A Tale of Dark Ages in Southern Italy #1

Yesterday afternoon me and my pard Frontlineminiaturist played three DBA games in a row with his stunning armies of Italian Lombard and Nikephorian Byzantine.

Early in 2021 we beta-tested a little campaign with the same armies, in which I tried to defend my Lombard territories in Southern Italy from the Byzantine invasion of Frontlineminiaturist's imperial forces. It was not bad, but we want to refine the rules before playing again, and maybe add the new 15mm armies we bought along the way.

This time, we played some casual battles just for fun and to see what happened if we swapped the armies: so, I took the Byz and he took the Lon. Cool minis, cool games. Who will win in the end?

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Army lists 📜

III/21b Italian Lombard, Lombard Army 775-1076 AD

1 x 3Kn (Gen), 4 x 3Kn, 4 x Sp, 1 x 3Bw, 2 x Ps

III/65 Nikephorian Byzantine 963-1042 AD

1 x Cv (Gen), 1 x 4Bd, 4 x Cv, 1 x LH, 3 x 8Bw, 1 x Ps, 1 x 3Ax

Terrain & Deployment 🌳

Byz defends. I'm in Arable terrain, so we chose 2 compulsory Ploughs, a Forest and a Road. We wanted to place a Gentle Hill but we miscast the dice and there was no room for it.

I deploy near to the road, with 4Bd on the centre surrounded by 8Bw. My Cv follows on the left flank, and light troops controls the forest on the right.

Lon take a risk by deploying inside the ploughs, with Sp on my right, Ps on my left and Kn in the centre. Both our Generals are in the backline of the army.

Lombard Knights are a frightening view!

Lombard Spears and 3Bw

The Byz line

The Byzantine General oversees his troops from behind

Battle! 🎲

First dice is 1! Poor Lon: the ploughs are considered bad going

8Bw advancing

The Byz army advances everywhere, and the Lon send the Knights forward while the Spears trudge in the fields.

First contact is made by Lon Kn. Byz 8Bw on the right throw arrows at the enemies and consolidate their position

First blood of the game is for the Lon! Byz LH is wiped out

Lon charge the 8Bw, but Byz close the door on both Lon Kn on the left and Lon 3Bw on the right

No good for the Byz: both combats result in a recoil, and the 3Ax are killed. 8Bw however manage to disband some 3Kn.

Lon Knights close the door on the poor Byz Cv

Unfortunately this is the last photo we took for this game! We didn't register which elements went lost (yeah, we were not the most clever), but we remember a Byz victory in the end. So, 1-0 Byz to Lon for our first game!