Seriously? More Swiss?

Sadly, yes. We played DBA again on Thursday and once again I used my Swiss. I'm getting good mileage out of them really, and will get even more once I have my pseudo Medieval German army finished to oppose them in the comfort of my own home.

Anyway, Caesar got to play against them first, using ... Medieval German. He went for the incarnation with hordes, but, like everyone else, couldn't resist the double-depth knight element.

The battlefield ended up as a billiard table; Caesar wanted room for his knights to run me down, so simply picked ploughed fields, a road and a small wood, the latter of which which managed to not get placed.

What were the Swiss to do in conditions like that? I opted for a full frontal charge. Again.

Actually it was slightly more considered than you'd think; I charged with my right flank against the infantry on his left, as that's where my advantage lay. Caesar obligingly spent his PIPs rearranging his line rather than charging the knights on his right into my vulnerable left flank.

Sadly his infantry were feeling motivated, and held the Swiss attack. The German general joined the fray, and rode down a couple of their columns, and that was pretty much it. The Germans didn't lose a thing.

Stars of the show were the German crossbowmen who kept winning close combats against the odds, and the bloody hordes which simply refused to die. Readers of this blog will know that I like DBA hordes. I like them even more now; I assumed the powerful Swiss double-depth blades would slice through them. I was wrong.

Other games - Dave and Ian played a Spartan vs Persian fight, which I think saw the Persians steamrollered.

Gary and Peter mirrored our game, with Gary using a Late Swiss army against Medieval Germans. His Swiss went for the 4Bd option, though - slower, safer but, seriously, not half as much fun.

We then moved on to a double-sized battle. Peter and Caesar combined their German armies, whilst Gary and I formed an Intermediate Swiss army (half Early and half Late).

Gary plodded forward. I simply charged. Peter had a vulnerable infantry column in his line (a product of restricted deployment zones and the terrain), and I hoped to exploit that for a pile of early, easy kills. I got one, but the psiloi I supported the attack with were destroyed by their German counterparts, leaving the Swiss army well down on points with half of the army unengaged.

Caesar's knights attacked in the centre, but were driven back. Gary's Swiss halberdiers polished off some German knights and some of their psiloi as well.

I just kept the Early Swiss wing doing what the Early Swiss do best - attack, attack, attack. casualties mounted. Both armies were looking wobbly.

Gary began to flank the knights in the German centre.

But it was the Early Swiss who managed to flank and destroy the remains of the German infantry column to pick up the two kills needed for a narrow win.

I love this Early Swiss army!