The Corlears Hook Fencibles played DBA last night using three different armies. Rick fielded Venetian Condottiere, Tom had the Holy Roman Empire (Medieval German circa 1400) and I had my brand-new Late Swiss. We didn't play an actual campaign – we need all five members present to start the campaign – but we kept track of prestige points as if it were a campaign. Casualties were not carried over and dice determined the strategic attacker. All troops on the table were Mirliton figures, so the games liked very nice.
Tom fought Rick's Venetians in the first game. As the Venetians closed, Tom attacked in the center with his knights, leading to a confused scrum. The Imperial general plunged deep into the Venetian ranks, with German infantry struggling forward to cover the general's left flank. I couldn't find my Medieval French music and put on Orff's Carmina Burana instead. As Fortuna welled up, Rick's dice became super-heated. His general wiped out a squadron of knights, his other knights trampled two spear units and he also nailed another unit (I forget what) for a 4-0 victory, earning 4 prestige points.
His reward was being attacked by my Swiss. There was a wooded area on my left and two gentle hills on my center and right. Since Rick had light horse I left my artillery in camp. I formed the pikes up in two ranks with halberds to their right and sent my skirmishers off towards the woods. Rick moved some knights towards my right. I countered by wheeling the pikes to my right. Rick rolled high pips and the knights fell back in order. All I needed to advance in order was 1 pip while Rick needed lots of pips to withdraw in good order. On came the forest of pikes. On the other flank both groups of skirmishers were out of command radius and just watched each other. One keil of pikes mounted the center hill and saw lots of Imperial infantry and some knights. The rest of the pikes mounted the hill on my right and saw a mass of knights and light horse A squadron of Venetian knights charged them in the flank while another hit them from the front. The knights were over-lapped by pikes so their factor was 2. The double-ranked pikes were flanked so their factor was 6. A low dice roll from me saw the knights driven back. The other pikes, led by their governing committee, swept down the hill into a line of Venetian knights. Poor dice saw the knights driven back but not killed. On the central hill my two pike units formed a single rank.
The knights attacked the flank of my main pike keil again and this time managed a tie. At the central hill a unit of Venetian crossbows attacked a pike unit in the flank. With no opponent to their front, the pikes turned to meet the crossbows. Uphill, they were 5 to the crossbows' 2 and easily wiped them out. The main pike group surged forward again and with a high die roll killed the Venetian general. The Venetian army called it quits. I lost a unit somewhere in the fuss but don't recall where or when. The Swiss won 2G-1, for a score of 3 prestige points.
Tom's Imperial army defended against the rampaging Swiss. Noting how the pikes had treated Rick's knights he deployed with infantry in front and knights behind, his right flank anchored on woods. I deployed my forces in one group that included the artillery and left my camp garrisoned by camp-followers. Tom swapped a couple elements and put two squadrons of knights on his left. Forward came the Swiss. Tom's knights now formed a column that began heading around the woods to my right. As I continued heading for his infantry I detached the halberdiers into the woods. The knights ignored them and continued around my right, headed for my camp. I wished I'd left the artillery in the camp. A low pip roll saw the guns unable to keep up with the pikes. As the pikes got within striking distance, the Swiss artillery managed to get into range of the enemy line. The Imperial knights had ridden past the woods and were bearing down on the camp. As my pikes charged, the crescendo of the Carmina Burana was playing. I couldn't have planned it better. The knights surged into the camp on the first rush, looting our stocks of chocolate and watches. But the Imperials needed one more kill to put us out of the game. The Swiss guns chased a unit of skirmishers out of the line and the swarm of pikes closed with the Imperial pikes and spears. Some crappy dice saw my force repulsed in places, but Tom was in trouble. His knights and general were far, far away and needed two pips to move any infantry. My Swiss were all at the point of contact, including the governing committee. So I had a huge advantage. The knights began riding back towards the main fight. But after several turns my dice heated up and the Imperial infantry began to die. A unit of Imperial skirmishers advanced and menaced my artillery. My skirmishers used their handguns as clubs and bludgeoned them to the ground. It was a 4-3 victory, giving me 1 prestige point for a total of 4. The Imperial knights had looted my camp while my keils defeated the Imperial infantry.
Rick defended one more time against the Swiss, aided by Tom's advice. He formed two deep masses, infantry on his right and knights on the left. I formed up facing them with skirmishers on the right of my central pike block and halberdiers on the left. The artillery was left in the camp. On I came. Rick wheeled to his right and his light horse surged around my left flank. As I got closer it became clear he was attempting to pass his whole army around my left. The light horse got within cannon shot of the camp and one of the two squadrons was promptly blown away by the guns. The other charged and fled from the fight. But they soon rallied and charged again. The guns proved incapable of killing this last group.
In the center I got close enough to the left-flank squadron of knights and they halted to face me. Everything else managed to get past my left flank. The Swiss charged this group of knights, who recoiled before them. Two squadrons of knights now rode hard for my camp while others wheeled and charged my halberdiers, who just managed to repulse them. Here I screwed up. I pulled the pike block apart, sending some towards the Imperial camp, others chasing that lone squadron, and others wheeling left to face the flank threat. I should probably have gone on in a single block to sack the enemy camp. The loss of the camp added to the existing Venetian losses would have broken them. My halberdiers were ridden down by a renewed charge. The lone squadron of knights in front of me was wiped out. Venetian spearmen forced back a unit of pikes – who had nowhere to go, due to the disordered Swiss line. The fight turned into a confused melee which was to the advantage of the Venetians. The light horse kept attacking the camp and being driven off, while the knights drew closer. Meanwhile two units of pikes bore down on the Venetian camp. Then each side lost another stand and the game went to the Venetians 4-3. This last game produced a lot of laughter as both armies swept past each other's left flank. It was also mighty exciting.
We had played 4 games in two and a half hours. Rick (Venice) led the way with 5 prestige points. He'd lost 7 units in 3 battles. I was second with 4 prestige points and lost 8 units in 3 battles. Tom had no prestige points, since he didn't win a battle and lost 8 units in two battles. We had a hoot and talked about how DBA sometimes led players to make the sort of mistakes we disdain in actual commanders. Hopefully we'll get the whole crew together to start our campaign soon. I was pleased that my brand-new Swiss army won their first two games. The defeat in the third game has me thinking about how not to use them.
