ITC 2015 Baptised by Fire
Baptised by FIre - My first ITC Experience
I was introduced to the DBMM hobby by Lawrence on May 2013 and was addicted to it since then. I heard heroic stories from the past ITCs and always wanted to go there to test myself. So this year, like an inexperienced squire, I packed and mounted up with masters like Herbert and James and joined the ITC. I want to see what level I am at when compared to the players in the world and I want to learn from them, especially how good players are trained.
This year there are many good changes to the tournament rules. First of all the teams are ranked before the match and the top half “seed” teams will match with the lower bottom of the teams. This will minimise the luck factor during the first round which is also affecting the following match up. Moreover, the tables are now grouped by team instead of periods. This will promote more team work as we can discuss the team’s strategy on the fly. The top teams can also have the privilege to use a separate room so that they can concentrate on the games.
Game 1 - My Virgin Fight
The first match was against Mr. Valerio Toscani from the Conradin team. I am the defender. My list is simple. Command A led by the CinC with 3 Kn(S), 3 WWg(O), 2 Art(I), 2 Bd(O), 8 Ps(S) and 6 Ps(O). Command B has 3 Kn(S) wedges and some 6 LH(O). Command C has 1 KN(S) wedge and some 4 LH(F) served as the PIP dump. All three commands are regular commands. My fourth command is irregular 6 LH(S) and 4 LH(F). I deployed the regular commands in layers and the LHs at the right flank. Using a road, my LH(F) rushed forward at the left flank and my LH(S) line also marched forward on the right. I would like to use the LH(S) to get to the rough hill top at the right hand side. The other commands all move forward to give pressure to my enemies.
The opponent decided to react defensively. Their Knights started moving backward and to the right flank. He also sent 4 Cv(I) to stall my advance in the middle and left flank. However, the Cv(I)s did not stop my advance as I sent one of my wedge striking the back of the Cv’s column with a LH(F) running back to charge their flank. And the rest of my army marched to pursuit the rest of his army.
At the right flank, as I had already understand he is trying to fight my LH Command with 2 or 3 commands. I ordered a retreat and turned around my LHs. He tried to chase me for a few bound and finally give up as it is not easy to chase LHs.
With the blocker Cv(I)s died like firecrackers, my WWg moved forward and locked the running units . One of his knight’s columns panicked and turns 90 degree and hoped to reform the battle line. But he made a mistake in the range and my LH(F) charged and flanked one of the knights and killed him. And the slaughter started. My LH and knight started killing all the baggage and the hordes and my wedge knight charged in their knights for the kill. The whole battle was now turned 90 degree and fought at the short table edge. The rest of his army reformed at the rough hill, using elevation as an advantage but it was too late.
My wedges formed a line with the retreated LH(s) and did a finally charge to the hill. The charge was well timed as the bell ringed after I kill one more Bd and Bw. I got 41 ME out of the 37 required to break his army. My lost was only 3 ME so it was a 25:0. Not bad for my virgin fight.
“I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!” – Walter White, Breaking Bad.
Game 2 - The Chinese Great Wall
With two wins and 2 draws in the first game, the Yellow Dragons were ranked number 2 and we would play against Barbarossa (Oops). And my opponent is Neil Fox (Oops). And he is using Later Swiss (Oops). Later Swiss is one of the army that counter mine. However, I am lucky that I had practiced to play against Later Swiss just before I went to Milan.
The plan is simple, I am going to play defence so that my teammates score. I am the defender and I put one difficult terrain at my left flank and another one in the middle. Mr Fox deployed his troop facing the gap between the two difficult terrains. For me I placed my ABC commands in layers facing their pikes and my LH command at the right flank. However, I used a trick that I thought of after the practice game. I put my 3 WWg horizontally and closed the gap between the terrains and put most of my troops behind them.
I call it the “Chinese Great Wall” formation.
The whole plan is like that – My Great Wall would defend the charge of the pikes while my Kn(S) would swing around from right flank. My LH also target to attack their baggage from the right flank.
Mr. Fox had every confidence to break my Great Wall. He sent most of his army forward and part of his pikes and Bd(X) to response to my Kn(S). However, actually I am not planned to charge my knight from the short table edge at the right flank. During practice I understand fighting the pikes is pointless. Even you can get a few kills but once the enemy pike reinforce and the Bd(X) come in you would be in great danger. Mr. Fox put in every taunt he can, I stood fast.
He underestimated the power of the Great Wall. He tried hard to break it by attacking from the flank. However, the WWg cannot be hard flanked and he does not get the 4th rank bonus. At about the end of the game he finally destroyed one of my WWg and he yelled like winning the game but It is actually too late for him. I have tried to charge my Kn(S) in during the last turn just to response to the enemy’s taunts. But I miscalculated the time and the game ended before it happens. My WWg command is half ME from disheartened. So the finally result is a 12:13 draw.
