Marian Romans v Early Germans

It's been a little while since I've written up a battle report, so let's skip the intervening games and travel back ... back ... back to 50 B.C. where the Marian Roman Legions face off the Early German hordes in the forests of, err, early Germany.

I was the attacker.  The defending Germans put down two forests, a marsh, and two gentle hills.  I ended up with the opposite board edge to that which I wanted, which was fine, as it gave me a nice open space to advance my long line of Bd.  The central marsh would be a problem, so I put an element of Ps into it to prevent too many shenanigans as well as my surplus Bd and LH to try to draw a few more enemy Wb to that side of the board.

 The Germans broke into 6 groups quite early so I thought I might get lucky if he ran into bad pips.

I was fearing the double move of the Wb allowing him to move to my flank through the marsh, so I started to turn my line of Bd to the left.  I mirrored this to the left of the marsh.  My CvG began to move to the far right flank to deal with the Cv threat there.

The Germans got 6 pips and sent his Wb crashing into my Bd with a double move, while also sending a unit against my Ps in the marsh.  He was hoping to make the Ps flee and then be free to flank me, but my Ps are made of stern stuff.  My Bd recoiled all of his Wb except for the WbG which got a stick.  The following turn I left my unit where they were, hoping to pick off his WbG and win the game, but I only got a recoil.

His Wb continued to chase my Ps out of the marsh.  My Bd to the right of the marsh killed two elements of Wb with that roll of a 6 you can see on the red dice.  I was rolling incredibly well today - lots of 6's, but my opponent was rolling just well enough to avoid being doubled.  On the hill to the right my Bd chased off his Ps but couldn't make progress against the Cv due to the hill.

He again double moved a unit of Wb into the marsh and turned my Bd to face them but the Wb recoiled.  My Ps also turned the tables in the centre and recoiled that Wb that had chased them out of the marsh.  I was reluctant to send my Bd into the marsh, so in my turn, when I only had one pip, I just moved two Bd and their supporting Ps against the Wb line.  The Wb were now only single ranked so my chances were good, but the combat rolls were bad and I lost all three elements, blowing a huge hole in the middle of my line.  Uh oh.

My spirits were briefly lifted when he only got 1 pip in the next turn.  He couldn't get an overlap against my lone Bd to the right of the marsh due to the bad going so I had a chance.  He chose to attack me again from the marsh and I rolled a 1.  Dead Bd, end of game.

Post-game thoughts:

• Fun game.  I think my approach was right but I failed to kill the Germans when I had a chance.  If only that 6-3 combat against the enemy General had worked out!
• I didn't use my LH or my CvG well.  Both ended up right out on the flanks and being essentially unused.  They would have been more useful if I had had them as a reserve.  They could have moved through that gap in my kinked line and caused all sorts of problems for the Germans.
• Still, my current DBA philosophy is to keep it simple, so I wanted to avoid getting my units tangled up in each other like I have in the past.
• But on the third hand, having my CvG way out on the flank meant that I was unable to move my LH when I had low pips because it was out of command range.  Note to self: keep general in the centre.  If I'd been able to use my LH more actively, either drawing back to flank that Wb that kept attacking my Ps, or going wide to threaten the left flank, I think the Germans would have had more difficult problems to solve than a simple long line of Bd.

 

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.

Late Imperial Romans v Early Franks

We played a really enjoyable game today that, although it was a decisive result, really came to the wire in terms of what was going to happen.

My opponent took a Frankish list with:
WbG, 7xWb, 2xBw, Ps

I took a Late Imperial Roman West army so that I could use my newly painted Foederati knights and skirmishers along with my Romans.  My list was:
CvG, Cv, 2xLH, Kn, 2xBd, 3xAx, 2xPs

As I got to be the defender I set up a largely open board with just the one lot of bad going - a woods bisected by a road and some gentle hills.  The Franks chose to have the edge with the woods in their deployment zone and put their camp behind it.  I set up in a single long line.  The Franks set up in three groups with their archers on my left facing my Cv and Kn, so I swapped my Cv and Kn to my right side in exchange for 2xBd.

