DBA Game Day

Our DBA group played a few games last weekend.  The following armies battled:

• Seleucid (Jeff)
• New Kingdom Egyptians (Rob)
• Ptolemaic (II/20d) (me)
• Kappadokian and Arab Conquest (Ryan)

Ryan and I played first. He used the Kappadokians for his first two matches, playing Arab Conquest once against Jeff's newly painted Seleucids.  Ryan had a pretty good winning streak, but he lost all his games today.  He ended up playing the attacker all three times when defense would have suited his force more.  

Ptolemaic vs. Kappadokian

I didn't take too many photos this time, but I did manage a shot of the final fight of our first match.  The Kappadokians had no rough to use to their advantage, and the battle turned into a slugging match.

Elephants force Kappadokian General to Recoil with no room

 My Ptolemaic force is littoral, but I ended up with the water to my back on two occasions.  My bout with the New Kingdom Egyptians featured two amphibious landings, with two Egyptian elements going after my camp.  I finally killed them both, beating the Egyptians 5 to 1.

The fight against Seleucids was very intense, with fights on both flanks and a Scythed Chariot that refused to die for many turns.  Jeff showed his tactical skill again, winning 5 to 1. You can see more photos of the army on his blog: http://littlehordes.blogspot.kr

Final Fight - Seleucids vs Ptolemaic

Of the numerous Successor states, I must say that I like the way the Ptolemaic list plays.  The combination of four Pikes and two Blades, plus an Elephant and some mounted, works pretty well.

Final Tally:

Army	Wins	Losses
New Kingdom Egyptians	1	2
Ptolemaic	2	1
Kappadokian	0	2
Seleucids	3	0
Arab Conquest	0	1

Seleucids Vs. Thessalians

Set-up - Seleucids defending

Ryan and I played a few games of DBA last weekend, having missed Jeff's gaming session.  I'm still trying to learn how to handle Seleucids.  Ryan mocked up Later Greek Thessalians, using his painted elements and substitutes from my Spartan and Macedonian armies.

Ryan advanced his cavalry forward early, while I tried to patiently move my line forward.  I supported the scythed chariot with my light horse and a psiloi, moving the light force on the right flank

Macedonian Knight on Left/Stand-in Thessalian Cav (Gen) on right

Ryan's calvary General advance managed to pull one Knight out of the line, in an attempt to push the mounted back and protect a psiloi from a quick kill.  The elements locked, and the other Thessalian cavalry still managed a kill on the Psiloi.

The Knight was eventually flanked and killed by other cavalry that advanced across the front.  Meanwhile, my main line was essentially squeezed out of play.

The Seleucid scythed chariot finally managed a kill - a spear element - after five or six games.  The light house provided an overlap, helping with the odds. A turn later, the light horse hooked behind the spear.  Unfortunately, I learned an important lesson the hard way: never place your light horse in a position that could cause it to flee off the board.  It did.

Ryan continued to use his cavalry to good effect, but I was able to flank and kill one cavalry element with Pike.  Of course, this broke up my main effort even more. 

I was able to clean up the ranks and advance.  My Knight General pushed back a cavalry, and I was hoping to pin it against the Thessalian spear line.  I also resumed my forward march, hoping to get the Elephants into play against the horse

BUT, the Thessalian cavalry attacked my unprotected pike flank, ending the game.

This was a close game. Thessalians killed four elements, and Seleucids killed two.  I'm slowly getting the hang of this heavy army.  For a change, we matched up Ryan's Thessalians against Later Hoplite Aitolians for the second game.  More on that wacky game in a later posting.

DBA Game Day

Jeff assembled a group of five for DBA this weekend; Ryan, Rob, Ian, and me joined Jeff who graciously arranged the location and provided terrain and game mats.  We rotated turns, with the winner continuing to play.  Jeff sat out the first round.  This was Rob's first time playing DBA in five years, but he fared well.

