DBA Battle Report – Medieval Hindu vs Turkish Army

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DBA Battle Report – Medieval Hindu vs Turkish Army

In today’s post, I bring you my third DBA Battle Report. DBA, or De Bellis Antiquitatis, is a game I played a few times. I played this game about a year-and-a-half ago at Phoenix Games and Hobbies. Remember last year when we could actually play games at the game store?

I certainly miss being able to play games with friends and not have to worry about getting sick from a pandemic. For now, I will just have to catch up on my unpublished Battle Reports from a while back.

Now, let’s set the scene for this DBA Battle Report.

The Conflict

In this battle, two armies face off for supremacy. I played as the Medieval Hindu Army. My friend, Wayne, brought a Central Asian Turkish Army to the table.

Both sides set up equally with camps directly across from each other. Points would be given for kills and taking over the opponent’s camp.

In choosing armies, I liked that my side came with elephants and plenty of archers. My opponent came with plenty of cavalry.

Historical games at Phoenix Games and Hobbies
The side closest to the camera is mine.

Anticipating a head on challenge, I made an archer line midway up the field with my cavalry in behind. I left the camp very lightly defended with two war elephants in reserve.

I positioned the camp right beside the river to give it extra protection.

DBA Battle Report - Medieval Hindu Army
My defensive line of troops.

Now, let’s get into it.

The Battle Starts

Although I expected a head on challenge, my opponent, Wayne, knows what he is doing. He would not ride his cavalry into the range of my bows. Not for a few rounds at least.

A look at the approaching forces at the start of the battle.

My Big Mistake

Horse Archers for the win
I didn’t take this set of mounted archers seriously enough. I figured I would not really have to worry about them. The worst I expected from them is that they would do is park on the opposite side of the river and send arrows my way. I was wrong.

Wayne kept his main force back. I got frustrated with waiting and sent my heavy cavalry in to take the fight to the enemy. Meanwhile, Wayne races his mounted archers past my defensive forces and rushes straight to my camp.

DBA Battle Report
It turns out that river by my camp is fordable. That is one of the details you should discuss with your opponent before playing. Regardless, I did not expect Wayne to be so aggressive with these models. He sends them across the river to take on my fort.
The horse archers ford the river
Here the unit crosses the river. I did not expect that. Wayne did not hang them back to shoot arrows. To try to scare away his horsemen, I bring on my war elephants.
Phoenix Games and Hobbies - DBA Battle Report - Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Well played Wayne! You can see the battlefield at this time. Notice that my forces are still defensively set up, but too far away from my camp. Uh-oh!!!
Hindu troops in disarray
I scramble my forces to try to answer the unchecked challengers from behind my lines. Wayne starts advancing his main line as my army reorients.

If you look closely above, you can see that I sent my elephants towards Wayne’s other cavalry and am bringing my heavy cavalry back towards the camp on the right hand side of the table. The reason for this change is to try to maximize on the strengths of my heavy cavalry and war elephants.

A camp is assaulted by Horse Archers in DBA
My forces hold off the attack, but this does not look good. The small group inside the fort are now surrounded and outnumbered.
A raging Medieval Battle
My forces find themselves in complete disarray. I failed as a general and you can see Wayne’s forces taking advantage of my poorly planed defense.
They take over the camp
Wayne pushes the attack and takes over my camp.

The Mop Up Job

Having taken out my camp, Wayne is clearly in the lead for this DBA Battle Report. Now, he focuses on how to wipe out my army now that they have no camp.

DBA Battle Report
The Medieval Hindu Army continue regather while the Central Asian Turkish Army presses the attack.
The Hindu army pushes back after suffering from a massive alpha strike
The Hindu push back their attackers.
War Elephants take charge
Wayne was perhaps a little too bold in his attacks here.
Playing DBA right. Rank and Flank. It is all about angles.
You can see here I started turning the tide of battle. Flanking Wayne’s units with mine Wayne found himself in a lot of trouble.
DBA Battle Report
Wayne takes heavy loses.

Finishing the Game

Being that the game was a year-and-a-half ago I don’t remember exactly who won, but I can tell you the tallies. If you know DBA well, please leave a comment after the post about who would have won. Personally, I think Wayne won because he took out my camp. Now, those tallies…

  • Medieval Hindu Army Loses: 1 Camp Personnel Stand
  • Central Asian Turkish Army Loses: 5 Mounted Stands

Overall, we both won because we had fun.

The table at the end of the allotted time for the battle. Not much left of Wayne’s forces, but my leaders from the camp are now dead.

Wrapping it up…

Hopefully you enjoyed this DBA Battle Report. It has been a long time since I last played DBA, but it is a fun game when you have good people who can teach you the rules. It has also been a long while since I last saw Wayne.

I have to say that I am really missing getting out for gaming in this new world of Lockdowns and COVID-19. That said, I am doing what I can to keep myself, my friends and my family healthy.

For whenever COVID restrictions get lifted in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, I want to give a shoutout to Phoenix Games and Hobbies. They have a great historical group that met there once a week before lockdown. They play all sorts of historical games, including DBA. I am sure they will be up and operational again when restrictions lift.

Until next time, Happy Gaming Everyone!!!

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Larry September 23, 2020

    Nice report thanks for sharing!

  2. philippe ravet October 6, 2020

    Nice report, nice write up and great looking armies!

Comments are closed.