to turn into the flank of the remaining Bw. Dave's reserves, however, were too far away to intervene, and the left wing soon collapsed, taking the army with it.
As my total losses were the 2 spent Ps, that would have been a 25-0 to me. Thanks to Dave for a game which must have been very frustrating for him. Nothing he tried worked, his combat dice were generally on the poor side of average, his PIP dice were fairly erratic, and none of the match-ups were in his favour.
Several observations:
1. The double-based Bw (X/O) couldn't die from shooting by two ranks of Bw (O). Even the worst possible result would have been 9-4 to the Bw (O), which my (S) rating when losing shooting would turn into a 9-5.
2. The intermixed Cv (S)/Ps (S) worked brilliantly against the Wb (F). The Cv rarely had a bad result, meaning the Wb facing the Ps were often double-overlapped, which made it easier for the Ps (S) to get the QK in my turn.
3. The Cm (S) weren't as dangerous as we thought. Overlapped, the Cm (S) were 1-3 against the Cv, making a bad roll very dangerous.
Several questions (answers from DBMM list):
1. Enemy troops take a -1 in my bound if "fighting" against my Kn DBE wedges. In this context, what is "fighting"? Is it close combat only? We assumed it didn't affect his shooting against me.
- Yes, as it's under the title of Close Combat Support Factors - der!
2. Do the Byzantine Kn DBEs count as a "required wedge" for the purpose of overlaps (page 35)?
- Yes (Another reason to choose them over Cv (S)).
3. We noted that (S) mounted who draw against (S) mounted take a +1 (4th point in the grading chart on the QRF) and a -1 (6th point in the grading chart). Not an error that we could see, we just wanted to make sure we were right.
- Probably.
4. When a Brilliant General presses forward as a result of shooting, and ends in combat, can he declare a Combat Brilliant Stroke at that point?
- Yes, as the combat is resolved on the same bound he moves into contact.
5. Dave moved an Irregular Bw element forward 20mm to line up with other Bw elements (it was advancing into the space left by a dead Bw). As far as I can tell, this move cost 1 PIP; it wasn't a difficult evolution because it met exception (i) as it started in corner to corner contact with friends it ended in edge contact with; and it wasn't covered by irregular ineptness as it moved straight forward. Is this correct?
- Yes (another example where moves are cheaper than we may have expected).
Caesar Petros B
