We do have some amazing games here at SELWG and we are proud to report on most of them here. In the coming months this site will contain some of the best games/campaign reports from past and present...

The first is from former SELWG member Chris Richards in Seattle. You see, SELWG really is more than South East London!

Report from Seattle

This weekend we held a small (8-player) tournament under DBM rules. The standard 2.1 version was used but with 2 additions: - 1. 18" deployment zones ( no ambushes in central sectors, defender ambushes only to half way line, attacker up to limit of deployment zone ); and 2. A variation of the combat grading modifiers aimed at reducing the advantages of S troops and the disadvantages of I troops. The convention here is that players can choose two army lists but from the same army and same year. This allows them to vary the composition a little so that ahistorical match-ups are less problematic. Recently I have been playing Mongols but given the limited variations in this army chose to try Patrician Roman. I had never played Pats before but have played LIR with Frankish allies, and recalled being thrashed by them in a 500 point doubles. With no time to get new figures painted I went with what I had: -

List 1

List 1 was intended for most battles, List 2 for use against Bw(S) ( I hate Bw(S)) My first match up was against Early Achaemenid Persians. I have played against this army a couple of times. I know the chap pretty well, and his love of Ax (S) in particular. I there fore took list 1 intending to get to those Bw (X) and munch them with my warband. It was thus a shock to find he had taken the early variant of the army complete with war towers and scythed chariots. After deployment I found my warband and legionaries (which made up my C in C's command) facing scythed chariots, my Goths and Huns (which together with 4 Ax (S) and Ps support comprised my 'attack' sub-command) facing Immortals plus a wartower, and my 'skirmish' command (4 LH (O), plus 8 Ax (S) with Ps support) facing an equal number of sparabara plus another tower. Moreover his cavalry were behind the chariots apart from 4 LH (F) to my far right. Expecting masses of Ax (S), Ps (S), and Ax (O), I had not put out much terrain, and neither had he. The only features to play a part in the battle were an orchard on which rested his extreme right flank and a river in his left, my right, flank sector. The scythed chariots caused me a lot of inconvenience and slowed my centre down badly. I eventually polished off the last one by taking it head on with my Cin C! Once it got forward his cavalry just backed away. The problem was that whilst I ducked and weaved to avoid the chariots, I lost control of some off the Kn(F)s (impetuous devils). I managed to save most of them, in spite of the distraction of his 4 LH(F) running down and around my right flank (my Huns killed the lot with out losing a single element ), but couldn't touch his Immortals. On my left I cut through a screen of hordes and worked an Ax (S) on to his flank. Unfortunately I was constantly taking casualties form his Bw. The grading rules we were playtesting really hurt me here, as my Ax(S) were taking the brunt of the bowfire. My flanking Ax(S) turned a DBE of Bw(X)/ Bw(O), and drove them back, taking out 4 elements. Next bound ( and 3hours and 15 minutes into our 31/2 hour limit ) another Ax(S) fell to shooting (raw scores 7v3, adjusted to 6v3 under the experiment), and the command broke. And that's how it ended 6v4. The second match was against Anglo Danes. I went with List 1 again. My opponent took a waterway which went down his left, my right, flank. I chose a couple of steep hills but they played no real part in the game. His army was huge with two small sub commands (5 galleys with Bl in them on my right, 16 or so Sp (I) and some Ps on my left) and an enormous central C in C's command which included not only innumerable Irr Sp (O) but also 15 Bl (F). Fortunately he had missed the fact I could have warband! I set up with the 'attack' command on the left, the C in C with Wb and Bl in the centre, and the 'skirmishers' on the right. I through the centre and right straight at him, and used a couple of the Ax (S) plus the LH (O) to protect my right flank. The remainder of the 'skirmish' command hung back to deal with his fleet. Disastrously the Goths made a complete hash of it and died in a single bound of contact with Sp (I)! A Hun got trapped by a couple of Ps(S) and the command broke. At this stage my C in C's command was still cutting its way through the skirmish screen he had thrown out in front of the spear wall. However, the silver lining in the cloud was that all his Bl (F) were in column at the far right of the central command, and nearer to the demoralised troops than to my centre section. This combined with being irregular and the pressure from the Wb resulted in them going impetuous. Once out of a group he never got them into play. Slowly but steadily the Wb, and surprisingly the Bl, cut the spear to pieces and eventually ground the centre into defeat. 9v1 to the Pats. So now I'm 13v7 and feeling good. I now drew Wars of the Roses English. I hate Bw (S)! Of all the armies playing this was the one I feared most. I took List 2, hoping to hide in the orchards (for some reason my Western Pats can't have woods) and shoot his Bw at distance. He put down a road and a couple of steep hills. I added a piece of rough going and a couple of orchards. Only one piece of terrain played a part in the battle, an orchard placed against the centre line and about 8" in, in my left flank sector. The Pats deployed with the 'skirmish' command on the left. All 8 Ax(S) and their Ps were positioned in the orchard in ambush. The C in C command was placed further back with its left flank resting against the wood. The Exculcatores were in the wood in ambush, ready to fall on the flank of whoever advanced towards the bolt- shooters, legionaries and Wb. The attack command (unchanged from previous games) was set even further back and to the right. His army had 3 commands, one led by a sub general, which took the centre, one under the King (Reg Kn (S), with 2 Kn (S) bodyguard) which went to his left, and the third under an ally which faced the orchard. First blood went to the Pats. The Ally marched his Bw towards the orchard. At 150 paces he stopped because he could see my Ax (S). Shooting with Bw (S) into a wood with Ax(S) as the target he caused no damage. I rushed out and chopped him into little pieces tout