This Friday past I was able to escape from a house full of teenage girls and head down to the club for a little 350 point DBMM.
Nicholas had set up the game and provided the Javanese forces while Ben brought his Chinese and Mongols to the table. Thank you to both for bringing some very nicely painted troops for us to play with. With the armies selected, the next step was to assign sides. Given my inability to handle horse, I, Pat, teamed up with Nick on the Javanese side and Patrick went with Ben on team Yuan. (Yes we get confused too.)
Next up was rolling for the battlefield. The terrain picks were a good assortment of woods, hills and marsh. The dice were fickle, and with the exception of one small wooded hill on the Javanese left flank, it all wound up crammed into the right side of the table leaving the centre wide open - perfect for ravaging horse.
We split the Javanese into three commands. A light command of horse and foot was tasked with holding the rough country on the right. Two roughly similar commands of bow and warband covered the centre and left. We set these up one behind the other to give us two lines of bow on the left and two lines of warband in the centre. Nick took the front line and the right and I took the second line.
The Yuan were also laid out in three commands. The Mongol horse on their right, a mixed force of blade, bow and artillery in the centre and a mixed light force on their left opposite the rough terrain. Ben took right and centre while Patrick took left. Both armies were pushed up fairly close to the centre line. I must apologized because being focused on my own troops, I didn't pay much attention to what was going on in the rough terrain.
The game opened fairly conventionally. Nick and I pushed forward across the board as did Ben and Patrick. Ben pushed his horse forward on our left hoping to flank and disrupt the bow line. Nick was able to adjust his line and caught a couple of bases of Mongols in range. One was the general. The option was to take a high probability shot at a base of troopers that would break up the line or take a much riskier shot at the general. Nick went for the general and he went down.
In the centre, we got a couple of moves in with the warband blocks. Then I rolled a 1 for pips and in they went. Nick let his go as well, leaving two lines of heavily caffeinated Javanese charging into artillery, bows and blades. On our right, Nick was able to push his lights almost the whole way through the rough going and he and Patrick began fencing with Lh and Ps.
In the centre, the Chinese man-powered artillery punched holes through the oncoming warband while bows nibbled away at the edges. The blades braced for impact. Ben's leader-less horse were able to harass the edges of the warband block but ultimately pip starvation meant that they fell under Nick's bow and broke.
As I said above, I am not sure what was happening in the rough on the right but Nick retired 4 or 5 dice that night so I suspect it was bloody. The centre saw the warband sweep away the artillery and get stuck into the blades. Going sponno freed up pips to protect the flanks and keep the front rank gaps filled in. A good thing too since the co-mingled warband lines were four deep in some spots. Casualties were heavy, but being only 0.5 ME meant that the warband had considerable staying power. Finally holes were ground through the Yaunline, a second command broke and the Yuan were driven from the field.
A great game with some great gamers.
Showing posts with label Mongol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mongol. Show all posts
Monday, February 18, 2013
Saturday, October 6, 2012
A short game of DBMM
A while back, two of the guys of the club scheduled a game of DBMM for last night. They were kind enough to let me take over one of the commands on fairly short notice. The battle saw the Abbasid Caliphate defending against the Ilkhanid horde of which I commanded one wing. The Caliphate forces cowered in a fortified town and oasis, leaving their their pathetic horsemen to defend against the oncoming horde. The glorious Mongol army swept forward in a double envelopment their vastly superior steppe bred ponies charging around the unprotected flanks.
Sadly the game had to be called when one of the players fell ill. As always, it was good just to get out of the house and game. I learned a little bit more about how to use horse - always a weakness of mine and I got a much better handle on march movement.
Sadly the game had to be called when one of the players fell ill. As always, it was good just to get out of the house and game. I learned a little bit more about how to use horse - always a weakness of mine and I got a much better handle on march movement.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
DBMM Mongols and Chinese battle
Last night saw another epic battle with George and Pat L's Chinese taking on Marc and my Mongols. We had four commands plus baggage. Three were mixed Cv and Lh and the fourth was made up of 8 hordes, a Cavalry general and four Lh. Marc took the first two commands with the Cv(S) and I took a mixed command along with the Hd.
The Chinese set up first with a group of artillery in the centre flanked each side by Bow(X) and with their horse on each wing. We responded with our three horse commands set out in line 1-2-3 with the horde command behind the centre and the baggage behind that. Pip dice were assigned the same way. Our cunning plan was interesting. Marc set up his first command opposite the Chinese right wing Bow(X) and his second command facing the artillery.
