Rampage 2004
As game reports are back in fashion I'll take the opportunity to blow
my own
trumpet again ;-)
Over the weekend I went to the Ilford club's Rampage competition. This is a
350AP two day affair, with the twist that on the first day you can play as
many games as you can fit in - games have to be played to a conclusion and
the scoring was 3-1-0. Last year most people managed 4 games with Greg Mann
getting 5, so I was aiming for 4. The Sunday was 2 games of 3.5 hour
duration for a less frenetic day.
I decided to take Beja, on the basis that it would be a good bet against Kn
type armies which I guessed would be popular (Serb and Med. French sprang to
mind here), and also being a quick army - both in troop speed and in play.
The list I came up with was (all Irr):
C-in-C's command: 7 LH(O) inc general, 5 Cm(S), 3 LH(I), 3 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O), 8
Bg; 18.5EE
Sub 1's command: 6 LH(O) inc general, 4 Cm(S), 2 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O); 12.5 EE
Sub 2's command: Cv(O) general, 6 Bd(F), 6 Ax(O), 7 Ps(O); 16.5EE
Sub 3's command: 3 Cv(O) inc general, 4 LH(O), 2 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O); 9.5EE
Game 1 vs Phil Jelly using Marinid Fanatic Berber
I defend, there is wind and potential rain with flooded rivers. I get the
weekend off to a classic PANTS MOMENT - Phil chooses to invade down a river
and it is only in bound 3 I remember Beja don't have a Rv!!!!! As it's my
own stupid fault we leave the Rv as it is (really too late to change
anything anyway). I choose a mix of dunes and scrub all of which land on the
short side of the (imaginary) Rv with one piece of scrub next to the Rv in
my centre sector. With a mainly open field 4' wide I send Sub 3 on a flank
march on the left, the open side away from the Rv. I deploy the other
commands from my left C-in-C, Sub 3, Sub 2 in the expectation that Phil will
not have Sp infront of the scrub and I can send Cm through it and hopefully
catch something soft. Phil deploys (again from my left) 6 LH(O) inc sub, 12
Sp(I) and 6 Ps(O); 7 LH(O) inc C-in-C, 12 Sp(I), 6 Ps(O); 8 LH(O) inc sub, 4
Ax(S), 4 Ax(I), 4 Ps(S), 1 Ps(O) - the infantry accross the Rv; and to the
rear is a command of 6 Kn(F) inc sub and 4 Bw(I).
There is a gap in the centre of Phil's line into which I assume he intends
to put the Kn if needed and on my right opposite the scrub there are mainly
LH as I'd hoped. Phil advances pretty much along the line whilst holding the
Kn at the back and when he has PIP's he advances his infantry to hopefully
outflank me. I have lousy PIPs to begin with and cannot send my Sub's Cm
where I need them, however, in an attempt to draw forward Phil's Kn I send
the C-in-C's Cm for the gap in the centre. Phil pushes forward and advances
the 4 Bw(I) to meet the Cm. More poor PIPs and I have to let all the Cm go
sponno - ho hum - which means the C-in-C's crash into his spears, some
supported. the final exchange rate on this was 5 dead Cm for 1 Sp + 1 Ps
:-( However, Phil has been fairly cautious (overly so IMO given the nature
of Rampage) and when my flank march eventually turns up a significant LH on
the end of his line flees. I can now attack another LH turning it so that it
cannot recoil and will destroy Sp behind it, I also catch some LH with the
flank march and suddenly I'm back in the game and a command up. We now have
the inevitable race. I rush for the Bg whilsy trying to pick up as many
elemenst from other commands as possible whislt Phil goes for my now
vulnerable subbies commands - the bd have also gone into his Sp by now and
he has overlaps. In the end my failure to get a Bd(F) into his Bw(I) due to
Phil having loads of PIPs to extract them proves crucial and my army goes
down with his 1 element from breaking. 3-0 to Phil. Unfortunately the game
had taken nearly 3 hours and was seriously damaging the possibility of
getting the 4 games I wanted on the Sturday.
Game 2 vs Greg Mann using Hindu Indian
Again I defend, much to my advantage and there is strong wind from my right.