 The Armies 

• Kappadokians (Ryan)
• Phokians (Jeff)
• Serbian Empire (Rob)
• Palmyrans (Jeff)
• Seleucids (a) list (Dave)
• Alexandrian Imperial (Dave)
• Patrician Romans (Ian)

Game Results

The number represents the elements killed by the army.  Green shading marks the victor.

Game Results	Patrician Romans	Serbian Empire	Alexandrian Imperial	Palmyrans	Seleucids	Kappadokians	Phokians	Comments
Game 1					0	3		Seleucid Gen killed
Game 2	1	4						Serbs captured camp
Game 3						2	4	Kap Gen killed
Game 4		4	3					Nail-biter
Game 5	2			5				Palmyran Gen killed
Game 6		5				2		Close until the end
Game 7			2	4				Pikes need patience

Eye Candy

My photo coverage was uneven, but here are a few highlights.

Kappadokians vs. Seleucids

Initial deployment

Psiloi ZOCs Elephant, forcing retreat

Scythed Chariot surrounded

Serbians vs. Patrician Romans

Serbian Knights advance while Bow move into woods

Mayhem

Phokians vs. Kappadokians

Kappadokian horse fighting alone

Hand of God assists Phokians in trapping Kappadokian General

Palmyrans vs. Patrician Romans

Palmyran General fights Blades 

Kappadokians vs. Serbians

Kappadokians await Serb Attack: LH withdraws after successful raid

Palmyrans vs. Alexandrian Imperial Army

Companion Cavalry surrounded by Palmyran Bow

Final Results

In the end, all of us had a fun day of gaming in these friendly matches.  Jeff displayed his usual strong skills, and Rob played very well despite his long furlough.  Ryan is continuing to improve, and he handled this light army quite well.  Ian and I tried hard...I must be more patient with the Macedonians (or maybe it is time to play some other army that fits my desire to attack quickly better).

Player	Armies	Wins	Losses
Jeff	Phokians (1), Palmyrans (2)	3	0
Ryan	Kappadokians	1	2
Ian	Patrician Romans	0	3
Rob	Serbian Empire	3	0
Dave	Seleucids (1), Alex Imperial (2)	0	3

Amphibious Landing Disaster

Ryan and I got in a quick game of DBA tonight.  He played the Seleucids, and I played the Ptolemaic army.  It was quick because my amphibious landing turned into a bloodbath.

Starting as defender, the Ptolemaics have a mandatory Waterway.  Ryan's deployment roll resulted in the water being to his rear.  This should have been a prime opportunity for me.  Ryan moved first, advancing a Psiloi across the board to a hill and moving his cavalry out.

Seleucid Psiloi runs to the hills

 I reserved a Psiloi and two Blades for the amphib landing, intent on going after his Elephant which was off to one flank.

Ptolemaic Amphibious Landing near Seleucid Elephant

Having little experience playing Blades, I didn't know that Ryan's Knights, close by, could quick kill Blades.  Although the Psiloi succeeded in quick killing the Elephant and I tried to move my light horse up to support, the game quickly turned against me.  Ryan managed to engage my Light Horse with his Cavalry.  I won the first bout, as he advanced his Knights toward my Blades, who had nowhere to go.
I couldn't get my Light Horse free, and the Cavalry forced it to recoil on the next turn, right into the Psiloi.  The Light Horse was destroyed.  I tried to move my Pikes out of the way in order to advance my Knights to assist.

In just a few turns, Ryan killed off my Psiloi with his Cavalry and finished off the Blades.  In the final bout, my remaining blade faces his Knight General with overlaps on both sides.  It was mathematically just a matter of time, and my Knights couldn't arrive fast enough to help.

End Game

In any case, it was great to play a game, and I learned a few more rules the hard way.  I also finished painting a battalion of Napoleonic French Infantry.  I need to base this batch of Nap figures before moving on to my next project.  I will either tackle a long delayed effort to improve my terrain collection or work more on my Napoleonics.  I'm still contemplating purchasing the Bolt Action rules soon, too.