"What's your plan Marc?" I asked
"Going to charge the artillery" says Marc.
"Sure about that?" says I
"Yep" says Marc
Now Marc is an experienced gamer and an intelligent guy overall but he does have a preference for Viking and Orc (Charge! and the casualties be damned!) armies and this was only his second game of full on DBMM. So I didn't press the matter.
What we wound up with was pretty much the completely wrong way to deploy a Mongol army - In a line across the board allowing all the Chinese to fight and more importantly to shoot if we got close enough. Marc is not to blame as I knew better. Actually I was kind of curious to see what when his horse hit the artillery. If they survived, they would have torn a hole through the Chinese centre.
The Chinese moved first as I recall, pushing their horse out on each flank and advancing the right flank bow. We responded with some monumentally good pip dice from Marc. He pushed his left flank command forward, lining up to clip the edged of the Bw(X) and take on the Cv in his area and advanced his second command to just out of reach of the artillery. Meanwhile, I pushed my Cv command forward with their Lh component prancing deep around the Chinese left flank. The smattering of Lh connected to the Hd command also moved forward.
With 300+ points on each side, the game took us almost 4 hours to complete so I'll spare you the gory details (not that I remember many). On the right, my intent was to push forward to protect the baggage, and wipe out George's horse which should have been achievable. Instead, I got tangled up with George's horse command. I pushed the Hd cavalry forward in support taking a bit of a risk due to some nearby Chinese bow. That shooting combat came out to a 6-2 roll in George's favour, costing me a general. The rest of my dice rolling was similarly dismal*, and George as usual managed to thwart my every move. This cost me the other command breaking both my commands.
On our left, Marc re-thought the Battle of Balaclava deployment and instead used the Mongol's mobility and his high pip rolling ability to move his right command back behind his left into support of his attack on the Chinese right wing. My understanding was that his combat rolling was also abysmal, but at least he killed some Sung. In the end, my two dead commands coupled with Marc's losses were enough to call the game.
Despite the dice rolling of doom, it was an enjoyable game. Many thanks to Pat L for hosting (Did I mention there was a cheese board? This is high class gaming for sure) and thanks as always to George for bringing his toys for us to play with.
*I normally don't blame the dice in place of my tactical errors but this time, I don't think I killed a single Chinese element even with double overlaps or hard flanks.
The Chinese set up first with a group of artillery in the centre flanked each side by Bow(X) and with their horse on each wing. We responded with our three horse commands set out in line 1-2-3 with the horde command behind the centre and the baggage behind that. Pip dice were assigned the same way. Our cunning plan was interesting. Marc set up his first command opposite the Chinese right wing Bow(X) and his second command facing the artillery.
"What's your plan Marc?" I asked
"Going to charge the artillery" says Marc.
"Sure about that?" says I
"Yep" says Marc
Now Marc is an experienced gamer and an intelligent guy overall but he does have a preference for Viking and Orc (Charge! and the casualties be damned!) armies and this was only his second game of full on DBMM. So I didn't press the matter.
What we wound up with was pretty much the completely wrong way to deploy a Mongol army - In a line across the board allowing all the Chinese to fight and more importantly to shoot if we got close enough. Marc is not to blame as I knew better. Actually I was kind of curious to see what when his horse hit the artillery. If they survived, they would have torn a hole through the Chinese centre.
The Chinese moved first as I recall, pushing their horse out on each flank and advancing the right flank bow. We responded with some monumentally good pip dice from Marc. He pushed his left flank command forward, lining up to clip the edged of the Bw(X) and take on the Cv in his area and advanced his second command to just out of reach of the artillery. Meanwhile, I pushed my Cv command forward with their Lh component prancing deep around the Chinese left flank. The smattering of Lh connected to the Hd command also moved forward.
With 300+ points on each side, the game took us almost 4 hours to complete so I'll spare you the gory details (not that I remember many). On the right, my intent was to push forward to protect the baggage, and wipe out George's horse which should have been achievable. Instead, I got tangled up with George's horse command. I pushed the Hd cavalry forward in support taking a bit of a risk due to some nearby Chinese bow. That shooting combat came out to a 6-2 roll in George's favour, costing me a general. The rest of my dice rolling was similarly dismal*, and George as usual managed to thwart my every move. This cost me the other command breaking both my commands.
