HMGS Midwest Game Night-Giant DBA AAR

HMGS Midwest has a monthly game night at "Games Plus" in Mount Prospect IL. I ran a Giant DBA 3.0 game for this month's April Game Night.

While regular DBA uses 12 elements for each army, Giant DBA uses 4 or more commands of 12 elements each to make up a large army for a Giant DBA game. This game was a Marian Roman vs Gaul battle using a total of 48 elements of troops within 4 commands in each army. There were 8 players, only one of which had played DBA before (a DBMM player), though some had an idea of how DBA worked. I went over the rules and changes to previous DBA versions with the players, who seemed to understand the game concepts fairly easily. The Gauls won the die roll and found themselves as attackers. The Romans were the defenders and set-up first, followed by the Gauls deploying. The Romans then took the first bound. Army composition was as follows:

Marian Romans:

6 x Cavalry

2 x Light Horse

32 x Blades

8 x Psiloi

Gauls:

10 x Cavalry

34 x Warband

4 x Psiloi

Above shows the deployment of both armies before turn 1. There are 4 plough, 1 scrub, and 2 woods terrain pieces in the photo. The plough was good going for the battle. The Romans deployed first on the left in the photo, splitting their cavalry and psiloi among the 2 flank commands. Also note the Romans deployed their blades in 2 ranks (which does not provide any combat benefit), along with most of their army. This had the effect of shortening the Roman frontage. As the attackers, the Gauls countered the Roman deployment by refusing their left flank near the central woods in their rear, and massing all their cavalry in their right flank command. The Gauls were double ranked to get the +1 "2nd rank" bonus against enemy infantry.  The table was 10' x 6'. Ground cover is an indoor/outdoor carpet remnant, highlighted with spray paint.

Above is on turn 2, as the Romans are aggressively moving forward. Note that the Roman psiloi at the bottom right of the photo have made subsequent moves on the first bound to reach the point where they are. At the top of the photo, the massed Gaul cavalry is ominously lumbering forward towards the Roman left flank. 

 Above shows the area of the first close combats of the game, as the far right Gaul infantry command engages the left flank of the Roman Legionaries. Note the center Gaul infantry command (left side of photo) is just out of reach, while the Roman left flank cavalry/psiloi command are at the top right of the photo, waiting as the Gaul cavalry approach them off the screen to the right. This part of the battlefield saw most of the fighting. 

A point came up in this area in a later bound regarding a group move making a double wheel. The latest DBA FAQ allows such a move. The FAQ can be found here:
https://ancientwargaming.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/dba_faq.pdf

Above shows the right flank Gaul cavalry and infantry pressing forward to turn the Roman left, the infantry is actually closer than the cavalry. At this point, 2 Roman and 1 Gaul commands have taken critical infantry casualties (3 elements or 25% casualties each).  The Roman right flank has not made much progress towards the Gallic left, which has a gap between it and the woods in the rear.

Above shows the end of the game. 2 Roman left flank commands have become demoralized, while one Gaul command is demoralized. As 50% of the Roman army is lost or in a demoralized command and the Romans have taken more casualties this bound than the Gauls, the game ends with a Gaul victory. The Romans never quite reached the Gaul left flank, and the massed Gaul cavalry never hit the Roman left (although it certainly influenced the Roman movement there) before the battle ended. Hard fighting Gaul warbands won this game. 

Our DBA friends in New Zealand should note we are using their DBA playsheet found here:
https://ancientwargaming.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/dba3_qrs.pdf

The players seemed to enjoy themselves, the rules, and the fact that the game was fast and decisive (about 1.5 hrs). 

Hydaspes 326 BC - The Dining Room Table Version Part 2

In part 1 (click here), the initial re-fight of Hydaspes using DBA 3.0 turned out to be a disaster for Alexander & the Macedonians. A second attempt to re-fight the battle was made to see if we could get different results.

 Above is the initial deployment. The Macedonians have placed the Companions on their left flank, the light cavalry and infantry on the right, with pikes in the center. The Indians have their longbows in the center, an elephant, heavy chariot, cavalry, and auxilia infantry on the right, with 2 elephants, the other heavy chariot & cavalry, and a psiloi on the left. Note the home-made movement stick.

 The early stages of the battle find the Indians aggressively attacking with their left against the light troops of the Macedonian right. The Macedonians have already lost a psiloi element to the heavy chariot. On the Macedonian left, Alexander and the Companions have drifted off to the left by themselves, but this does not seem to be a promising position for them.

