Game 2 at Devizes
Game 2 was against Steve the Umpire - which was a great benefit as it meant I might learn some more of the rules!
He was using Dacians =- a favourite DBM army of mine - which had:
- A huge mass (8, 10 ??) of warband (3 attack, no save)
- 3 units of Falxmen (4 attacks, ?)
- 4 units of archers
- 2 units of Sarmation shock cavalry (4 attacks, save on 5+, shock based)
- 2 units of Sarmation skirmish cavalry (2 attacks, save on 6)
Again the pre-set terrain left us with a gap down the middle - I again chose to skirmish on my left flank where masses of archers backed up with warband were advancing on my, and send my elite cavalry, elephants and skirmish cavalry down the middle.
The game played out with the Dacian infantry decimating my skirmish cavalry in the initial volleys on my left, leading me to then pull them out of combat for the rest of the game whilst the Dacians struggled with C&C to catch them. Other warband sat unenthusiastically at the rear wondering what to do - or more precisely, worried by my elephants and shock cavalry.
.
In the middle my 2 attack skirmish cavalry pushed up supported by spearmen and played cat and mouse with the Dacian infantry, whilst the Sarmations watched cautiously from a flank position.
My light horse found themselves almost unopposed in the middle against Dacian foot who were reluctant to advance, and pushed forward safe in the knowledge they coudl always evade.
With the Dacians still paralyzed by poor command dice I advanced the whole army, but still was worried by the Sarmatians
Eventually I teed up a light horse charge on a unit of warband who had allowed themselves to get isolated - but failed to destroy them, leaving my skirmishers hung out to dry and unable to retreat back to safety.
This galvanized the Sarmations who swept across the field and joined the melee and racing boldly across the front of my line, proved just what a multiple move system can do to the concept of protected flanks
!
Ignoring my spearmen, they charged the flank of my advanced warband unit which totally exploded in one turn.
They then charged on again - all this in the same turn - but this time my warband were slightly tougher, and they failed to kill them all. This left the Sarmatians falling back... into range (40cm is a long way) of my own Elephants and shock cavalry - who proceeded to charge home and obliterate the Sarmatian nobility in my next turn.
I now had the mastery of the field - with my two rather battered units of shock troops.
But even when reduced down to 2 x 2 bases, my elephants and shock cavalry were far better than the Dacian foot. A devastating combination of charges unleashed itself, with the elephants and cavalry resolving combats and exploding their enemies first, which allowed them to pursue into the flanks of a number of combats taking place that turn, and fight again, causing the surprised and immobile Dacian warband units who had though they were just fighting normal foot in a straight fight to find themselves flanked by charging elephants - and to then evaporate against the overwhelming attacks.
After this it was a mopping up operation to nail the required units to tip the Dacians over half way.
In the game everything had happened in only 2 turns - which, with pursuit attacks after exploded enemies, had meant some units had fought 8, 12 or sometimes 16 consecutive rounds of combat after the initial Sarmation charge !!
Breaking the enemy meant I had expected to score a full 1000 points or similar, but the scoring system surprised me, as despite breaking the enemy army I only scored points for the units I had killed - plus the total for the generals in the Dacian army. It still put me top of the table!!
For the report on game 3 click there!
or here for my bookshop of Warmaster Ancients Armies
