31st July 2021, Newark: the society of Ancients DBA Northern Cup

Well, even after a postponement til the end of July, Hammerhead still got cancelled.  So it was a big and positive call for the Northern Cup organisers to go ahead with the event (which over the last few years has ben hosted by Hammerhead).

And what a welcome success it was.  Paul found a pub with the space and the welcome we needed, in Newark (the other side of town to the Hammerhead venue, but still basically the same journey for the players) and set about getting confirmations from the 20 players he needed to fill up his 10 table tournament.

 

(game selection in process: the token for the table is drawn from a bag, then flipped to see who plays which)

The places went quickly.  Covid or no Covid, player have been starved of this sort of opportunity for ... well, pretty much since Hammerhead and the Northern Cup in 2020!

 

 (bay 3 ... boards 5 and 6)

 

In the Northern Cup, all armies, boards, terrain etc. are provided, and drawn at random for each round.  Once players are fixed by the draw, a token is drawn from a bag (which board) and then flipped to see who gets the invader.

 

Unless it is unavoidable, you don't play the same army twice.

(Game one: board 2 ... Arab Conquest vs Later Pre-Islamic Arab)

The theme was of 'The Four Gods' and featured Arabs, Persians, and Eastern and Western Christians.

This year, I got to play Arab Conquest, Umayyad Arab, Early Muslim Sicilian, Murcian and Grenadine, Sassanid Persian and Abbasid Arab.  And generally they did well for me (trans: I got lucky)

 

(board 5: Later Visigothic vs Umayyad Arab)

 

 

They all played very well, and the contest was tight.  In a close call, your humble blog host was pipped by one point by previous winner Tom Whitehead

1. Tom Whitehead, 2. Phil Steele, 3. Mark Skelton,

 

(one of 2 Sassanid Persians armies in the lineup)

 

 

(splendid painting - couldn't resist a picture of the war elephant!)

It looks like the DBA circuit is back up and running

14th March, Newark ... the one that got away ...

 

A casual comment on Facebook got me to flip back on posts just before the great lockdown - and indeed I did not post a report on Hammerhead and the 2020 running of the SoA's annual DBA Northern Cup.

Worse, all the work was done - pictures edited up and filed ready ... so aplogies for that.  I suspect I was ahead of the game with the photos and waiting for confirmation of the results etc. when the great curtain dropped on everything (and the posting bit didn't get done) ...

So here we are - 3 sections of pictures.  A quick dash around the show itself (we were most of the day in the - actually more comfortable - hall acros the carpark playing DBA, so it is brief as I had some shopping to do. Then my show game contribution: 54mm DBA Bosworth.  And some pictures from the Northern Cup.  

As it is a while back (and not in 'front memory') I'll get the pictures up (and then back fill some of the details as best I can) - so if you read the email version, and want a bit more detail, be sure to open up the website version in a few days as there will probably be more to read.

HAMMERHEAD 

 

 

BOSWORTH

 

 

 

 

 

The 2020 Society of Ancients DBA Northern Cup

 

 

 

2nd March, Newark Showground

HAMMERHEAD AND THE NORTHERN DBA CUP

Sponsored by The Society of Ancients and a round of the SoA UK DBA League

Looking back on March, the month started with an outing to Hammerhead for the Northern Cup.  Regulars here will know that this is the one where the organisers provide all the figures and terrain ... as players you just have to figure out what to do 'off the hoof' as it were (no special plays - a true test) ..

This year, my associates from the Ad Hoc group were at the show too, reprising the award-winning 'Nick the Tsar', now II (or should it be III? after Salute last year?) ...

Last year, of course, the show was postponed until later in the year, frozen out by the beast from the East.   No beast, this year, scarcely even a pest from the West in the warmth of early Spring.   In the era of Climate Change, a year seems a long time.

The show was very well attended.   If anyone doubts the appeal of toy soldiers, just look at the car parking for Hammerhead - row after row ... and most visitors share, 3 or 4 to a car ...

For my part, in addition to playing, I took along a DBA display game promoting the Society BattleDay which this year is Telamon, the story of a beleaguered Celtic army, trapped between two Roman armies.

