Tag Archives: DBA

Never Say Never Reconsidered

Miniatures,

Thought I’d made a comittment to DBA 3.  Now I’ve reneged.  Played a couple of games and it just doesn’t work solo.  Need an opponent.  Tired of the lack of manuever and reliance on melee.

With all that lead, I had to come up with alternative uses.  So, in keeping with my new focus on the old, I inventoried all my 15mm Dark Age and Medieval figures – which involved several DBA armies – and came up with workable lists for WRG Ancients.

I have the basic units for Byzantines vs. Arabs using my old Tabletop (now distributed by Alternative Armies), as well as Condotta vs. Ottomans using Essex figures.  The odd troops out are my Essex Central Asian Cavalry.  With some touch-up painting they should sell on E-Bay.

How Retro is WRG 5th Edition.  Should be fun, but that fun will have to wait until Winter.  Need time and money……isn’t that always the case?

Never Say Never

Medieval, Miniatures

Gave in and decided to go with DBA 3.  Haven’t been overwhelmed with the differences in scale, and the introduction of “solid” troop types.  Well, maybe because I don’t have the Army Lists.  Still, the addition of “Threat Zones” extending out one stand width from all units precludes unlikely gymnastics, and forcing a fight or withdrawal.

So, the tournament is back on.  First round involved Swiss and Condotti.  Condotti scored an unlikely upset by turning the Swiss flank moving through bad going, and forcing a Swiss charge into Mounted Knights.  Another tactical lesson learned.

Next up, Burgundian Ordannance.

 

Old Business

Ancients, Miniatures, Sessions

After a truly abortive first turn of the Thunder At Cassino campaign, decided to regroup by playing a DBA (2.2) game that’s been set up for…well maybe…six months.  Late Swiss vs. Some Mutant Army With Lots of Crossbows and Knights.  Hell….can’t find anything like it in the lists.

Hammered it out Sunday afternoon during boring NFL action.

DBA is what it is.  Simple, Quick and Generic.  I’d like to see some chrome…. like Swiss having an extra bound to simulate their speed/audacity in the attack, or range differentials between bow types.  But, for that, I need to try DBM, or some other system.

For The Quick and Dirty, You Go With The Devil You Know.  Never played it FTF, and that is how it should be played.  Ugh…..cut-throat tournament action….guys with rulers down to the eighth of an inch…..all that facing stuff……Ugh.

It was fun.  I’ll set up again, but with  Cavalry/Light Horse armies to stretch things out.

Here’s a semi-lucid photo summary of the game.

Turn One.  Light units Deploy. Swiss In Foreground.

Mid-Turn 5.  Things Get Interesting.

End Turn 5.  Pikes Struggling Against Bows(?!?)  While Knights’ Attack Develops.

End Game.  Knights Quick Kill Pike, Swiss Left Wing Shattered.

 

Command Decision

Medieval, Miniatures

Took down the Irregular Wars battlefield over the weekend,  opening up table space.  Nature abhors a vacuum, so I set up D-Day At Omaha Beach (still thrashing through the rules), and DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis) to go along with my latest ASLSK scenario.

I have the DBA 2.0 rules, along with the wonderful 2.2 play-aide published some years ago by the Washington Area DBA Gamers.

It’s been awhile, so I started poking around about DBA 3.0.  The cost at $38.00 was just too much.  So, I did a little more digging and came up with this.    What the hell, I downloaded the Kindle version and started reading.

It’s a nice little book, and a good introduction to the significant changes to the system.  It even includes a series of army lists based on time period and potential adversaries/allies.

But…….no diagrams to illustrate the always interesting Barker narrative style.  For diagrams, you pay $38.00, and I need the diagrams.  Sixteen of them, and by all accounts very informative.   Reviewers also laud the extensive (500) army lists, many of them revisions that change not only an army’s troop type but also basing.

If I was playing in tournaments, or had a crew that played DBA, I’d go all-in.  But for solo play, it just isn’t worth it.  I’ll putz along with 2.2.  Can use the time/money on other projects.

Picked late medieval armies for a mini-campaign.  Late Swiss, Imperial German, and two Condottiere armies.  The Swiss are pike of course,  and the Imperial Germans have war-wagons.  One Condottiere army’s knights will fight dismounted, the other mounted.

So,  some variety and the prospect of quick and entertaining fights.

Something Different – Hordes of Dervishes – DBA Variant

Colonials, Miniatures

Very cold, bad TV, no sports,  not even a movie to get excited about.  So, I dove into a DBA variant, Hordes of Dervishes by Bob Cordery,  that had been on the playlist for quite a while.  Bob is a wargaming stalwart, with his own interesting site.

There are any number of DBA variants out there.  This one is colonial.  It’s an excuse to pull out the British 15mm troops that I’ve had for decades, and were lingering out in the shed,  patiently waiting for this opportunity.  They were all that was left of what had been a rather substantial force of British and French colonials, painted for the aborted World War 1896 campaign,  that I sold off a few years ago.  I used some of my 15mm figures painted up for the East African Renaissance as the “Dervishes”.

With all my usual finesse, I just lined them up at went at it.

As with DBA, there is a lot of wristage, and the Brits’ roles were horrendous.  If the Dervishes get into contact, there is real trouble.  While a Dervish element’s (I’m talking Lingua DBA here) combat factor is 3 as compared to 5 for the British, any favorable ratio – not the typical “kill” ratio of over half – will destroy the British element.  So it is  absolutely critical for the British player to roll well not only in melee but also for his rifle fire to be effective.  Especially because the Dervishes are rated as Warband, and can use 2 pips to move 6 inches (600 paces), if that puts them into contact.  Rifle range is 5 inches (500 paces).

With the bad rolling, things did not go well for the Highlanders.  Here’s a flashbulb view of the battle (the game was played after dark in bad lighting in the dining room).  Good game, and I’ll probably play it again this evening.

Set Up. Hill Rated Bad Going. I Constructed The DBA Board Many Years Ago.
Set Up. Hill Rated Bad Going. I Constructed The DBA Board Many Years Ago.
Highlanders. Old MiniFigs.
Highlanders. Old MiniFigs.
Dervish Horde. Old MiniFigs.
Dervish Horde. Old MiniFigs.
Closing To Contact
Closing To Contact
Contact and Flanked!
Contact and Flanked!
Highlanders Withdrawing. A Dervish Victory.
Highlanders Withdrawing. A Dervish Victory.