suite. Ally command breaks. Unfortunately his King's command proved to be full of mounted Bw (S). They came straight at my Irr KN (F) and I couldn't get away. Attempts by the Huns to save them merely drew them into unwinnable fights with Kn (S). Moreover I had a run of poor PIP die with the result that I completely lost control of the Ax (S) who went haring after the demoralised billmen from the allied command, and couldn't reorientate my centre to face the threat. His centre veered away to the right of mine and added to the pressure on the Kn (F). Eventually the command broke, back to 5 all but he appeared to hold the aces; my AX (S) were running around berserk and getting into fights with Bl (O) (even demoralised 3v3), my right flank was turned, and he had a mixture of Kn (S) (4), Kn (I) (5 or 6), some Cv (O), LH (O), and mounted Bw supported by billmen to which I had 3 LH (O), 2LH(F), and whatever my Bl, Wb, and Generals could do, as an answer. The bolt shooters and exculcatores were stranded far from the battle line. My C in C led the six warband towards the Bw (S) from his centre; odd stands from the demoralised command (mainly Huns) harried his King's command, and the LH from the skirmishing command came across to hold them up further. The legionaries got one of his Kn, the C in C another. The Wb got a Cv element and a couple of Bw. But it was to no avail. His Bw got lucky and killed the commander of the skirmishers (raw score 7v4, modified to 8v4) and the army broke. Apparently I had been an element from breaking the central command (and a DBE of Wb had fought a single Bw (S) 3 times without killing it!) and with it his army. 1v9 and I'm depressed. Overall the Pats are now 14v16, but it feels worse. The final battle was a chapter of mistakes and accidents, the result of playing 4 three hour plus games in a day. My opponent fielded Southern Dynasty Chinese, a near contemporary army. I took List 1. He placed a river. I placed 2 orchards a piece of rough going. The only terrain that played any part in the outcome was the rough, which I placed in the middle of my centre section up against the centre line, and an orchard on his baseline in the centre. I deployed my skirmishing command to my right (where the other orchard was) and my C in C's command between this and the rough. The Ax (S) from the attack command with its Ps support took the rough and the attack command had everything (nearly half the table) to the left. He deployed a small (8-element) command of LH (F) opposite my 2 commands, and placed all the rest of his army opposite my 'attack' command. My Huns held up his right flank command (6 Kn (F) plus 4 or 5 Cv), whilst my Kn (F), Ax (S) and Ps got to work on his main command. This consisted of 16 Bl (F), double ranked with Ps support, plus some Ps hanging round the edges (mainly near the rough) and an elephant. The Ax demolished the loose Ps, but got hammered by the C in C (Reg KN (F)). The Goths piled in supported by the sub-G. Carnage, 4 Bl (F) and 2 Ps destroyed, for no loss. He retaliated. The body count rose, reached 6 elements, and the command broke. He tells me that I'm one element from breaking the C in C's command. I'm depressed. Still I get a couple of LH (F) with my LH (O), and I'm only one element from breaking this command. I can't get my Wb round to face his troops, and his right flank sweeps round onto my baggage. The army breakpoint is 29. The demoralised command 18, and the 6 baggage elments count as 12 towards army demoralisation. It's a matter of time; the only defence is the rallied troops from the broken command. Still I play it out trying to get just a point out of it. A couple of Bl catch a Ps from his main command. They double it and it flees. Up to then I had thought Bl could kill Ps, but they can't unless the Ps is flanked. The baggage starts to die. Suddenly, in an effort to prevent me getting the LH (F) command, the Chinese C in C moves up to threaten the flank of a group of LH (O). I move quickly and get a LH (O) into contact with an overlap supporter. Roll a 6! He rolls 3! Bingo, his main command breaks. At this point things got tense. He needed to kill 5 more elements to destroy my army; there were 3 pieces of baggage in contact with his Cv next to one of them. I needed to kill a LH (F) to break a sub command and thus his army. 2 of these were with their Kn (F) general facing my Cv (O) general and LH next to him and a third LH who had become detached. Over by the orchard another LH (F) was pinned between the orchard, 2 Ax (S) and 2 LH (O). This last element plunged into the orchard, making it impossible for my LH to catch him. My Ax pursued. His Sub-G and LH (F) attacked the lone LH (O) and killed it. However this pulled his Kn (F) out of the middle of this group as he followed up. I hit him with my LH next to my general and brought the general up as overlap. He killed the LH and moved alongside my general. Meanwhile a baggage element survived a Cv attack! I have however lost 4 elements; one to go before the army breaks. I roll the PIP die. The best I get is 3. I measure the distance from one of my Ax to the LH (F) in the orchard. It's so close my opponent (v. sportingly) offers to roll as to whether I reach it. If I reach it I'm likely to win the game; 2v0 up and quick death to the LH if I beat him. 26 out of 36 times I will. I decline. I move my general forward (2 PIPs because of the side edge to side edge contact following his General's follow-up on the dead LH) into head to head with a LH (F). I have got to double to win 4v2(F). Under the playtest rules my chances of doing this are 12/36ths. The die roll, and down goes the LH (F). 9v1 the Pats. At the time I couldn't believe my luck, but in retrospect I recalled that one of the units destroyed in my attack command in the fateful bound where he just broke me, was a Ps, killed by a Bl (F). No flanking; straight head to head. At the time I accepted it, but, of course I was wrong. The Ps should have fled, and the Kn (F) would have stayed in combat another turn. So 4 games, 23 points, and more highs and lows than the average roller coaster. I only got deployment right once, but the sheer ferocity of this army, plus the discipline of the Romans, allowed me to claw away and get victories. I didn't lose badly once, and won comfortably once. Not bad for a scratch army. The only dilemma is whether to add Reg LH (S) and, if so, what goes? And not bad for a first tournament. I could get to enjoy this.

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