The Saitic/Neo-Assyrian battle

Firstly, apologies for the quality of the pictures - one side of the table faced full length windows and it was a sunny day; looks like some out of focus but it's just strong shadows!

So, the battle...

Rules basically DBA. Being a solo effort I didn't see the need for alternative moves or PIP dice. With combat, I diced to see which side to start each set of combats from - important for push backs and overlaps. All archers (including Ps and LH) were given a 2" range rather than just Bw. Sp count 2 ranks against all opponents. Battlefield no terrain, just set up and advance to contact.

The Saitic lineup. Light troops on the right, Bws on the left, Generals chariot and spears in the centre.

Neo-Assyrian forces. The different colour bases show several decades of changes - this is mainly a 1970s army updated in stages to DBA. The blue chariot was originally the Generals chariot but I swapped it out before the battle. These chariots are a Lamming/Minifigs mix, the Hordes are Minifigs, everything else is Lamming.

When I set up my first thought was that it would be an easy Assyrian victory.

You may notice random palm trees. This is a variation on using numbered cards to mark the moves - 2 trees means move 2. 'Move 1', however, was a bit different - I just lumped the initial 3 moves together on the grounds nothing happened except people moving forward. So Move 2 was really Move 4. Happily, I know what I mean.

So Move 2 was the move into contact/shooting range move...

Move 2 was not good for the Assyrians. Cavalry rolled 2, Bw 4, straight kill. Ax 'Destroyed by Knights in good going' Hordes ' destroyed 'Or if shot at.' First contact and Assyrians already one kill away from the 4 element break point!

Removing casualties shows the the gaps that have appeared in the Assyrian ranks.

Then on Move 3 it was a bit better as the Assyrian general and surviving Cv took out both Saitic Bw elements.

But then on Move 4 the other Assyrian chariot was destroyed taking it down to 4 elements lost. The Egyptians lost an element of Ps archers, but that only took Egyptians losses to 3 elements.

So first battle, Saitic win. I'll often continue beyond this point but couldn't see the Assyrians turning things around - their left flank was doing OK, but those Ax in the centre were about to be swamped and the second rank of Egyptian Sp would be able to turn and face the outflanking Assyrian cavalry. If the Assyrian chariot had rolled the 4 instead of a 1 things could have been a bit different.

Simple battle, nothing complicated, enjoyed it.