Jolly Old England, The Dark Ages
SCENARIO
Dastardly Vikings raiding the English shores!
FORCES
Vikings – John
1x Blade General
10x Blade
1x Psiloi
Anglo-Danish – Tim
1x Blade General
2x Blade
8x Spear
1x Psiloi
THE GAME
The Vikings were the agressors, so I set up some terrain and john decided on a table edge, got it and we set up…
(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)
The Viking hordes descend on a hapless English village
I sent forth my Psiloi to attack the Viking Psiloi in the woods
The Viking Psiloi shoved them out
So my guys went in again…
…and again were obliged to withdraw.
Slowly the Viking line drew ever nearer while the light infantry continued to scrap in the woods.
Finally it was my turn to shove the Viking skirmishers back and then I followed them deeper into the woods where they sprung their clever trap… or something…
“Ooooh! Aaaarrrr! ‘E got me!”
Dead Psiloi. Vikings: 1, Anglo-Danish: 0
The serious clash of real troops was over on the hill at the other end of the English line – the Vikings charged up the hill to meet the English spear!
Oh, and flank them…
Poof! Dead Spearmen (and the reat pushed back over the crest of the hill). Vikings: 2, Anglo-Danish: 0
Seemed there was nothing for it but to charge back over the hill to maintain that advantage and for force some of the Vikings back into their own troops and hopefully route them in the confusion..
Shoved one back. Not the one I wanted, though.
In a bold move, worthy of the Vikings he was playing John rushed them back up the hill, throwing one stand into the gap in the English line.
They were thrown back down the hill, but not far enough to cause them any bother. The English spearmen that were caught in the mess were utterly destroyed, however. Vikings: 3, Anglo-Danish: 0
Briefly the Viking Skirmishers tried to sneak around the other flank and I turned some English spearmen to hopefully shove them off the table edge…
…but I never got the chance as the flanking wonders over on the other line finished clearing off the hill and the English general was compelled to “ask for terms”…
Vikings: 4, Anglo-Danish: 0
Oh, bother.
Another quick, fun game – with enough time left over to finish up a battle report and get to bed at a decent hour (or get some painting done!). Got me thinking I should really finish up those Irish… or Welsh… O maybe the Scotts… or Early Germans… or perhaps one (or more) of the other Romans… or… um… well, you get the idea…
Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:
Not much happening on the figure painting front. I am getting lots of other painting done, however. Perhaps another battle report next week…?
Posts
Hey looks a good game. I have some ancients that I have never used as yet, I see you use DBA rules, I have been looking at buying/downloading a set, but am confused as to which version I should use, any recommendations?
ReplyDeleteholland.clive@gmail.com
Thanks Clive
Nice game; Anglo-Danes are a tough army to play, especially given the advantage vikings have. Trying to draw them into terrain is one possibility but you also pay the price.
ReplyDeleteClive: the most recent set is DBA v.2.2. You can also give Hordes of the things (HoTT) a whirl (free on line) if you prefer a more fantastical game.
DBA 2.2 is the current edition.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested you should definitely check out Fanaticus an excellent online resource for all things related to DBA. They have a very active forum with a LOT of very friendly helpful people.
for tracking down a copy I'd suggest
Keep Wargaming. I don't see a copy listed in the online store, but if you email them they may have one.
Hordes of the Things - a fantasy variant - is out of print but a free download from the publisher:
HOTT pdf
Hope that helps to get you started!
Oooh Bob beat me to it - but I provided links!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I could have placed terrain a bit better if I'd wanted to win (or wanted a CHANCE at winning...). But it was John's first time playing it and my policy is never to utterly destroy an opponent the first time they play, lest they decide the game "sucks" and won't want to play it again. As it turned out John was pondering putting together a Roman army by the end of it - Civil War here we come!!
I'm building the same viking army in 1/72 plastic. I'd love if you took a gander at the general element I posted today. I'm following your example and making all the bases deeper than the official 20mm.
ReplyDeleteI was excited to see HOTT is available as a PDF. I've been wanting a copy of the rules for years, but never got around to finding a copy!
Those are 1/72 plastics!? WOW! Best looking 1/72 plastics I've seen! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think the vikings are Zvezda's best set. I had been wanting to paint them for a while.
ReplyDeleteI see now that you've been placing two ranks on the same base. I can't believe I didn't notice that before!
Tim, I've read your comments on Andrew's blog about recoiling your way-cool-looking double deep bases (like, they're waayy cool. I'm tempted to do something similar with my EIRs...but it would mean more figures to paint!). I'm pretty sure DBA says somewhere that you only recoil the single depth amount - like 8 BW only recoil as for 4 BW. Might stop some of your elements crashing into each other...
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Nick Grant
Looks like an exciting game!
ReplyDelete