I again choose a mix of scrub and dunes, the important pieces of which were
a dune on my right but in Greg's half of the board and a 1.5FE scrub on my
left in my half of the board. I guessed that Greg would plan for the
possibility of me sending Cm through the dune and so i deployed my Sub 2's
infantry command on my right. I deployed the rest of the army Sub 1, Sub 3
and C-in-C from this command towards my left - thus giving me a lot of
mounted on my left where I expected Gregs Cv to be. Greg's deployment from
my left was: El(O) sub, 2 Cv(O), 6 Cv(S), 7 Hd(O), 2 LH(O), 1 LH(F); 3 El(O)
inc C-in-C, 6 Bw(I), 6 Bd(F), 4 Ps(O), 1 LH(F), 1 Hd(O); 3 El(O) inc ally, 6
Bd(F), 2 Ps(O), 2 Cv(I), 1 Hd(O) - the last command was a suspicious 12.5EE
suggesting I'd guessed right and the dune contained some bowmen (probably).
Greg had fairly poor PIPs to start with and basically his army lurched
forward, whilst mine were pretty good. LH skirmished in the centre whilst
the infantry rushed toward and into the dunes on the right and the Cm from
Sub 1 moved up to attack the end of Greg's allied command, whilst on the
left LH manoeuvred around the flank and the Cm manoeuvred to attack the Cv.
My infantry duly found 6 Bw(I) at the back of the dune and moved in, partly
delayed by a lone Ps attempting to stem the inevitable. At the same time the
4 Cm from Sub 1 attacked the El + Bd combo riding down the Bd in no time -
additionally some of the infantry pulled a Cv(I) into the dune and mugged
it. The demise of a jumbo completed the destruction of the allied command,
before the Bd(F) had killed any of the Bw(I) - merely pushing them into GGo.
On the other flank the Cm hit the Cv(S) before the latter had formed a
proper line and my LH caught Greg's - as you can tell Greg's PIPs had not
been good all game. In a spectacular display of bad combat dice Greg's Cv(S)
exploded pretty much on impact and with the LH that command was also broken
and I'd won the game 3-0 with no elements lost. All done in about 1 hour
20 - so back on track for 4 games :-)
Game 3 vs Martin Van Tol using Serbian Empire
I invade Serbia in the summer and there is no weather. I choose no terrain
and Martin chooses a selection of rocky RGo and rocky H(S) - surprise,
surpirse :-) Unfortunately for him they land nowhere of any use apart from
one piece on my left in his half of the table. So basically we are playing
on an open table. I decide that my infantry command has no place on this
battlefield and send it flank marching on my left for safety as much as
anything. Knowing Martin has 2 Serb commands and an Albanian ally I guess
that the ally will be on the very open side (rather than the merely open
side) and so deploy from my left C-in-C, Sub 3, Sub1 with the intention of
taking the C-in-C's Cm to my right ASAP. Martin deploys, from my left, 7
Kn(S) inc C-in-C, 3 LH(O), 1 LH(F), 4 Bw(I), 6 Ax(O), 1 Ps(O); 7 Kn(S), 3
LH(O), 6 Hd(F), 8 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O); 9 LH(O) inc ally, 7 Ps(O). Again I'd
correctly guessed the deployment.
