Some Face to Face Gaming Part 2 - Dux Bellorum

After some lunch Richard was up next with Arthurian Britons against Saxons, using Dux Bellorum.

Gary and I got the Arthurians, which meant we faced the powerhouse doubles team of Steele and Ager, who have spread fear across convention tables the length of this land. So I am told.

I quite like Dux Bellorum, but it can be a bit of a b*gg*r from time to time, and there's always the danger it becomes death by a thousand cuts as the game slowly but inevitably slips away from you.

Gary had never played DB before, so everything that follows is my fault entirely.

Doesn't sound promising, does it?

Any how, I resolved on a strategy to hold back and draw their infantry on in the centre, whilst we passed out cavalry round their flank.

Here are our "Imposing Horse" and in the distance some skirmishing javelin armed horse.

Phil went at my skirmishers aggressively, using the attacker ability to place Leadership Points last to get an advantage on this flank. I also over estimated the effect of being in cover if attacked (i.e. there is none) and the extra d6 in combat for making contact was decisive, and I lost a skirmisher unit. This cost us an LP. This meant that they were playing 2 LPs after we'd laid our last one, and moving first. They used this slight advantage very effectively.

I miscalculated badly on this flank. I should have attacked out of the woods, rather than relying on missiles. Losing this combat was more significant for us than them.

Now this looks promising. Gary has got the javelin cavalry round the back, and is lining the heavy boys up nicely. Alas we hadn't taken into account two things. Firstly javelin armed skirmishing cavalry aren't much cop - they only hit on a 6, and are useless in hand to hand - and secondly we were up against a canny opponent.

Chris detached his end shieldwall unit and turned it to close off this flank. He probably thought that he had consigned them to their doom (he hadn't) but it was worth it to keep the heavy cavalry out on the flank and away from the battleline where it could do real damage.

Gary, at my prompting, went in front and flank of that shieldwall unit. That looks good for us, but I forgot that units chose who to fight against, so Chris fought sideways against the weak light horse.

This meant that he took damage from our heavy cavalry, but killed the skirmish horse. Damn. That's another LP lost.

Elsewhere the battlelines start to engage with each other.

It's all looking a bit fractured, but we're doing okay. Not brilliant, alas, as they have two LPs more than us now, and they place them after we place our first. That means that out of 6 LPs to our 4 they are placing 3 after we've placed all of ours. LPs are the pivotal part of the game. They enable you to block hits, get extra dice and also interrupt the playing sequence. Essentially, once you get ahead you can dictate where and when the battle can be fought. It is possible to overcome this, but you need a combination of brilliance and luck.

The shieldwall battle on the right centre was becoming intense.

Unfortunately we showed neither brilliance nor were we lucky, and we lost another unit. We were definitely on the slippery slope to destruction, unless we could pull something out of the bag.

Has the miracle occurred? In the distance, on our right, the cavalry finally arrive and hit a flank. Elsewhere, everything is crumbling, and even their skirmishers have got round our rear and are shooting into the melee on our left.

Hooray for Arthur! At last the Saxon invader knows the taste of defeat! Well, one unit does. Can we roll them up before we collapse entirely?

Arthur piles into another unit which is fighting to its front. This sucks in a load of LPs, but elsewhere the Saxons have 2:1s and will probably prevail. We had a slight window in this turn and the previous one as they failed Bravery Tests to advance, but we were unable to exploit this as we missed in the combats. We're now at below half strength in the battle line, so our units need to take Bravery Tests to stay on the table.

Arthur and his knights deliver another kill, but pretty much every unit fails its Bravery Test, and we're done for. This Bravery Test failure is fairly cruel, as you have to roll low to pass it. Failing it means loads of 6s you need in combat are wasted. At least that's what it feels like.

I like Dux Bellorum. We were completely outplayed in this game. We had a small amount of bad luck in key areas, but that wasn't why we lost. Once we got behind on the LPs Phil and Chris were ruthless in pressing home their advantage and we were simply too slow developing the flanking cavalry attack. Although on that last point many of our problems were down to enemy action and the way Chris handled his flank guard. The loss of the javelin armed cavalry was careless. They added nothing to the melee, pretty much, and cost us a unit and an LP. We should have used them to harass the rear of the Saxons.

DB is a game system I should spend more time getting to know. I have come unstuck playing it on several occasions and made elementary mistakes. If you do that the game is unremittingly unforgiving. Once it starts to slide against you it is tough to pull it back - not impossible, but tough - and I'm not good enough at it to turn the small openings into the advantages I need to turn the tide.

Anyway, enough of the soul searching. Another great game in good company. Almost like back to normal.