Birmingham Ladywood2 2008 Battle Reports Part 2

[Geoff Pearson]

Birmingham Ladywood2 2008 Battle Report 1st game Tim vs Dave Thompson
Posted by Geoff for Tim Child (1st posted on the Yahoo Groups DBMMlist)
Phil's absence was a great shame, but nonetheless a great day's
gaming was had all round.

I brought the Sub-Romans, c.579AD (in theory the alliance of Urien Rheged).
4 commands:
Urien Rheged in charge of Cv(O), LH(O), Reg Ax(I), Ps(O)
Morcant Builc  (Bryneich SRB ally) Cv(O), 28 Irr Sp(I) and 1 Hd(I)
Gwallawc Marchawc Trin (Elmet SRB ally), Cv (O), 20 Irr Sp(I), Ps(O), Ax(I), 1 Hd(I)
Rhydderch Hael (Strathclyde SRB ally), Cv(O), LH(O), Wb(F), Reg Ax(I)

In the morning I faced the extremely pleasant David Thompson, and Urien invaded Western Sudan 1000 years into his future.
I looked at the Western Sudanese list and decided that my mounted wings didn't much fancy the prospect of mass Cv(O), Bw(I) and Ps(I) with Exp and Cm(S) support, but the Cv in the open was the lesser of the various evils so chose some gentle hills.
David put down 2 dunes and a bit of flat scrub, which all fell on the centre-to-right of the table.
My GHs were all on the left. I decided to flank-march the Cv and Wb ally on the left and to have Urien on the left, then Gwallawc, then Rhydderch. I had no intention of doing anything other than screening the Dunes.

	David deployed first. Massed Irr Bw(I), mainly 6-7 ranks deep. A small-ish Tuareg command in the central dunes, more Bw(I) in reserve with a smattering of Ax and Cv to leaven the mix. Phew - no massed Cv to ride around me. No Exp. I deployed Urien, then the two Sp commands 3-4 deep, covering about 2/3 of the table. The monkish Hd(I) elements were thrown forward as march delay/unreliability insurance.
	David's Exp then went down as an unusual troops stratagem, in front of poor Gwallwc's Sp. David lurched forward.
	Then it was my go. Both Sp-commands were unreliable. Bol*****! Still, that means they can't be attacked with triggering them, so let's get on with it with Urien shall we? The CinC's Cv and LH pushed out wide left, looking to hook up with the flanking command and/or to outmanoeuvre the unwieldy reserve Bw(I). The rest sat and waited.
	Poor PIPs with the Exp meant that they ploughed into the two Sp commands and spurred them into action. I lost a Ps and a few Sp, but disposed of all the Exp.
	However, I was looking a mess (elements in all sorts of alignments, in order to get the flanking -1s) and the Bw(I) had pushed up aggressively behind.
	Good PIPs at the crucial moment allowed Gwallawc's Sp to reorganise and start toward the Bw(I), and then the pursuit moves from unsuccessful shooting got me closer.
	When fighting Bw with Sp (even Sp(I), who don't get a back rank ever) it's crucial to get in at all times, so we pushed in, got aggressive and started removing Bw from the table.
	Meanwhile, the Cm(S) had emerged from the central dune and fell on Morcant's Sp-line. Things did not go well for them (no reserves) and Cm-kebabs were plentiful.
	Finally, the game was decided by the flank-marhc arriving on a 6, so on the rear edge, which meant both than the Wb(F) could turn up almost behind the Bw(I) and that the CinC and his friendly Cv didn't get to flee away from us. The Wb ate the CinC's Bw and the CinC himself was the filler in an SRB sandwich.
	I suffered some casualties but not as many as David deserved to inflict! Somewhat surprisingly it was a 25-0 result.
	Once I saw David's army I thought that this was a difficult match-up for him. All that Bw(I) is monodimensional and my Sp and Wb were going to be tough for the Bw to cope with. If I were smaller and eliter, he might have had the ability to out-endure me, but we were roughly even. His lack of Cv enabled me to exploit my extra manoeuvrability. Still, if the Exp and/or Bw-shooting had been luckier, things could have got nasty.

Part 2 - Chris Hanley's Arab Conquest featuring "more Bd than you
can break a spearshaft on" - to follow!

Cheers,

Tim Child

[Sgt Steiner]

Hi

Nice report

My what some big dice you have m'dear 

[Tim Child]

All the better to 6-1 you with!   

Once you get used to something big in your hand, anything smaller feels hardly worth the effort.

Tim Child

[Tim Child]

Tim you are a true hero 
Spear I are ok but they have to be deployed fairly deep.
Cheers Penda

Only if heroes are a result of desperate times.  All my DBM/M armies seem to revolve around large quantities of Sp(I)!   

How you deploy Irr Sp(I) depends upon what you expect to do with them and what you anticipate your opponent doing.  In my second game, against Arab Conquest, I had the advantage of a pair of GH to stand the Sp-lines on and I expected any sensible player of mass Irr Bd(O) to simply charge me and hew me down.  I therefore stacked the Sp deep on the hills (6(I)-4(O q.k.) is a much better game for me than 5(I)-4(O q.k.)) but kept the formation shallow in the valleys between, so as not to reinforce expected defeat there (Cv reserve instead).

In the absence of the hills, I may well have been tempted to deploy just 2 deep and tempt the Bd(O) to match my width, as then they'd have had to be 1 deep in a lot of places.  It would be a big risk, but for Irr Sp(I) to have any chance of defeating Bd(O) on their own they have to punch holes in the Bd, and that virtually requires catching the Bd just 1 deep.

Tim Child

[Tim Child]

I have run the Mid saxons in a comp and they were very tough (the spear I) and found against knights they suffered if they wern't 4 deep.
Against other troop types you have to consider what the risks and the supports you have, they are playable but heart in mouth type stuff.

Cheers Penda.

Now you're just showing off!  Even if I use all my Saxon figures, I don't (yet) have enough Sp(I) to do Mid-Saxons at 400AP.  That much Sp(I) really does require b*lls of steel and a bloody-minded attitude.  Presumably your main tactical approach is just to ram the thing into the opposition as hard and fast as possible and hope that his troops get ground down before yours do?

I rather like the look of the next list along, Anglo-Danish.  The Sp(I) are merely a supporting act here, though, with the stars of the show being hard-case Bd(O) and Sp(O) (Irr Sp(O) are death on legs to Bw!)  The Welsh ally can provide a little Cv(O) and Wb(F) for rough-terrain work and if you're feeling adventurous you can have Irr Cv(I) to provide some mounted heart-in-mouth moments.

Tim