Early Gauls vs Early Bosporons (pre-300BC)

[Kineas1]

This AAR is going to sound remarkably like a paid political announcement for the rules. Apologies for all the happiness...

My opponent, Steve, is a new player who has sat through 1 game of warrior and one game of DBM. Otherwise, his finely honed tactical skills are all from real life. He chose to play Bosporons, and he took:

2x4 bases Superior armoured lancers
5x4 bases Average LH Bow, sword
1x6 bases Average MI armoured Light spear/ sword drilled
1x6 bases Average MI protected light spear sword
1x6 bases Average MI unprotected Bow/light spear
1x8 bases Average LI unprotected Light spear, javelins

IC,FC, TC

I took my Mycenaeans out as Gauls. I chose to go with big units.
2x12 bases Average HI, Protected, Impact/swords
1x6 bases Elite HI, Impact swords
6x Superior Light Chariots
4x Superior Light Chariots
1x4 bases Superior Armoured Cav Light spear, swords
1x8 bases Average LI unprotected Light spear, javelins

IC, FC, TC

We had 650 points a side, 8x5 table (25mm) using inches as MU. Armies are as I remember them...

The terrain and set up phase was fun for all, as neither one of us got what we wanted--I wanted a billiard ball, perhaps with a gentle hill to help my charge, and Steve wanted dense difficult terrain. Instead, we each got about 1/2 the battlefield that we wanted.
In set up, Steve put his MI in the terrain on his left and built his line out to the right. I put down my warbands first, in the center, already diagonal to move directly at his MI. Both of us plunked major cav on the same side--my left/his right, where I had 1x6 chariots and 1x4Cav and he put all his armoured lancers. He strung his LH across my center, attempting to build up shooting against the elites (because they were small) and basically just delaying my big warbands. On my right/his left, I put a 4 base chariot unit and my LI facing his LI and all his MI.

The maneuver phase (so to speak) lasted a great deal longer than it has in other games where we played with 40mm MUs. I used my generals to double move on my left and center, to swing the whole line and cover the board. He held back (too long, I think) and then rode out to meet me, so the whole battle was fought diagonally--he said that he wanted the extra length of the diagonal line to get around my flank. Good idea, but not how it played out.

We both put all our cav in single ranks and he declined the engagement, choosing to let me charge and then evading. Due to some complex mechanics (see my other post) one base of my chariots caught one base of his cav. After two turns of struggle with all the chariots and cav gradually fed in, my Cav broke his, and my Chariots and his Cav, despite seriously disparate numbers, fought to the end of the game. He lost 2 bases but passed every Cohesion test, and my 6 chariots couldn't quite finish him... (dice matter). Steve and I enjoyed the scope this game offers for heroism. On the last turn, he finally blew his death roll and the unit vanished. Both of us had TC generals in the front rank--a valuable asset.

Meanwhile the battle played out elsewhere. For 6 turns, my warbands chased his LH, and his LH fired into my warbands. At one point, with blazing dice (6 hits out of 6 shots two turns running) he actually killed off 2 bases of a 12 base warband and knocked it down to disrupted--and my elites were shot from 6 bases to 4 bases over the seven turns. However, every turn saw him closer to his own board edge. Too late (says I--Steve may have different views) he committed his MI at my LI and chariots. I rolled very poorly on my chariot charge, lost badly, lost melee badly, lost bases, and broke off. He now had my right flank for the taking--but he'd waited too long, and his center evaded off the board...
The last turn saw his LH shooting line broken up in a last ditch attempt to keep his right form folding and his archers, who had been killing bases all game, finally locked in h-t-h by angry Gauls who figured out which side of the dice had 6s and routed them and the Olbian Militia in short order (faster than they should have, balancing Steve's excellent shooting). The lesson here is that just one base (2 dice) of Impact foot CAN make a dent in a 6 base unit--he took the two hits, lost the impact, failed Cohesion, and then in melee took it in the chops and went all the way to rout. Had he been an 8 base unit, none of that would have happened...

So we called it, with 4 of his units broken and 2 more about to move off table.

Steve chose to put his LH in the center, largely because of his own terrain choices (enough said there!). I thought it was an odd choice, but he came SO CLOSE to shooting my Gallic warbands to Frag that I have to say it wasn't bad.

Altogether, a very interesting test of the "all LH" ish army vs an army that doesn't appear maneuverable. And all hail the humble Lchariot--it doesn't beat much, but it takes up a lot of room and prevents outflanking. With a general and some minor luck, Superior Lchariots ought to last a while. So on balance, they are worth the points...

There are no "others" to this game. We played almost 14 turns in 4 hours, and Steve showed just how well a non-gamer can do with nothing but historical knowledge and tactical acuity. I was pleased to see big barbarians do well against shooty horse archers, but equally pleased to see how close the LH came to cracking the Gauls.
Final note on those lines--Steve had to go and conceded--as he would have, I think, in a tourny. But he had one more shot at the weakened Gauls in the center which I played out. On the end of my turn (shooting) he shot them down to Frag--ahah. On his Impact phase he'd have charged--why not? I rolled all the dice to the end of the turn for both sides without a decisive result. But he was that close to breaking the center--and winning the game.

I'm sure there were many better ways to play our armies, but it certainly seemed both historical and FAST. And fun.

Christian

[shall]

I'm sure there were many better ways to play our armies, but it certainly seemed both historical and FAST. And fun.

That what we aimed at. Lost of fun and asy to get to grips with but hard to master.

Enjoy

Si