The start of the game is dictated by Martin's ally being unreliable so I go
for it as hard as I can and bring the C-in-C's Cm accross the board as fast
as PIPs allow - which is pretty fast as PIPs are good. Martin withdraws the
ally rather than let me slap it and pushed the Kn wall forward with Bw
covering their flanks. No sign of my flank march which partly suits me, but
as Martin's right is held by Ax and Bw(I) the arrival of Bd(F) + Ax + Ps
could be fun - not to be though. After a number of rapid moves the situation
has devloped that Martin's Kn are chasing LH shadows whilst I have all my Cm
and a good chunk of LH round his left flank bearing down on a nervous block
of Bw(I). I attack this ASAP and destroy a few quickly - if I get them all I
get the command and the unreliable ally changes sides! However, fortunatley
for Martin the ally becomes relaibale before I can destroy the Bw and then
the Bw start to fight back to some effect. My flank march also arrives, but
does nothing much apart from advance towards the Bg slowed by a couple of
Albanian LH. The game now gets very interesting as Martin's Kn bear down on
the undefended Bg and I start to lose Cm and LH to the now envigorated
Bw(I) - it's all getting tense and on top of that we are starting to get
close to the latest time we could start another game, and we both want
another game. The Kn get into the Bg, although amusingly in the first 4
combats the Bg win 3 :-) I attack the Ax(O) on my left with LH hoping to get
something there and the Cm and LH on my right attack anything they are
near - which is Bw(I) and LH(O) - and my C-in-C gets into contact with a
Kn(S). In a frenetic last 15 minutes we are both close to a win with my Bg
going down and my finally breaking Martin's sub - however, I just squeek
home as in that bound I also destroyed a number of Albanians and a few other
elemenst at get Martin's army on total losses. I'd have gone down next bound
in all probability. A tight 3-0 in just over 2 hours and just time to start
a 4th game :-)
Game 4 vs Nick Farrell using Early Armenian
I inavde into wind and risk of rain, neither of which has any impact on the
game. I choose no terrain (surprise) and Nick chooses a selection of hills
and woods which land on his base edge and play pretty much no part in the
game. An educated guess at Nick's army selection suggests it will be exactly
the same as the one Eric Doman used at Roll Call which I faced in the last
round and so I deploy from my left C-in-C, Sub 2, Sub 1 and Sub 3. Nick
deploys (from my left) 7 Cv(S) inc ally, 5 LH(F), 8 Ax(O), 4 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O);
4 Cv(S) inc C-in-C, 3 Kn(F), 5 LH(F), 8 Ax(O), 4 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O); Cv(S) sub,
6 LH(F), 4 Bw(I), 6 Ax(S), 4 Ax(O), 1 Ps(O). In general Nick has LH up front
and everything else practically on his base line. We have just under 2 hours
until last bound will be called, so it'll have to be quick.
Again the start is dictated by an unreliable ally and again I decide to go
for it ASAP with the C-in-C with the infantry going forward fast supported
by the small Cm command to keep the Kn off them. All goes to plan. My
C-in-C's LH outnumber Nick's and are bearing down on them and the Cm are a
move away from a column of Cv(S). Nick decides to spend the allies PIPs
getting the Cv into a better formation and leaves the LH out to dry. I go in
with suitable overlaps and have dismal combat dice for the rest of the game,
taking a mere 4 elements by the time we've finished - repeated checking
shows the dice _do_ have faces other than the 1 but you'd never guess from
the combat rolls. In the centre Nick brings out the Kn who are attacked by
my Cm with the infantry pushing to get into overlaps and hopefully turn
flanks, etc. Again my combat dice are absolutely dire and I get practically
no recoils, let alone anything else. Inevitably as I have gone out to get
the result quickly the battle now turns against me when I don't actually get
kills and in an extended series of poor combat dice rolls my commands
succumb - in fact all 4 of them were broken in the end, 3 due to losses and
the C-in-C due to failing the PIP roll after the C-in-C died desperately
trying to force something. 0-3 to Nick (his 4th win from 4) and a touch
frustrating as I'm sure my approach was right just the dice were against me
(probably payback for the game against Greg - it all averages out).
Sunday and two 3.5 hour games made time less of an issue.
Game 5 vs Graham Briggs using Christian Nubian
We'd played this at the club a couple of weeks before so knew what each
others army composition was and that who invaded was a major factor. I
invaded with no weather. Graham chose a BUA (Jubba-Jubba) a couple of dunes
and some rocky going. The dunes and all but one rocky patch ended up near
Jubba-Jubba whilst the last piece of rocky going was on my right. Graham
placed his baggae centrally and I had to guess whether the Wb command (over
half the army) was to the left or right - I guessed on my right away from
the BUA. I deployed from my right Sub 3, C-in-C, Sub 1 then Sub 2. The
infantry were on the left where I expected Graham's two Cm(S) commands - I
wanted a target for them to draw them into a quick fight. Graham deployed,
from my right, 2 Cv(O) inc C-in-C, 8 LH(O), 3 Ps(S), 4 Ps(O), 3 LH(I), 20
Wb(F); 9 LH(O) inc ally, 4 Cm(O); 3 Cm(S) inc sub, 6 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O); 3 Cm(S)
inc sub, 5 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O), 1 LH(I). So I'd got the deployment correct.
