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
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