Civs 6mm Adventures - Ancient Germans
The barbarian horde - Muster complete (for now)
So i finally got round to basing up the remaining elements of my force, m glad its over but im also glad i did it. Now i have a base army i can get a few games in and add to it slowly, as and when i have some time.
I did have my first game of DBM last week, but like a numpty completely forgot to take any photos at all!
The first engagement (AAR)
We played 100 points and i faced off against some Romans supported by auxillary and some skirmishers.
I was told early on by our friendly local DBM expert that i should trash the Romans because of how warbands kill off blades (the majority of the Romans force) quickly.
I set up ready to take the hill in the middle with my warband and put my cavalry on the left flank and skirmishers on the right, heading into a wooded area.
My opponent then put his blades opposite my warband, auxillary facing off against my cavalry and his skirmishers against mine on the right.
As defender i got first turn and marched up the hill to hold the high ground. My cavalry went out wide to try and outflank whilst my skirmishers nervously headed towards the forest (i was told their match up was very unfavourable).
My opponent then went aggresive and charged his blades into my warband and also spread his auxillary out to stop my cavalry outflanking. The opposing skirmishers advanced up.
The blades succedded in killing one element of my warband whilst i pushed a few of his back.
Turn 2
I rushed my warband down the hill and killed off two elements of his blades but otherwise wasnt as successful as the odds and insta kills should have been, i also lost an element on my left flank leaving a dangerous gap. My cavalry also charged in, again with favourable odds but failed to kill or even push back anything. My skirmishers moved up to cover my warbands right flank.
In my opponents turn his blades on the left charged into my flanks and whilst the combat was massively in his favour, failed to kill anything. His skirmishers charged mine and started chewing through a base or two. His auxillary killed off a base of cavalry with no loss in return (this really shouldnt be happening!).
Turn 3
Things were looking dire as i couldnt stop the Romans rolling up my left flank with my cavalry staying engaged and my skirmisher being pushed back i had to rely on my warband just muscling through. As it turned out they didnt, i killed off another blade element but with the hard flank giving insta kills on a win and killing off two warband elements just by beating my rolls i hit breaking point.
My cavalry also again failed to make an impact sothat combat just ground on. My skirmishers started pulling back and at that was that, my warband broke and fled the field.
Aftermath
So learning points from this were:
- Whatever you do cover your flanks, if i had anything covering that left flank i could have evened things up again but because i went wide with my cavalry it was left open once i lost that left most warband element.
- Warbands vs blades is brutal, both insta kill on a win (in your own turn) so things die quickly and it cans wing the battle fast.
- There are lots of ifs and buts in this game, and the rulebook whilst watertight rules wise is the most unuser friendly book i have ever seen, i will be learning by playing this game for sure.
I’ll be getting another game in soon so i can take some more pictures, i might get some more chariots to top up the number of bases to three. Otherwise i need to go an open my SPQR box thats been sitting in its wrapping for almost two weeks now.
Great looking army, you should be proud of it!
@robert thanks! Its taken long enough, now i can just add to it piecemeal.
But now you’ve done one army, are you tempted to do another 6mm army (perhaps Romans to face your Germans as you get an added bonus this time that you’ll not have to paint as many minis to reach the same points value). But slowly adding to this army to build up a big HORDE is the way to go (I think I spent at least 20 years to finally finish my Wurtemburger army for Naps), building an army up over a period of time is the way to go (rather than slogging through everything at one go. Perhaps treating… Read more »
@phaidknott your as bad as my gaming group! Slow grow is definitely how i’ll do it going forward now i have a base army to play with. If i were to get another 6mm army i’d probably go Romans as like you said theres not as many minis to paint up and it would certainly cost less, my Germans got quite expensive just due to the numbers. The fact that it would look historic would be great too. Why do i feel like im talking myself into another army! I’ll see how i get on at hammerhead next year as… Read more »
I missed this update. Really looks good all together!
Thanks @mellett68, it was a bit of a slog in the end but worth it, had a blast painting such a small scale.