DBA Roman/Carthaginian Game

Remember those Roman/Carthage 6mm armies we bought at St Helen's? Well here they are, or part of them at least, I think there's about three times the figures shown here. We thought we'd keep it simple, and have an easy 12 point DBA game. We haven't got any Baggage, we realised, so that's going to be a small order to Irregular Minis I think. These figures are Baccus, on a TSS tile, tea and buns supplied by Peeler, fresh from the packet, and the game was played a week or two ago.
The Carthage Army deploys, with two Pisoli in front, and Cavalry on the flanks. Spears formed the main block, along with a base of Auxilia. (In DBA, the General is meant to be in with an element, but we used these as they came based up, and it worked ok).

The Roman Army, deployed with Spears in the centre, Cavalry to the flanks and just the one base of Pisoli to the front. Those shields stand out well I reckon.

The two sides go to it, with the main bodies moving toward each other, and each side attempting flank movements.

Out of focus, or is that a touch of mist over the distant Carthage horde? (Yeah, ok, it's my photography skills, or lack of..)

Then again...

On the Carthage right, the Cavalry are confronted by two bases of Spears and one of Cavalry. This was a learning game, both for the rules and tactics, and I think we picked it up pretty quickly.

Whilst on the Left, the two flanking forces met, and had a long set to, with neither side having much advantage for a while.

The Romans having lost their Pisoli in a slinging contest, the two main bodies met in a crunch of shields, spears and tears. Especially for the poor Carthage Pisoli, being stuck in the middle. They didn't last long either, poor fellows.

On the Right, the Romans pushed forward, continually outflanking their opponents, forcing them to retire slowly.

Bit of a lull in the Centre as both sides took stock of the situation..
..and the players enjoyed tea, buns and a yabber. The lines reformed.

And the Right flank continued to retire, perilously close to the main melee. The Roman Cavalry had trotted off to out-flank the flanking Carthaginians flanking force. A right bunch of flankers they were.

The Spears went to it again, and both sides suffered Recoils, while Carthage suffered another loss in the Centre as well as on the Left.

On the Right, the out-flanking Roman flankers charged in, and minced the Carthage Cavalry, effectively winning the game due to Elements destroyed. The remaining Carthaginians would certainly have been in a bit of a pickle had the battle continued, being held in front and with Romans on both flanks.

So a small but enjoyable game was had, and we got to know the rules. Although DBA has been around for years, I haven't played it for at least ten years I reckon, and it was good to have a simple easy game, without record keeping or casualty markers being needed. The 'recoiling' bits do seem a bit tedious at times, but then suddenly an element or two gets destroyed, and from then on it's mostly downhill for the loser. In short, these rules make sense, and give an easy flowing and enjoyable game. Bearing in mind the figures are 'only' 6mm, I think the photos came up pretty well too.

Thanks to Richie, Gareth and Doug for a pleasant and entertaining game.

(Note to self...next time I'm playing Carthaginian, I should use some of those big stomping elephant things...).