Fall In - here and gone. Part II.

Well that was an exciting first 2 days. Now it was time for one of my favorite events. Each con there is a group of us who gather around some Napoleonic battlefield and get our fix of DBN - De Bellis Napoleonic by KISR Publications. It is 9AM Saturday and that time has arrived!

Utitsa - Prelude to Borodino - Russia 1812.

Steve (Little Caesar) put together this event and based it on the opening clash of the battle of Borodino in 1812. Utitsa was a small village that, with a mound and heavily wooded area, guarded the extreme left flank of the Russian army. Napoleon sent his Poles and Westphalians to clear the area of Russians. You could tell from the special rules, the OOBs, terrain and victory conditions that Steve put a lot of effort into this scenario. Let's not forget to point out that he also provided ALL the figures for both sides. You da man, Steve!!!

The French side (Poles and Westphalians actually) consisted of Tom McKinney on the extreme left commanding the Westphalians. To his right was Spencer Ginder with the Allied cavalry (who was supposed to guard my left!!!) I was positioned in the center with the 1st Polish division. On my right was Terry (finally got to meet him) with a Polish infantry division and our extreme right was the bulk of the cavalry corps commanded by our newly elected CIC - Ron Giampa. Facing this motley array of Allied commanders were the Russians. The extreme Russian left was commanded by Bob Beattie who bravely fought with a huge cavalry contingent consisting of irregulars, cossacks and other such undesireables. To Bob's right was none other than Chris Brantley commanding a Russian infantry division. These two mutually supported each other on the Utitsa mound and deployed multiple artillery batteries which looked daunting from our perspective. Ted guarded Chris' right with more infantry and guns. John Svenson and Sean(?) rounded out the Russian right and faced off against the Westphalians with the responsibility of holding the Utitsa BUA (village) and the heavily wooded area on the flank.

Ron's orders were simple enough. Tom, supported by Spencer, would take Utitsa and drive off the Russian defenders. We would get VPs for taking the BUA and exiting troops off the board edge along the road (not likely). I was tasked with "demonstrating" against the Utitsa mound and all that artillery while guarding Terry's flank as he attempted to flank the defenders on the mound. Ron would drive off Bob's cossacks and support Terry in his assault on the Russian positions. Of course I took Ron's orders as "take the hill" being the aggressive commander that I am. I took the opening salvoes from the Russian grand battery with moderate loss as my division rapidly advanced to its objective. The Russians were streaming reinforcements to the hill and the race was on! Forming a block of attack columns, the Poles gallantly charged up Utitsa mound in the face of cannister fire and supporting Jager fire from Ted's division. The fury of the Russian defensive fire dropped the Poles in heaps of dead and dying but we kept coming and drove the artillery into disarray capturing many guns. We stood tall on Utitsa mound and prepared for the Russian counterattack. Little did I know at the time Iwas not only facing the clearly identifiable Pavlov Grenadiers but an ENTIRE RUSSIAN GRENADIER DIVISION! We took one last glorious look from atop the mound and tried to hold from that point on awaiting Terry and a fresh attack. Ron was devastating the irregulars while Terry made progress and lent a hand in a small attack on the mound to my right flank but his full weight was not yet delivered. This seemed like an eternity to me as my Poles fought, held and died. Casualties mounted and my division was steadily dissolving. Pressure from Ted's forces and Chris's grenadiers was proving too much to handle. Events on our left were slowly making their way and I saw many Russian casualties but Utitsa remained firmly in Russian hands. Tom appeared to be making headway through the woods but it was a slow developing attack. I probably could finish watching the battle through my spyglass from a hospital cot. :-)

All in all the battle was close. The final tally was a 10-9 Russian victory but more importantly you could tell by looking around the table that everyone had a great time. Thank you Steve!!! Terrific show.

Now it was time to each some lunch and do some shopping. I hit the flea market and the vendors with Chris after lunch. Now it was time to prepare for the granddaddy event of every con - the 2 Davids' Campaign. That will wait for part III. :-)

Hope you enjoyed. Thanks and feel free to post.

Frank

Fall In - here and gone. Part I.

It certainly has been a while for posting here. It has been a crazy couple of weeks since my return from Fall In. I will do my best from memory so if anyone can fill in the blanks, I look forward to seeing them post. Let me first say that the DBA community was at its finest. A good turnout given the economy and fair, friendly, downright fun play in all events. Kudos to all the GMs and event organizers for a job very well done!

My festivities began Thursday evening by participating in the Stooges event - Wimpy Wars. The theme of this event was each army had to comprise of at least 6 elements of 2 per stand, i.e. LH and psiloi being the qualifiers here. These themed events by the Stooges are always a blast as they force players to field armies that are different and outside the competitive "open" tournament realm. I chose a very strange army for this tourney - the Khazars. This crazy list sported:

1xWWg (Gen); 2x3Cv; 5x2LH; 2x2Ps; and yes, 2x&Hd! HORDE!

