A major goal will be to trounce my VERY versed son, Sean, in BBDBA against his uber Later Crusaders!

If in the Strasburg, VA area, you’re welcome to join in the fun. Just let me know.

Alan

Well, it’s been some time since I last gamed. Lots of water under that bridge. But now my son and I are getting back into the swing of it. Had a rousing BBDBA game on Saturday with my son playing his trademark Later Crusaders to my Anglo-Irish (B list).

A tight game, with the initial moves going to me (got his center command down 3, needed 1 more), but that’s where I petered out my attack. I used the auxlia to initiall clear two centeral hills, but he just pulled back with his bow and shot the bejujus out of them!

At least I can say I taught him how to play!

Later,

Alan

For us, it was to be a medieval weekend, as we all brought Book III and Book IV armies. Here are our lists:

Alan Spencer: Triple Syrians (IV/6): 12x3CV, 9x2LH, 6x3WB, 6x2Ps, 3xHd.

Sean Spencer: Triple Later Crusader (IV/17): 10x3Kn, 2x3CV, 15x4Sp, 9x3Bw.

Nathan Spencer: Triple Welsh (III/19b): 3x3Kn, 24x3Bw, 6x3Wb, 3x2Ps.

Roy Martin: Triple Feudal Spanish (III/??b) 10x3Kn, 3x3Cv, 3x3Lh, 6x4Sp, 12x2Ps, 2x3Bd

Round 1

Our first rounds put Nathan and Roy against each other, Sean against Jason Stelzer’s Later Crusader/Med. German/Feudal French, while I fought Jason’s Dad, Mike Stelzer and his Early Lombards.

Here is Nate’s Welsh (right) vs Roy’s Feudal Spanish.

Sean (above) and Jason Stelzer’s Knight Scrum gets ready to bang heads!!

My Syrians (left) vs Mike Stelzer’s Early Lombards (right) at the start of the second bound.

I put a large CV/LH wing on my left, and the CinC with the Warbands and Psiloi in the middle to take the hill in front of me. On the left, I placed my Lh wing, hoping to pick off a few knights and slow down his puch, while my Cav drove on his “unprotected” right.

Mike and I got off to a quick start, with my light horse wing scoring BIG on pips to get on Mike’s flank in the first bound and a possible shot at his CinC if Mike pulled up short on pips – he didn’t. The picture above shows the 6 pip he used on his left flank to turn and face my Lh.

In this game I rolled more 1′s and 2′s than ever before! My Light horse wing went down quickly, taking only 2 knights with them.

Then on the left, my pips were – DRY!!! Before I knew it, my Wb were getting gunned down, my Lh were broke, and when my Cav finally got into his bowmen, he was 6-1 and 6-2ing me like crazy. Still a great game, that should have been closer. 6-94 loss.

Also in the first round, Sean and Jason were clobbering each other. Sean lost 2 commands, but then killed Jason’s CinC’s command. However, Sean still lost more that bound, so the game went on to great slaughter on both sides. Sean eventually lost in a great game.

Roy and Nathan’s game (this was Nate’s first BBDBA game), was a bit of a one sided contest, with Roy winning large – namely due to some nice moves by Roy – but was stymied much of the game by Nate’s incredible rolls (he kept pushing off Roy’s Bd general from one of his bowmen who kept rolling 6′s vs Roy’s 1′s!!)

Round 2

This round had Nate facing his brother Sean, while I was facing Eric Vang’s Seljuk Turk with Ghaznavid and Ghurid allies (Elephants, knights and and Lh – oh my!). I can’t remember who Roy faced.

Here is Nate’s Welsh (left) vs his older brother Sean’s Later Crusaders

In this round, Nate broke one of Sean’s commands (ran knights and Cav into bow – ugly), but Sean eventually pulled out a win.

In my battle versus Eric, (sorry – no pic as I forgot to take one of my own game), I tried something totally new – a maxed CinC center. I ran the following command lists:

Left Wing: 1x2Lh(Gen), 4x2Lh, 1x3Cv, 1xHd.

Center: 1x3Cv(Gen), 9x3Cv, 6x3Wb, 6x2Ps.

Right Wing: 1x3Cv(Gen), 4x2Lh, 2xHd

Facing me were (from my left to right), Seljuk Turks (CinC), Ghurids (center), and Ghaznavids (with their nasty elephants).

Below shows our initial setup.

Here are the moves we made from that.

The big battle took place on my left, where even though Eric had the hill bonus, I was 6-1ing him and killed off a couple of Lh and a Cav. With his CinC’s command down 3, he was trying to pour it on with the Ghaznavid’s, but I was keeping him bottled up in pips from my threatening Light Horse on my right flank, and making him move toward me. He had picked off two warbands with bow (coming over the center hills), and a Lh from my left wing, but I was able to fill the hole.