(Click pictures to embiggen)

Kamikaze Psiloi: Romans 0 - Franks 1

Rather stupidly, when I got lots of pips on my first turn, I did the Psiloi Dash all the way up the Wb in the woods and charged them.  Now this was plainly idiotic, but my thinking was that Wb can't kill Ps so I'll be able to annoy him and draw him out of the woods.  Which is all well and good until his turn when he does a double move to flank my Ps and kill it on the recoil.  Sigh... I'm sure that I'd be a much better DBA player if I didn't keep trying to be so clever.

Romans being Romans, barbarians being barbarians

Feeling chastened by the senseless loss of my Ps, I was much more sensible for the rest of the game.  I keep pacing my army forward.  On my left the Bw and Wb came out to meet me but their shooting failed to do anything useful.  On the right I sent my LH for an end-run around to threaten his camp, hoping to disrupt his lines a bit.

We have strategery on tap

The Franks sent their Ps back to intercept my LH, keeping their toes in the woods.  My LH moved to block his ZOC so that the rear of the two units would have some options next turn.  My Cv and Kn moved right, hoping to be able to get the Kn into the Wb which had come out of the woods.  My three Ax attacked the Frankish Bw but only managed to recoil them both.  On the left I got myself into a tangle, wheeling my Bd so far that it was hard to extricate them from the ZOC of the leftmost Wb unit and forming a potential obstacle to my Ax if it had to recoil.

Boing!

The next few turns saw lots of combat but no results.  My Ax traded recoils back and forth with his Bw.  In the centre his WbG began driving my Ax back despite being double overlapped by my other Ax and my CvG.  On the right my Kn charged his Wb in the open with a flank from my LH but they must have packed their rubber lances today.

One chance in 36.  Romans 0 - Franks 2

In an act of lunacy, the Frankish Wb on the right charged my Kn and to my surprise killed it with a 6-1 roll!  Oh dear.  The back and forth between my Ax and Bw continued on the left with the Romans being unable to make anything of repeated 3-2 and 3-1 combats.  In the centre the WbG continued to push back my Ax while my CvG beside him got stuck against the Wb.

Romans 1 - Franks 2

Still my Ax on the left were unable to buy a win.  In the centre my Cv lined up beside my CvG to give the overlap on the Frankish Wb who were finally killed.

A rush of blood to the head

The bad guy got 6 pips and after a moment of thought put into place a risky yet fiendish plan.  His Bw moved back from my Ax and the adjacent Wb unit made a double move to attack the Ax.  The Wb behind his WbG also made a double move and retreated, turned and flanked my CvG which was also attacked by the Wb in front of it.  The situation before we rolled any dice was as above.  His General has no room to recoil and is in a 4-3 combat in his favour.  My General has been flanked and is in a 1-3 combat to my favour.  Here's what happened:

A rush of blood to the neck.  Romans 2G - Franks 3G

Against the odds, both Generals were recoiled and killed.  On the left my Ax again recoiled his Bw and the Wb vs Ax fight was a tie.  The Romans were demoralized by seeing their General trapped and killed and fled the battlefield with head hung low.

Post-game thoughts:

1. My kamikaze Psiloi move lost me the game.  If I hadn't been 1 unit down already, the game would have been tied up at 2G-2G each and we would have continued.  Plus I would have had some Ps backup for my Ax, leading them to kill those pesky Bw.  I really don't what I was thinking...
2. Speaking of Ps, what was I thinking??  My other Ps just sat there all game, forgotten and lonely.  I could have moved through the Bd and given support to my Ax.
3. I should have been more aggressive with my Bd.  I've had some bad experiences in the past with my Bd being killed by Wb but the odds are with the Bd especially when I would have had the overlap on the left if I'd cared to take it.
4. Finally a game where I didn't recklessly waste my LH. I was very unlucky with them and my Kn, first to recoil from a flanking 3-1 combat, then to lose my Kn to a 3-2 combat.  Dem's da breaks!
5. It was a really fun game with both sides fighting in what I think were historically appropriate ways.

