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No surrender! A trip report of ITC 2014 in Milan

Introduction

Thanks Lorenzo and the Milanese players for holding the annual Italian DBMM Team Champion

(ITC) for the DBMM players. The event in 2014 was grand and well received by those who

have attended. It is a team championship using the Swiss System with each of the four players in

every team playing in each of the four DBMM game pools. We have formed our team “Yellow

Dragons” to participate in the 2013 championship. Our team ranked 7th out of 18 in the team

classification in 2013. This year we form the team again with the same three Chinese teammates

and a new teammate, Mr. Mark Gibson coming from N.Ireland. With:

Mark Gibson playing in Pool 1 with L.Sargonid Assyrian

Andrew Lam playing in Pool 2 with Alexander Imperial

James Cheung playing in Pool 3 with Early Byzantine

Herbert Wong playing in Pool 4 with WotR English

Before going to Milan, we have played more than one hundred practice games in Hong Kong after

the 2013 Championship. Let’s go to Milan. For glory!

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Trainings and Army List Selection

My trainings and preparations for the Championship began shortly after ITC2013. My Later

Hungarians did well in the competition last year. I was hoping for a better result this year. I

had decided to try my luck in the Medieval Pool again. Medieval Pool is probably the most

complex one among the four pools. Complex because the army lists have a lot of variants and

sub-lists with many different army compositions and possible combinations of troop types.

Almost all the Superior Grade troops types are present in armies of Pool 4 with BwS and KnS in

domination. On one hand, BwS can destroy targets in range by shooting at them but they can

be quickly killed by charging Kn and will lose two ranks if defeated. On the other hand, KnS

can smash and destroy almost every troop types just by frontal attack but they are expensive in

terms of army points, plus they will flee if they have lost their close combat against Bow.

That’s leaving me with two choices when selecting my army: either it is able to defeat these two

dominating troop types, or I have to field both of these two troop types in my army.

I have tested several armies for suitability. The first one was Serbian Empire, which is an

irregular army with lots of IKnS, plus plenty of LHO and PsO, which are well suited for securing

the flanks and supporting the Kn’s charges. I found it unsuitable after practicing with it for more

than 3 months because the numerous Impetuous Irregular Kn in this army must pursue most of the

times and they need too many PIPs to change directions or to hold them. Most of the opposing

regular armies in the trial games just simply slipped away before my knights were in a position to

charge it.

The photos below are from one of my Training game using Serbian Empire (vs. 100YW English).

http://hksw.freeforums.org/100-years-war-english-vs-serbian-condense-battle-report-t499.html

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The other ones I have tested French Ordonnance, Later Swiss, Ghurid, etc. but I also found them

unsuitable for reasons like: not suiting my playing style, mediocre table-top performance in

fighting against the BwS and KnS combo, etc. In September 2013, I switched to Ottoman Turks

which is an army with comprehensive troop types capable of dealing with all kind of situations in

the test games. I even started painting it.

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However, there are two weaknesses in this army list. Its compulsory choices had taken up too

many army points, leaving only around 100 pts for me to field other troops. The predominant

troop type for this army. is Cv which is not that good for battles in Pool 4. I have to heavily rely

on the handful of Serbian Knights in this army to act as the striking hammer to break the enemy in

a head-on battle. Once they are gone, I will lose the attack momentums.

The photos below are from one of my Training game using Ottoman Turks (vs. Early

Burgundians).

http://hksw.freeforums.org/ottoman-turks-vs-early-burgundian-battle-report-t494.html

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It was a hard decision to switch to another army again as it was almost Jan 2014 and Chinese New

Year long holidays would be coming soon. Then I have found the army War of the Roses

English (“WotR”) capable of fulfilling all my requirements. Among the Book 4 armies, It has

adequate number of good shooting troops, some good quality Knights which will be useful in case

of need. Even better, its BdS and BwS can support each other when fighting against Foot.

Most important of all, regular commands! I had finally made up my mind to use this army.

