Gepids warband progress

Oh, and since I have the pictures here, this is where my Gepid Wb are up to:

Frothing loons

The things I need to finish up on them are:

• do the faces and beards/hair properly
• put silver rims on the shields
• wash some brown/black into the rims of the shields
• paint the backs of the shields
• put some more stripes/checks on the clothes.  (The leftmost guy has stripy dacks on - I like it!)

The shield decorations are probably grossly ahistorical but I just wanted something colourful and easy to paint.  Now on to the Knights!

Gepids v Early Byzantines

It's been a little while since I posted a game.  The last time I played we got through two games of Gepids v Early Byzantines in two hours which is about normal for us time-wise though not army-wise.  The first game ended suddenly when the Byzantine General found himself double-overlapped and then dead when fighting against the Gepid knights, leading to a Gepid win with a 1G-0 score.  This is the game report for the second game.

I can't remember who laid out the terrain, but it ended up like this:

Early bounds

 Two gentle hills and a wood on the right of the board.  I set up my Kn in a line, my Wb in two ranks to be beside the woods, and two Ps on each flank.  My plan was to hit his Cv with my Kn, using the Ps for support or to turn his flank on my left, and to hit his infantry with my ranked Wb, using the Ps on the right to stop him from putting his infantry into the woods and denying me my rank bonus.  Having said that, I probably would have been better off with my Wb in the woods against his Bd, but I doubt he would have sent his Bd into the woods to fight me!

If you go down to the woods today

 I got my Ps into an overlap against his Ps and chased them out of the woods.  I then used a double move with my Wb to get them into a fight with his Ax and his double ranked Bd before they could spread out and get an overlap against me.  The Ax got a stick and the Bd recoiled my Wb.

Gepids 2 - Byzantines 0

 An element of Byzantine Cv flanked my Wb.  This could be disastrous.  If I lost two Wb here, the two next to them would fall soon enough.  Then the Byzantine commander got a series of really terrible rolls.  His Ax was killed despite having the overlap and the flank against me.  Then my other Wb block recoiled and killed the Bd in front of them.  Suddenly I had gone from thinking that I was going to lose the game on the right to thinking that I could just stall with my Kn on the left and win on the right!

Gepids 3 - Byzantines 0

 My Wb on the right recoiled and killed the remaining Bd in front of them, while the Wb on their left and a unit of Ps turned and faced the Cv on their flank.

Come back KnG, all is forgiven

 Over on the left side of the board, my Kn and KnG charged the Cv on the hill before the Ps could get run down by them.  Each side got a recoil.  Oh no, I thought, here goes my KnG again, chasing the bad guys across the board.

Before combat

 Then the Byzantine commander tried to assassinate the Gepid general and took a big risk.  His CvG moved to flank my KnG while his Cv charged my waiting Kn because they had to make space for the CvG to get behind them.  Unfortunately it meant that if my KnG recoiled his opponents, the CvG would die because of colliding elements.

After combat.  Gepids 4G - Byzantines 0

And lo and behold, that's just what happened:

Gepids 5G - Byzantines 0

Meanwhile on the right side, my Wb and Ps teamed up on the Byzantine Cv that had tried to spoil the party.  It was pretty likely to get a recoil on a 2-1 combat.  The Cv was killed and the Gepids secured a resounding victory!

 
Post-game thoughts:

1. This was a game that looked even until two key die rolls went against the Byzantine player.  Obviously I can't take credit for that, but I do think I took advantage of my luck when it happened.
2. On the other hand, I was stupid to let his Cv flank me like that.  What should have happened is that all four Wb units should have died.  Once again I let my enthusiasm get the better of me and rushed to combat without considering how my opponent would respond.  It would have been better for me to a have a Ps bodyguard on each side of the Wb to stop that kind of thing happening.
3. I really need to get these Gepids finished and based.  They're a decent looking army and deserve better.  Just shields and trimmings on the clothes to go really.  I'll try to get it done and get some pics up soon.
4. The main thing I think I am making progress on in my game is that I am not breaking up my line too soon.  By presenting a solid battle line I am not only able to prevent the enemy from exploiting vulnerable units, I can also semi-disguise my intentions for longer.
5. However, I'm still not using my Ps effectively.  They are good fun units but the different ways to use them vary so widely depending on what the terrain is like, what your opponent is doing, and what your troops are doing.  Obviously this is true for all DBA troop types to some extent, but with Ps it seems to be their very nature - something I am slowly coming to grips with.

