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DBMM v2.1 game no 2 - Late Imperial Romans v Huns

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Barritus:
Well, last club night I had another go at fielding a viable Late Imperial Roman army, something which has evaded me (and, I think, quite a few DBMM players). I was up against Anton’s Western Huns.

I decided on an Eastern LIR army of 395, maximising the mounted and mostly minimising the infantry. The C-in-C (as LH (S)) commanded 6 Kn (X), 5 LH (S), 2 Cv (O), and 4 supported Ax (S) for 33ME. One sub had 6 Wb (O) and 4 supported Bd (O) for 16ME. The other sub had 4 Kn (F), 2 Cv (O), 3 LH (O), 1 LH (F) and 4 Ps (S) for 24ME. I also purchased the scouts stratagem.

Anton was the invader in spring. As it turned out, weather and time of day had no effect on proceedings.

As defender I wasn’t entirely sure what sort of terrain I wanted, but settled on the idea of “lots”, and “on the flanks”. Anton chose a couple of 1FE gentle hills and a 1FE piece of scrubby flat. I chose a vineyard and scrubby flat (both 1FE), a BUA and wood (both 0.5FE) and the compulsory paved road.

The vineyard sat at the left end of my deployment zone, the BUA in front of it roughly on the centreline, and my piece of scrub beyond it at the right end of Anton’s deployment zone. At the right end of my deployment zone was the wood, while at the left end of Anton’s deployment zone was a gentle hill. Right in the middle of the table was another gentle hill. The road ran along my rear edge to disappear off my left table edge near the BUA. Anton’s scrub didn’t put in an appearance.

I chose to not employ the scouts stratagem. The terrain and army list didn’t suggest anything particularly threatening, and I was therefore more concerned about needlessly losing an element to a bad scouting dice roll.

I deployed first, placing the C-in-C on the right, the infantry sub command in the centre and the mounted sub command on the left. On the right I deployed the Ax next to the infantry centre, then the cataphracts, and the Hun LH with the C-in-C out at the end of the line, with the Cv as reserves. In the centre, as I was expecting to face Hun LH, I was content to deploy the Wb in two ranks with the Bd split either side. On the left I mixed the Cv in with the Kn (F), and deployed them to the immediate left of the infantry centre. Next to them (with nothing much else to fill the gap to the vineyard), I deployed the LH (O). The Ps (S) went into the vineyard, and that command’s only reserve was the LH (F).

Anton then deployed four commands. On his right, facing my LH (O) and Ps (S), was a command of Hun LH (S). Next to them, facing the sub’s Kn and the infantry centre, were Sciri allies with Kn (F) and Bw (I). Next was the Hun C-in-C – more LH (S) but with a reserve of Cv (O). Finally, out on his left and facing my C-in-C’s mounted elements, was another command of LH (S). The Sciri were a nasty surprise, particularly with the Kn facing my Wb. On Anton’s left flank, the LH were massed deep ready to expand and sweep around my flank, and likewise on his right, the LH were massed deep facing my LH (O).

I figured my best chance was to get the Romans quickly into the Huns’ faces, and get into combat before too many troops could get around my flank (or through the LH (O)). I gave the highest PIP dice to the C-in-C, the second highest to the mounted sub, and the lowest to the infantry sub in the centre.

My first bound PIPs were middling, but they were enough to allow the infantry centre two marches to get up and over the crest of the centre hill. At least now they’d get the uphill bonus in the bounds the Kn had the quick-kill. Out on my right the mounted and Ax also took two marches. I’d thought of sending the LH out further than the Kn, but realised the Hun LH would be able to engage some of them with an uphill bonus, so kept them with the Kn. I also moved one of the Cv elements out to the flank to help cover against Hun mischief. Over on the left I also moved the Kn/Cv block twice, but the adjacent LH (O) only once. I left the Ps in the vineyard.

Anton’s first bound PIPs were slightly better, with high PIPs for the two centre commands and average PIPs on the flanks. He advanced one march across the line, meaning the troops facing my left and centre commands were out of contact. But on my right, the LH swarmed forwards to hit my C-in-C’s LH (S) and Kn (X). The results were mixed. I lost a couple of LH, but Anton also lost a couple of LH to the Kn (X). Rather annoyingly I also lost a Cv to the Sciri Bw (I)’s archery.

In my next bound I swept forwards across most of the line. Most of the Kn/Cv mix on my left, and all the infantry in the centre, were able to charge downhill into the Sciri Kn, and in a bunch of combats the Wb and Cv each destroyed one Kn element. Further over, the C-in-C’s troops charged into LH of the two left-most Hun commands; at the end of the line the LH v LH fight was already turning into a mess. Here things also worked reasonably well. The Ax managed to spend a LH, while the mounted elements destroyed a few Hun LH in return for me losing another LH.

Anton attacked across the line now, with his right wing LH attacking my LH (O), destroying one, and his Sciri archers shooting down a Kn (F). But in the centre there was a disaster for him, with the overlapped Sciri ally-general dying to a bad dice roll against the Wb. This was just enough to break the Sciri command. Meanwhile, over on my right wing the casualties were shared on both sides, as the first cataphract element died, along with another LH element. But my C-in-C survived being hit front and flank, and Anton’s left wing Hun command also became disheartened. Importantly, thanks to all the LH it had lost, the distance from that disheartened Hun command to the Sciri was just a bit beyond the 800 pace range to apply the 2ME penalty, saving the Huns from breaking.

The next bound was my big chance to win the game, but PIPs of something like 3, 2, 2 just weren’t enough to let me set up the attacks as well as I wanted. The cataphracts charged into the Hun Cv, with one reaching the C-in-C, and nearby the LH and a spare cataphract had a chance to kill the two LH needed to break that command. So I had two decent chances to break commands which would then break the Hun army. They didn’t quite work. Out on my far right wing, I destroyed another Hun LH, pushing that command to the edge of breaking, but couldn’t get the second element I needed. And the cataphract attack completely misfired, with the element facing the general being destroyed. In the centre, naturally, the Kn and Wb had some fun at the expense of the Sciri, pushing that command to shattered.

Anton now completed the business. On his right wing the Hun LH destroyed the last of the LH (O), which was enough to break that command. Mortification was added to the equation when a 6-1 dice result was enough for one of the shattered and overlapped Sciri Kn elements to destroy one of my Kn elements. On his left wing the Hun general attacked the rear of my C-in-C while a disheartened LH hit the rear of an adjacent cataphract element.  The Hun general won his combat, providing both an overlap and a wingman bonus for the LH, which duly destroyed the cataphract. This was enough to break my C-in-C’s command, and, with it, the army. However, meanwhile, one of my LH destroyed one more Hun LH element, which was just enough to break the Hun left wing, which, in turn, was enough to break his army.

So, a 13-12 mutual demoralisation.

A thoroughly enjoyable game, thanks to Anton, with plenty of unexpected events within the game. But I was happy with the result – I’ve always had trouble coming up with a winning LIR army, and I was curious to see what massed cataphracts might achieve. I have to say I was pleased by their effectiveness.

However we had a devil of a time sorting out what happened with pursuits and EMTLU. In particular, there was an issue of how an element should line up against an enemy element it was making illegal flank contact with (thanks to pursuing a destroyed opponent). Solutions were adopted, but we don’t know whether they were right.

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