The first two tries locked up – here goes 3.
We tried the First Man in Rome campaign moved to Mongolia. Each player would take a run with the Mongol Conquest DBA army, first against the Sung Chinese, then the Rus and last the Teutonic Knights. It was a short campaign, settled in one night. Horse archer armies don't fare well in DBA and no Mongol player managed to get past the Sung.
First Tom took a run with the Mongols against Bill's Sung. Bill forgot to put two of his halberdier units on the table, fighting with only 10 stands. He also forgot to shoot his bows several times in the game. But he deployed all of his archers and that was enough. Tom was hamstrung by my less than complete QRS. The Mongols were soon beaten 4 – 1. Tom had 1 point as Mongol, Bill 6 points as Mongol enemy.
Then Bill tried his luck with the Mongols. I had the Sung and put down the maximum number of woods and steep hills allowed. A column of Mongol light horse moved across my front. I advanced with archers and shot two of them dead. The Mongols recoiled and reorganized. They finally came forward again and I shot two more. The game was over 4 – 0. Bill had zip as Mongol and I had 6 as Mongol foe.
Now I took the Mongols against Rick's Sung. I went with the option to trade a light horse unit for a rocket artillery unit, hoping this would suppress the Chinese crossbows. I had the usual flanking moves by the swift light horse while I hauled the rocket artillery into range of the Sung center. I began shooting at the enemy infantry in the woods along their center. For several turns I forgot to use the bow factor against foot and caused no losses. A probe by my light horse on the Sung left was driven back. I feinted to the other flank. The Mongol rockets drove the Sung rockets back several times – Rick's dice were cold. Then my rockets nailed a skirmisher unit. Remembering the weak bow factor against foot, I nailed a bow unit. I could see light at the end of the tunnel. It was an oncoming train. Rick switched dice and his rockets blew up my rocket artillery. Bow units in the woods cut down two of my cavalry units. I charged around his left. A unit of light horse rode down his artillery. His general led two units of Chinese cavalry against my light horse and killed one. I was done but the turn continued. The light horse looting the Sung rocket unit was surrounded by Sung bow units in the woods and shot down. Rick won the game 5 – 3. My Mongol score was 3, Rick's enemy score was 7. This bloody game would settle the campaign.
But first Rick took his chance with the Mongols against Tom's Sung. He elected to use rocket artillery too. His light horse threatened the Sung right while his cavalry escorted the rockets up to the Sung center. Tom then advanced in the center. After a prolonged struggle, his halberdiers overran the rocket battery. The Mongols had lost 3 and the Sung 1 unit when Rick decided to throw in the towel. Rick scored 1 as a Mongol while Tom got 6 as Mongol enemy.
The third game produced both winners. I was first Man in Mongolia, having killed 3 Sung units before being defeated. It's a sad day when the best Mongolian player is defeated on the first try. Rick was the first Enemy of Mongolia, having killed 5 units in his one game as Sung for a score of 7. The evening pointed out how wimpy horse archer armies are in DBA. The Parthians do well earlier but then they are rated as having knights, giving them punch along with the fleet light horse. Mongols (and steppe Huns) float like a butterfly and sting like one too. It might be true that we could all be better players, but armies of mostly all light horse are lightweight in DBA.
Perhaps for a future such campaign (if we bother again) we could have the Mongols get +1 on the pip die, while declaring the Sung general to give no combat bonus. We could class their cavalry as knights, but that would get us more even results rather than Mongol-like behavior. It's makeshift fix. More likely we should just junk the campaign idea and have a couple games of Armati with Mongols vs. whomever. Missile power in Armati is a tad strong, perhaps too strong. Huns and Mongols shine under those rules. We just won't get 3 or 4 games done in 3 hours. Perhaps Basic Impetus should get another look, though some of our guys don't like the dicey way the cohesion tests work. You can get the kitchen sink thrown at you and ignore it if you roll a one.
