Thursday night saw our local DBA evening. It didn't go as smoothly as it could have done, but fun none the less.
Firstly, and most importantly in a way, I succeeded in taking my copy of DBA v1 with me, rather than the v2.2 I'd printed out and left behind on the coffee table. Our host for the evening hadn't printed a copy and when he went to do so found his PC in one of those Microsoft "loading 16 updates" things that locked it up. No worries as our third player then turned up but he'd left his copy on his desk at work.
Next, I set up a terrain board in accordance with a straight reading of the DBA v1 rules. Apparently when they say put a terrain piece in each quarter they mean in the corners where it won't get in the way. So our first game (me v Ian, Normans v Saxons) degenerated into a slogging match across a medium difficulty river.
You can just make out my new 2'x2' DBA board under the terrain pieces. It's two bits of wardrobe back, joined by gaffer tape to make a folding game board (like Monopoly). You can also see my two newly made DBA hills and my usual rivers & roads sections.
This game descended into a stand off along the river line, but I managed to kill a couple of elements as Ian tried to force his way over the bridge. I then turned his left flank with some knights under William the Bastard and seized his camp. Game over.
Phil arrived part way through this game (and made the observation about overloaded terrain boards). He also brought along his Sub Roman Arthurian, and some deserty-type armies (Auxumites? Pre-Moslem Arabs??? I get lost in all the DBx army minutiae). He also brought a terrain board, but no rules. So we sent Ian off to check if he could at last print out (yes!), made some tea & coffee and had some early birthday cake for me.
I next took on Chris with those desert things. I got the army with lots of camels, not the one with warband and an elephant. Ian was now fighting the Arthurians, again with the Saxons.
I quickly demonstrated that I had no idea how to use this army. My only success was, again, sacking the camp with my General and light horse. Alas having done this thanks to a stunning 1 on the PiP dice two goes in a row Chris was able to pin me in place which meant commanding the rest of the army and harrying Chris' rear became difficult. Chris succeeded in doing a very professional number on my centre. They'll be eating camel meat for months.
In the other game Ian won really quickly through the superior tactics of rolling 6's when your opponent rolls 1's repeatedly. So they reset that game and Phil got his revenge.
So in the end everyone won a game, and only Chris didn't lose. It's a pleasant way to pass the evening and we'll probably do it again. After all I put together DBA armies from all of my other 15mm ancient collections and never got to use them.
Firstly, and most importantly in a way, I succeeded in taking my copy of DBA v1 with me, rather than the v2.2 I'd printed out and left behind on the coffee table. Our host for the evening hadn't printed a copy and when he went to do so found his PC in one of those Microsoft "loading 16 updates" things that locked it up. No worries as our third player then turned up but he'd left his copy on his desk at work.
Next, I set up a terrain board in accordance with a straight reading of the DBA v1 rules. Apparently when they say put a terrain piece in each quarter they mean in the corners where it won't get in the way. So our first game (me v Ian, Normans v Saxons) degenerated into a slogging match across a medium difficulty river.
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| Normans at the bottom, Saxons at the top. Obviously. |
This game descended into a stand off along the river line, but I managed to kill a couple of elements as Ian tried to force his way over the bridge. I then turned his left flank with some knights under William the Bastard and seized his camp. Game over.
Phil arrived part way through this game (and made the observation about overloaded terrain boards). He also brought along his Sub Roman Arthurian, and some deserty-type armies (Auxumites? Pre-Moslem Arabs??? I get lost in all the DBx army minutiae). He also brought a terrain board, but no rules. So we sent Ian off to check if he could at last print out (yes!), made some tea & coffee and had some early birthday cake for me.
I next took on Chris with those desert things. I got the army with lots of camels, not the one with warband and an elephant. Ian was now fighting the Arthurians, again with the Saxons.
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| Me in the foreground. Chris in darkness |
In the other game Ian won really quickly through the superior tactics of rolling 6's when your opponent rolls 1's repeatedly. So they reset that game and Phil got his revenge.
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| Ian's left flank about to be turned |
I have not played DBA for years - always fun though ! . Will have to dig out my armies and give it another go . I never went beyond V1 as I found things got more complecated after that .
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