By David Kuijt
A report on a DBA game between me, playing the Orcs, and Jason, playing the forces of Harlond (here represented by the Hundred Year War English).
The battlefield was split diagonally by one of the arms of the Anduin. The military road to the southern border forts crossed at a ford. North of the ford the river split to go around a broad, heavily wooded island. South of the ford the terrain was generally clear, with small patches of woods and marsh near the river.
The forces of Harlond set up in a defensive posture on the northwest bank of the river. One company of Roquen, Knights of Gondor, were dismounted to stiffen the foot. The other two remained mounted as a striking reserve. They were commanded by Beregond, a knight of Gondor. Although untested as a commander, he was valiant.
Jason's first game of DBA, I think.
The orcish army was commanded by Bolg, a brutish orc, cunning and fierce, with long experience of warfare. That would be me. The foul orcs moved aggressively to the attack, attempting to gain a foothold on the other side of the river before the Harlond forces could reorganize.
When in doubt, attack. And I frankly had no idea how I was going to win with a force made up of mostly auxilia and psiloi. Even my Trolls were a risky proposition -- with his defensive position, all he had to do was get one or two shots with his artillery, and the trolls were belly-up.
Bolg attempted an attack on a wide front. Their warg cavalry had already crossed the river, and approached the Harlond position from the South. Bolg sent two companies of orcs and one of goblin bow across the river to lurk opportunistically in heavy brush just south of the ford, and sent his other two companies of orc foot looping to the north to cross to the wooded island, hopefully forcing the Harlond general to try and maintain a broad front.
I sure couldn't do a frontal assault with the guys I had available, so I sent 2 Aux and 1 Ps across the river into a dense wood where they should lurk safe enough from the enemy until I could get more of my forces across.
Bolg's heaviest forces, the trolls and two companies of Uruks, advanced on the ford screened from missile fire by two companies of goblin bow.
If you have to move Elephants into the firing arc of enemy artillery, you bloody well better screen them off with something indestructable like psiloi.
Beregond desperately reorganized to meet these separate threats. Three companies of archers were detached to suppress and drive back the orcs in the woods south of the ford. In combination with the disorganization caused by crossing the river (flowing heavily with spring runoff), their missile fire kept the orcs back. The river was running heavy, to add insult to injury. One company of orc foot was thrown back in ruin, fleeing or hiding from the gray-shafted arrows. Outnumbered, the two remaining companies were unwilling to emerge, in spite of the galling of more missile fire.
By concentrating his fire, Jason blew away one of the auxilia with his bows before I could get set to rush him. With only one auxilia and one psiloi, and no help possible from my other forces, I couldn't see rushing his three Longbow who were within reinforcement range of his forces. Not, at least, until I got more desperate or engaged more of his forces in the center to pin down more reinforcements.
North of the ford the deep river badly delayed the two companies of orc foot sent that way, giving the forces of Gondor more than enough time to redeploy one company of archers and two of blades to meet that threat.
In other words, I kept rolling "1"s trying to cross the stupid river, and I rarely had the pips to try anyway, because of the archery suppression driving back my guys in the left woods and the pip requirements of the Trolls in the center. Also, I kept having to run my psiloi in the center back after getting them shot up by the artillery. I couldn't leave the Trolls exposed to the enemy artillery, so I didn't have a lot of pips to spare for my forlorn right-flank envelopment.
At the ford itself, the Harlond foresters stood, trying to delay any crossing of the ford while their gunners frantically tried to position their bombards to cover the ford. With them stood two companies of archers. Their volleys of arrows quickly drove back the skirmishing orc bowmen, revealing the true threat behind.
Yay! I finally got close enough to charge the ford, and Jason obligingly cleared my Psiloi out of my way with missile fire.
On came the trolls and war-hardened Uruks. The trolls assaulted, but were driven back in disorder; likewise the Uruks could not cross the ford against the opposition of the bowmen and foresters of Harlond. A second time they assaulted, and gained no foothold -- the Uruks fell back again, in spite of the curses and threats of Bolg; the trolls were locked in combat at the ford.