In round 1 I played someone's 10 year old son who played quite well actually. Playing Thessalians, he held his high ground and much pushing and recoiling was going on in a relatively close run affair. He finally got a little too bold with his Cav General and charged off the safety of his hill and suffered a 2G-1 setback.

My second round opponent was Spencer Ginder. I forgot his army but it certainly qualified for "wimpy". Normally a very good player, Spencer made repeated mistakes; the most common being not allowing recoil room for his elements. Under relentless attack from the Khazars, and despite his poor positioning, Spencer prevailed with some uncanny "combat tactics" (also known as incredible die rolls)! Spencer defeated the Khazars 4-3.

My third round game was against John Loy, I believe. Again, I fail to remember his army list. This is probably due to the fact that this was the shortest of the games with a crushing 4-1 Khazar victory.

Finishing in the middle of the pack, the Khazars were a fun army but certainly not one to bring to an open tournament. Great fun was had by all participants with the overall winner being - yes - you guessed it - Spencer Ginder! Congrats my friend!

I deliberately didn't sign up for any daytime events for Friday as I was spending it with Lori touring the new visitor center at Gettysburgh National Battlefield. Truly impressive. You could literally spend days seeing everything the museum has to offer and the cyclerama was awesome. We spent the latter half of the day taking a driving tour of the battlefield proper assisted by a $20 CD which was well worth the money. After dropping her off back at the hotel, the Friday evening festivities started at 7PM with the 15mm Open Tournament.

I decided to compete with my newly painted Late Imperial Roman East army from Dragon Painting Service. Never battle tested under my generalship, I felt it was competitive nonetheless and it consisted of:

1x3Cv (Gen); 2x4Kn; 2x2LH; 3x4Bd; 2x4Ax; 2x2Ps.

Round 1 I was pitted against a relatively new player to DBA named Mike (I believe). He sported a tough matchup in the Later Carthaginians with 2 pachyderms! I was able to first gain the preferred terrain and then the matchups that favored my troops but it was still a close battle until his line was outflanked and the aux did their job versus an elephant. The LIR won 4G-2.

I simply cannot recall Round 2 but I do know the LIR won handily.

Round 3 was a tough, tough game against Joe Collins and his Alexandrian Macedonian. My heavy infantry would be sorely tested against his pike blocks so I had to find another way to secure a win. Again winning the defense and some good defensive positions, I "skirmished" with his mounted forces on his right while forming a counterattack force in my right defensive wood. Blades and pike would match up in the center. I held my knights in a refused reserve position in my left rear. As is customary, I lost the first element by being doubled and it was 0-1. I took advantage of an opportunity to block a ZOC Joe had exerted on my aux and then outflanked the Macedonian pike with that aux element closing the door as the blades charged in. After a round or so of combat, the Roman infantry managed to destroy 2 pike elements and secure a 2-1 lead. After much jockeying for position by the two armies, Joe managed to destroy my LH and even the casualty count. After a Roman counterattack that took back the lead 3-2, I saw an opportunity to win and timed the charge of my knights against his LH and Cav line. On the far Macedonian right, Joe had attempted an outflank and got his LH too close to the table edge. So much so that my well timed charge would leave him no recoil. IF I could drive his cavalry back with my first knight attack I would have a 4-1 against his LH with no recoil. Victory was in sight! The Roman knights charged home and drove off the Macedonian horse. I could see defeat in the eyes of my opponent. The Roman heavies attacked and rolled a "1" while the Macedonian LH rolled a "6" quick-killing my knights and setting up the 2 on 1 no recoil counterattack on my other knight. Another round of 6-1 saw the demise of my knight and a 4-3 victory for the Macedonians. This was the championship match and I played very well only to be disappointed by the "dice gods". Joe played well but I knew I had him. History will record Joe's well deserved 2009 Fall In Open Championship. The Romans withdrew in utter shock at the outcome. Another well run and event and everyone appeared to have the best of times. DBA rules!!!

Almost Midnight Madness.

This event, GM'd by Dicemanrick, is a single elimination affair. The key is to lose early and go to bed or win the whole shebang. Losing the final match is the ultimate failure in the wee hours of the morning. Keeping that in mind, I chose to field my recently painted (by me this time) Middle Frankish army. I am a huge Dark Ages fan and I wanted to do this army although it is not "open " tournament competitive. Maybe one win and I go to bed round 2. This list was (a) Austrasian:

1x3Kn (Gen); 1x3Kn; 6x4Wb; 3x4Sp; 1x2Ps.