Gepids progress

I've finished building my Gepid army.  Now I just have to paint them.  Shouldn't take longer than, say, THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!

4 x 2 Psiloi

4 x 4 Warband

4 x 3 Knights

No idea what I'm going to do for a camp.  Any suggestions?

Gepids v Middle Imperials Romans East

Today it was my turn to choose which army to play so I chose to play with my opponent's Gepid army, in honour of my own force which is under construction.  He took my models and played Middle Imperial Romans East, taking Art instead of LH and Bw instead of Ps.

The board had two gentle hills on each side, some woods, a crossroads, and a steep hill near the Roman camp.  (Click pictures to embiggen)

After my bound.  Amazingly, I didn't roll a '1'.

I chose to set up my Kn in the face of the enemy Art.  Possibly stupid, but my thinking was that he would have to reinforce that flank or I would crush him and then take his camp.  That would make it easier for my Wb to go fast down the road.  With that in mind I raced my Ps up into the woods to prevent him from coming much further.  Of course, his Ax were in front of those woods so it was easy for him to chase me out again.  The photo doesn't show it but his mounted wing was on my extreme right behind his Ax.  In response to my setup and first bound he began moving some Bd to guard his Art.

Shot from the Goodyear blimp

My Kn moved up to just outside Art firing range in column then took the plunge and ran in.  In hindsight I should have been in a 2x2 formation, that way he could only recoil one of the two halves of it.  On the way in I used the Ps in the woods to block his Art shooting at my Kn.  My Ps in the other woods were chased out by his Ax, and the other one crossed over in front of my Wb to threaten the flank of his Art.  In response, he kept bringing his Bd up to protect the flank of his Art and raced his mounted units around the rear to try to get to my Kn.

I thought I had plenty of time to get my Kn into him but then I rolled three consecutive '1's for pips.  Grrr.

Gepids 1 - Romans 0

Rather than get my whole column of Kn flanked by his rapidly approaching cavalry, I just attacked with one unit and killed his Art.  His Bd came down off the hill and chased away my Ps.  My Wb subsequently attacked his Bd on the road but were recoiled.  Which was to keep happening an awful lot as it turns out. 

Gepids 1 - Romans 1

We both started rolling low pips so there was some to and fro between my Kn and his Bd atop the hill but eventually he got the uphill and the overlap and doubled me, killing my Kn.

Gepids 1 - Romans 2

Still suffering from my low pip rolls...  His Cv and CvG flanked my Kn and killed them.  His Bd and Ax tried to do the same to my Wb on the right near the woods but my Wb was made of sterner stuff.

Cowards!

I finally stopped rolling 1s and started rolling 6s.  But only for pips, mind you, not combat.  My Kn turned his CvG and attacked his other Cv too with some Ps on the flank to stop overlaps.  The Ps fled of course, but the Kn recoiled too, which wasn't part of my plan.  The other Kn got stuck in combat.  My Wb turned his flanking Ax and recoiled it, but my other Wb was recoiled by his Bd on the road.  Enough recoiling!

Gepids 2 - Romans 2

The Romans wisely retreated their Cv to reform their lines.  My Wb again surged forward, this time crushing an element of Bd on the road.  Two kills apiece now.  The other Wb column was recoiled again.

Gepids 2 - Romans 4

The Romans now attacked with everything at their disposal.  On the left the LH ran into the hills to prepare a flanking move.  On the right, the Bd had Ax on each side of him to overlap my Wb which had followed up the previous combat and put himself at great risk.  Sure enough, my Wb was doubled and killed and I lost two elements.  The game was up, unless I could scrape two more kills out of the combat on the left of the board.

The CvG, Cv and Bd on the left had charged my Kn, KnG and Ps.  Unexpectedly, the Ps caused the Bd to recoil.  Then my Kn caused his CvG to recoil.  The game was now unwinnable for me but I could still kill his Cv to make it 4-3 and salvage some honour.  He was double overlapped and I had my KnG versus his Cv so it was 5 to 1.  But the dice showed 2 and 6 giving us a stick.  Aaaaargh!!!

