Guys:
Last night, My friend, Mike and I played a 240 point game of DBMM 2, with mike using his Hunnic Army against my Sassanid Persian Army. Since this is considered a mini-game, We played on a 4' x 3' table, with the terrain pieces being smaller and you get to choose fewer of them as well.
The Huns were the attackers and since they were going to be an all mounted army and mostly of light cavalry,Lh(S), I decided as the defender, to take a lot of terrain and try to shorten the width of the table even further. I chose two Marshes, which luckily were placed on my left and a gentle hill and enclosed field, were placed on my base edge on the right, so I really got the terrain.
With that said, I am still struggling with composing my commands with the right mix of troop types, as when I had to set up, my commands were not the right mix for the terrain deployed on the table.
I also continue to deploy poorly and always string out my army to cover as much space, which doesn't give me a reserve or second rank of units/stands, which is what happened last night. I deployed first, which I did across the battlefield, between the terrain features. Mike deployed his Huns next and very smartly, deployed them all against one of my flank divisions.
My army was divided into three divisions, with the two wing divisions composed of 5 x Cv(S), 4 x Lh(F) and 2 x PsO). The center division had 3 x El(O), 1 x Ax(S),
7 x Hd(O) and 4 x Ps(O) all three general were Cv(S). my baggage camp was deployed behind my center.
Mike's army was deployed in two divisions, One division had 17 x Lh(S) and the other 15 x Lh(S), as well as 3 x Cv(O). Both his generals were Cv(O) and his baggage was deployed behind his left most division, where he was going to attack.
We made a mistake, as The Huns moved first, but I should have gotten the first bound, as I set up first. Any way, Mike attacked against my right most division with two groups of Lh(S), each of 6 x stands against my 4 x Lh(F) and another group 5 x Lh(S) against my Cv(S). Right away, I realized that I had clearly made a mistake with my setup and had to little on that flank to oppose him. In my turn, I tried to move more stands to that flank, but as he had pinned all my stands from my right wing, it was very difficult to do much about his advantage.
His next turn, he hit my right with a lot of his Lh(S) and he destroyed two of my Lh(F), which are no match for his SUPERIOR light cavalry. he also attacked straight up against my heavy cavalry,(Cv(S) and he held his own, only losing one stand of Lh(S) and destroying one of my Cv(S). In DBMM, Superior Lh can attack heavy cavalry and win, which is one of the things I like best about DBMM, so an army like Huns and Mongols are very effective, if used properly.
My main attack was with my left flank division, as well as the elephants in the center, but with average PiP dice, coupled with the Huns staying back with hsi right most division, my progress was slow and it was apparent that the battle was going to be decided on my right/his left, which it was.
On the next Hunnic turn, mike continued to attack with his left most division, but was less successful, getting poor attack dice, as well as low PiP dice. This allowed me on my next turn, getting good PiP dice, to attack with both my Cv(S) and Lh(F) against his Lh(S), with me killing two of his Lh(S) and he killed one of my Cv(S) stands. During the next Hunnic turn, Mike continued his attacks with both sides losing several stands, creating a situation where both his large left division and my right division going DISHEARTENED.
For those of you not familiar with that term, in DBMM, it is represented when more then 25% of stands, in a division are lost and is reflected by all stands becoming SHAKEN. Shaken stands cost extra PiP's to move, as well as suffering a -1 in combat. Generals and Elite units in those divisions DO NOT become DISHEARTENED. My Cv(S) are Elite, so ignore the effects of Shaken, so most of my units were able to carry on.
During the next turn, both our wings were one stand away from becoming DEMORALIZED, which is reached when over 33% casualties are suffered in that division. Mike attacked with several Lh(S) and had a combat where he hit one of my units, both in front and on the flank, which is termed "flanked". If his factor is just one point above mine, I am destroyed. In the ensuing combat, I rolled a 4 and he rolled a 1, forcing his two stands to retreat. On my next turn, I flanked his stand and won the melee and destroyed his stand, thereby, demoralizing his division.
At that point, over 50% of the stands in his army had either been destroyed or were in a broken division, thereby, breaking the Hunnic Army. That was the game, which I must say, was the most enjoyable game I have played in a while.
Winning really didn't have much to do with that, as the game played out so well and these rules both reflect what I FEEL an ancients battle should look like, as well as play. IMHO.
I know we probably made several mistakes, but that will change as we play more games. The bottom line is that the DBMM rules give a good feel of how an army moves, struggles to move and fights. in most ancients rules, all units can just move about as they choose, but that is not the case in DBMM, which is what I like about the rules.
The Huns are a very dangerous opponent, as they are fast and being Lh(S), are able to attack most opposing armies, so a l;ot of care needs to be taken when fighting against them. The Sassanid Persians are also good, but are required to take a lot of Heavy Cavalry, Cv(S),(20 stands)at 9 pts per, so their options for a lot of other stuff is limited. However, they can have up to 6 elephants, 8 x lt cav, and a mix of infantry, including a number of stands of Horde,Hd(O), which are cheap and can increase the size of your army. however, that can be very vulnerable to good infantry and cavalry, so must be deployed and moved very carefully.
That's it for now,
Lou
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takes a look at flexible roads made from long-lasting flexible resin.
