Cold Wars Theme Event, Game 1 - DBA AAR

On the morning of my second day at Cold Wars 2018, I took part in a Themed Event for DBA, based around the Early Byzantines and their enemies. As I had the previous day, I used the III/13b Avars list, with its mix of Cavalry, Light Horse, Auxilia, and Psiloi. 

My first opponent was Nick and his Italian Ostrogoths. 

Nick placed two plough, an enclosure (the green field), and a wood on the table.

While my line shuffled forward, Nick used his pips to maneuver his knights from column to line. I decided to try and reach Nick's camp with my two light horse for an early victory point.

That, however, turned out to be a terrible idea, as Nick was able to simply force both units of the table with his psiloi.

The shooting from the Ostrogoths was then able to break my line into unmanageable chunks, and a poor combat saw one of my cavalry units fall to an opposing unit of knights.

The game ended when Nick was able to overlap my cavalry, removing a unit from the table and winning 4-0. Apparently I hadn't learned much from the previous day!

Training Match - Arena Rex AAR

Earlier this week I brought out Arena Rex to demo with Bill.

I let Bill chose two Cohorts of three fighters from my Ludus Magnus collection, and then let him pick which group he'd like to play in the game. 

Bill ended up with Otho Mentulus, Marcus Furius, and Viatrix, while I had Hermes, Tribune, and Urbicus. 

The game was a simple fight to the death - whoever had the last fighters standing would claim victory.

I set up four marble columns as hazards, and two pits as lethal hazards.

Both Cohorts advanced across the sands as the crowd cheered and roared in anticipation.

First blood went to Bill, and Otho managed to quickly cut down Tribune with a few savage strokes of his sword. The other members of our cohorts fought dangerously close to the edge of a pit.

Urbicus cut down Marcus Furious, but was quickly confronted by Otho.

Unfortunately, Otho's engagement meant that both my gladiators were unable to use their Favor, and so Hermes was eventually whittle down and removed from the fight.

However, Urbicus managed to get a decent enough attack in so that he could shove Otho into the pit. Suddenly it was just down to the two remaining fighters, and Urbicus was exhausted.

Viatrix delivered a brutal final blow to the opposing gladiator, leaving her alone on the blood soaked sand. 

It was good to bring Arena Rex out again. It's a light yet complex set of rules, and even a small game with three gladiators aside has a lot of moving parts. I'm hoping to get it to the table more often. 

Cold Wars Open Event, Game 4 - DBA AAR

In the last game of the Open Event, I faced Mike D and his Warring States Chinese again. 

As the attacker, I watched as Mike placed down two plough, two difficult hills, and a river. I decided to set up so that the river would split our armies in two.

Both sides advances cautiously, now aware of the other's capabilities after the result of the first game.

I decided to push on the right, hoping I had the advantage against Mike's troops. However, I only managed to recoil his line.

On the next turn, I swung my main line into battle, and removed one of Mike's crossbowmen.

While our lines pushed and shoved each other, Mike removed an auxilia from my right.

In one desperate push, the game ended. I lost a light horse and a cavalry from my right flank. On my left, however, I not only managed to sack Mike's camp, but I also killed his general, a unit of blades, and a unit of light horse. The Avars secured their first victory, 6-3.

Blood in the Banakur - Shatterlands AAR

While at Cold Ward, I got the chance to take part in a demo game of Shatterlands, by Stonegate Forge. I found the setting intriguing, the miniatures fantastic, and the rules to have some rather interesting mechanics. So my loot pile at the end of the convention contained the starter sets for the currently available factions. 

After getting the Rapani warriors and Dumah rangers painted up, I put on a demo game at Half Day Studio. 

The mission was a simple random encounter with each side taking two miniatures per player. I had picked out five miniatures with 2 Initiative each on both sides for the players to chose from, which made it an 8 point game.

As you can see, "terrain" in Shatterlands comes in the form of three types of terrain tiles - brush, trees, and rocks. These affect the kind of dice added to determine hit locations when models fire at one another. From what we've seen, Shatterlands is a game that needs a lot of terrain - models caught out in the open are much easier to kill.

With a few lucky draws from the Initiative Deck, the Dumerai managed to get halfway up the table, into cover, and ready for any Rapani moving onto the board.

This may have been a mistake, however, as the Rapani were able to dash through the trees, avoid the Dumerai rifles and Kesbinets (crossbow/carbine combi-weapons), and close for hand to hand combat.

You may also spot a lot of colorful dice on the table. Shatterlands uses RPG dice, associated with certain colors, to denote various qualities. It basically follows ROYGBIV - a trait marked with a red dot on a character card rolls a d20, while a trait marked with a purple dot rolls a d4. And you want low numbers in Shatterlands.

The Dumerai found themselves being pushed back as the Rapani were able to quickly advance. It also didn't help that the rangers couldn't spend their actions to reload their guns, while the Rapani could fire their bows without pause.

However, as both sides began to take wounds, their Squad Morale decreased, making certain actions more difficult. It also didn't help when one Rapani warrior rolled high during his Sprint action, leaving him stranded in the open.

For a moment, it seemed that the Dumerai might turn the fight around, as two of the rangers ganged up on a lone Rapani warrior, who was incapacitated, causing a big morale hit and stunning several of the other Rapani.

But before the Dumerai could capitalize on the advantage, the Rapani rallied and assaulted a Dumerai rifleman. The ranger couldn't keep the Rapani knives from scoring deep cuts into his flesh, and his comrades watched in horror. Unable to assist, this caused enough morale damage that eventually all the ranger could do was flee, which caused a series of cascading morale failures that saw the Dumerai force run from the table.

It was a fun game, and both sides enjoyed playing. It was also interesting to see the after game, where the surviving characters (and others that gained experience) improved their skills. That's another interesting aspect of Shatterlands - character cards are printed on lottery cards, and as they take injuries and gain experience, you scratch off circles to change the dice they roll when taking actions in the game.

I'm hoping to get this to the table again, especially since I also purchased a scenario book while at Cold Wars.

Cold Wars Open Event, Game 3 - DBA AAR

My third game in the Open Even was against Mike G, the event organizer, and his Qaramita. This brought back memories from last year, when Chris and I played in a double tournament for ADLG using the Ancient Bedouins, with our goal being to get as many camels on the table as possible.

Once again, I won the roll for attacker and Mike set up the table. He placed down three dunes and a difficult hill.

I could only watch as the massive line of camels came towards me, completely unhindered by the dunes.

I was basically stuck trying to fight three battles - one in the center, and two in each of the dunes. Thanks to the distances between the dunes, I was overlapped in multiple places and lost a stand of auxilia.

I then lost a unit of cavalry, which left my general exposed.

While I managed to get another unit of cavalry up to support my general, Mike began to turn my left flank, removing another stand of auxilia.

And, finally, Mike caused another of my cavalry units to rout, ending the game with a solid 4-0 victory to the Qarmatians.