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Xenophon's Ghost covers military history and wargaming from the ancient period to modern times.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Two DBA Duels

Ryan and I met Jeff today and played two DBA 2.2 games.  As he works on his painting, Ryan has assembled a Thessalian army from my Spartans and extra Macedonian figures.

Late Thessalians (II/5d) versus Galatians (II/30a)

Thessalians on the Left: Psiloi supporting Hoplites


Ryan played the first game against Jeff's recently painted Galatians.  This matchup turned into a slug fest between the two infantry lines.  Jeff had sore luck with the dice.





Jeff moved a Cavalry around Ryan's flank, placing the supporting Psiloi in its Zone of Control (ZOC).  This move prevented it from moving forward in the contact with the Warband line.











Jeff opened up the attacks on his right flank, using a Scythed Chariot to turn a Thessalian Cavalry element.  He lost the bout.













After the lines met, Ryan used his cavalry to flank a Warband, killing it.


The game quickly ended as the Spears outmatched the Warbands, resulting in four elements lost in the first round of melee.

Final Result: 4 Galatian Losses to 0 Thessalians

Demetrios Early Successor (II/16b) versus New Kingdom Egyptians (I//22)

I have not had any luck with my Macedonian Morph army yet.  I continue to under-utilize my Pike.  For this game, I decided to try a list with an Artillery element.  Jeff, always the good sport, tipped me to several weaknesses in my initial deployment that could have cost me the game right away.  I still made a few key mistakes as the game progressed.  Two elements were often out of command range, and my artillery "pinched" my line, preventing me from using my Knight (Gen) and Elephant.

I pivoted my artillery in order to fire on the line, but the placement along a waterway resulted in a bunching up of units.  I also placed my Pikes are risk of recoiling into the Elephant.  Fortunately, I had a millimeter to spare in the recoil, which happened right away thanks to accurate Bow shooting by the Egyptians.


We fought several rounds of melee between the Pikes and the Egyptian line, composed of Blades and Bows.  Units would recoil or lock, but it was slow going in terms of kills.


I didn't get photos of the action on my right flank, but Jeff effectively kept my LH and one Aux tied up with a Bow element and supporting Cavalry.  The Bow continued to force the Light Horse to recoil.

I rolled low PIPs many times.  During the last round, I moved my artillery forward to shoot at two Cavalry lurking back near the camp.  Moving too far forward, the artillery was killed in close combat by the Cav in the next turn.  Jeff finally killed one of my Cav that covered the Pike's right flank.  Soon after, he turned my flank and took out three Pike elements.

Result: Five Demetrian Losses to 0 NKE Losses. Ouch!



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