The First Battle

The opening battle was against Lachlan Bayliss-Smith again. After the first day the software being used for the draw was reset and seeded with positions from Day 1. The system uses a Swiss Chess System where the higher scored players play each other each round.

Apart from a couple of practice games with Doug a few weeks ago, this was also the first time I had been using my Later Hungarians. It was definitely the first time that I had used them with the two war wagon option.

The multiple war wagons are nice in that you do not require a camp and therefore there is one less thing to protect, however, they move slowly and require additional Player Initiative Points (PIPs) to move.

In this battle I was the attacker again – the Hungarians are more aggressive than the Koreans.

Advancing my main striking force (the troops on the left) I engaged part of the Serbian line. After a couple of rounds of melee and the loss of some Light Horse of mine I managed to eliminate enough Serbian elements and then took out his general.

An 8-2 win and another general killed to start the second day of the competition. A excellent start.

The Second Battle

This was against Sam Braham using another one of the book IV lists that use war wagons – five of them!

Managing to get some good match-ups here was going to be difficult, especially with the terrain. I was forced to come inthrough two areas of rough ground. I needed to keep my war wagons out of the area otherwise they are unable to move.

Sam played an excellent game and I was both out maneuvered and outfought.

A loss – 2-8! Those war wagons are a problem to use and a problem to beat. Still, I reckon i’m in a reasonable position still so on to game 3!

The Third Battle

This battle was against Bas Braham using Later Polish and once I had gotten the Yul Brynner Taras Bulba Polish joke our of the way ((“Put your faith in your sword, and your sword in a Pole” – OK, it was one of the lines from the movie)) we started the battle. Once again I was the attacker. Attacking had generally been kind to me so I was hoping for a good result here.

The Later Polish are a strong mix of knights and cavalry with some other supporting elements. Bas came at me and there was little I could do except watch my elements be eliminated – four of them to the one he lost.

So, for me, a loss again, 2-8. I reckon that’s me done for the World’s and the Day 2 competition. I’m starting to wonder why I made such an effort with the later Hungarians. It may have been quicker and more effective to paint the Serbian Empire army I have at home (or the later Polish for that matter)!

The Fourth Battle

I squared up in this battle to Brad again. He was using a lovely Free Company army but this time I was the defender.

The picture here shows the position after a few moves. The blue patch in the centre is, in fact, a low hill (don’t ask). I defended in this game (and in the next two as well) which was kind of frustrating.

Brad danced and we finally moved into contact with each other where my general was quickly hors d’combat. Game over! Final score was 1-8 against me. Still, my general died heroically at the end!

The Fifth Battle

By this stage of the day I was playing for prestige points only – I could at least look at finishing in the top half of the field for competition overall. I now had to face Andrew Smith using book IV/55b Ottomans.

They were a lovely army, well painted. They seem to have done well in the DBMM competition and looked so good here I am sorely tempted to think about buying and painting some for the next Worlds.

Andrew tried to work the Light Horse on his right (the left of the picture above around my left flank to squeeze my forces from two sides. I managed to block his attempt with some of my own Light Horse and the War Wagons. The War Wagons were quite effective in this game, destroying a couple of his Light Horse.

It was a tough battle of riposte and counter-riposte and at the end I managed to nail his general, an 8-1 win for me and another general executed!

The Sixth Battle

The last battle of Day 2 and of the Worlds. As I understand, the title could have gone to one of a number of players … er … excluding me. This battle was against Stephen Cumming Steve Jones using Medieval Scandinavians.

I rolled as the defender and set terrain. I used my warband for the first time in this battle. This was a tough battle that swung both ways. The Medieval Scandinavians contained a number of blades which are quite effective against my war wagons, however, my knights are also very effective against his blades, as is my warband.

My knights managed to kill an element for the first time on Day 2 and it was then that one of the problems of the Hungarians became apparent. The knights are on large deep bases and as they burst through the enemy line, it is almost impossible for them to do anything except keep going straight ahead.

We fought many rounds of melee and some distance shooting until at last, I had lost four elements for a 3-8 loss.