My first round opponent was Kyle and his Early Lombards. Kyle loves his knights and this list had SEVEN of them. Me having 6 warband and 3 spear? Yay I'm going to bed early! Kyle split his knights on deployment and held his separated right with a line of 4 knights. I had my warband to my right and psiloi backed spear and 2 knights on my left. I advanced my entire line on the first bound but saw an opportunity to isolate his right flank. All other pips were spent each bound rushing my spear line and knights against Kyle's 4 knights on his right. I know he QK's me but what choice did I have - warband attacks? Kyle seemed stunned and fixated by the attacking spear. He closed the gap on them and mostly ignored his main battleline. The key to the attack by the spear would be to win that first 5-3 attack and set up a 5-2 and a 5-1 against his knight line. My general and supporting nobles managed to outflank the enemy line while the spear crashed in. It took only 2 rounds of combat as the Franks crushed all 4 Lombard knights securing a 4-0 victory. I was blessed by Kyle not getting enough pips to counterattack with his main body and this went a long way in ensuring a chance at victory for the Franks.

Round 2 saw the Franks matched up against Mike's Polybian Romans. Classic warband versus blade was the theme here. I didn't want to solely rely on the dice for that matchup which favored the Romans in tactical factors. I am not comfortable with RELYING on QKs via die rolls. So this became a position combat early on to secure favorable matchups and gain a flank. This was a hard fought affair with the Franks winning a tough 4-2 victory. No early night for me.

1:10AM and round 3 against some crazy Egyptian mounted force fielded by RonG. What is spear and warband going to do against a cav/LH army but sit there and wait for the inevitable? We charged and charged and charged forward. The Franks took an early 2-0 lead with fights on the flanks by the knights supported by spear. Ron tired of this and charged the Frankish center. Warband after warband got "doubled" and it was soon 3-2 in favor of the Egyptians and a gaping whole in the Frankish center. All I could do was a fighting withdrawal to consolidate my forces but that meant the few remaining warbands had to hold on. They didn't and Ron secured his spot in the finals at 1:45AM and I went to bed. I heard the next day that the final lasted 10 minutes and John Loy's Assyrians devastated Ron's Egyptians. All were tucked in by 2AM. A truly great time and many thanks for the true loser - Rich, the GM - who stayed up never getting to play a game. Kudos my friend on a sacrifice to the players. Thank you!

So far a great 2 days of gaming and we still have all the Saturday stories to tell but that will have to wait until part II.

Have fun all and feel free to post to correct the errors in my memory; fill in the blanks; and certainly tell YOUR side of the story! :-)

Franko

Fall In 2009 is here!!!

I'm headed off to Gettysburg in a few hours. Many events are planned and the armies are mustered and enroute. I will give a full report on all my DBA related happenings sometime next week. This should be great!

Enjoy your weekend!

Franko

Frank, you sneaky so and so!

I had a blast at last weekend's DBV (more on that in a moment), but last night I got to play a bit *more* DBA with el Franco and a new player in our area, Josh.

Frank played a match with Josh, who is just learning DBA, running Visigoths (just makes me think of all the Asterix jokes...) against Later Imperial Romans. The Romans sent a line of Blades around a wood while sending their light troops (Aux and Ps) through it and some horse (Kn, I think) around the other side. The 'goths tried to screen the Roman left with light troops (Bow and Ps), attack in the woods with Warband, and sweep the Roman right (the Bd) with their Cav + Kn + some more Wb.

I was flitting in and out getting dinner and eating it (Greek salad--yum!) so I missed some bits, but the Goths had the Romans on the ropes at one point, having chopped down three of their elements for the loss of one (the left and right flank Bd element, IIRC and an Aux in return for a Visigoth archer). Then the warband, which was feeling pretty good going in as a mass on the remaining Aux and Ps, got viciously outrolled and wiped out (the support getting killed by the death of the unit it was supporting). So they were all even!

The Romans ended up losing 4-3, when IIRC their Kn on the left flanks got outflanked and rolled up.

Frank and I had a tense match after that between his Medieval Germans and my Italian condotta. He worked up a neat little plan to stall me with the main body of his knights while sending his foot (Aux, Ps in some march in the middle of the board and a block of Bd, Sp, Sp, and Ps with Bw trailing after) to push through my refused flank (some Pk, Ps, and Kn) and take my camp. I had meant to fight his foot closer to his camp as a screening action while fighting his Kn in the open right flank, so this plan of his took me some time to adjust to.

It took a massive effort of willpower not to simply dash my wonderful Kn on everything that moved. Instead, I tried to be like the Inter Milan of old and play defensively, keeping just enough of a force available on my wing (LH, Kn, Bw) to keep his knights in their defensive position, just enough of a reserve (Kns and Bw) that it wasn't clear which direction I was going to go, and giving just enough ground with my right that he was never close enough to trap it. I did have to make a couple of attacks of right-flank Kn vs. Sp+Ps in order to get maneuver room, and I was *very* lucky not to lose more troops than I did doing so. I got one rear shot on some Aux with my Bw, but they turned around and skulked back to their swamp before I could finish them off.

