We continued our DBA campaign of First Man in Rome. The score at the end of the first round was me as Roman, 12 points, Tom as enemy 10, Bill as enemy 1.
Tom took his turn as Roman. First he defended against Bill's Carthaginians. The dice determined that Bill deployed behind a river. His first attempt to cross found it deep and swift, making crossing difficult. Tom immediately began marching across the board. Bill made a couple of abortive attempts to cross. Then he wasted some high pip rolls rearranging his line behind the river, while the Romans kept closing the distance at 200 paces a turn. As they drew near, he managed to get a double-ranked group of spears across the stream. The Romans charged and threw them back. The lead unit was wiped out when they recoiled into the river. Bill now sent elephants into the river, where they fought a tie with Roman velites lining the bank. This continued until the velites were driven back. Tom put a spear unit forward with velites behind in support. He rolled six, Bill rolled one and the spears died. We erred – the velites should have died too. A later check of the rules proved this. The fight along the river continued. An elephant was wiped out, then the other and a warband was slain. Tom won the game 4-1 for a score of 6. Bill scored 1, revised up to 2.
Tom next invaded Gaul. I set up two woods and two gentle hills, looking to fight on a constricted front with double-ranked warriors. Tom marched forward and I advanced to meet him. He began to flank my right. My warriors charged in the center. Tom shoved my right back and killed a cavalry squadron. But the rush of warriors in the center combined with anemic dice did him in. I won 5-2. I scored 7 as an enemy; Tom added 2 to his Roman score. His run at Roman was over and with it the second round.
Rick (who missed last week's session) now started the third round by taking his turn as Roman. He was promptly invaded by Bill's Carthaginians. The dice put the Romans behind a river. Bill advanced in several groups while Rick re-arranged his line behind the river. Bill then decided to test the river with his Numidian light horse, who found it a muddy rivulet of no importance. Rick continued to dress his ranks behind the river. Bill began deploying his groups into battle formation. Rick realized that Bill's general was behind a group of elephants. He suddenly charged across the river. Using supported spears and overlaps, he drove the elephants back. Tom and I now first realized the general was behind the elephants. That unfortunate was trampled into grape jelly by jumbo and Rick won 1(G) – 0. He scored 5 points as a Roman for this quick victory.
He then defended against my Gallic horde. He put a river down. It ran from my left to his right. He deployed entirely to his right of the river, including his camp. The Romans formed in a large column. I deployed my foot warriors to the left of the river in double ranks and my cavalry and foot skirmishers just right of the river. I figured to drive down the bank with the foot warriors and seal him in with the cavalry. On my first turn the foot skirmishers forded the river, finding it a moderate obstacle. On came my warriors as the Romans began deploying into line. The Roman cavalry refused their left flank, lining the river bank. Then my warriors charged the legionaries. One double ranked group of warriors went down under Roman swords. Another group trampled a cohort. The victorious cohort wheeled and fell on their flank. They turned to face but were driven back. The rear warrior group had nowhere to retreat and was slain. I was nearly out. The situation was extremely chaotic, with no organized front line. Another turn saw my warriors wipe out another cohort. But an attempt to flank a group of skirmishers failed with a low roll. The flanking force didn't have enough room to retreat and Rick had won 4-2. He scored 6 as Roman while I got 2 for an enemy. It was almost 9:30 (we started before 7) so we called it a night. Rick will end the second round next week when his Romans face the Parthians.
Scores so far are Romans: Vincent 12 (lead Roman), Rick 11 and Tom 8.
Enemies: Tom 10 (lead Enemy), Vincent 9 and Bill 3.
Once Rick's last Roman game is over Bill will take his turn. I figure Bill has had the Carthaginians too often and deserves a shot with the Parthians next. We decided any tie for First Man in Rome will be solved by a Roman Civil War battle, and a tie among enemies will be solved by a Carthage vs. Gallic fight.
This short DBA campaign is a lot of fun. As the club campaign scorekeeper, I find it even easier to run than the campaign in the rulebook. Unlike the book campaign, the leader from the last session does not get jumped by everyone, since there is no political dimension. It has us thinking of other periods as well, like the fall of Rome and perhaps Mongol conquest. Who knows, maybe we'll even try a DBN campaign with the French against the 1805 Austrians, 1806 Prussians, 1807 Russians and Peninsular British.