Army tactics

WotR has its strengths and weaknesses. Its Army ME is small, it is short of Psiloi, and most

important, it needs to wear down its enemies primarily by shooting. I would like the enemies

coming forward against my army from a narrow frontage, preferably from where I expect them to

come. My prepared positions will be waiting for them. I have set up these positions with a

wider frontage than theirs, so that I can maximize the combined firepower of my BwS and RArtI.

for maximum combat effect in the killing grounds. As WotR has a low aggression factor of one,

I would be the defender most of the time and therefore could place a lot of terrain pieces in a way

to create the aforesaid killing grounds. I came up with a new idea to use a Isolated Tower, (that

is a BUAf, 40x40mm, costing 10AP) that forbid enemy elements to set up within 12cm of it

before the battle. BUAf can be placed within the enemy deployment area. The whole purpose

is to heavily reduce the area that the enemy troops can deploy in its deployment area by placing a

BUAf nearby. If I am lucky enough to place it there, I can use it to distract the enemy

deployment plan, or even channel them to the killing grounds. In one test game, my Burgundian

Ordonnance enemies could only deploy with 1 command in the front, to be followed by the other

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remaining two commands. I could just concentrated all my shootings against his command in

front, broke it before the second command took its positions, and finally broke his army by

fighting with 3 of my commands against each of his command in turns. I.e. typical 3:1 odds of

attack.

If the enemy did not follow my ploy, I would make good use of the terrains and my regular troop’s

abilities to outshoot the enemy by fighting on battle grounds with a wider frontage than that of

the enemy where my boys can provide aid-shooting to the primary shooters. No matter how,

my plan was to avoid close combats as long as possible. Close quarter fighting is never the

strength of WotR. As my army did not has any Psiloi, the task to clear the Difficult going of

enemy troops would be left to my BdS and BwS where necessary.

In summary, my tactics is to make use of terrains and my BUAf to channel the enemy approach,

wear it down by shooting before commit my troops into close quarter combat.

Tournament games

Game 1 vs Early Crusaders “ The Duels between Elites” WotR were the defender and I have placed the tower close to the Crusaders’ deployment zone.

During the setup, WotR placed their Command B, Command A and Command C from left to right

as shown in the photos. The Crusaders placed their BdS command directly in front of my tower,

obviously he wanted to storm the tower with his heavy foot. The Crusaders’ ISpI command was

placed in the upper left in the photos, as reserves in the rear and the Knight’s command was placed

in the upper right facing the open.

WotR had 2 plans. Plan one was to move Command B to face the ISpI and destroy them by

shootings. However, since the enemy spear command had been deployed in the rear, if I moved

my Command B towards them, I might exposed my flank to the Crusaders’ counterattack which

sound risky. The alternative was to use the tower to draw the Crusaders’ BdS forward to the

tower. Then my KnS and General would advance and attack them. They have a good chance to

kill a few of these 2ME BdS that would break this Command. Therefore, I have chosen the

second one.

The photos below were taken after the Movement Phase of bound 2. The Crusaders were ready to

storm my tower with RBdS supported by PsO.

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WotR Knights of Command B took up and reached the flank cover position, the King with his

Royal Guard regiment (all RKnS) were ready to charge those Bd storming my tower. Crusader

CinC with RknO reached position to cover the flank of the Spear command and part of the BdS

tried to take the RH.

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The Crusader BdS proved to be a hard nut to crack. WotR knights had been repulsed several

times and took casualties. The WotR CinC was lucky to survive a hard flank attack and carried the

day later. On the other hand, 2 Crusader BdS bravely stood in the flank, attacked and saved their

Command from breaking. In the mean time, the WotR tower has fallen after repeated Crusader

assaults.

Crusader Sub Gen challenged the WotR CinC and advanced against him without any troops

protecting his flank. He was killed in the next bound by the WotR CinC hard flank attack (the

first personal combat). The 2 Crusader BdS finally were slaughtered by the third attacks into their

flank and their command was broken. However one of the WotR dismounted Knight was killed

by a hard flank attack as well, the fight kept going with the WotR in the upper hand.

Finally the WotR CinC fought another personal combat with the Crusader’s CinC. Fighting

against the Superior Grade mounted, with enemy overlapping its flank, plus the enemy rolling a

SIX for the combat, the Crusader commander was killed. As a result, the whole Crusader army

was broken.

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Heavy casualties for the 2 sides:

The game summary The WotR tower was a distraction to the Crusader’s plan, it attracted his attention and the

Crusader had committed a whole command to storm and attack it. It created an opportunity for the

WotR to fix a decision point and committed their elites as well. The narrow frontage of the

-battlegrounds had favored the WotR as they had only a handful of their elite Knight units, the

Crusader had committed their elites set piece (first came the BdS, then came the KnO, and finally

their commander) and their Commands were broken one by one. However the tower had fallen

quickly plus the tough fighting of the BdS exerted lots of pressure to the WotR side to the extent

that, even their CinC had been hard flanked. He survived only because of luck.

