For my first battle with the published rules I decided to test out

how good the PSJ massed Bw (S) really were against one of their

potential historical opponents. For the PSJ I went for Kofun culture

275 - 500AD thereby maximising the number of Bw (S). The army

consisted of: 3 x Gen Irr Bw (S), 66 x Irr Bw (S) + 8 Irr Sp (I) =

399 AP. For an opponent I looked at the Book 2 Korean armies and

decided that Koguryo Korean at least gave the opportunity for massed

Sp (O) and quite a number of cataphracts which seemed marginally more

hopeful than Paekche, Kaya or Silla Korean. As it was a solo wargame

I decided not to take any stratagems for either army and similarly

decided that I would not flank march (flank marches never seem to

come as a surprise when you are fighting yourself!)

The Korean army (circa 300 - 375AD) consisted of 3 commands:

C-in-C (Reg Kn (X)) + 2 Reg Kn (X) + 16 Reg Sp (O) + 2 Reg Bw (O) + 2

Irr Bw (I) + 27ME disheartened at 7, demoralised at 9.5, shattered at

14.

SG 1 (Reg Kn (X) + 2 Irr Kn (X) + 18 Irr Sp (I) + 6 Ps (O) + 4 Irr Bw

(I) = 22ME (6/7.5/11.5)

SG 2 (Reg Kn (X) + 1 Reg Kn (X) + 6 Irr Kn (X) = 18ME (n.a./8/10)

The PSJ army also consisted of 3 commands:

C-in-C (Irr Bw(S) + 26 Irr Bw (S) + 8 Irr Sp (I) = 34ME (9/11.5.17.5)

SG 1 (Irr Bw (S) + 20 Irr Bw (S)= 24 ME (7/9/13)

SG 2 as SG1.

The PSJ invaded in summer and chose 2 x RH (rocky hills). The Koreans

were much less sure of the terrain they wanted and chose 2 x woods.

The rocky hills fell towards the back of the Korean deployment area.

The woods fell on the flanks, the one on the Korean right being the

only terrain that impacted on the game.

Although invading the PSJ had to deploy first. They deployed with the

C-in-C in the centre and the sub generals on the flanks. Basically a

line of Bw(S) two ranks deep across most of the centre of the

battlefield, supported by 3 smaller groups of Bw (S) (also largely

two ranks deep) behind to respond to any threats or breakthroughs.

Right at the back in the centre were the Irr Sp (I) - aiming to keep

out of harms way. All Samurai generals were with the Bw (S) reserves.

The plan was simple - advance to within archery range and then let

the superior archery blow the Koreans away.

The Korean's command structure had been designed on the assumption

that they would be invaded and would deploy first. The plan being

that the SG2's cataphract command would deploy behind the other two

commands and would exploit whatever opportunity emerged, whilst the C-

in-C's command advanced and the weaker SG1 command held. With the

opportunity to deploy second, but with the cataphract command having

to be to the rear, there did not seem an immediately obvious better

plan so they stuck with Plan A. The C-in-C's command with the Sp (O)

2 ranks deep on the right and SG1 with his Ps (O) backed up by Sp (I)

3 ranks deep on the left.

The Korean C-in-C took the highest dice, SG2 with his column of

cataphracts the second dice and SG1 with the inferior spearsmen the

lowest dice.

The battle was over in 7 double bounds. The PSJ advanced across the

field and quickly started to inflict serious casualties on the

inferior spearsmen and their archer support (both Irr Ps(O) and Irr Bw

(I). However, in the centre the Korean cataphracts, despite some

setbacks proved very effective against the PSJ bowmen. The advance of

the Reg Sp (O) was slowed by push backs and losses sustained from the

PSJ archery but with the highest dice each time they were able to

keep closing on the enemy. Meanwhile the Korean cataphract command

went on a long route round the back of the wood to fall on the PSJ

left. At the end of bound 5 the Korean SG1 command broke, its main

opponents having suffered no losses. However in the centre and Korean

left the spearsmen (O) and cataphracts of the Korean C-in-C's command

had come to grips with the PSJ archers and first the PSJ C-in-C's

command broke (bound 6) and then the Korean SG 2's command broke

(bound 7).

Game over. PSJ defeated. The Koreans had lost SG1 (22ME) + 5 ME from

the C-in-C's command for total losses of 27ME out of a starting 67ME

(so just over 40%). Therefore with one command lost and 40% losses

overall I made it a 16-9 victory to Korea.

Comments

1. Bw(S) don't sweep everything before them and Sp (O) are not

useless. However, the Bw (S) were devestating against Bw (I) and Sp

(I).

2. The PIP rules do make fancy manouevuring very slow. The Korean

cataphract command played no part in the battle. Even moving in

column they had still only just got round the wood and reformed into

line when the battle ended. Effectively the PSJ were defeated by one

Korean command supported by the cataphracts from the command that

eventually broke.

3. I really liked the feel of the battle using DBMM, it "seemed" a

lot more how I imagine an ancient battle than I found using DBM.

4. The S grading factors are really tough to get your head round, but

the complexity seemed well worth the effort.

Questions.

1. If Psiloi get a recoil result when immediately in front of 3 ranks

of spearsmen do they recoil right to the back of the line of

spearsmen? Or do they get interspersed somewhere in the line and if

so, where? I played that they went to the back of the line of

spearsmen but I couldn't spot the actual answer.

2. I assume that if Bw are hit in the rear, then a second rank of Bw

also facing away from the assailant do not count as supporting. This

seemed obvious and right, but I thought I'd check because under close

combat rear support factors it talks about "lined up with them and

facing in the same direction" (page 36) which of course they are. The

rule as written works fine if the attack comes from the front, but if

given a literal interpretation could present problems if hit in the

rear.

3. Under Pursuing elements (page 42) certain troops (in this battle

Spearsmen) have to pursue enemy who recoil "either (a) its base

depth, (b) its base width (80p) or (c) until it makes front edge or

front corner contact with enemy; unless ... . My question is whether

the player whose elements are pursuing gets to choose (a), (b) or

(c). Under DBM 3.0 it was the lesser of (a) or (b) (I never played

DBM 3.1 so I don't know what it was then) but under DBMM there does

not seem to be any requirement that it is the lesser distance that is

pursued. Having the choice of (a), (b) or (c) seems a positive change

and helped the spearsmen keep contact with recoing archers but I just

wanted to check I was playing it correctly.