As you probably know, until now we’ve been gaming on the dining table. This meant that I couldn’t set up and prepare a scenario in advance and things had to be put away immediately after the game was finished. Apart from prolongating our precious gaming time, it also made it impossible to interrupt a game and finish it the next day.
Now K. has finally allowed me to get a second table for the living room to use as a gaming table. As it had to be a smallish one, so it wouldn’t take up too much space, I went for an extendable IKEA model named BJURSTA. Measuring 90cmx90cm, it can be extended to 168cm length, which will be enough for our demands.
Assemblage was, as always, a bit of a hassle – this time, I managed to screw on the legs on the inside instead of the outside! I’m much better a building 15mm scenery, I have to say, but at least I provided some entertainment for K.
In the end, everything turned out fine and now I’m the happy owner of a gaming table!
To celebrate, I set up a small game of DBA with my El Cid figures. K. was busy, so I tried to play solo, which – apart from having a dunderhead as an opponent – worked ok. It gave me an opportunity to learn the rules a bit better, although I’m not sure I did everything correctly. The game was surprisingly interesting and also felt historically correct. The flank attack by the Almoravid light horse was easily driven off by the crossbows (I was a bit surprised how easily), but the Almoravid spears held their ground against the Spanish knights and managed to drive them back step by step. However, as the Almoravid flank had broken, the Spanish only needed to destroy one more unit, which they managed – a clear Spanish victory with one one unit lost.
DBA really is more fun than it looks. Next time, I might be able to convince someone else to game with me. However, the first proper game scheduled on the new table is another scenario of Sharp Practice!
The Raft 