15th Century samurai battle in DBA 3.0

I staged a DBA 3.0 Big Battle on Thursday night featuring a mixed force of 15th Century (Age of the Country at War) samurai battle using the Baccus range of samurai figures.  Myself and Mark (ideally suited to the samurai approach to war) vs. Russ and Jon.

The armies were pretty well balanced with a sprinkling of samurai and sohei warrior monks amongst the ranks of ashigaru.

Jon and Mark were busy gabbing for a long period so the decision as to which side of the table to come onto was rushed into by Russ (alhough the terrain did not make much impact on the final result).

Jon and Russ were the attacking army so myself and Mark set up with the castle to our rear and our flanks covered by a wood to the left and a hill (with some ashigaru on it) to the right - with flanking cavalry just beyond them.

Russ' units on their left

Jon advanced while Russ bided his time in the centre and left.  The initial problem for Jon was that he brought his units in staggered behind each other and in narrow frontages (hence being in danger of being flanked on both sides - which is what happened.

Jon moves froward but on a narrow frontage

On our side, we did pretty much nothing except Mark stepped some units up in the woods on his left.

Our battle line - extended with a castle providing an excellent flanking protection for both wings of the army

After three turns of manouvering, we hadn't moved and Jon was clearly leading the way as Russ was reluctant to get to grips.

Position after 3 turns 

Russ' general issuing orders from the hilltop, under the cherry blossom trees

Ashigaru spear (from behind) - we use the banners to add colour, a sense of period and to identify individual clans.  The middle unit has clearly got lost!

Russ finally got moving towards us but Jon was leading the way on the right.

Jon gets within shooting distance of the enemy (us).  He may soon regret this impetuous action.

Jon was involved in the action way before Russ got anywhere near our lines and the scrap over on the right was a hard fought battle between Jon and Mark.  Mark managed to get overlaps on Jon's troops as they came in staggered which caused multiple fall backs as well as deaths.  Soon Jon was in a world of hurt as his units bounced into those following up.

Battle is joined, but Mark manages to overlap and force the enemy back.

In the centre, Russ found that ordinary bow were not much use in firing but had higher hopes for his Sohei monks as he closed to my troops in the centre.

Russ advances in the centre with a mixed bag of ashigaru bow and Sohei monks

I had a nicely defended position on the hill to my right, with some cavalry units protecting the far side of the table.  It looked like too strong a position to attack - so he didn't.  Instead the cavalry looked an easier proposition so he went for them instead.

My hill position - too tough a nut to crack!

The view from behind Russ' troops

Over on the right and Jon fares the worst. Dice rolls were on the whole pretty woeful and there were a lot of 1's rolled which caused much pain to Jon (and glee to Mark) as their right flank began to disintegrate.  Jon lost four units is quick succession and Mark began to get into the ribs of the rest of his command.

Jon's losses begin to mount - 2 cavalry, two samurai gone already

It was all therefore happening on their right flank.  Mark continued to pillage the opposition and Jon was running out of units to hold him.

The right flank starts to capitulate 

Trying to save the day, Russ tried to neutralise my cavalry with his ashigaru yari.  He managed to push them away but not kill them - so they remained a potent threat on his left.  Indeed as I was unlikely to lose them (as they just bounced if they lost) I threw them in again and again just to pin his troops down as Mark won the battle on our left (their right).

Spear vs cavalry battle - no outright winner but it prevents them attacking our right flank on the hill.

Sohei get ready to charge but Russ' bowmen make no impact on my centre.

The fort was a defensive stronghold, something Russ never managed to get anywhere near to.  We had a unit of bow in there but a fortified position on a hill is virtually impregnable.  We always had the option of moving more troops back onto the hill to make it impossible to take.

Our fort anchors both our flanks in the middle.  An even tougher nut to crack.

Over on the right Jon's command got whupped as the unlucky dice rolling killed any chance they ever had. Mark did very well and ruthlessly exploited Jon's exposed flanks but Jon's dice rolling certainly helped. He went down to 50% losses and his command disappeared.  As the right collapsed, Mark was free to take on Russ' sohei and archers in the middle and the battle was pretty much over bar the shouting.

 

Russ' Sohei find themselves trapped between my lines and Mark's freed up troops.

My cavalry prevent Russ from tackling the hill while we roll up their centre

Russ' centre also crumbles and Mark's troops start to threaten Russ' left command.

Jon's losses!  Ouch!

Russ' losses.  Not so many but had the battle continued it would have been more.

The picture below shows the final army positions.  Jon's command had gone.  Russ had lost a few units and was being pressed on the flanks (he found that the bow in melee performed better than when they were shooting!).  His centre was being rolled up and it was a matter of time before his army was crushed.  A great victory for myself and Mark! 

Russ said "A good game, both armies were exactly the same so credit to Mark & Phil as they managed to make things happen when we could not. Jon rolled very badly and I was not much better which made thing even harder.  DBA 3.0 is a good rule set for sure but it does lack the complexities which I am accustomed to in set of rules. I guess it's all about balance in the end."