Impetvs & TAGCON

This weekend as TAGCON. I helped out by running the canteen with Kent and Dale to make some money for TAG. The turn out was a bit disappointing compared to previous years, especially in 40k, but good support form Warmachine, DBA and also Dystopian Wars. I enjoyed not playing just hanging out and chatting to the gamers and rolling the odd dice today.

 Godzilla captured and imprisoned ona  Lost Island in Dystopian Wars. I really am trying to resit this one but it does look like a hell of a lot of fun. 

 Stephne helped me out on the cafeteria today and his Crusader army is still being based so he took Kent's Early Crusaders out for a spin vs my Seljuk army in a game of Impetvs.

 

 I had 2 commands, Kent had given Stephen only one, so I got to do a lot more manouvreing.

 The great unwashed Frankish mass assembles.

 My light troops (Daylami and skirmishers) head to the nearest rough going.

 Stephen keeps his knights on opportunity, waiting for the right moment to unleash hell.

 So I send forward some light horse to tempt them...

 And the knights take the bait. In the foreground the light troops are winning vs the foot sergeants and bows- it helps to keep rolling better dice than ones opponent.

 Alas a unit of Seljuk nobles strays too close the the Frankish knights.

 In the centre though the knights have been forced to attack piecemeal and are soundly defeated- the Frankish general is killed and then his army dismantled. A comprehensive Seljuk victory- I lost a single stand of Seljuk nobles and broke the crusaders.

Hopefully soon we will see Stephen's military order force in action.

Craig

DBA Alans battle report

Good news

Dave can now play TAGCON so we are back to 10 players, so no byes.

Managed to get in 3 playtests with the Alans tonight but alas forgot to take my camera!

Game 1: 4-1 vs Lewis' Ancient Britons.
Lewis deployed in 2 wings and was not able to get his warband across fast enough to support his cavalry & chariots which got run over by knights and light horse.

Game 2: 3-4 vs Tony's Late Imperial Romans (East)
Truly a game where I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory! 3-1 up I failed for 3 rounds to kills an auxillia (in the open!) with a knight which only needed to roll higher than he did to defeat it and destroy it and so win the game! Grrr, after that I deserved to get steamrolled when Tony's threw caution to the wind to try to grab points.

I did also manage to sack his BUA on turn 1 in a blade vs blade combat!

Game 3: 4-2 vs Stephen's Nubian Christians
A reverse of the game vs Tony- I managed to kill his general after a knight recoiled away from a camel and gave me 4-2 advantage for having the Cavalry general isolated and flanked on both sides! Up to that point it was close but looking like victory was going to be Stephen's.

Lessons Learned
The dice still hate me!

There were a few light horse vs light horse engagements- which I always dread as they can be so random! However, I've decided that having 3 light horse in such situations is better than 2, and 5 is even better! I am tempted to go with 6x light horse on occasion to get 3 working on each flank but have yet to try this (usually I take: 4x knights, 5x light horse, 2x blades and a psiloi)

So roll on the weekend, hopefully the light horse can annoy a few opponents

Craig

TAGCON & Terrain

This weekend is the annual tournament that I started back in 2003. I organised the first 4 TAGCONS myself but in the past three years or so I've stepped away from organising and now simply take part. My claim to fame is helping get DBA established in the club and coming 2nd in the first ever DBA comp at TAG (beginners luck!). Not a bad effort considering that I was actually umpring the FoW comp and only taking part to help out with numbers between umpiring duties. I lost the final vs Keith's Samurai and will be looking for a rematch this weekend all going well.

Since then DBA has undergone a resurgence locally and in Christchurch and now there are a number of comps throughout the year. In fact I think South Canterbury and Christchruch are probably the strongholds of DBA in New Zealand.

This year we are a little light on numbers with a couple of people not being able to make it due to other commitments but have 9 1/2 players- Dave can't play in the morning so will fill in the afternoon three rounds. Hopefully we can find another local to play the morning byes.

Haven't really put much thought into my army, having been focusing on 28mm Impetus forces of late (as readers are probably aware) so have decided to go with the Alans (II/58). I'd love to be able to field the all light horse version- just because, but will go for a more balanced army (4 knights, 2 blades, psiloi and the rest light horse) most of the time. A few more palytest games this Wednesday are in order.

I've decided to go with the Steppe version (if defending) to get as much good going terrain as I can. So tonight I've made some hills, woods/rough going for the army. [Well technically the hills were done over the weekend and simply painted and flocked tonight].







Alla re based on some cork tile I had lying around. The hills then have some polystyrene glued on and permafilla added, once dried the hill is painted in PVA glue and covered in beach sand, then painted black dry brushed with a dark then light brown before Woodlands scenic grass is added. I may add some silflor grasses yet, but it isn't cheap and aren't sure if its worth wasting on these terrain pieces. The hills have a cret and aren't too steep so that (hopefully) figures don't slide off too much.

The woods/rough are even easier, simply covered in PVA and beach sand before painted and flocked using the same process as the hills.

Not too bad and they look much better than a strip of felt or cloth and are pretty straight forward (and fast) to make.

Craig