He put his CinC in Combat (as I was pushing him back with overlaps) but it was too much too fast. Another high/low roll in combat on another Cav in his CinC’s command pushed it over for him. 94-6 win.

Round 3

This round had Nathan facing Eric Vang (who I played in Round 2), and I was facing my son Sean. This was really cool, as Sean and I love to face off. Some of our best and most memorable battles are against each other – normally. That was not to be today.

Sean promptly shot down my warband coming over the hills, and quickly 6-1′d the light horse and cav on his knights, to bring me crashing to my knees withing 40 minutes of the game start. 6-94 loss for me.

We started fighting a second (for fun) game and it was a close run item, but we ran out of time, and we gave the game to Sean (who was up 2 commands to 1, and he was chewing on the CinC).

My son Nathan, who was playing right next to me, set up an interesting defense during his game with Eric. Below is a picture of his Welsh Porcupine Defense of a Steep Hill.

Close-up of Porcupine Defense

Nate lost, but had a good game against a gracious and helpful opponent (kudos to both of them!!)

Many Thanks to John Loy, who not only hosted the tourney, but hosted my whole gang at his house (despite overrunning toilets and son throwing up!)

The trip home, while long, was basically uneventful.

We played DBA first, then BBDBA singles. Initial pairings for the DBA games had my son Sean (running his now infamous Templar Later Crusaders) vs Roy Martin (running Feudal Spanish b list with blade general option). My opponent (WIll Orso) ran Vikings (b list with bow option) while I ran the Welsh (b list with Kn Gen option).

For our DBA game, Will invaded (duh with 4 agro!) Wales, so I threw up a couple of steep hills, a woods and a river.

Below is our initial setup and moves:

To Will’s credit, he charged into my warbands – IN THE WOODS – like a true viking. He even pushed them back a turn, but then the “1′s” came out to play, and he lost the woods battle.

On the hill, his lone bowman was shot down by 3 of mine, leaving him at a 0-3 disadvantage.

The psiloi on my left then flanked his general (who was climbing the hill) and I got another bowman in on the second round of combat to finish him off. 4g-0 win for the Welsh.

In the BBDBA games (which at this point I can’t remember everything), Sean (using triple Later Crusaders) won a hard fought contest (73-17) versus Will (using Norse Irish with Viking Ally). I faced Roy Martin (who was using triple Feudal Spanish) using Welsh with a Norse Irish Ally. Unfortunately for Roy, he fell for a deployment trap (mounted trying to rush a valley between steep hills and woods), and he was gunned down by all the Welsh bow, 100-0.

Next week, we take a break to get ready for BBDBA Post-Tax Day tourney in Ohio.

Please send in your thoughts. EDIT NOTE: Map and number of players has been revised!

1000-1100 AD – the Scourging of the British Isles

1. Viking III/40b (Orkney Isles)

2. Viking III/40b (Dublin)

3. Norse Irish III/46 (Armaugh)

4. Norse Irish III/46 (Waterford)

5. Welsh III/19A (Wales)

6 Anglo-Dane III/71 (London)

7. Anglo-Dane III/71 (York)

8 Pre-Feudal Scots III/45 (Scone)

9. Norman III/51 (Normandy)

10. Western Frank III/51 (Frankish Empire)

11. Scot Isles and Highlands III/77 (Dalradia)

12. Leidang III/40c (Danelane)

13. Breton III/18 (Breton)

14. Eastern Frankish III/52 (Eastern Franks)

Suggest map is below.

Special Rules: Normans and Franks, unless defending their own territories, are always the Invader (no die roll). Normans and Franks MAY use a littoral landing if a waterway is present.

We truly had a blast playing with all the cheers are good natured ribbing we all got. Looking forward to next year!! (Thanks to Spencer Ginder who remembered his camera after the blackout – I left mine in the hotel!)

Here’s a link to another picture of the Privateers lined up ready to play the “Dicemen” (picture courtesy of Rick “Diceman” Bair)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23711033@N05/2324069381/in/set-72157604091152571/

The Lords of the Valley (Sean and Alan Spencer) running Later Crusader (IV/17) with 1 Syrian (IV/6) ally went forth to Cold Wars 2008 with dreams and plans of victory. Here was our army list for this:

Crusaders: 7Kn, 1Cv, 10Sp, 6Bw.

Syrians: 3Cv, 3Lh, 2Wb, 2Ps, 1Hd.

Game 1: Versus “Team Tin Star” (Jack and Peter Sherriff ) Konstantinian Byzantine with Georgian Ally. 17-83 loss. The Crusaders invaded with final setup shown below (Crusaders left, Byzantines Right). Our Syrian ally in on our far right, while their Georgian Ally in the center (with the lighter colored stands). The lines show our plan. Sean (running our major knight wing) was to try and go for his flank, while pressuring with his infantry all on our left flank. My goal was to pressure the center and skirmish on the far right flank.