Game 2 vs Ghurid “No surrender!!”

“I was losing the battle at 5 o’clock, but I won it back at 7!” Extracted from the film “Battle of

Waterloo” when Napoleon commented on his Battle of Marengo.

I have played Ghurid in my testing games with the impressions that their IPkX were good vs BwS,

Kn and other troop types except BdS. They can only fight up to 3 ranks but not 4 ranks. They

do not have enough punching power to prevail against BdS. Don’t forget that Pike can be quick

killed by Bd in enemy bound. Therefore I did not choose to use this army in ITC. So when I

knew that I would fight Ghurid in this round, I thought I have a good chance of winning before the

game.

As usual, WotR defended and deployed first. Unfortunately I failed to place my 2 roads and the

tower can only be placed near the short table edge. It did not serve its intended purposes for the

whole game. I had set up my army on the right hand side and Ghurid had deployed on the

opposite corner. When we started to play, I rushed my army towards the open area on the left

hand side. I intended to take the gentle hill if possible, or attack the Pike blocks from their flank.

I sent my ILHO to take the gentle hill first, to be followed by my bowmen. With hindsight, it

was a big mistake to do so. It made me to move these elements of my command A to the open

and had stretched my line too wide and thin. I also lost the mutual supports from my Command

B who had set up on the far right hand side. Even worse, my ILHO was no match to Ghurid’s

ILHS and my BwS was no match to Ghurid’s PkX.

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Ghurid commander wisely took advantage of the opportunity and sent all his forces to storm

against my thin defense line. I lost my ILHO quickly to Ghurid’s ILHS and my bow line could

not held too long against Ghurid PkX. With the WotR RBdS on the way to reinforce my front

line, situation looked grim for the WotR.

In the mid game, WotR army was closed to broken. Its Command A had lost 12 ME out of 36

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and its Command A had lost 4 ME out of 12. Both of them became disheartened and was on the

verge to be broken. In addition, the WotR Baggage Command was looted by the Ghurid Light

horsel. Meaning that 1 or more ME loss on either Command A or Command C would break the

WotR army. At this moment, the Ghurid losses were mild, my guess was probably only 2-3 ME.

Several times I wanted to throw in my white towel and took a break.

My team spirit reminded me of my responsibility to other team members. Even a few points

more for this game matter as every points counted for my team’s final score, so keep on playing

until defeated. I started to counter-attacked with my BdS who destroyed the Ghurid’s Pike one

by one. There is a saying that “ God help those who help themselves”. From this moment on in

this game, my dice throws did not failed me anymore. I must stressed that I would lost this game

even by just one unlucky dice roll in one of my BdS combat (such as I rolled 1 and he rolled 6).

But my boys did not failed me and they kept fighting on. The climax of the Battle came when 2

Ghurid’s ILHS attacked 2 of my RArtI (who were disheartened) at the modified combat factor of 3

for him and 1 for me. Even worse, my Art would be quick killed if he won this combat.

However I rolled 2 Sixes for both Art, and won the combats, thereby repulsing the Ghurid’s

attackers. Thanks God! The General of My Command C had also managed to survive from an

attack by the enemy’s Pike and LH inside the woods that came from both its front and its rear. I

may lose him even though my modified combat factor were higher than him. I can remember the

joyful moment now.

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WotR finally managed to break 2 of the 4 Ghurid’s commands and inflicted more than 40% of

Ghurid’s Total ME The losses was close to the Ghurid’s army’s break point. It must be

emphasized that in the last few bound, even one bad dice roll of WotR would cost them to lose the

game.

After thoughts I made my mistake in my first moves that made me almost lost this game. With hindsight, I

should set up a defend line across the open between the central hill and the wood and fought the

battle in the short table edge instead. As my BwS supported my BdS, the PkX could only

attacked my BdS supported by BwS at combat factor of 5: 5 but I could quick killed the PkX with

my BdS in my bound. The risk would be lower by doing so. If this was a friendly game, I

would probably conceded during the mid game. But for team play, I need to contribute as much

score as possible. This kept me to carry on, and finally turned the table in my favor unexpectedly.

On that night I remembered the Battle of Marengo. Its course of event and the outcome were

similar to that for this game. So I learned my lesson: Never quit in DBMM! you never know

what will happen next. Thanks God! I was very lucky in this game.

