14th October, Bakewell

 

Round 12 of the 2017 Society of Ancients DBA League

Following the success of the Midlands Open, Simon has decided to run another event - this time quite similar to the Alton Pairs format (so establishing this option to players further from the South)

Basically players take an opposed pair from the DBA lists (i.e. enemies of each other) to a fixed list, with terrain.  The 'visitor' player picks which army to use.

Slightly different to Alton, Simon used a simple rule where if either player had used their own pair fewer times then this was the option to take.   If usage was equal, then you rolled dice.

It seemed to work - and certainly I ended up exactly 3 and 3  for the 6 games.

 

I like the format as, instead of obliging you to pick kind of cynically (to maximise your own chances), the system encourages you to pick a balanced pair.

Armies that might otherwise be dodgy choices are fine (and indeed quite intriguing) when matched with something of equivalent utility.

I was pleased with the Axumites and Arabs ... and tallied a W D and L - so just about par ... and scored 13 points (just behind par and just under half of my 30) ... I got given the Arabs twice and I think the Axumites did just about shade it (so might make a small change for future outings).  

But it's a good game.

 

Of course, there are always a number of good pairings out there so, compared with, say, the Northern Cup, you do miss out on some other options by playing your own pair 3 times. 

Here are my games.

 

 

 

 

 

So you get the picture ... in addition to the Abyssinians and Arabs, I got to play with New Kingdom Egyptian, Sassanids and Macedonians, all in plausible set ups.   That's a nice cross section of what you might call 'proper ancients'.  That's why I like this format.

And its the UK DBA League crowd so everything's nice and 'happy go lucky' amongst a diverse player mix.   And a healthy mix of new faces and veterans.

 

Paul Murgatroyd topped the order ... must be all that practice putting together the Northern Cup scenarios!   Good to see Paul able to enjoy a day just as a player!

Paul and Tamara were the bookends, Scott was just pipped into second on count back - I came bottom of the top half.

OK ... everybody smile:

DBA League resources

The Final Round is the English Open in Portsmouth on Sunday (29th October 2017)