LIR v Visigoths again

This is our repeat of the previous game of Late Imperial Romans v Later Visigoths.  Again, the pictures are taken from a pretty low angle so although they look nice and pretty it's sometimes a bit hard to see what's actually going on.  Sorry for so long between posts.  I actually did most of this one a week or so ago but ran into some glitches with blogger and didn't get back to it until tonight.

Anyway, here's the board and the early setup - crossroads through a woods and two gentle hills. 

Tally ho!

 I put a column of Ax on the road and sent them scooting into the woods.  I sent a Cv and LH to the right around the woods.  My Bd and Ps started to plod around the left of the woods towards the enemy camp, with the CvG and LH on their far left.  My plan was to distract the Visigoths on the right on the board with the Cv and LH, block them in the woods with the Ax, and put pressure on their camp with the Bd.

The Visigoth setup looked odd to me at first but here's my analysis of it:
- 2xCv and 2xPs on my right to oppose my mounted.
- 2xWb on the road to oppose my Ax, with the KnG in a nice central position.
- 2xBw,2xWb,Cv on the right to defend the camp and harass my mounted with shooting.
The only thing I would do differently is to keep the two Bw units together and not put them near the wood where they can't shoot.

Romans 0 - Visigoths 1

I left the right flank quite static as I was spending most of my pips on the left to advance my Bd and in the middle to reorganize my Ax into a line.  Once again I had pushed my Ax too far forward and into a vulnerable position for no benefit.  The rightmost was killed by a lowly Ps when overlapped by his Cv.  The others recoiled the enemy and bought some time to withdraw.  The gap in front of the enemy camp continued to tempt me.

Romans 1 - Visigoths 1

Realizing that my Ax were about to get overwhelmed by a bunch of thugs with sticks and rocks, I sent them some Ps backup.  This enabled them to kill an enemy Bw which had attacked them in the woods.  The enemy Ps moved to a flanking position but I rolled well and recoiled the enemy again.

On the right, my Cv and LH moved to threaten the flank of the enemy Cv.  On the left, my Bd marched onwards.  My LH scooted around behind the Visigoths Bw which turned to face them.

Here's what happened next:

Romans 1 - Visigoths 2

My LH kept turning the Bw around because I was too scared to charge them and didn't want to be forced to flee off the table and I figured that if I could get far enough around I'd be able to bypass them entirely and charge another unit.  In the woods the Visigoth Ps flanked my Ax which was killed by his Wb.  His other Wb recoiled my 2 remaining Ax.  On the left flank my line of Bd started to curl around to line up to his angled block of Wb.

Romans 2 - Visigoths 2

Right about now I realized that my General was way too far out on the left flank where not only was there nothing for him to do, he was also so far from the woods that I was paying extra pips to try to save my Ax.  So I turned him and moved him full speed back behind my lines.  My Ax retreated also at top speed to escape the Wb.  My LH charged the rear unit of his Wb on my left flank, thus evading the shooting of his Bw as well as robbing the Wb in front of my blades of a rear support factor.  That unit of Wb was duly despatched.

Romans 3 - Visigoths 2

His Wb pursued me out of the woods but was driven back by my Ax with some lucky rolls.  On the right flank our mounted units finally clashed but all that happened was that my LH was recoiled.  My CvG continued to close in on the woods and my LH ran down the Wb that they had rear charged earlier.

Romans 4 - Visigoths 2

In a final bid to win the game, his Wb near the woods charged my Ax again and also flanked me with his other unit of Wb but again I rolled luckily and he recoiled, straight into the path of my CvG.  My Ax followed up in my turn and my CvG flanked his Wb and it was killed and the game was mine.

