On March the 26th was our local DBA tournament at Ulm, south Germany. I started with my brand new painted I/48 Thracians. An army misses hard hitters consisting of 1x3 Cav (Gen), 3x2 Lh, 6x3 Aux, 2x2 Ps. With aggression factor=0 i hoped to able to lay my terrain (2x steep hill, 2x woods) often.
With 18 generals, there were as much peoples at the last time and i saw a lot of elli & knight armies. But this was expected by me.
After some smalltalk the tournament started with first match casting. Hurra, happy start: i got Italian Ostrogoth (1x3 Kn (Gen), 7x3 Kn, 4x3 Bw).
Game one
We diced and ... hurra i was attacker! That was pretty bad for my because my opponent layed a gentle hill and a tiny, tiny copse. This is the situation after deployment:
On my left and rigt wing 1x2 Ps and 3x3 Aux, in the centre the cavalry. "The standard Deployment" for Thracians i guess. My idea was to hold the wood and hill, using +1 downwards against the knights. The situation some moves later: Knight are coming.
This was the final: His knights quickkilled me! My complete left wing slaught in one round!
I lost 0-4! Bad start at the tournament.
Conclusion: Wrong opponent army in a wrong train - no chance! Maybe i had concentrated my complete infantry on the right wing although the wood was so small, guarding the camp with Aux element. But, actually i had no chance.
Game two
With a 0-4 in my first game, the badest result, everything could getting better.
Next opponnent was a Medieval French army I/64 (i guess c) 1x3 Kn (Gen), 1x3 Gen, 4x4 Bd, 2x4 Sp, 2x4 Bw, 1x4 Cb, 1x Art. We diced... and i was defender! Perfect! I layed my rough goings and this was the situation after deployment and some rounds of movement:
My deployment was the same like game one. Face to face with my left wing were his blades, central his spears and bows, counterpart of my right were his Knights in bad going! I saw my chance on the right and centre!! So i tried to pull his centre with a visible cavalry escape and awaited the knights on my right.
Then my days are numbered and my Thracians blew their horns for attack! With scarifying yelling my centre and my right wing storm forward just in a moment his knight were in bad going and his centre opens a gap for his artillery.
I quickkilled a bow and a knight and after another round his generals head was resting on my kings table! 3-0 victory!!!
Conclusion: Thracians in their terrain are nice to play. Lots of rough is not nice for every opponent. Thracians have to be played aggressiv instead of waiting in the terrain until your opponent is in position to choose the one-one-situations. But i have to say that my opponent was not so experienced and made some mistakes like knight in bad going. Anyway.. next game!
Game three
Middle Imperial Romans with 1x3 Cav (Gen), 1x3 Cav, 4x4 Bd, 4x4 Aux, 1x Art. An army against i played several times with my Later Carthaginians so i knew how to act and react against the Roman wall of infantry steel.
I lost the aggression dice was defender again! Yes, and of course: Rough going for everybody!!! The situation after deployment:
Face to face on my left 4x4 Blades, his centre Cav and Art, on the steep hill 4x4 Aux.
I do not know why, but most of the game my opponnent played his Romans very passive and expected me on his side of the board. I saw a chance on my right wing Aux vs Aux if i could support & overlap with my fast light horse. So, the horde rans forward. The Light horses on the left bluff a forward move and drew rightwards then. I had the time because the Romans did not show any movement and awaited my Aux in the right steep hill.
I waited with the attack until my light horse was in position. Then i let my aux horde surge on the enemy aux with my Lh as overlap on the right and a psiloi as reserve. The situation before the Aux clash:
The Aux Clash:
I killed two Aux directly while not losing any element and after a second round of fighting i killed the last two aux and an element cav! Boom - Victory! 5-0!
Conclusion: I used my chance on the right. Had a little bit luck, but my opponent gave me the time to choose the fights i wanted and moving my Lh into overlap-support. No idea why he did this, but thanks.
Game four
This game was against one of our most experienced DBA players which i never could defeat before. He mostly plays Ptolemaics II/20c, this time too with 1x3 Kn (Gen), 1x3 Kn, 1x2 Lh, 4x4 Pk, 2x4 Bd, 1x El, 1x4 Aux, 1x2 Ps. We diced and i was .. attacker! Damn, very bad. Especially because he layed not much (a steep hill, a small wood and a littoral landing) and what he layed was in the egdes of our gaming board. The situation after deployment:
Ptolemaic deployment: left wing 1x4 Aux with 1x2 Ps, 1x2 Lh, 4x4 Pk, Kn (Gen). 2x4 Bd, 1x3 Kn and the Elli in littoral landing.
