Venta Silurum 2026
Blazing sunshine in the Vale of Glamorgan for the first doubles competition of the year. The theme was “Armies and enemies of Ancient Egypt, 2000-335 BC”. Russ and I took Middle Assyrians – Cv(S) chariots, Blades and Auxilia with psiloi support, a few light horse, a few not very good archers and a small Later Aramaean allied command.
In the first game we faced the formidable Dave Madigan and Chris Smith who commanded Later Sargonid Assyrians – a relatively small army but with excellent troops, notably Superior Knight heavy chariots and large numbers of Superior Cavalry. Four Regular commands, one of them consisting of just a Cv(S) general. We invaded and placed a road and steep hills – which all landed on the enemy side of the table. A strong wind blew up the table, handicapping the enemy bowmen.
The formidable Sargonid heavy chariots are at top right
Being caught in the open but deploying second (and thus able to pick the matchups), we attacked all out. On our far right a strong force of Cv(S) went for our small allied command (break point 3) which amazingly beat off the attackers with loss. In the centre our supported Blades and chariots faced the weight of the enemy – more Cv(S) and the Kn(S) chariots. Heavy losses on both sides, but our chariots managed to ride down Sargonid Bw(O) archers and our Auxilia caught enemy Auxilia who were trying to outflank the chariots. The enemy C-in-C’s command broke. Then our C-in-C’s battered command broke too – but accumulated losses reached half the Sargonid army so we won 8-2. An excellent tense game with plenty of fighting.
Next we played Pete Connew and Richard Newland, who’d won their first game 10-0, with New Kingdom Egyptians. This time we lost the setup dice and had to defend, placing rough going which deterred the enemy on our far left. The enemy’s strike force was opposite our left and consisted of their barbarian mercenaries, Fast Warband and Fast Blades. They went for our chariots and supported Blades but were destroyed for only small loss to our lads. On the right it was a different story as the Egyptian chariots and Regular infantry massacred our allied command and damaged our C-in-C’s command too. With what turned out to be the last shot of the game Egyptian archers destroyed another chariot to break the C-in-C, then in the close combat two more Egyptian Bw(O) died and that broke their army. 7-3 to us, and another thrilling close game.
Our swordsmen face the wild warband
Our third game was against Later Achaemenid Persians led by Nick Coles and Jimmy Walton. We invaded and placed some areas of rough going, some of which were helpful. In the centre our Bd(F) swordsmen were faced with a large force of Greek hoplites, plus four scythed chariots. The chariots were initially deterred by the few bowmen deployed facing them, but eventually charged; two were shot down, one contacted bowmen and died, the other destroyed a Bd(F) element and was then destroyed by the second line. However, the hoplites advanced to attack our swordsmen and slew several; some hoplites went down but they and their accompanying auxilia broke one of our large commands. Our allied command on the left had auxilia sheltering in rough going with the mounted troops behind it, and looked reasonably safe.
The last hurrah of the scythed chariots
On the right a mixed force of Persian cavalry, auxilia and Inferior Knights attacked our chariots, auxilia and bowmen. A tough struggle ensued with heavy losses on both sides, but we had superior numbers, the Kn(I) proved ineffective and the enemy C-in-C’s command broke. The game ended at 6-4 to us – the third excellent hard-fought game of the weekend.
Bitter struggle on our right
Finally we played the redoubtable Jeremy Morgan who had Early Achaemenid Persians. We refused our left, anchoring it on a patch of rough going filled with auxilia and psiloi; on the right the Persians held a larger area of rough going with many bowmen and a few auxilia. A Skythian allied command held the centre; it was unreliable but soon came on line. Our main infantry force faced the Skythians but manoeuvred towards the left where a large number of Sparabara archers threatened. The Sparabara, with accompanying cavalry, moved round our left flank and proceeded to shoot our light infantry with considerable success – we were reduced to moving our troops back as much as possible to get out of range.
The Sparabara commence shooting down our auxilia
The Skythians in the centre did nothing except retreat when pursued by our chariots. Jeremy assembled a force of Babylonian Kn(O) chariots and Persian cavalry to attack our swordsmen and supporting psiloi, but ran out of time to get their charge in. On the right our auxilia and bowmen attacked into the rough going. Losses on both sides, but no command was seriously in danger. Despite heavy casualties the game timed out as a 5-5 draw.
