DBA 3 - Marians vs Early Germans

...or how to lose with Warband...

Good evening,

Last DBA game of the weekend, and I was down 4 nil. Hmmm...

Anyway, Stan and I had time for another game, so, since my armies were still in the car from the previous games at Mark's, and since Stan was reading Sue Barker's Introduction to Ancient Wargaming, we thought to recreate the example battle from the book.

II/47d Cherusci Army

• Cav General
• 9 Warband
• 2 Skirmishers

...commanded by me, and...

II/49 Marian Roman

• Blade General
• 7 Legionaries
• 1 Greek Cav
• 1 Illyrian Light Horse
• 2 Psiloi

...commanded by Stan.

I was the aggressor, so Stan set up the terrain as per the book (the waterway on my right was represented simply by shrinking the battlefield a touch on that flank), set out his chaps and I deployed mine with the intention of ignoring most of his Blades and scurrying over the steep hill to loot his camp.

What was I thinking?!

Oh, right, that.

Hmmm...

Yes, that's the book. That one right there.

The long red line of death comes marching forward (I really need to finish painting that Blade General - it's the first time he's taken the field), while I send forward my skirmishers to buy my warband some time.

Contact!

First combat...

...and those dratted legionaries push me back.

The Wromans close up ranks...

...and I push forward.

Drats!

And again, Stan straightens his line.

I try to bolster my ranks, and push forward on the left.

Huzzah!

That's pretty British, isn't it? Let's try...Freudenruf!

Alas and alak, Stan runs over his mobile reserves.

Rather than waiting around, I press my luck.

Charge! Verlangen!

Bother. Or Belästigung. Warband don't really like horses.

Stan presses forward, well, everywhere.

Belästigung.

My Skirmishers run. One of them even runs off camera, bottom right.

Another recoil for the seemingly ineffectual Warband.

I wonder what ineffectual is in German...unwirksam. Unwirksam warband.

I push forward myself...

...unwirksam-ly.

Stan then piles on the pressure.

Belästigung.

And that was the end of that.

Five games of DBA within 24 hours, and...yeah, well...ummm...a good time was had by all!

Thanks boys,

Nick