 As the battle further develops, the Indians have destroyed the Thracian auxilia with one elephant while the other has destroyed the Asiatic light horse and forced the Macedonian pike phalanx to face right to meet the threat. Meanwhile, the Companions (the Macedonian shock force) are not really doing anything. The Indians are winning 3 to 0. It should be noted that if the pikes can recoil the elephant they are fighting, it will result in the destruction of both it and the elephant element behind. An opportunity exists for the Macedonians.

Above is the view at the end of the battle. Unfortunately for the Macedonians, the left flank Indian elephants were able to dodge destruction and survive. The far elephant wrapped around to fight the phalanx straight up. The Macedonians lost their last psiloi in the woods above. This resulted in another victory for King Porus 4 to 0. Alexander and the Companions were in basically the same position for the entire battle, where they couldn't effect anything. The center/right of the Indian line basically did nothing either, as King Porus used all the command pips for the left flank troops.

In the actual battle, Alexander massed most of his cavalry and attacked the Indian left, consisting of chariots and cavalry, avoiding the elephants. The phalanx moved forward and engaged the elephants and infantry. 

Hydaspes 326 BC - The Dining Room Table Version Part 1

The Society of Ancients (SOA) is an organization of history and wargame buffs who enjoy ancient military history. SOA has a yearly Battle Day, where they encourage their membership to re-fight a particular battle from antiquity and report on the results. This year's Battle Day was March 28, and the battle to be re-fought was from 326 BC called Hydaspes; Alexander and his Macedonians versus King Porus and his Indian army.

An account of the battle of Hydaspes can be found at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Hydaspes

Another very good source of information is the book by General JFC Fuller: "The Generalship of Alexander the Great. "(De Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80371-0)

A map of the battle is below:

Bob & I decided to celebrate Battle Day with our own version of Hydaspes using DBA 3.0. We would alternate commands after the first game & see which army performed better.

Above is the Macedonian army. From L-R, 2 elements of Companions, Alexander is leading one of them. The element in front of Alex are the Agrianian Light Infantry skirmishers (Psiloi). The Pike Phalanx includes the Hypaspists (elite troops, blue shields) and the Pezeratoi (red & bronze shields), who were the backbone of Alexanders infantry. Thracian Peltasts and Cretan archers are on the right, with Asiatic Light Horse behind. This order of battle is slightly modified from the DBA 3.0 army list, as we replaced the Artillery or Elephant (neither of which fought at Hydaspes) with the Cretan Archers. Upon further review, another element of light horse might have been more appropriate.

Above is the Indian Army of King Porus. From L-R, elements of auxilia & psiloi, heavy chariot & cavalry behind, longbows & war elephants x 3, another heavy chariot and cavalry behind. All miniatures are 15mm by Essex.

Above shows our initial deployment for the first game. The Hydaspes battlefield didn't have much in the way of terrain. Bob & I went with woods on the far edges of both battlefield flanks. Even this may have been too much.

Above shows the situation after turn 2. The Macedonians are angling right as they did historically, the Companions supported by psiloi and the Hypaspists. In the real battle, Alexander massed all his cavalry on the right and attacked the Indian left flank of chariots & cavalry, leaving the infantry behind. Also, the Indians in the actual battle had a line of elephants in front of their infantry, not interspersed as above.

Part of the Companions & a line of psiloi advance towards the enemy.

Another view of the battle.

Alexander has destroyed the left flank Indian cavalry and is battling the heavy chariot. The Indians have deployed their 2 of their longbows into firing positions in front of the elephants. 

Alexander has rallied & brought up a psiloi element to assist the Companions against the heavy chariot. The Indian longbows are maneuvering for a better shot.

The Indians are counterattacking, charging Alexander's unit with a war elephant while the adjacent Companion unit is fighting the Indian heavy chariot, supported by a psiloi. The Indian longbows have destroyed a Hypaspist pike element by bow fire. The right flank Indian cavalry and chariot are attacking the Macedonian left flank. If Alexander is recoiled, he and his unit will be destroyed by the elephant.

The battle continues. Alexander's unit has recoiled the elephant, but must pursue and maintain contact and risk of destruction. At this point, there is no way the Macedonian player can support Alexander's unit. The other Companion unit has recoiled the heavy chariot. A single rank of Macedonian pikes are closing on the Indian longbows, while the second rank holds back. The Asiatic light horse on the Macedonian left are recoiling from the heavy chariot. The Indians are winning 2 elements to 1.

This is the view at the end of the battle. Alexander's element was recoiled & destroyed by the elephant, while the left flank Asiatic light horse was destroyed by the heavy chariot, supported by cavalry.

The main lesson of this battle: don't use Alexander's knight element to fight elephants.