Post-game thoughts:

1. Again, I tried to concentrate on keeping it simple and again it worked.
2. Again, I was the beneficiary of lucky die rolls when it counted.
3. Again, I was too aggressive with my Ax simply because I like them.  Realistically, they should have been killed three or four times by the enemy Wb and it was only luck that saved me.
4. Moving my Cv and LH to the right of the woods was a waste.  Perhaps if I had kept my CvG more centrally located the whole game it would have allowed me to use them more.
5. DBA is fun!

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?

Late Imperial Romans v Later Visigoths

For this game, I chose to play Late Imperial Romans West  II/78a:
CvG, Cv, 2xLH, 3xBd, 3xAx, 2xPs

My opponent chose to play Later Visigoths II/82:
KnG, 3xCv, 4xWb, 2xPs, 2xBw

I laid out the terrain, choosing this time to place only some roads, a wood and two gentle hills.  I wanted space to spread my line out like good old fashioned Romans!  My opponent put a block of Cv on the hill and his block of Wb on the flat with Bw on the right and Ps on the left.

After the first bounds

Naturally, I got a 1 for pips first up.  The Visigoths grabbed the woods on my right with their Ps and angled everybody else to go around the woods.  Even though I had my Ps and Ax on that side I decided pretty early on that I wasn't going to distract myself by contesting the woods unless I had an easy kill on the cards.

After a few more bounds my much longer line was starting to envelop the Visigoths:

Come to papa!

My real fear was that his Kn would punch through my Ax or Bd with the quick kill, but since it was his general he probably decided that it was too risky.  I sent a single Ax through the woods to turn the block of Wb away from my Bd, ignoring the enemy Ps in my rear which were now out of command distance.  My LH went wide left atop the hill, so the Visigoths bent their line of Cv back to protect their flanks, but it did cause them to have quite a fragmented line.

Romans 1 - Visigoths 0

The Wb split up to try to kill my Ax in the woods but the Ax recoiled.  My LH charged the lone straggling Cv with one overlap and killed them in an even fight with a lucky roll.  My Cv also charged the Goth Cv with an overlap but got a stick.  The enemy Cv then withdrew from combat back to the top of the hill.  The Goth Bw started to shoot my Ax but nothing came of it.

Romans 2 - Visigoths 0

My CG then attacked the next Visigoth Cv in the line, with the flank from my other Cv unit.  I got the recoil easily on a 4-2 combat and the enemy Cv was cut down.  The Visigoths were suffering a severe pip drought at this time so it was not easy for them to respond as I rolled up their line.

Romans 3G - Visigoths 0

TheVisigoth KnG decided to stop the rot himself and turned and charged my Cv even though this put him in a position to be flanked by my CvG.  His remaining Cv came off the hill to give an overlap, making it a 3-2 fight in his favour, but if he recoiled he'd be destroyed and the game would be mine.  That's what happened, giving the Romans a long-awaited victory!

Post-game thoughts:

1. My plan this game was to keep it simple.  No elaborate back-field runs, no attempts at pushing big columns through bad going, just rely on a solid wall of Bd and mounted.  And it worked!
2. It certainly helped that the bad guys had Kn + 3xCv rather than 4xKn.  It allowed me to be much more assertive in enveloping him.
3. We used a system of drawing playing cards ranging from Ace to 6 to determine pips.  No different really to rolling for pips except that if you draw some low cards early you know you're due for higher cards later on, which is a nice psychological and statistical addition to the game.

Civil war

Educational theory says that now that I've been playing DBA for a while I should be improving from a state of unconscious incompetence to a state of conscious incompetence.  Well, today's game certainly seemed to provide support for that theory.  I feel like I'm getting worse at DBA, but at least now I'm quicker to figure out what I'm doing wrong!

We played a Middle Imperial Roman civil war, I took East versus my opponent's West.  The board was as below, with a steep hill in my deployment zone, a gentle hill opposite, a wood on my right and a waterway on my left.  Our armies were the same, except he had chosen Bw where I chose Ps.