Jack had a beautiful hand painted picture of the Madonna and child on one of his banners (which is shown below).

Well, the Syrians moved up the Lh, and the Psiloi marched out and took the oasis in front of them. Meanwhile the crusader infantry line tramped slowly forward. As Jack’s CinC command (with the Madonna) on our right moved up and formed some cav in column to run down the road. The picture below shows the battle at this point, with my Syrian Lh attempting to slow the Byzantine CinC advance until the Crusaders could make contact.

Well,all my light horse all died in 2 rounds of combat (I rolled nothing but 1’s and 2’s for the first 4 combats). In addition, the Georgian bowmen killed one of the psiloi in the oasis, promptly breaking the Syrians. The picture below shows the battle on the Crusader right with the Byzantine Cav closing on my demoralized Syrian Cav (left of photo). My other Syrian Psiloi was killed in the oasis as well. In the distance the Crusader infantry and knights are slowly closing on the Byzantine right wing. (Sean’s pips were atrocious).

We broke their right wing eventually, but the Crusader CinC (in the center) finally lost after some desperate struggles to the Georgian and Byzantines to break at the same time as the Byzantine right. While all this went on, they killed EVERY last one of the Syrians in either shooting or hand to hand. A tough lose, but well fought (by Sean at least!)

Game 2: Versus: “Army of the Ohio” Jim Kasper and John Loy (Thematic Byzantines with a Slav Ally). 96-4 win. Again we invaded (arrgh! we never did get to defend in all 3 BBDBA games). They placed the roads, a steep hill on our right, 3 woods and a gentle hill on our far left. In the picture below, the Crusaders are on the right, with all 3 commands packed in there (from bottom to top, Syrian, Crusader, CinC). A lone cav unit blocks the back door near the road.

Sean and I were able to concentrate all 3 commands against Jim Kaspers’s CinC cavalry command while delaying the other two with terrain and keeping far away from them. Jim bravely went in to a line of bow, only to be totally shot out of the saddle for the initial contact, the knights did the rest. John moved up a load of Auxila that did get one of my spear in the woods, while one of Sean’s knights died to Jim’s Cav. Picture below shows the movement that took place.

Game 3: “Team McDonald” (Bob and David McDonald) with Normans and a Muslim Ally. 87-13 win. Again we invade, so the Normans put down a road, a woods on our far right, and two gentle hills (center and far left).

We deployed with Sean being the Crusader CinC this time in the middle. The Syrians were again on the far right, which I think surprised Bob. He then had to “scrunch” up his last Norman command to fit there. The picture below shows both forces after setup (Crusaders on the right).

We angled our Crusader lines to refuse our left and the Syrians to skirmish on the right. Sean had the task of being our “spearhead” with my infantry in support. The goal was to break the CinC command with both Crusader commands, while skirmishing on our right. See the plan below.

Well, things went well for us. They decided to skirmish with the Muslim, and to take on the Syrians in the woods. In the center, Sean’s crusader spears were backing the bows, who were shooting away at the their ally, while on the hill, knight clashed. My crusader foot continued forward guarding Sean’s flank, while refusing our far left. Here is what the battle looked like from our side at this time.

Well we broke the Muslim command with both bow shooting (from Sean) and my psiloi and Warband in the woods (Bob roll abysmally in hand to hand, with me blowing away 3 of his Ps in one round of combat. This left both crusader commands with the opportunity to close on the Norman CinC, run by David who was trying his best (and doing well) at keeping us at bay.

Meanwhile on our left, the Syrians were getting hard pressed for time. Even when I had overlaps, Bob was throwing off my skirmishing Lh and Ps, killing a Wb and Ps in the process. He finally sunk in his knights into my cav and (as shown below) while desperately holding off my attacks from the woods.

Finally, they broke the Syrians, but in our turn, we broke their CinC’s command ending the game.

Loads of fun and Sean and I look forward to teaming again soon. But at Historicon, I will be bringing my youngest son, Nathan the Giant Killer!

A quick rundown of events Sean and/or I played in:

Friday: BBDBA, 25mm Open, Midnight Madness

Sat: Aztec Big Mouth Theme, Team Cup

Sun: Themes

The “Blackout” occurred Saturday evening about 4 something, during the playing of the DBA theme events. Sean and Spencer Ginder were playing their round when it went out. After finishing the game by the light of the windows, we waited for a bit (putting the figures away in the van) at the Host, then back over to our hotel to wait. We were considering packing up and leaving until I ran into Dave Ray who told me the hotel was advised that power would be back on shortly. About 7:05pm – bingo lights at the hotel!!

A cheer was raised as we all skuttled over to the Host to don our “Shenandoah Privateer” getups and get ready for the Team Cup.

In the future, I hope the Host disseminates better info, as many people left not knowing any time table for when the power was expected back on.

Anyway more later after I get the pictures downloaded.