On our left, Marc re-thought the Battle of Balaclava deployment and instead used the Mongol's mobility and his high pip rolling ability to move his right command back behind his left into support of his attack on the Chinese right wing. My understanding was that his combat rolling was also abysmal, but at least he killed some Sung. In the end, my two dead commands coupled with Marc's losses were enough to call the game.
Despite the dice rolling of doom, it was an enjoyable game. Many thanks to Pat L for hosting (Did I mention there was a cheese board? This is high class gaming for sure) and thanks as always to George for bringing his toys for us to play with.
*I normally don't blame the dice in place of my tactical errors but this time, I don't think I killed a single Chinese element even with double overlaps or hard flanks.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
DBMM Game 6 Mongol vs Sung
This one never got posted for some reason.
Game 6 saw a Mongol - Sung rematch with me taking the Mongols again. The big difference is that we used terrain this time.
Pre-game saw the Sung come up as invader - something I hadn't really expected. The terrain went down fairly easily with only one patch of rough going to give me trouble.
The game rapidly turned into a shoving match between the horse and bow. The (S) was a life saver to the point that in a couple of fights with Bw(X) as Sp(I), the S made the Cv un-killable.
Another new thing for me was using a stratagem. After reading up on the Mongols I took feigned flight.
I probably sprang it too early but it was pretty pointless - my Lh flipped the Bw(X) the bird and ran away waggling their tails seductively. By the time they finished their flee move, Only a couple of Bow were in range to go impetuous. Pretty much a waste of points.
Game 6 saw a Mongol - Sung rematch with me taking the Mongols again. The big difference is that we used terrain this time.
Pre-game saw the Sung come up as invader - something I hadn't really expected. The terrain went down fairly easily with only one patch of rough going to give me trouble.
The game rapidly turned into a shoving match between the horse and bow. The (S) was a life saver to the point that in a couple of fights with Bw(X) as Sp(I), the S made the Cv un-killable.
Another new thing for me was using a stratagem. After reading up on the Mongols I took feigned flight.
I probably sprang it too early but it was pretty pointless - my Lh flipped the Bw(X) the bird and ran away waggling their tails seductively. By the time they finished their flee move, Only a couple of Bow were in range to go impetuous. Pretty much a waste of points.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
One night two DBMM games
For our third match-up, George brought over his Mongols and Sung Chinese. Prior to his arrival, I had chosen to play the Mongols and had put together my first list* of 250 points. As these games are for me a matter of pushing lead - win or lose and for George an exploration of the 1.1 rules, I went with a 3 command structure. CinC with 6 Cv(S) and 8 Hd(I), as Sub general Cv(S) with 6 Cv(O) and another Sub-General Lh(S) with 6 Lh(S) all backed up with a train command of 3 Bge(F). George went with a two command structure For his Sung. The CinC's command was composed of Bw(X) backed by Bd (I) and a Cv(I?) force under the CinC. The other command was again of Bw(X) backed by Cv and a heavy stone thrower.
Again we eschewed terrain even though this time George had brought some. Rolling for aggression, I was the invader. The Sung setup forward CinC left and Sub Gen right of centre with the Bw(X) in a single rank line, and with the flanks a little deeper. The respective CV groups were positioned behind th Bw(X) lines. The stone thrower was centrally located on the left flank of the right command.
The mongols setup in a box right of centre to hit the Sung CinC command. The Lh command in column formed the left side of the box, the Cv command again in column the right, with the CinC's Cv(S) driving the line of Hd forward to form the front side. The pack ponies loitered in the rear munching Chinese grass. Of note was the use of Mongolian air-cavalry. The table we use is lacking in width so the last couple of elements of the two Mongol horse columns found themselves suspended in midair by their respective movement trays.
Turn one saw my Cv and Lh commands charging out in a double envelopment. The Lh wound up deep behind the Sung right flank but facing Cv(I). My Cv, not being as fast as the Lh, made it to the left flank of the Sung line whereupon George marched his CinC Cv group into them and threw out a Bw(X) group to further threaten their rear. The Hd trudged forward ineffectually opposed by George's counter trudging Art(S).
Turn two was mostly a pushing match between the two Cv groups while the Lh moved deeper and the Mongol CinC moved out with his Cv to counter the Bw(X) group.
Turn three saw the Mongol Lh charging into the rear of the Sung right flank Bw catching one archer base. On the mongol right, The CinC and his Cv began to deploy out against the Bw group while the other Mongol Cv command chewed up the Sung CinC and his horsemen. I was rolling a 30+ year old Avalon Hill die - probably from Panzerblitz or Blitzkreig. It managed to bring at least four straight sixes to the table causing George to change his die in disgust. The Cv group was crushed, the CinC killed the game ended there on points.