26 points got us second place and a trophy each – figures splendidly painted by Jimmy Walton.
Classical Indians v Seleucids
Another big 25mm game: the dice decided that Russ King and I commanded the Indians against John Calvert and Duncan Thompson with Seleucids. We defended, and placed steep hills despite having no light troops; one hill on our right was useful as it obstructed an enemy flanking move by cavalry, and another on our left was a nuisance as it constricted our Superior Cavalry chariots. We had four commands, including an internal ally, while the Seleucids had only three – two with massed pikes and the other with mounted troops and elephants. The Indians had three commands with Superior Elephants – eleven altogether – and one on the left flank with Cv(S) chariots. Each command had bows, blades and hordes.
The battle lines are drawn
On the right our allied command faced the enemy mounted force. A thrilling elephant v elephant clash went the Seleucids’ way, with assistance from their numerous psiloi, and after a tough struggle our small allied command broke. In the centre the Seleucid bolt-shooters potted two elephants but their pike phalanx, thinned out in places to cover the field, failed to defeat Indian blades and elephants.
The central clash
The decisive clash came on the left. Indian chariots killed some auxilia then managed to flank and destroy the Seleucid C-in-C, whose command broke. This allowed elephants to attack the flank of the central pike block, assisting the blades to break that command and win the game 9-1.
The Seleucid C-in-C is in trouble…
…and the dice went against him
Another terrific game.
Teutonic Orders versus Estonians
Two more big DBM battles (500 Army Points on an 8’ x 5’ table), two players each side, saw the Teutonic Orders attempting to conquer Estonia. The Teutons had three commands each with knights, mostly Superior, and crossbowmen, some with small numbers of spearmen, skirmishers and Hordes, plus a German City ally with more knights and mediocre infantry. The Estonians had large numbers of warband, some Superior but mostly Fast, plus bowmen, a few skirmishers and one heavy stone-thrower (Superior Artillery). The fourth Estonian command was a Russian ally, featuring Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod with a force of Fast Knights backed by spearmen and psiloi.
On paper the Teutonics should win easily, Fast Warband being very vulnerable to knights. But it didn’t turn out like that.
In the first game the defending Estonians were favoured by the terrain, which included large areas of rough going where their warband could get at it. Their left flank was held by log barricades lined with archers, with the Russians on the far left. The right flank was a stand-off as a large warband command occupied rough going where the German ally couldn’t get at it.
In the centre a vast horde of warband charged into rough going to attack numerous crossbowmen; several warband elements were shot down but the rest eventually massacred the crossbowmen. On the far left the Russians clashed with better-quality knights and managed to defeat them; with the destruction of the crossbowmen this broke two commands and the Teutonic army. 10-0 to the Estonians.
Then the players changed sides and played again. This time the Estonians invaded and the terrain was much less helpful for them; the warband would have to face knights in the open. The Russians were on the far right and defeated the German ally but then broke themselves, while in the centre the elite warband bravely took on Superior Knights – and mostly survived.
They also slew the Teutonic spearmen. One Estonian command broke, following the death of its general, but then so did a small Teutonic command. Accumulated casualties made exactly half the Teutonic army; the Estonian army was just half an element from breaking too. 8-2 to the Estonians.
A great day’s gaming, enjoyed by all.
A Thousand Years Ago
The 24th in my series of themed DBM competitions was played at Frome on 7/8 February. The theme was ”A Thousand Years Ago”, with 18 armies from Europe and the Near East all dated 1026 AD.
The winner was John Brooker, whose West Frankish army won all four of its games, beating Italian Lombards, Bretons, Bohemians and Early Serbians. The tight theme meant that there was a marked absence of exotica such as pike phalanxes, elephants, longbowmen and disciplined troops (except for the Byzantine and Fatimid Egyptian armies which did have some regulars). Fast Knights dominated, but there were plenty of heavy infantry (a clash in which Scottish “Thegns”, as Superior Warband, crashed through a mass of Russian spearmen was particularly memorable) and there were some armies with lots of light horse. Early Hungarians met Dynastic Bedouin in the last round, with around a hundred light horse on the table.
Next year’s competition will be entitled “Bajazet Yilderim”, featuring armies of the Ottomans and their enemies, 1360-1403 AD.