Morph Gallery II

Finishing up my posts on the Macedonian Morph Army collection, here are shots of more elements:

Scythed Chariots

In it debut battle, the Seleucid Scythed Chariot hasn't made an impact, other than worrying my opponent for a few moments.  I may repaint one of the chariots for a Persian army eventually. I have the beginnings of a Persian force in the wait queue until the DBA 3.0 lists emerge.

Warbands

These left over Galatians allowed me to field Warbands for the Morph army.

Auxilia

The Auxilia elements are a mix of figures painted in the summer and in my recent effort to finish the project.  Here is a sample of my auxilia.

Illyrians

Eastern Peltasts

Tarentines

Agranians & Tarentines

More Phalangites

I painted two elements as Leukaspides (White Shields) for the Antigonid Macedonian Phalanx.

Originally, I bought these Hypaspists with plans to mount them as Auxilia, since there is some evidence that Alexander's guard fought in this style early in his wars.  However, I ended up mounting them as Pikes based on additional reading and feedback from the DBA Yahoo Group.

This army collection should keep me busy playing for years.  The numerous armies that can be deployed will provide a lot of diversity in fielding a Pike heavy army.  

My interest in DBA was piqued by the ability to play with only a 12 element army.  In little more than a year, I have painted up Spartans, Galatians, Kappadokians and 58 Macedonian elements.  Half of a Persian army is primed and ready for painting, and I have some Greek Hoplites in the lead pile....I also plan on fielding a Polybian Roman army at some point.  I have passed the 12 element milestone multiple times already!

Morph Gallery I

I have taken some photos of the Macedonian/Successor Morph collection, particularly the newly painted elements. I posted pics of the initial element set back in the summer.   Let's start with a shot of the entire collection.

Macedonian/Successor Morph Army

For the Psiloi, I used Greek and Scythian Slingers.  In hindsight, I wished I had mixed in some javelin and archers, but this troop of 12 Psiloi will serve my needs for several armies.

I experimented with different washes on the Psiloi, as explained in an earlier post.

I have two elephant types.  For the first type, one of the head armor was missing a piece, so I puttied in the gap.  I used "green stuff" and super glue to assemble the elements, along with some use of modeling putty to fill in small seams.  I used Seleucid shield designs on one and a classic Macedonian star on the other.

Here are the other two Elephants.  For all of the recently painted elements, I used a Games Workshop wash.  It worked out great on the Elephant skin.  I did notice that it softened my acrylic paints, which are not GW brand.  There might have been a chemical difference. I have read about similar problems with mixing brands in scale model magazines.  Any pressure on the paint would smear it off until it dried.

 For the first batch of elements, I used paint colors expected for the Alexandrian armies - lots of purples.  For this batch, I used a Seleucid theme, incorporating more yellows, reds, and beiges into the color scheme.  The historical reference material for these armies is rather scarce, which can be a bit of a challenge in some ways.  For the mounted troops, I used a mixture of figures for the command stand.  The Seleucids include my first camel element - a fun change of pace.

Four Pike elements, comprised of Essex miniatures, were painted with the Seleucid color scheme.  I used shield decals for the designs. The figures had a mix of shield types, and the convex shield without the rim was a challenge in terms of the decal.  I ended up cutting small lines around the decal to help them lay down.

I also learned that Micro-Sol, used to apply decals on plastic models, results in the paint softening too much. I ended up creating one rippled area in the shield paint when using my hobby knife to position the decal.

 Another fun set of elements - imitation legionnaires (Bd) for the Ptolemaic and Seleucid lists.  I used artistic license on the shield designs.

I will finish tonight's post with a shot of the Greek allies (Sp) with hand painted shield designs.  They need to move out of the way of the artillery....

Morph Matrix

I essentially completed my Macedonian Morph Collection today, applying the last shield decals.  Once the weather warms, I will seal the final batch of figures  and deem the project 99 percent complete.  I need a Warwagon (Tower) to finish this project to 100 percent, but I am not in a rush to do so.