I pushed the infantry command forward as fast as I could whilst bringing up
Sub 1's Cm in support. On the right my small mounted command had minimal
PIPs and couldn't clear the rocky going before Graham's LH were threatening
them and a stalemate ensued as we didn't want a lottery yet. The C-in-c
moved his Cm left towards the action. Graham now exploited a couple of
mistakes on my part ans was nicely placed to destroy 2 of the Cm who were
supporting my infantry as well as picking up a couple of their LH as well -
it looked pretty bad for me. However, I diced my way out of trouble in a
wonderful display of luck. Graham now attacked the Bd with his Cm(S) who
bounced and/or died with both Cm generals dead in the same bound - one
command passed the other broke. Shortly afterwards a column of Ax sacked
Jubba-Jubba. With things going against him there (mainly the combat dice it
must be said) Graham initiated the LH in RGo lottery. He started with an
overlap on a 4 wide frontage (0 vs -1) and lost all 4 with 3 destroyed. My
follow up attack on other LH in the open bagged more LH and a couple of Cm
and LH into the Wb got a few of these as well. In the centre some of my
Cm(S) were fighting Graham's Cm(O) in a battle dominated by both sides
rolling a series of 1's and nothing happening. The battle was finished when
I pushed back a demoralised LH(I) into a mass of Bw(I) who had been burst
through by a fleeing LH(O) at a funny angle. That broke a second small
command and with the losses on the big command and the sacking of
Jubba-Jubba I won on total losses. Miraculously my losses were 2.5 EE. 3-0.
Games 6 vs Laurence Flint using Serbian Empire
Again I invade with no weather. I place no terrain. Laurence places a steep
hill on his left edge with a rocky (what again) RGo extending it in table.
Another patch of rocky going is placed on the right in Laurence's half but
away from the edge. I assume that the 2' gap between the terrain will be
basically full of Kn(S) and so aim to skirmish that and attack the flanks. I
also assume that the rocky going on my left will contain Bw and Ax and so
intend to put the infantry opposite them. So my deployment from the left is
Sub 3, Sub 2, Sub 1 and C-in-C. Laurence deployes, from my left 7 Kn(S) inc
C-in-C, 12 Ax(O), 4 Ps(O), 4 LH(O), 1 LH(F); 7 Kn(S) inc sub, 10 Hd(F), 2
Ps(O), 5 LH(O), 1 LH(F); Kn(S) sub, 3 LH(F), 6 Ps(O). The RGo opposite my
infantry is full of Ax(O) in 2 ranks and not the Bw(I) expected - could be
tough - but my small mounted command is opposed by only 2 LH(O). I also note
that Laurence's C-in-C's command appears to be exactly half the army -
useful.
I push the infantry forward at speed supported on their left by the mounted
troops of Sub 3. I send the Cm from Sub 1 forward to ensure that no nasty
Kn(S) try and attack the infantry and otherwise skirmish with LH infront of
the massed Kn(S) - just like the manual suggests :-) So I'm attacking 1
command with 3. The C-in-C leads his Cm(S) towards the left where the action
will be - trying to get almost all my army attacking his C-in-C's command!
Laurence wheels his infantry in the RGo which means that when I get the
inevitable 1 the Bd(F) have to go sponno without support from the Ax and so
give up an overlap on one end and he also attacks my Cm with his Kn(S) and
we are both overlaped on one end with LH covering to prevent lapping around.
I lose 2 Bd(F) but crucially I destroy a file of Ax on a 3 vs 3 combat and
at the same time do the same to the end Kn(S). I exploit these advantages
getting 2 more Ax and putting my Cm into the LH covering Laurence's Kn's
flank. In his next bound Laurence has a 1 on his C-in-C and is in real
trouble. In my bound I catch some more LH and get another Kn and his command
and, therefore, army has broken. All over well inside 1.5 hours. 3-0 to me.
I felt sorry for Laurence as, although I was sure I would win, I felt that
we should have had a longer and tougher game - it was essentially decided on
3 crucial dice rolls.
So in the end I had played 6, won 4 and lost 2 for a total of 12 points
under the scoring system used. That turned out to be good enough for 3rd
place behind Nick Farrell in second and JD McNeil in first - the latter 2
separated by %age losses with a gap of under 3%. I think I also achieved the
highest %age killed out of all the players.
In conclusion a damned fun competition with the Saturday format making it
quite different with different incentives and approach to army choice and
playing style. I'd recommend the format to others to have a go at. The
Ilford club members were also great and on the Saturday they brought food
and drinks to the gaming tables so that we didn't lose valuable gaming time.
Top weekend all round really.