Well, our club is running a 400 AP 25mm DBMM competition at the
moment and the Later Hoplite Greek Spartans ran into the Medieval
Portuguese.
It's fair to say the Ephors were concerned about this turn of events.
The Spartans were running three commands:
1) The Brilliant Brasidas(Sp(S)), 23 RegSp(S) and 6 IrrPs(I)
2) Spartan Subgeneral, 1 RegSp(S), 14 RegSp(O) Periokoi and 2
Thracian IrrLH(O)
3) Spartan Subgeneral, 1 RegSp(S), 8 Thracian IrrAx(S), 2
Thracian IrrLH(O) and 3 RegPs(S)
The Portuguese were also running three commands, roughly
1) CinC RegKn(O), around 12 RegKn(O) and 2 LH(O) and 2 LH(F)
2) Reg Kn general and French IrrKn(S), around 12 RegKn(S)
3) English with Bd(S) (4-6?) and Bw(S) (8-10?) and some Ax(O)
I am not sure of the exact Portuguese makeup but it looked like that.
Sparta invaded, and the terrain was primarily two steep hills (not
craggy, but possibly could have been if the Book 4 lists were out)
which landed on the Portuguese side, although they actually wound up
in the (from the Spartan) left-middle of the table (8 foot by 5
foot). A Portuguese road and rough going did not factor into the
game.
The Spartans deployed first, and chose to attack up their left flank
with their second command, using the hills as a pivot, while the
first command filled the 12 element gap between the centre hill and
the Spartan base edge, perpendicular to the Spartan baseline. The
third command was used to seize the two steep hills, along with the
Ps(I) from the first command.
The Portuguese deployed second, and chose to sweep around with the
two Kn commands to attack the Spartiates (command one) while the
English were used to cover the gap between the Spartan left hill
(about 8 elements wide) and the Portuguese baseline.
Basically, each armies left commands swept around their left flanks
and ran into part of enemy perpendicular to their baselines.
Moving first, the Spartans (giving the PIPs highest to command 2,
then next highest to command 3, and lowest to command 1), and
getting a good couple of good high dice for command 2, marched
around the hills and hit the deployed English Bd(S) and Bw(S) in the
gap they had filled between their baseline and the (Spartan left)
steep hill. Enough PIPs arrived for Spartan command 3 to send a 4
element Thracian Ax(S) column onto each hill supported by the Ps
from their command and command 1.
Moving second, the Portuguese Kn swept around their left flank and
lined up against the 2 deep Spartiate line, with Brasidas in the
front rank – they had to stretch 2 deep with no Sp reserves as the
gap between the middle steep hill and the Spartan baseline was just
that wide. The Portuguese had enough Kn to have three or so
elements in reserve, as they only had to fight one element deep.
The forces clashed – the Periokoi Sp(O) hit the English Bs(S) and Bw
(S) at the same time the Portuguese and French Kn hit the Spartiate
line.
In the first fighting bound, the Periokoi killed two Bs(S) ("WE ARE
SPARTA!") and sent the other Bd(S) and Bw(S) reeling for the loss of
one Sp(O) element shot down while charging in.
On the other flank, the Portuguese charged, sending one Kn up the
steep hill into the Ps(I) protecting and extending the Sp(S) flank
(!!!). The Kn fighting the Sp(S) were mostly recoiled – EXCEPT
Brasidas threw 3 less than his Kn(O) opponent and, like a Spartan
King, died in front of his men (except, historically, Brasidas died
at the end of the battle, not at the bloody beginning…). This
proved the Spartan's eventual undoing.
To concentrate on the Kn/Sp interaction, the Kn started to nibble
away at the Spartiate Sp(S), killing 2 ME an element. While that
command would break on 20 ME, the casualties mounted up, and
eventually a Kn(S) and a Kn General killed the two Sp(S) in front of
them and broke through – one being promptly killed by the 2 Thracian
LH acting as line-backers. However, the `pulse' my bound/your bound
mechanics hammered the Spartans – you only need one bound of bad
dice when you're facing quick-kill troops and it's all over, and in
the fourth or so double bound of fighting this happened and 4
Spartiates elements died in one bound, with the accumulated losses
of Brasidas (4 ME) and 4 Spartiates killed earlier (and a Ps(I) on
the hill) broke command one, which also broke the army (59 ME out of
98.5 ME). I think the Spartiates killed 3 Kn(S) in total – even the
one on the hill survived (although it damn well shouldn't have done)
but was saved because the Ps(I) were PIP-starved after Brasidas
tripped over his goat.
On the other flank, the perfidious English ran away from the
Perioikoi, and surprisingly, while the Sp(O) killed the two Bd(S)
early, couldn't seem to kill any other elements, especially the Bw
(S). Knocked `em back, but just couldn't kill `em.
Some lessons learned and observations:
1) Perhaps I could have marched command one away from the Kn
commands as they came around, but I would have needed many more PIPs
than I wound up with for that command to do that, and the gap they
held was the shortest one available to defend.
2) I could have put a screen of some Ps(I) less than 160 paces
in front of the Sp(S) and forced the Kn to charge and clear them,
that would have allowed me to charge the Sp(S) into the Kn and
deliver a Brilliant Stroke (+2) first against the Kn, and saved
Brasidas from tripping over his sacrificial goat – perhaps.
3) I should have been more aggressive with the Perioikoi
command (command 2) but I hadn't been prepared for the English
running off. I tried the `press forward but all that got me was a
shot-down Sp(O) element in the next bound to the Bw(S).
4) Troops that have a quick-kill in their own bound will win
any battle of attrition simply because their opponents will throw a
series of low dice at some point, and then it's all over, no matter
what you do. Time will tell, but I wonder if this was a good idea
to give so many troop types this capability just to give
more `smoothness' to the fighting outcomes from DBM's mechanisms,
while leaving a few main troops types (ie Sp) without it.
5) Keeping a track of the Superior effects was complicated – we
resorted to the Superior flowchart which seemed to work. The quick
reference sheet in the rules was somewhat misleading – accurate, but
difficult to follow.
I made enough mistakes, and/or there were other options to preserve
with the Spear-based armies at present.
The gods preserve us from 20 Bd(S) roman elements – I suppose at
least I'll be able to tell if the roman player's head's level when
I'm fighting him as the dribble will come out of both sides of his
mouth at the same time. He won't need any discernable brain
activity to crush a Spartan army. OK, I hate the romans. Blame it
on WRG 6th ed…, come to think of it, 5th ed as well.
Now I hate the portuguese too. Pah! For ONE year they get regular
generals - what a gimmick.
Tonight we dine in Hades.
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