In the end I was able to pull my reserve into the fight against the attackign foot block and break them before they could envelop me, but it was a very close-run thing (4-3, IIRC). A few dice rolls the other way, and the Germans would have been quaffing fine chianti out of our best antique Byzantine goblets. But I see how those German ritteren fight--leave the dying to the foot soldiers!

The last game I loaned Josh my condotta and borrowed Frank's Lusignan Cypriots. I have a love/hate relationship with them, as they remind me of one of my favourite writers, but I've never beaten them! As it happened, the Cypriots were cornered with their back to a beach. Their Venetian (or Genoese) foes deployed knights on their left, bow in the center, and pike + Ps + LH on their right. We held a small, steep hill on our left with Ps, grouped our Bw in the center, and masse our Kn on the right to face his (we had one Sp hanging back behind things and another in our camp to protect the cases of alum we had just purchased from some Belgian fellow...)

Josh pushed forward in the center and threw his LH wide to the right to see if he could get around my little hill and attack us in the rear. Once I saw I wouldn't be getting around his left, I sent my LH around the rear of my army to meet him and started shooting. We got one of his Bw and then the other, picked off a Kn, stalled his pike with some crossbowmen, and then enveloped another of his knights to win 4-0 (IIRC).

Then,a s we were packing up, I realised how devious Frank had been. By letting me use his Cypriots against an inexperienced player, he had made it possible for them to rack up yet ANOTHER win against my condotta! Frank, you sneaky git! :-)

not miniatures games, but wargaming nonetheless

Last weekend I got a rare chance to hang out with my buddy Eric. We played two GMT games with great enjoyment and gusto.

First off was the truly excellent The Burning Blue, Lee Brimmicombe-Wood's operational-level game of the Battle of Britain, published by GMT. We played the tiny starter scenario to accustom Eric to the interactive nature of the LW-plot/RAF-fly nature of movement. Eric's recon element effectively faked out the British fighters sent out to locate him and photographed his target safely.

We then played the Quickstart mission from Scenario 1. Eric again took the Germs, and I played RAF Fighter Command. We got a couple of shots at his Dorniers as he zoomed in, bombers and escorts below the cloud deck, top cover above. Three separate squadrons hit him in succession; his escorts managed to divert one, but the others took a couple of bombers down just as they arrived at their targets. We lost a couple of fighters, too, as he began the trip back to Froggyland, but I think Coastal Command picked up all the pilots. Totting up the points, it was a draw.

Then we played another game of Twilight Struggle, which we've faced off across before. It's a very entertaining card-driven game of the Cold War, with a constant dynamic of not having all you need to accomplish your goals and having frequently to play cards that will give your opponent a benefit in order to reap one of your own. I got dug into South and East Asia and Eastern Europe early. Eric battled back in Europe, tried several times for a foothold in the Middle East, and as the 1970s came along did a very creditable job of pushing back against Communist expansion in Central America and contesting South America. Alas for western democracy, I managed a late push across SE Asia, almost held my own in Europe (losing Poland and Romania but managing to get Italy), contested Japan, and expanded my foothold in Africa. At the end, it was a sweet win for the Reds!

tanks in Aberdeen MD!

A recent trip to the Ordnance Museum (photos are just from the outdoor displays)

Middle Frankish III/5 - Ready for battle.

I don't know what it is about the "Dark Ages" that draws my interest. It was a time of chaos after the fall of the Romans. Populations thinned as warfare abounded and plagues spread throughout the known world. The Byzantine Empire provided "light" in the east. What emerged after this period is, in my opinion, what shaped Europe as we would come to know it for the next 1000 years. I have opted to loosely model this army on Clovis and the Merovingians. Details are sparse but I assumed their arms and armor would have changed from the Late Roman look-alikes of the earlier times with their weave into "Gallic" society as they took on an identity of their own. Contact with various "tribes" and their own artisans produced some fine weaponry, armor and shields adorned with pagan icons. I have reserved this look for the "veteran" spear units and cavalry. I hope I have captured a feel for this transitional stage of the Franks from early "barbarians" to the Carolingian Dynasty of Charlemagne and his successors. Enjoy.

3x3Wb Option for both (a) and (b) lists. Figures are Old Glory

This is my dual purpose shieldwall. These will serve as 6x4Wb in the (a) list supported by the 3x4Sp option below or as 6x4Sp in the (b) list supported by the warband option shown above. Figures are Old Glory

3x4Sp option. These are the Frankish veterans I mentioned earlier. Figures are Splintered Light from their Saxon range

Clovis on the left (3xKnG) and his nobles (3xKn)

1x2Ps (not shown) rounds out Clovis' army.

Next up - Teutons!

Frank