My army Aux on the steep hill and centre, Cavalry column and the 2x2 Ps on the right in order to slow an landing force.
I moved forward and in his turn the landind force arrived. Luckily he threw just 1 PIP, so his only movement was the landing which came much more on his side of the beach than of mine like i had expected.
Bd not so good against Cav. El, Kn too but very effective against Lh... hmm. Instead of this i saw the only chance on the right against this small force. With outnumbering, the right one-one machtups and a little bit luck i would be able to score a little bit. "Cavalry, foooorward"!
Threwing some one PIPs i had to rethread and his landing force moved fast forward while his centre moved slowly against my Aux. But then i diced 5 PIPs and attacked! I could killed the two blades (i doubled one and the other could not recoil)! Yes, it worked pretty good. Love my fast Lh!!!!
Just in that moment of triumph he attacked my left Lh, quickkilled it and attacked my general in his flank and i had no chance to recoil. But my glorious Thracian king threw the Elli back! The most important machtup in this game for me.
Time to attack again! I charged the lonely knight, who could recoil and killed him! One round later i doubled the Elli! 4-1 WIN in a hostile territory for my army!
Conclusion: I guess i played good. Letting him no chance for placing his landing force near to my troops. Yes, i had luck with my general but i worked hard for it and chose good machtups. What have i learned: with Thracians outside of their terrain you have to play very, very careful. A key to win is your speediness. Aim a small devotion at the god of dices and attack with your Lh + Cav General the weekest point of the enemy! I love this army more and more!
After 4 games and 3 WINS/ 1 LOSS i begun playing against the leading players!
Game five
A book I army: Early Egyptians. A littoral army with 1xLit (Gen), 5x4 Bw, 3x3 Bd, 1x7 Hd, 2x2 Ps. I won the aggression dice again and he layed a marsh, a muddy river and a beach for his landing force. We deployed:
I had no idea how to thread the Egyptians and decided to kill the landing force again seeing no chance to kill the centre. But i had no luck with my PIP dices and threw two of three times a one ;(
So, his landing force came and shot in my Lh back. With one PIP, I had no chance to react and one Lh get killed in round 1! Next one PIP dice: I tried to move out of his bow range which was successful. Finally i threw a 3 PIP!! And thought that i have get my left Lh back to the right while attacking with my general and a light horse as support! Bad idea: in the following combat a threw a 1 and he doubled my general! 0-2 : LOST!
Conclusion: Maybe i had to aim a devotion more often! No dice god was on my side in this game. No chance. Bad PIP and combat dices at the wrong point of times. My mistakes: I had to put the left light horse on the right. My plan was to attack his left bow. Idiot idea! Instead of this the third Lh would have given me more support on the right. And maybe one camp guarding Aux would have been enough. What next? I guess nothing...
Game six
This was the best game of the tournament. Middle Imperial Romans II/64 again with 1x3 Cv (Gen), 1x3 Kn, 1x2 Lh, 1x3 Bd, 3x4 Bd, 4x4 Aux, 1x Art. My army went home, so we played in Thracia (2x wood, 2x steep hill). The deployment and the first movements:
On his left Blades, in the centre Lh, Kn, Cav (Gen), Art. On his right the 4x4 Aux. My deployment was standard :) From this point on my camera said good bye to me and i could make just two more pcitures. Sorry for that.
On the next picutre you see the battlelines waving. We clashed mainly in the centre and on the right wing, while on left Blades and Aux was crying insults on each other. What happend in the middle: The Art doubled me one Lh, his Lh doubled me another Lh. And my General doubled his knights. Next round my Aux killed his Art. 2-2! Now i had the huge chance to kill this General an win the battle. My General attacked his, supported by my left Lh and the Aux on the right gaving him no chance to recoil! Combat factors 4-2 for me plus quick kill on my side. In this moment i could see Tournament place no. 4 :) Boom! Wake up! I threw a ONE and he a SIX! Good bye my place! From now on the "I win the battle feeling" waved from his side to mine and back. Especially the right were once his Aux were in better position, next time mine. I can't remember which elements were killed then but the Romans won 4-3. It was the most exciting game and we had a lot of fun. My opponnent was a very experienced player and it was a pleasure to battle him.
Conclusion: Missing some luck again i had the chance to getting under the best four. Summing up i am very pleased with this game and my play in the hole tournament. I like my Thracians and their playing style and finished the tournament on place no. 9!
I hope you had a lot of fun reading this and my English was not to cruel. Comments, critics and tipps how to play better are welcome :)