Coin of Demetrios I
Source: Wikimedia Commons

I started playing DBA after the 2.2 rules were out of print, but I stumbled about the Fanaticus site and WADBAG guide, prompting me to join the Yahoo Group.  Several Fanaticus links mentioned the concept of a Morph collection as a way to expand the play value of an army.  Using the draft DBA 3.0 lists, I have been working on the elements for the last nine months or so.

My goal was to field two Successor/Hellenistic armies, considering that many of their enemies were other Successor states.

My Inventory

When I first planned out the Morph army, I intended to include Hellenistic Greek armies in the mix.  I have since changed my mind given the differences in army composition and uniform design.  With any Morph collection, you must make some compromises in terms of the accuracy and uniqueness of the painting and shield designs.  However, I decided halfway through the project to limit the scope to the various Successor armies.  I also realized that the way in which I planned the original purchases (and painting) was too coarse.  I essentially identified the maximum elements for each type and doubled the amount.  As a result, I have some overages in a few areas.  I also bought additional Pikes in order to model the Hypaspists, knowing the figures would take me over the total needed for two armies.

Element Count - 58
Knights & Cavalry - 7
Light Horse - 2
Elephant - 4
Camelry - 1
Scythed Chariot - 2
Pike - 14
Psiloi - 12
Auxilia - 10
Warband - 2
Blade - 2
Spear - 2

As DBA 3.0 changed, the draft lists have become unreliable, so I have fallen back on the 2.2 lists until 3.0 is published.  Hopefully, the army lists will not differ too much.

Opponent Matrix

In order to assess my inventory, I built an opponent matrix to map out the fights between the armies.  I found this format to be an easy way to visualize the match-ups.  Note the Civil War fights between Seleucid (19b & 19d) and Ptolemaic (20d) armies.

Successor Opponent Matrix

DBA 2.2

ARMY

16a

16b

16c

16d

17

18a

18b

18c

18d

18e

19a

19b

19c

19d

20a

20b

20c

20d

27a

27b

16a

16b

16c

16d

17

18a

18b

18c

18d

18e

19a

19b

19c

19d

20a

20b

20c

20d

27a

27b

I can also field the Alexandrian lists with this collection.

Matchup Analysis

I also created an spreadsheet listing the element totals for each match-up and compared the results.  There are 30 historical match-ups between the armies. With my current elements, I can field all options for 17 of the battles.  If the players accept limitations on some options, I can fight 28 of the battles. 

Overages

I ended up with MANY extra Psiloi slingers (6), but I will put them to good use in other armies.  I think one of the Hellenistic Greek armies contained a lot of Psiloi elements, and I painted this batch before changing my mind.  I also have extras in the following areas: 2 Pike, 2 Auxilia, 1 Cavalry, 1 Artillery, and 1 Elephant.  One of the Cavalry elements is a Thessalian force, so I plan to match it and a Psiloi piece up with my Early Spartan army, letting me field a Late Spartan force, too.

Gaps

War Wagon (Tower)

The Demetrios army list (Asiatic Early Successor II/16b) has a Warwagon (Tower) as an option.  I can field sufficient elements for a Demetrios army without it, but I would like to complete this unique element eventually.  I think scratchbuilding will be required. 

Spears

I have painted up two Spear elements for the set.  Five match-ups require more Spears than this, but only one fight (Demetrios vs. Pyrrhic (27a)) is impossible since I have other options.

Warband

To fight the Ptolemaic civil war match-up (20d vs. 20d), I need four more Warbands.  I would borrow elements from my Galatian army in a pinch...

Blades

Three later lists include imitation Legionnaires.  I painted up two stands, using Essex "Assorted Hoplites with Pilum" figures.  Two match-ups require more than this (Ptolemaic vs. Seleucid and Ptolemaic Civil War).

DBM, FOG, or DBMM?

Given the collection size, I'm tempted to see if I possess enough figures for games requiring larger forces.  Of course, I might end up painting more if I check this out, and I have other projects underway. Frankly, I need a break from painting Macedonians at this point.

Photos Coming Soon

I will post photos of the collection in the near future.