(Telamon ... a second Roman army arrives in the distance, closing the door on the Gauls)

(Roman figures: Chariot by Magister Militum; Gauls: mostly Donnington)

(the Celtic front line at Telamon was famously composed of Gaesati, stripped for battle)

DBA Northern Cup

(one of Paul's pictures I think - can't be me: I'm in there somewhere)

This year was Paul's turn and the theme was the Far East.  He made the best of it and provided a challenging range of scenario's ... a lot of variety, a pleasure to look at and play ... and quite a high level of balance.  All in all, a good job.

As has become something of a custom, here, I'll summarise my day by snapshots of the scenarios I played.

Great stuff.  The event was won by Richard P ... as so often in the past, Richard was a first time winner of the Northern Cup.  I confess I did not do so well ... Clearly I used up my entire allocation of good luck at the season opener in Tarrington: for this one ... well I stood more chance of winning a male modelling pageant than a DBA dice-off.  OK, gentle reader ... don't overthink that one ...

(the podium at Hammerhead ... prizes donated by SoA and Westwind/FiB and presented by Antony Spencer)

Back in the show ...

An eager audience settles down for the next Red Revolution Romp, while I go off and buy some more 28mm lead to round out the Edgcote collection.

Don't forget the BattleDay - a lot of Celts gave their lives to bring this story to you.*

* I nearly wrote 'a lot of Gaul'... hmmm

28th April, Newark Showground

 

Hammerhead and the Northern Cup 

So, ordinarily, this would be late Feb/early March ... but that was the big freeze and the Police shut Newark to traffic.  But the show must go on - and it did: at the end of April.

In addition to playing in the DBA event and presenting the Society sponsored Cup, I was asked to support the tournament with a Participation Game version of DBA ... and there was also the show.

So this report will have 3 parts.

 (Pharsalus ... the BattleDay DBA Participation Game)

The Game, the Cup and the Show.

 

Pharsalus 48 BC a Double DBA Game 

Details of the Double DBA were published in the History of Wargaming DBA 2.2 reprint (Zama) but I'll post an updated version here in due course (as V3 is a little different to earlier versions) ...

Essentially each player has 2 armies deployed one behind the other.  The front army is 'expendable and may be used to batter through the other player's front army or play for time or manoeuvre for advantage.  These armies will ultimately be withdrawn.

The rear army is the reserve, and the battle between the reserves is for keeps.  The winning reserve army wins the game.

We'll get back to that in a minute.

The DBA Northern Cup 

The Northern Cup plays over 6 rounds with randomly selected scenarios between historical enemies  on imaginary preset terrain.

Here are this year's boards: 

I had variable success over the six games ... no duplicates ... I won some - but mostly I lost the others.

I had the army right in front of the viewer.

(The 2018 DBA Northern Cup: 6 games from Phil's point of view)

I really liked those Classical Indians.

 

(DBA Classical Indian)

 

Nice armies, Tony ...

OK ... let's have a quick wizz around the show ..

Hammerhead Show

Naval looks like it's going to be a thing this year.

I really liked this one where the ships stand on stilts and the subs cruise around beneath them.  A good idea I think - and well executed.

 

But there's more ..

 

(more from Hammerhead - and, yes, that carrier game was also at Salute)

Back in the DBA zone, here are some closeups of Pharsalus:

The armies are 10mm figures.  Most of Caesar's infantry are by Newline Designs.  A welcome addition.

Pompey's foot are the AIM/Chariot figures from my Republicans, and the cavalry on both sides is a mix ... the above plus Magister Militum, Pendraken and a few Adler and Baggage Train for variety.

 

They are on 40mm frontages ... basically 10mm figures on 15s basing.

I really like the panoramic look you can get with 10mm.

 

(DBA Pharsalus in 10mm ... Pompey's vastly superior cavalry suges forward on the open flank)

  

 ( DBA Pharsalus in 10mm ...the infantry close)

 

 

( DBA Pharsalus in 10mm ...Pompey's lavish and well-defended camp)

Winners and Losers

Everyone's a winner, of course (they're playing with toy soldiers, afterall!)

But here are some positions ... Simon 3rd and Phil J runner-up ...

West Wind presented the prizes and generous shopping  vouchers.  I presented the Society of Ancients DBA Northern Cup.  Drum roll ... to ... Martin Myers.

 

... and then we all had our picture taken.