Post-game thoughts:

1. It was a great game.  Lots of tension, lots of drama.  Very uncertain outcome.
2. Gepids are an enjoyable army to play.  Reasonably mobile and quite dangerous.  I'm getting the hang of Ps now.  Having 4 of them is great.
3. The Art and Bw didn't achieve much.  Part of it was bad luck with the dice, but I would have fielded them together.  That way you could run the Bw out in front of the Kn to try to kill them once they closed with the Art.
4. Perhaps I should have targetted his Bd and Ax with my Kn.  But doing that would have meant that the Wb couldn't use the road so I would have either have had to leave them behind or hand over the strategic advantage while I brought them up.
5. I think I may have forgotten to follow-up a few times when I recoiled the Ax and when his Cv broke off contact, but if I had I would have been in even worse trouble so let's just pretend we saw nothing...
6. DBA is fun.

Fright Knight redux

Since the previous game ended so abruptly, we had time for another.  The board had a more interesting setup this time, with cross-roads passing through a wood, another wood, and a gentle hill as well.

After my traditional '1' for pips on the first bound...

The initial setup for both our forces was sensible.  Myp plan was to use the road to seize the central wood on my first turn with the Ax, march the Bd line up to the gap between the two woods and hopefully combat his Wb there with my Cv in reserve, and to use the LH on each flank to guard my flanks and threaten his.

... but I rolled well for pips after that

My Ax and Ps spread out in the wood to stop him easily skirting it or passing through it.  I had the Ax on the road pulled back slightly in case his Kn charged me.  He'd still get the QK but at least I'd have the double overlap.  I think I should have done something trickier with angled units and gotten off the road but it wasn't an issue in the end.  My LH went to the right of the woods but I got caught out by forgetting about the 2 pip cost due to obstructed LOS over 600 paces, so it didn't get as far as I'd hoped.  I learned my lesson last time and brought my Bd up in time with the rest of my army.  The other LH is out of shot on the left of picture.

He brought his army up in line, slowly spreading out his Kn to meet me.

Git around!  Git!

Realizing that my Cv weren't in much of a position to help and their LOS was poor, I started to redeploy them to the centre road.  The LH continued the flanking move on the right.  The Gepid Ps on my left blocked my LH from attacking their camp by projecting a ZOC out of the woods, and on my right the Ps guarded his flank.  The rest of his army continued to advance.  If you think my LH looks a little too close to the Ps on the right...

Gepids 1 - Romans 0

... you're correct!  The Ps doubled my LH in a straight-up combat and killed them.  I really like the idea of LH but I ain't no good at using them!

Gepids 1 - Romans 1

My CvG advanced up the road.  Probably slightly rash since if the Kn charged him it would be even odds, but hey - that guy's got a wolf-skin on his head, don't mess with him!  Speaking of rash, a unit of Gepid Kn was killed by my Ax which had a toe in the woods.  The odds were even due to the overlap but I'm not sure there was much to be gained, as the Kn would have followed up into the woods if they'd won and I probably would have trapped and killed them reasonably easily there.  The Gepid Wb spread out into double ranks from column formation to face down my Bd.

My Bd was staring downhill at the Gepid warband.  If I rolled enough pips I'd be able to charge them and get an overlap on the left and Ps support from the rear.  The odds weren't going to get any better than this!

Gepids 4 - Romans 1

On the left, the odds were 7-3 to me.  I was beaten, recoiled and killed.  Now the adjacent unit with Ps behind it had the double overlap against it!  Still 4-4 though.  Beaten, recoiled, killed, and the Ps is killed too for adding rear support from immediately behind.  And that's the game.  Aaaaargh!

Post-game thoughts:

1. I had a better plan this game and didn't let my fear of Kn make me do silly things.
2. Bringing my Bd up in concert with my other troops was much more effective.
3. My opponent used his Ps ZOCs very effectively to constrain me.  I need to consider doing similar things myself.  If I'd used my Ax to project angled ZOCs out of the wood I would have disordered his line more as it approached.
4. Once I'd put the LH on my left flank to make him put his Ps there, I could have moved it away to the right flank to join my other LH and it would have been more effective.  Letting his Ps even reach my LH was dumb.
5. I shouldn't have risked my general like that but nothing came of it.
6. Sometimes the odds are all in your favour but the dice ain't.  Them's the breaks.
7. Don't the woods look nice?