The First Battle

The opening battle was against Mark Baker and his Dacians (Book II/52 ((the armies that can be used are defined in the rules by a book number (I to IV) and then a list number. The list may further be subdivided into sub-periods – his was the earliest variation)) which are an army I’ve not encountered before.

This was the first time I had been using my Koreans. I really should have got some practice games in with them to start with but ran out of time.

In this battle I was the attacker although the Koreans are generally not very aggressive.

The terrain was difficult with two woods and some steep hills, very much like Dacia. I advanced and met the Dacians along the woods-steep hill line. It was getting interesting with 2 elements destroyed from both sides when I managed to kill his general and it was all over.

An 8-3 win to start the competition. A good start.

The Second Battle

This was against  Brenton Searle using one of the few book I lists – in this case, I/2a Early Egyptians 3000-1640BC. Brenton noted, “this is not a killer army”. As I noted, “neither are these Koreans”. We rolled dice and added aggression factors which resulted in me defending for this battle.

I didn’t manage to photograph this game but looking at the composition of the armies, the deployment becomes kind of apparent. I was trying to set my knights onto his blades, he was trying to set his blades onto my bows and spears.

After a bit of maneuvering  I managed to get my general up against his general, the result of which would have been a quick kill of his general and proceeded to roll down on the dice. My general became hors d’combat and it was game over. Results was a 1-8 loss.

Brenton went on to win day 1 of the competition.

The Third Battle

I went into round three with a win and a loss, still, I managed a second at CanCon 2011 after one loss in six rounds and there I had that loss in the opening round. I was feeling confident then until my opponent, Lachlan Bayliss-Smith, announced that he was using Classical Indians. This army contains three elephants, all of which are very fatal opponents to my knight general. My confidence evaporated a little.

Lachlan was the defender, me the attacker for this battle. He ended up deployed around a couple of woods. Lachlan’s tactics were to try and overwhelm my light horse with his mounted and to hit my knights with his elephants. Elsewhere his bows and blades were evenly matched with my spears and bows.

I will admit in this battle some good dice rolling helped me considerably however the best part was when my knight general with a little assistance from my Psiloi eliminated one of his elephants.

At the end, it was an 8-3 ((I should note that the scoring here was 8 points for a win, for a loss, 1 point plus an additional point for each enemy element killed or camp looted. A draw earned zero points for the draw plus one point for each enemy element killed or camp looted)) win to me.

The Fourth Battle

This was against the Marian Romans of Joshua Bayliss-Smith (Lachlan’s brother). Another battle I did not get a photo of.

I was again the attacker in this battle and Joshua tried to use the opening bound to move an element into a position that threatened my camp. I countered that and we maneuvered a little against each other. My knights had the advantage over his infantry however his infantry had a strong advantage over mine.

After stripping the troops from his flanks I eventually managed to attack and defeat his general. I eliminated 5 elements from the 12 in his army, one of which was the general.

Final score was 8-2 my way.

The Fifth Battle

By this stage I was feeling like there was a chance of doing quite well with the Koreans, four games and only one loss. I then had to face Greg Kelleher’s Mithridatic Pontic army. Greg was the competition organiser and his army was one of the prettiest there.

In a change of fortune I rolled low and with my low aggression factor I became the defender for this game.

Simple terrain of a road and a couple of woods made this a fairly open battle (the woods are the blue areas in the photo – yes, I know, I’m not sure what happened, they were green when placed)!

We maneuvered against each other and I managed to get into what I thought was a favourable position only to have my general die in cruel combat. The result was then a 2-8 loss to me.

The Sixth Battle

The last battle of Day 1 and the one that would decide the “ancient” champion was against Brad del-Munns who was using another Classical Indian.

I had already beaten an Indian earlier today so was feeling nervous again – the elephants are very difficult for my army to manage.

Fortunately I rolled high on the aggression dice and as such I was the attacker. Brad set the terrain, we deployed and his elephants and chariots were deployed mostly against my infantry.

After a few rounds of maneuvering the combats started. It was tough for me in this battle. We were both three elements down (one short of victory or defeat). In the last bound of melee I managed to kill two of his elements (including another elephant) for an 8-3 victory.