Earlier this year Goya introduced me to the dark art of
DBA games and to my surprise I have really enjoyed playing them. The limited figure
numbers and playing area coupled with games that last less than an hour have a
real appeal. The resulting games have been fun with more tactical depth than
you would think at first glance at the rules. Goya also kindly gifted me an
Essex Miniatures DBA Carthaginian Army that I have been slowly painting.
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| I'm just over halfway through the Carthaginians, there are four more infantry bases and of course an elephant then they'll be ready for action. |
But this is where praise for Goya ends (only joking) as he invited me over this week to play through the CCN Essling scenario knowing that I was suffering from jetlag (excuses, excuses). The result was something of a drubbing for me as I lost both the games we played.
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| This is the initial deployment as per the CCN scenario. We played normal Commands and Colors rules but with Tony's firing amendments for Ramekin. |
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| The centre piece of the game was this magnificent model of the Granary. The model is actually 15mm but works perfectly with Goya's 20mm figures. |
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| All the troops on the table were from Goya's vast collection of (mostly) vintage Minifigs. There were lots of Austrians and all superbly painted - a joy to behold. |
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| Austrian Cuirassiers riding the famous Minifigs 'fat bottomed' horses! |
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| Some very nice French Guard Horse Artillery - love the moustaches. |
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| Goya played the Austrians in the first game and managed to eject my French infantry from the Granary gaining vital VPs in the process - 9 to 6 final score in favour of the men in white. |
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| When I saw this chap with the shako on his musket it brought back memories of the front cover of the old Minifigs catalogue. |
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| Game two saw us switching sides and as I had a preponderance of Left Flank cards, I tried to turn the French right but it didn't go well. The hussars in the centre of this shot are from the Hinton Compatriots range. |
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| Try as I might I could make no progress and my units were getting chewed up at a terrible pace. |
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| This time the Granary stayed securely in French hands. |
Great fun even if the 9 to nil score of our second game still smarts!
18 comments:
Nice games. I too was very dismissive of small and simple DBA was until I was finally strong-armed into playing a game - I quickly realised that it delivered a very interesting challenge for such a simple set of rules. I still like to go bigger though, so usually opt for DBM.
If you enjoy DBA you should really try the potted campaign at the back of the book - the Punic Wars is a classice for that. Campaigns are very simple but really lift the games to the next level.
Rob, my opinion of DBA was coloured by the experience of seeing all those game tables decked out with floor tiles and felt cut-out woods at WRG tournaments in the 1980s. DBA is a clever compact game but of course big is best!
Ian is too kind about my skill as a general. I was very lucky with the C&C cards playing as the Austrians- lots of cards to attack in the centre. Although the C&C site has 49/51 results for this scenario (this may affected by the more generous firing rules), I think this is difficult for the Austrians. The crux is to occupy the granary as that can shift the victory points by 4 but they are slow and badly positioned- too many units on the left flank.
The Carthaginians are very nicely painted but can they withstand the might of Rome? Carthāgō dēlenda est!
Goya - to be fair you played a couple of well thought through games and were careful to recycle your weakening front line units to the rear in a timely manner. I was perhaps a bit too gung-ho.
Of course the Carthaginians can prevail - we have elephants!
When DBA first came out, there was a genuine excitement as gamers starter collecting lots of armies. All the old 25’s got a new life and the likes if Essex did a roaring trade in 15mm army packs.
Lovely armies on the Essling table.
Norm, I can see the appeal as an army can have as few as 40 figures so multiple armies are achievable. Also being able to play a game easily on the kitchen table makes it very accessible!
Pleanty of nostalgia there
Lovely looking DBA army there - played it a few times and it is a very interesting concept for a game.
Goya's set up is very grand.
Nice looking DBA toys…
I’ve been playing a few DBA games recently…It’s a fun game especially if you are playing with someone who has managed to get their head around the rules.
Splendid old school Napoleonics… it’s great to see so many nicely painted Austrians.
All the best. Aly
D of B - yes lovely to see so many old 20mm Minifigs brought back to life and on the table.
Matt - after the game Goya gave me a tour of his 'study' wherein is housed probably 2,000 or so beautifully painted 20mm Naps!
Aly, I confess we have a fair bit of head scratching when playing DBA not helped by the fact that we each have a different version of the rules - good fun though!
Hi Ian, which version of DBA are you playing? I still prefer v1 with v2 army lists! I think v3 has moved too far beyond the original concept but is very popular. And of course with 3mm soldiers you can cram tons of figures on a standard base for mass impact!
Minifigs fat bottomed horses are great, a real nostalgic touch, but I always found that once you seated the rider they looked OK, just rather well fed :)
All the best,
Lee.
Ian, meant to add that your Carthaginians are looking great. Look forward to seeing the elephant!
Thanks Lee, I have v1 rules but Goya and I seem to be playing a lash up of v1 and v2! I glued the elephant together last night so the army will hopefully be complete soon.
If you want some game pointers (and double strength DBA for slightly bigger games) there's lots of great little DBA AARs on this site: https://dbagora.blogspot.com/
This is all a closed book to me. DBA happened during the decades when I wasn't wargaming so I'm a bit lost. I think your little starter army looks lovely though. Goya's Austrians, needless to say, are just magnificent.
Best regards
WM
Thanks WM, I blame Goya entirely for this DBA distraction. However he redeemed himself by showing me his 'secret study' full of 20mm Napoleonic goodies!
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