Fright Knight

On to the next game!  Ironically, this time my opponent chose to play Gepids, so I chose once again to go Middle Imperial Romans East.  I really need to get more troops to broaden my options!  Fortunately I'd played a few games of De Bellis Solitarius both as Romans and as Gepids in anticipation of my new army arriving so at least I had some idea of what I was in for.  Plus my Secret Weapon had arrived - dice with roman numerals!  Sadly, my roman dice were about as poor a substitute for tactical genius as my painted soldiers were last time.

Here's the board and the setup after the first invader bound:

Which idiot set up this board?  Oh, it was me.

I had set up the terrain with a row of woods and a gentle hill on the invader side along with a crossroads.  I thought that having a combination of open flat spaces and bad going spaces on opposite halves of the board might be interesting.  Turns out I wasn't going to get anywhere near those woods.  My Ax were in column to try to push down the road and get closer to the bad going.  My Bd and Ps formed a solid line in the open, with my Cv and LH flanking my Ax.  The Gepids started their Ps in the woods on my right, their Wb in the woods on my left, and a big line of Kn staring right down that road.

Here's what happened next:

Whoah there boy!

I diverted my Ax behind my LH which formed a line with my Cv to block the onrushing Kn.  I didn't want the Kn or Ps to flank my Cv so I guarded my right flank by running the Ps forward.  But my Bd got left behind.  The Gepid Kn on my far right was angled to protect his flank with an overlapping ZOC with the Ps in the woods, thwarting my LH.

Then the Gepid Kn crashed into my line:

Sudden impact

My Cv and CvG were recoiled right off the hill but fortunately not killed.

On my left, the Gepid Ps and Kn charged my LH:

Gepids 2 - Romans 0

My LH units were both slaughtered, while my Cv continued to be pushed back.  My CvG was scant millimetres from recoiling onto the Bd behind them.

Gepids 3 - Romans 0

My Bd moved forward to get me an overlap on the Gepid KnG and clear the rear of my own general at the same time.  It didn't help my other Cv unit which was finally cut down by the Kn, Gepids 3 - Romans 1.  On my left my Ax took the fight the Ps in the hopes that by doing so I could avoid the adjacent Kn.  On my right I ran my Ps forward again hoping to draw the Wb forward when I inevitably recoiled.

Run, Forrest, run!

The Kn on my right finally got into the action, charging my Bd, but the line held firm.  My CvG, on the other hand, continued to fall back before the onslaught of the Gepid KnG.  The Wb on my right put my Ps to flight, chasing them back through my line of Bd but fortunately I'd be able to bring them up again in my turn.

On my right I was more worried by the Kn than the Wb because although both had the QK against my Bd, at least against the Wb I had the combat advantage.  So I scooted the rightmost blades forward to overlap the Wb, then double ranked the blades against the Wb so as to be able to claim Ps support against the Kn.  But sadly...

Curse you pesky Wb!  Gepids 4 - Romans 1

My plan worked in that the Bd on the left killed the Kn, but the Bd beside them facing the Wb were recoiled and destroyed.  And that was the game!

The fact that my Ax again failed to kill the Ps on the left was confirmation that my Secret Weapon roman numeral dice were no help to me.  Looking back on the game, I tended to roll well for pips but poorly for combat.  But you get the die rolls you deserve, I think.  I wasted my LH by leaving them swinging in the breeze like that.  Sure, I wasn't expecting them to be doubled and killed but in low-factor combats like that, anything is possible.  My biggest mistake was to rush my fast troops forward and leave my Bd behind.  The reason I did, of course, is that I was scared of those Kn running at me.  What I should have done is hang back to advance at a more measured pace so that I could have a solid Bd line and use my Cv and LH on the flanks.

Fun game though, and once again I learned a little more about how to use my army.

Gepids ahoy!

Unfortunately I have a tendency to make impulsive purchases on ebay while procrastinating from my work.  So as of last night I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of some dice marked with Roman numerals:

It annoys me that the II isn't on the opposite face to the V.  How nerdy is that?

 I also bought a whole new army (!!!).  I bought some Germanic warband figures and some Germanic cavalry.  At this stage the plan is to make a Gepid army (II/71) and I should have enough infantry left over to be able to morph it into a few different barbarian armies.  I was seriously considering making a Galatian army because I like chariots and scythed chariots look even better, but painting Germanic figures looks a bit easier than celts so I'll do that first.

They should arrive in a week or so, so when I've got some work done on them I'll throw some pictures up here.