Game 3 vs Later Swiss “ Secure your flank!” After I came back from Milan in 2012, I had tested with the Later Swiss and it was one of the

finalist candidates for my 2013 ITC army. I prefer to choose the “King Tiger” (i.e. RPsS with

Knights General double-based in wedges with rear element) when using this army. The King

Tiger (i.e. General) would be deployed next to the Pike block whereas the Pike would be attacking

first at +6/7 combat factor. Their superior qualities enable them to win a draw combat result.

There is a good chance that they will push back or destroy their opponent and thereby overlap the

enemy who is fighting against the King Tiger. I have destroyed a lot of enemies who dare to

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stand against them. But the Swiss army in this game was using different doctrine.

I was the defender. Please refer to the following photo for terrain and set up. Kindly note that

the tower was placed in the Swiss deployment area, I hoped to reduce the Swiss deployment area

and make them to deploy in front of my army so that I would fight the battle as per my pre-battle

plan. For this battle, the Orchard placed by the Swiss was the strategic high ground both sides

striving to control. With hindsight, the Swiss Plan was to make good use of terrains that could

help them to turn the battle into a short table fight (i.e. both army facing the short table edge

instead of the long table edge). The Swiss army consisted of 2 identical commands. Each of

them had 24 RPkS, the General, some RBdX and RPsS/O, 32ME each. Their third Command

consisted of RBdX and RPsS/O which was good for fighting in DG. It had 10ME. There was no

baggage train, an indication that this army expected to fight using mobile warfare doctrine.

The Swiss set up in my opposite corner, using they superior pike regular maneuverability to came

from my right, then turn 90 degree and they were ready to fight WotR from the short table edge.

The Swiss initial move was brilliant and forced me to change my original battle plan. I needed to

turn my battle line by 90 degree to form a hastily defense line in the middle of battle field.

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Both sides moved cautiously. We faced each other across the short table edge with the Orchard

divided the battlefield into 2 sections. WotR had set up a defense line slightly behind the

Orchard to anchor their flank to the orchard. The Swiss setup their Pike blocks in 6 ranks deep,

which could absorb 3 ranks losses before they would lost their attack momentums. This was a

very clever tactics against the WotR BdS+BwS combo. For WotR, Bw in rear rank can support

Bd and fight at +5, but Pike fight at +7. Assuming the Pk win the combat in its bound, as both

these Bd and Pk were superior grade, the combat factor after grade adjustment would be 9 (for

Pike) vs 6 (for Bd). The Pk would destroy the BdS with the probability of 1/18. Don’t forget

Pk could easily push back the Bd and thereby support the next attack by overlap. You might

argued that BdS had a good chance to quick kill the PkS in own bound. As the Pike block was 6

ranks deep, losing one or two ranks would not change their combat factor. The BdS+BwS

combo could not afford any casualties as once the first rank Blade was gone, the second rank Bow

would be easily destroyed by Pk. I would rather not to take this risk. So I retired slightly back.

If I could control the Orchard, I could threaten the Swiss’s flank from there if their Pike block

advanced against my defense line. Certainly, the Swiss commander was also aware of the

importance of the Orchard as he postponed his attack until his smallest command could bring up

their Psiloi to clear the Orchard first.

In reaction, I had 2 plans. If my command C was kicked out of the Orchard, I would retired my 2

bigger commands back to the RH on my left hand wing to set up a defense line with my foots and

avoid battle where possible. I thought the Swiss would not attack my new defense line as his

combat factor became 6 in RH and mine would also be 6 if I was uphill in his bound. But my

BdS+BwS combo could quick kill his Pike in my bound. This plan I would lose my smallest

command, plus the Baggage command, but my army would still be intact.

If I won the fight for the Orchard, then I would attack as I could threaten the Swiss flank from the

Orchard. I have set up my defense line by deploying my Bowmen inside the Orchard and it’s

now up to the God.

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The WotR Bowmen inside the Orchard had repulsed several attacks of the Swiss handgunner

(RPsS). Despite Bowmen were not for DG fighting, their combat factor would be the same as

that of Psiloi there. They were superior quality troops and their shooting ability enable them to

fight as well as RPsS in DG. Moreover, the Swiss had only committed their smallest ME

command. It is just 10ME. It ended up that this Swiss Command was broken and WotR had

occupied the Orchard firmly. Now it was the time for the WotR to counter-attack.