Finally, in a third assault, the Harlond defensive line was thrown back. Uruks streamed across the river, chasing the archers, who fell back in good order. The foresters holding the ford could likewise take no more, and fell back from the fury of the trolls.
The trolls recoiled the human auxilia, and the bow recoiled from the warband, and I crossed the river.
Even now came word of the Warg Riders, approaching from the south, and on the island could be seen two companies of orcs, finally approaching in an outflanking attempt. The Harlond commander gave quick orders. The archers facing the enemy Uruks turned and moved in good order, making a broad line with the dismounted knights and blades holding the north bank of the ford. They were chased a little ways by the Uruks, but their lighter armour allowed them to disengage. On the south bank of the ford, the Harlond commander pulled the foresters back. His artillery was finally in position to fire at the ford. The foresters made line with the archers on the south bank, who had continued to drive back the southern flanking attempt. Beregond took his reserve of two companies of Roquen and rode to meet the threat of the Wargs and their riders, coming from the south.
Jason completed a really neat reorganization, clearing his melee troops out of the way of his artillery and making line.
Bolg saw this reorganization as vulnerability, and charged to confront their enemies. But to their dismay, the defence was still strong. They were thrown back again and again. The brave archers of Harlond drove back trolls and uruks, until eventually one of the companies of Uruks could take no more and disintegrated. Likewise, one of the two companies of orcish foot in the northern attack was slaughtered by billmen, driven into the river screaming with terror. The orcish skirmishing bow suffered dreadfully from the artillery, one company fighting its way across the ford only to see the second company routing back across it. Again and again they were driven back, and only the whips of their commanders brought them back unwilling into the maelstrom of death.
What do you do if your enemy has missile fire and artillery, and you don't? Get into close combat as quick as you can. And I had the matchups I wanted, too -- warband against archers and blades, trolls against archers, and the artillery couldn't fire. But exactly how many times can his bloody archers recoil my trolls? The idiots are supposed to be crushed! Don't they know the script?
One of my warband was shot to pieces by concentrated fire after I was recoiled all down the line again, and an auxilia that had finally made it across the river on the far right was chopped to chutney by a blades, and now I was down three elements without any dead humans to show for my efforts. Things looked grim.
All was not well for the forces of Harlond, however. Bolg was made desperate by his losses -- if another company fell, likely his whole force would collapse in rout. But his bodyguard and company of Uruks was still fierce. He threw them repeatedly against their opponents, dismounted Knights of Gondor. Once, twice, three times they were repelled, but on they came again. In a final desperate assault Bolg himself broke the shield wall and slew the banner-bearer. The knights collapsed, overborne by their foes.
I finally managed to quick-kill a blade with my warband general, and one of his longbow had died somewhere facing auxilia.
For a second time the forces of Harlond were forced to fall back and reform. Again they were successful, as the exhausted orcs needed time to set themselves for a final assault. Arrows flew again as the thinned orcish ranks came on.
Jason made another very effective retreat and reorganization. At the same time, he was charging his knights (and general) down at the warg riders, and adding his southernmost longbow. With three elements to two down there, and +4 factor to +3 factors, that battle wasn't going to be going long, and wasn't going to go in my favour. I had to win fast.
Now came the crux of the battle. North of the ford Bolg threw the fierce trolls and the one company of orcish foot remaining him again and again against the weakened shield wall. South of the ford Beregond drove had met the Warg riders, and threw them back again and again with loss. If he could but shatter them, the battle was won.
But the shield-wall broke first. A company of Harlond archers, exhausted after a day-long battle and nearly out of arrows, finally broke in front of the orcish foot. This collapse weakened the flank of the billmen, facing Bolg and his bodyguard, and they too were shattered.
Bolg had won the victory, though at high cost. His losses were such that he could not pursue. But at least he would not have to explain his failure in front of the Lidless Eye.
Butcher's bill: the orcs lost 2 auxilia and a warband; the English lost two blades and two longbows. A very close battle.
The author may be contacted at kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu Please do not use any pictures or text from this page without permission.