James is so great that he got a win and all other Yellow Dragons, including me, scored a draw. So I stopped the later Swiss, stopped Mr. Fox and we stopped Barbarossa. People all come to the room to congratulate us.
My most satisfying battle is not my first win. It is my draw to stop Mr. Fox.
After this battle, Yellow Dragon ranked no. 1 and we stayed in the top table room.
“ Thou shall not pass!” – Gandalf, Lord of the Ring
Game 3 - The Need for Speed
Next game is against Mr. Giancarlo Marucci ‘s Order of St. John from La Piccola Armata. La Piccola Armata is last year’s champion so this is not going to be easy.
Order of St. John has Art(S) on BUAf and Sea as mandatory terrain. So if he is on defence then my deployment will be greatly restricted. Lucky I rolled as the defender. I think what we achieved yesterday really affected what people think about the Yellow Dragons. Mr. Marucci deployed very defensively. He deployed an infantry command on the far left flank corner on a hill. There was one knight command in the centre and one on the right flank. And at the first bound, his knight turned and retreat towards the right corner. At that time, I think it would be like the first battle and I would corner and crush his knights. However, Mr. Marucci is good at delaying my troops by placing blockers and flankers carefully. Finally I sacrificed some of my LH and locked their knights in position and my wedge knights started charge in for the kill. And the bell rang. It is too late and I missed the chance.
The result is 12:13. I could have done better. Afterward I try to find out what went wrong and how to improve my moves. And Herbert gave me an insight that I am too slow - not my troops but me. I can win if I have half an hour more. If I can save time in deploying, moving, measuring, checking rulebook I could have win. I need more practice to improve my speed.
This round Herbert got his first win and we have 1 Win, 1 Lost and 2 Draw. We are still at the top table.
“Among all martial arts, only speed is unbeatable.” – Kung Fu, Stephen Chow
Game 4 - Know your Lmits
Yellow Dragon was now standing at the tip of a tower. If we could keep standing by the end of game 4, we could be the champion team.
However, the wind was strong at the top of the tower. This game was a disaster for me and I fell badly.
I am playing against Paolo Paglianti of Condottieri 1. He is the number 1 in Book 4 last year and his scores were 18, 19, 25, and 25 last yesterday. Paolo is the top apprentice of Lorenzo.
He army is the Catalan Company which consists of a lot of Reg Ax(S), LH(S) and some Kn. The terrains were set up with lot of difficult terrain at the left flank and a lot of rough terrain at the right flank. There is a clearing central in the middle.
Paolo casually put his army in columns in the centre and the deployment took him less than 1 minutes. He sent part of his Ax to attack my left and the rest of his army to the right. I tried to use the Great Wall tactics and moved my WWg to the right with my LH guarding the foot of the rough hills at the right. My defence on the right is good.
However, the left is collapsed as the Ax(S) outnumbered the Ps. Paolo then swing his force easily from right back to centre. My troop tried to response to the centre and was too late. My force on the right flank had already been locked by blockers and the Great Wall could not turn around easily. My centre lost badly. My largest command finally broke. To my surprise, Paolo announced I have lost the game too. My largest command costs 27ME, and I had lost 2 LH from each of the other command. The total lost was 33 ME and it was not enough to break my army as my other commands were not broken even 2 ME are transferred to them. However Paolo and Lorenzo explained if there is a casualty in other affected commands the loss of 2 ME is counted among the total lost for the bound. Therefore, my loss was 33 + 6 ME and my army broke - 25:0.
And I suddenly understood why Paolo lured some of my LHs out with small sacrifices. He calculated what is the score required to beat me form the beginning, jabbing my other commands and gave a final blow to my main command and knock me out. It was a beautiful TKO.
Catalan is also not a conventional army I faced before and I have not practiced with this before ITC. It is like a guerrilla army that comes from all direction regardless of terrain. I am panicked when I saw the swarms of Ax(S) come in.
Moreover, Paolo had used this army for three years in the ITC so he is able to plan and execute his actions easily.
Now I know I have reach my limit.
And with another unlucky lost from my teammate Macro it is a pity that the Yellow Dragons fell from the top to the 7th place.
“There are some battles you can't win, no matter how much you fight.” – Jessamine Verzosa
Finale
The ITC was an exciting trip. I have my win and loss. Friendships are built among teammates as we lived together during the tournament. Paolo and I became friends after the game and we started exchanging emails. I levelled up a bit after the game with the top player like Neil Fox and Paolo Paglianti. New armies and strategies are forming in my mind.
I would like to thank people who helped me practice and Lawrence and James who lent me his army.