Not having played with a lot of horse before, it was educational (really it was fun) to see how fast they can move. George's counter charge with his CinC Cv highlighted the speed of the new march into contact rules. I was a bit disappointed that the Art and Bw didn't get to shoot as our games so far have not seen any missile action.
We reset to the same dispositions and had another go at it. The result this time was rather different. At the starter's gun, Georged marched his Sung as far forward as he could, penning in my horse very effectively. I was able to push the Cv command out only to be countered by the Sung Cv and flanked by Bw(X). Carrying on with the Crecy theme, I pushed the Hd forward into the Bw(X)allowing the Mongol CinC to advance his Cv under cover but to no avail as the Cv could not interpenetrate the Hd to get at the Bw and enough Hd bases remained intact to break up my chargers. It might be a worthwhile tactic with Ps. On my left, the Lh command was more than decimated by the bowmen. In the end it was my turn to be crushed - I have a lot to learn about using cavalry properly ;). However, George was able to get some shooting in with the Bw and Art In all an enjoyable evening in Southern China.
*While I have played some 6th and DBM in the past, it has always been with "whatever is in the box" - Usually Airfix plastics. Having a generous opponent with many varied armies has been a godsend. Thank You George.
Again we eschewed terrain even though this time George had brought some. Rolling for aggression, I was the invader. The Sung setup forward CinC left and Sub Gen right of centre with the Bw(X) in a single rank line, and with the flanks a little deeper. The respective CV groups were positioned behind th Bw(X) lines. The stone thrower was centrally located on the left flank of the right command.
The mongols setup in a box right of centre to hit the Sung CinC command. The Lh command in column formed the left side of the box, the Cv command again in column the right, with the CinC's Cv(S) driving the line of Hd forward to form the front side. The pack ponies loitered in the rear munching Chinese grass. Of note was the use of Mongolian air-cavalry. The table we use is lacking in width so the last couple of elements of the two Mongol horse columns found themselves suspended in midair by their respective movement trays.
Turn one saw my Cv and Lh commands charging out in a double envelopment. The Lh wound up deep behind the Sung right flank but facing Cv(I). My Cv, not being as fast as the Lh, made it to the left flank of the Sung line whereupon George marched his CinC Cv group into them and threw out a Bw(X) group to further threaten their rear. The Hd trudged forward ineffectually opposed by George's counter trudging Art(S).
Turn two was mostly a pushing match between the two Cv groups while the Lh moved deeper and the Mongol CinC moved out with his Cv to counter the Bw(X) group.
Turn three saw the Mongol Lh charging into the rear of the Sung right flank Bw catching one archer base. On the mongol right, The CinC and his Cv began to deploy out against the Bw group while the other Mongol Cv command chewed up the Sung CinC and his horsemen. I was rolling a 30+ year old Avalon Hill die - probably from Panzerblitz or Blitzkreig. It managed to bring at least four straight sixes to the table causing George to change his die in disgust. The Cv group was crushed, the CinC killed the game ended there on points.
Not having played with a lot of horse before, it was educational (really it was fun) to see how fast they can move. George's counter charge with his CinC Cv highlighted the speed of the new march into contact rules. I was a bit disappointed that the Art and Bw didn't get to shoot as our games so far have not seen any missile action.
We reset to the same dispositions and had another go at it. The result this time was rather different. At the starter's gun, Georged marched his Sung as far forward as he could, penning in my horse very effectively. I was able to push the Cv command out only to be countered by the Sung Cv and flanked by Bw(X). Carrying on with the Crecy theme, I pushed the Hd forward into the Bw(X)allowing the Mongol CinC to advance his Cv under cover but to no avail as the Cv could not interpenetrate the Hd to get at the Bw and enough Hd bases remained intact to break up my chargers. It might be a worthwhile tactic with Ps. On my left, the Lh command was more than decimated by the bowmen. In the end it was my turn to be crushed - I have a lot to learn about using cavalry properly ;). However, George was able to get some shooting in with the Bw and Art In all an enjoyable evening in Southern China.
*While I have played some 6th and DBM in the past, it has always been with "whatever is in the box" - Usually Airfix plastics. Having a generous opponent with many varied armies has been a godsend. Thank You George.
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