I took the Mound Builders for two reasons. England was having a bit of an
Indian Summer so it seemed appropriate, and the Eastern Forest Americans have
been eviscerated as an army by the new Book 4. The Mound Builders are mostly
Bw(I) as well, but can have up to 18 Bd(I) and 36 Hd(S), so I thought I'd give
them a go.
I think it is fair to say that they are still a bit of a dog, but the balance of
DBMM ensured that I had 4 excellent games in excellent company.
Army was:
CinC Bge(S), 8 Bw(I), 36 Hd(S), 3 Ps(O), 2 Ps(S) – 30.5ME
SubG Bd(I), 9 Bd(I), 20 Bw(I), 2 Reg Bw(O), 4 Ps(O), 2 Ps(S) – 30ME
SubG Bd(I), 9 Bd(I), 20 Bw(I), 2 Reg Bw(O), 4 Ps(O), 2 Ps(S) – 30ME
Army Baggage: 6 Bge(I) – 6ME
Total ME 96.5
First game against Mike Bennett's Late Imperial Romans. Mike put a PF BUA at
the front of my deployment area manned with Art(S) in a tower and some Ax(S) and
(I). Should have left it alone! I flank marched one Sub general, who came on
quite quickly and pinned down the Cv out on that flank, although did no damage.
A couple more turns and Mike would have been beyond them in my flank, and I
would still not have had the time to get to his fortified Baggage. Elsewhere
the Romans took out a trickle of casualties (although the dreaded Art(S) on the
tower was not that effective). I attacked the town, even beating some Ax(I)
back from the walls and storming in for one turn but overall it was a mistake.
Mike could not make enough kills in the time and the game ended on 15-10 to him.
However neither of us realised that Horde die in 2s (i.e. the one behind dies if
the one in front does) and this could have made the vital difference to the
outcome.
Next game against Lawrence Greaves' Kyrenean Greeks. Beautiful painted carts
for the mounted spears. It was Lawrence who pointed out the double Horde thing
and he proceeded to make good use of it, and the casualties mounted up to a 25-0
defeat. We definitely need a BIG new mound.
Sunday saw me on 10 points then out of a possible 50 and facing Peter Kershaw's
Syrians. I had expected lots of Cv and LH, but Peter had also gone for the
Crusader ally which gave him Kn(S) and Kn(O). These were placed uphill in the
centre, but his lack of PIPs failed to give him the opportunity to exploit them
in the end. His plan to burst through his inferior Spear was foiled by some
millimetric error in deployment apparently. If he spotted it shortly after
deployment and had pointed it out, I'd probably have let him shift them around
and have a go. I'm not much of a one for arguing about millimetres especially
if there is some deployment intention. And I would have been happy to try
fighting the Kn. On my right flank the Yellow command was eaten away by LH(S),
but held out well, while the Bw steadily picked off Cv and even the odd Kn with
some duff PIPs on Peter's part preventing him from getting out of the way.
However, as time was called neither of us had made any impression and we ended
on a 13-12 to the Syrians. The Hd(S) stinkards suffered no casualties as I
moved them slowly out of a big patch of Marsh, and managed to use the `Follow
Me' manoeuvre to point them at Peter's Horde and Baggage at the back – sadly
still several moves out when time was called.
Final game against Neil Sutherland's Middle Imperial Romans. Couldn't have
asked for a better finale, in my view. Neil is an amiable opponent and we had a
very pleasant game, with him knowing that he had nothing to fear. He lined up
across the table and we crashed into each other and he took me out in a 23-2 I
think. The only discomforting factor for him was that his Ax(S) and Bd(O)
seemed to do much better than the Praetorian Bd(S) (although they killed
enough!).
Altogether a good weekend. Thanks to Neil and the World's team for a great
competition and an excellent trade show. It must be good when you can come last
and drop a zillion Gecko points and still have had fun.
Mound Builders? Well they're fun to play, but they struggle, especially when
handled by me! Hd(S) are interesting because they stand instead of recoil they
don't cost the extra PIP to move, and they are unaffected in combat by difficult
going. However, the double death issue and impetuosity means they are not quite
the rock they might be. If I try them again I'll take the minimum and buy more
Bw(I). I encountered some Bd(X/S) and they are hard, but the Bw(I) frighten
even Kn(S) because of the disparity in numbers. I need to get better at using
terrain if I am going to improve the army's chances in open (or any)
competition.
Against Mike, I think it was a mistake for him to use the BUA. It slowed the
game to the point where he failed to take me out. Against a rabble army the
Art(S) in the tower, even if it kills elements, has little effect on overall ME,
and of course the Horde double kill does not happen with shooting. It might
have made the difference though overall. Against Peter, his problem was that he
needed to fight my whole army to win, and that was a dangerous call for his
small Syrian force. Even Bw(I) will kill Cv and even Kn. I don't think
Lawrence or Neil had many doubts!