Reviews of DBA 3.0

Below are links to 3 articles on the same blog that review different aspects of the new DBA rules, and why the authors believe it is an improved game:

Back-to-the-Dark-Ages-with-DBA-3-0/
With-hoplon-doru-hoplite-warfare-in-DBA-3-0/
DBA-3-0-Review/

Parthians vs Romans Again

Today, Bob & I played a Parthian vs Roman battle, this time using DBA 3.0. We used a modified deployment & terrain placing scheme that Bob came up with, otherwise we used the rules as written.

As you can see in the picture above, the terrain was mostly sparse, ploughed fields, a gentle hill, and a bog (dark area). I as the Romans chose a cavaly heavy army (2 x Cv + 2 x LH, 5 x Bd, 1 x 3Ax, 1 x Ps) plus a bolt shooter. Bob as the Parthians chose 3 x 4Kn, 2 x 3Bw, and 7 x LH. The Romans had all their cavalry on their right, the Parthians had their infantry on their right. Note the nifty movement sticks I made for DBA, inspired by Duke Seifried. The terrain cloth was regular material from Hobby Lobby.

Both the Romans and Parthians shifted troops to the Roman left to fight in the ploughed area there. The Parthians moved their cataphracts towards the Roman right, where the Roman cavalry was.

In this photo, you can see that that Parthia attack on the Roman left has failed. One Bow was destroyed, along with 3 Light Horse (one was destroyed by the Roman Bolt shooter on the hill). This broke the Parthians.

This photo shows the start of game 2, I had the Parthians this time & Bob had the Romans. Bob chose 2 more 3Ax instead of LH for his army, the Parthians stayed the same. The terrain was even more open: ploughed fields and brush areas. The Romans moved their cavalry on the right towards the Parthians, and moved their Auxilia on the left, where Parthian archers were out in the open.

This photo shows the aftermath of the infantry battle on the Parthian right; all the Parthia infantry was destroyed by the Roman Auxilia, in spite of Light Horse reinforcements by the Parthians. The Parthians also lost 2 Light Horse units on each flank, which doomed them to defeat again.

Lessons Learned: Parthian infantry is too vulnerable, & should only be used if they can be planted in bad going, where their survival rate is improved. In both games, the infantry made up half of the Parthian losses. In game 1, we had an unusual situation where Light Horse in 2 ranks got a flee result in combat: the front rank Light Horse has to turn 180 according to the rules, then move straight back one tactical move. However, the second rank light horse prevented the fleeing horse from moving or interpenetrating. The result was death to the front rank light horse since it had no where to go. Unless we mis-interpreted the rules, this seems to be the correct result. Also as Parthians, Bob & I failed to really exploit the Parthian movement advantages; we have more to learn on how to use this army.

The Parthian Cataphract commander. Note that these Old Glory Parthians are mounted 3 to a stand instead of 4, as the figures are just too big to fit 4 across per the rules.

The victorious Roman Legions.

Hopefully by our next game, the camps & terrain will looked improved.

Romans vs Gauls (Julius Caesar Period) , DBA 3.0 Armies in 25mm

While I have plenty of armies available to play the DBA 3.0 wargame rules in 15mm, I now have some 25mm armies to play with. Below are photos of my Romans & Gauls, just a portion of what I have to use. The armies in each photo (painted by Al Hulton) include optional bases that the army list allows. I also have enough to do Big Battle DBA with these armies, which is triple sized what you see in the photos. I now have to make some suitable camps for each army, and a couple of built-up areas to use in the games. A palisaded camp with ditches around it would be suitable for either army, or a fort on a hill as at the Battle of Alesia.

Pontus vs Rome: Big Battle DBA 3.0

Last Wednesday, Mr. Bob (Pavlik) & I had a Big Battle DBA game. One advantage of retirement is you can play during a weekday. 

DBA is a game designed for armies containing 12 elements or bases of troops per side, sort of like a chess game. Big Battle DBA is a larger game using 3 times the number of troops on a larger playing area. Bob chose to be Mithridates of Pontus, while I chose to play Marius of Rome.