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The Swiss Pike block with the lowest PIPs retreated from the WotR command A and the WotR

immediately charged them in marching, and slaughtered their first rank (the Swiss first rank

turned back to fight WotR Blade but without any rear rank support together with the penalty for

unable to recoil). The Swiss Pike Block turned 180 degree and counter attacked fiercely. My

WotR CinC chest was destroyed by the pierce of a long pike. Once again, the Swiss Pikemen

had proved that they deserved to be classified as soldier of the highest grade.

Now both of the two remaining Swiss commands suffered 4.5 ME and 6 ME losses respectively,

but they are still far from broken. My WotR Command A has lost its General, but both of my

Command B and C were in good condition. When I was pondering on whether or not to commit

Command B against another Swiss Pike block in its front, time was called.

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The game summary It was a battle of brains with both commanders calculated carefully and cautious. During the

first two hours, we march and counter-march until both sides found the importance of the Orchard,

The Swiss committed his Light troop in attacking. The WotR Bowmen stood their ground

bravely and they repulsed and defeated their assaults. Then WotR counterattacked but there was

not enough time left to conclude with decisive result. The WotR seems to be on the upper hand

before the game was ended though it had lost its CinC. I enjoyed this game not just because I

was playing with a respectable DBMM general but it was like playing chess in this game.

Game 4 vs Italian Condotta with Swiss ally “Bowmen lead the way!” The last round of the tournament finally. I had accumulated 50 points for my previous 3 rounds.

I need to have a good result this round to have a decent chance to claim any trophy. Regardless

of whosoever my opponent was and whatsoever his army was, I would play aggressively to attack.

I have a bad start for this game. I became the invader and therefore could not use my tower.

Further, the Condotta commander had successful separated the battlefield into 2 sectors by placing

a 2FE DH and 1FE Marsh in the center. Even worse, I had to deploy first! So no doubt we had

set up in the opposite corners, I need to move out of the DGo first and reform them before I could

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properly set up my battle line and attack. It was a challenge. My plan was to move the infantry

of my command A into the 1FE Marsh, cleared and secured it and then rolled up the enemy’s line

from there. My last battle against Swiss had proven that my Bowmen were as good as PsS in

close combat even when fighting in difficult terrains. Moreover, I could destroy the PsS just by

shooting at them. My bowmen should be capable of executing my plan successfully. The

photos below show the initial deployment and the movements in the early stage of the battle.

The Condotta commander was surprised by my initial moves, he thought his RPsS (all his Ps were

S) would not lost the fight in the DG, and therefore he need not send his BdS to reinforce that

sector yet. Though he might regret his decision later.

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The Condotta RPsS had been destroyed or bounce off the Marsh after they were shot for several

bounds. Right now the Condotta sent his BdS into the Marsh to try to plug the gap but it was too

late. The WotR BwS started to massacre the Horde group outside by shooting at them. Thanks

to the superior quality and good dice rolls, the WotR Bowmen inside the Marsh had repulsed the

attacks of the Condotta BdS and PsS. Eventually, the English quantitative superiority had won

the fight for the Marsh for them.

As the Condotta’s left wing command was close to broken, Condotta advanced the Swiss Pike

block to attack the English in order to save the day. Their attack was doomed as they were

attacking from a narrow front with insecure flank.

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WotR encircled the Swiss Pike block from their insecure flanks and slaughtered them. The

Condotta army was broken and the game ended in WotR's victory.

The game summary The big surprise in this battle was the battle-worthiness of the WotR bowmen who led the way into

the marsh. They had won their fight against the Condotta PsS despite there were no rear rank

support for them in distance shooting or close combat. Thereafter, it was just a matter of time for

the English to roll the Condotta battle line. If the Condotta had sent their BdS into the marsh

early in the game to react the WotR’s initial movement, the outcome of the battle might be

different.

Trip conclusion

Surprisingly, our team managed to win the 2nd runner up this year. It was encouraging for us and

we are very happy to have the achievement. I felt relaxed and relieved not simply because of the

end of the 2 days hard fighting. I was glad that my preparation for the tournament that lasted for

the whole year did work. Many thanks to Lorenzo and his team for the huge efforts they spent in

arranging and organizing this fanatic tournament. The event made it possible for 20 teams with

80 players gathering together, playing games and exchanging their views and sharing information

about our favorite hobby. It was really a wonderful moment. I also wanted to take advantage

of this opportunity to thank Lawrence Ho of our player group in Hong Kong who had spent a lot

of time with me in our Sunday early morning training games thorough the year, enlightening me

with many new ideas on the army list and game play. Finally ITC has already become part of my

life and I hope I can come back to Milan to join this spectacular event every year.