After the first bounds

I dithered a lot with my set-up.  I certainly didn't feel like I had any sort of plan and it probably shows.  I started to run my LH around to the left hoping to outflank the Art on the hill.  My own Art moved up the road facing his Cv.  He moved his Ax into the woods and generally advanced the rest of his army but left behind an Ax and Bd near the road.

Having this many groups is painful when you roll a 2 for pips

I kept rolling low for pips and my LH movement was gobbling them up so I didn't get much further forward.  His Cv and LH came down the road and veered to hug the edge of the woods. His CvG backed up his Bd block.  And his rearmost Bd went towards the waterway to intercept my LH. 

My Cv moved towards my right flank when I saw his Cv and LH coming.  I left room for my Ax to recoil - I've been caught like that before!  My Ps moved to the left to broaden the line, thinking I might be able to skirt around him.  My Ax on the steep hill moved forward to throw a ZOC out in front of my Ps and Bd.  I would have liked to charge the Art on the flank with my LH but he had the hill so I would probably have to recoil, and then in my turn the Art would blast me.  I needed to get those Ax up fast to help out!

East 0 - West 1

Then I got a shock - his lone Bw stepped up and shot my Ax to death with a 6-1 roll!  His own Ax came off the hill and suddenly my left flank looked flimsy.  I juggled my Bd and Ps around to get the Ps behind the Bd before they got chased off by the enemy Bd - I wanted the combat advantage when our lines collided.  His Ax continued to advance through the woods so I brought up my Cv to oppose them.  My Art was shooting at his LH but failed to achieve anything real.

Take a bow.  East 1 - West 1

In my turn, my Ax came off the steep hill and killed his Bw by recoiling it into the flank of his Bd.  My Bd also managed to recoil both of his Bd units.  Then my Art managed to recoil his Cv and LH back onto the road.  My CvG moved to behind the Bd to the right of my Art, with the thought that I might be able to pounce on his Cv in the future.

Jostling for position

In the next few bounds, my Ax retreated to form a line with my Bd block, but his Ax formed up opposite it and his Bd moved to overlap me on the steep hill.  I moved my rightside Bd out of the way and charged my CvG into his Cv but only managed to recoil it.  However, both his Cv and LH now had a toe in the forest so if they recoiled again they'd be dead.  I then succumbed to temptation and ran my LH right behind his Ax in the hope of recoiling his Ax into it.  Of course, I was right in the sights of the Western Roman artillery and we rolled even on the dice so my LH was left swinging in the breeze with nothing to show for it...

Click click, BOOM!  East 1 - West 3

So in his turn, his Art destroyed my LH.  And then he flanked my Ax and killed it too.  And now he had the flank on my Bd line.  I think I only rolled a 1 for pips, so I stupidly attacked with my Bd where I couldn't actually kill anything.  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the final setup but here's what happened:

East 1 - West 5

His units flanked my Ps-backed Bd and recoiled them, killing both because they'd been flanked by his Bd.  Game over.

Post-game thoughts:

1. It was really interesting playing against essentially the same army (only 1 unit difference).  Much trickier as there weren't any strong mismatches.  A much more tactical game that I think I lost because I got rash and did risky things whereas my opponent held his nerve.
2. It was funny playing with no Wb on the board!  I'm so used to their adorable impetuous advances.
3. I'm still pretty bad at using Art.  I still prefer LH.
4. My initial setup was bad.  If I could play this game again I would start with my Bd in column on the steep hill.  I would advance them against his Art.  My Art and Cav would creep up on the flat, guarding the right flank of my Bd.  No idea what I would have done with my Ax though!
5. I should have left my Ax on the steep hill rather than pouncing on his Bw to kill it.  I was so keen to avenge the unlikely shooting of my other Ax that I didn't foresee how fast my flank could collapse.  If I'd stayed on the edge of the hill I would have had the uphill in the bad ground and my ZOC would have put his Bd line in disarray for a while.

Again, it was a fun game, and I feel like I'm still on a learning curve for DBA.  Soon hopefully I'll have some Kn, Wb and Ps painted and then I'll be able to play the Patrician Romans.  Thanks for reading.

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.