We used the 3.0 version of the DBA rules for the first time. For those unfamiliar with 3.0, the following is a summary of the major changes from the previous versions of the rules:

• There are now certain troops classified as "fast" while most others are "solid." Fast troops move faster for their type, but are more fragile in combat (they lose when a tie is rolled). We didn't use any in our game.
• Subsequent (multiple) tactical moves are only allowed to Light Horse, Psiloi, and troops on a road.
• Built up Areas (towns) have more extensive rules, with some armies having the option to have them instead of a camp. We didn't use one in our game.
• Movement has been simplified slightly and is by "Base-widths" (BW), the actual width of the troop stand is the unit of measurement.  
• Rear support is now only allowed to Pikes, Warbands, Light Horse, and certain types of double based elements.
• Flank support is allowed to Spears and Bows if certain types of troops are side-by-side on their flank, such as other Spears and Blades.
• Psiloi now cannot be overlapped with corner contact by other troop types.
• A couple of the troop combat factors and combat results have been slightly changed (I can't remember which ones, probably due to senility).
• Pikes and Blades must now pursue any recoiled or destroyed infantry opponent except Psiloi.

In Big Battle DBA, you divide your 36 element army into 3 commands of at least 6 elements, each commanded by a general. After deployment, each commander decides which command will always get the "high" die, and which will get the "low" die. This represents your pre-battle planning, as the "high" die gets more movement impulses.

Above, the Roman Army of Marius is deployed on the left, the Pontic Army of Mithridates is on the right. We waived the use of camps for each army. I have the draft of DBA 3.0 on my Kindle, upper left, along with a Leinenkugel.

Mithridates opened the battle by hurling his Scythed Chariots (the "Fire & Forget" weapon of antiquity) at the Roman left, running into a wall of immovable Legionaries. The Legionaries cut them down.

On the Roman right flank, Marius' Mercenary German Cavalry and Spanish Scutari engaged in a back and forth fight with the Thracian Peltasts and Pontic Theurophori.

In the Center, the Pontic Pike Phalanx crashed into the Legionary center and a vicious back and forth engagement began. The new pursuit rules meant the Pikes and Legionaries have to pursue when they recoil or destroy an infantry opponent, which quickly created an uneven battle line. Off the photo to the right, below, the Pontic left flank command broke and what troops couldn't be held by pips routed away.

The battle ended when on the same turn, the Phalanx in the center defeated the Roman center command, killing enough elements to cause the removal of the entire command. The Pontic Heavy Cavalry killed the Roman left flank general, with additional losses causing that command to break as well. Pontus won the battle against Rome, 2-1.

Post Mortem: Bob liked the game & the win, the food, & the beer. He was concerned that DBA 3.0 may be too complex for old guys to remember the changes. I believe the number of changes are not that great, the main body of the rules is basically the same, and that old guys should be able to comprehend the rules after a few games.

Ancient Armies

I've been retired for a few months and started working on touching up some of my miniatures. I started with my 15mm Ancients collection. With the miniatures I own, I can field the following armies: Alexandrian Macedonian, Later Achaemenid Persian, Marian Roman, Pontic, and numerous Successors of Alexander armies.

The Alexanderian Macedonian Army and Later Achaemenid Persian Army on my dining room table. The miniatures are 15mm by Essex.

King Darius is in his chariot behind the Persian Guard. The Persian massed Levy is in the rear. Darius wasn't known for "leading from the front," but his army was rather glorious.

Alexander's Army. Note Alexander leading his Royal Companion cavalry on his famous white horse Bucephalus (lower left, second group from the bottom, just behind the Agrianian light infantry). I just re-mounted the Companions in wedge formation (their preferred fighting formation) on 40mm bases per the DBMM rules. The Macedonian mobile baggage train is at the rear.

Another view of the Persian host. I'm touching up the armies as I set them up on the table (fixing broken spears, bases, etc. Note the scythed chariots need scythes!).

The consideration now is: what rules should I use to fight the battle? I have DBA, DBM, DBMM, Armati 2, Tactica, Field of Glory, and Neil Thomas' "Ancient & Medieval Wargaming" rules.

Miss Kitty wants to play too!