6th April, Alton

The 2019 DBA Pairs tournament in Alton

No blog from me for Salute this year ... it clashed with the DBA pairs event in Alton and there were adequate volunteers for the big London show this year - so I scooted off to Alton (which I missed in 2018 due to being at Salute).  It looks like this may be an alternating commitment (alton-ating?  OK - I'll move along) ...

Following the Telamon theme, I took Romans and Gauls - lists II/11 and II/49.  Not Quite Telamon (to coin a phrase) ... my Romans were early Marians from the Slave Revolt period but still good opponents for the Gauls.

Alton uses a 'matched pairs' format ... every other round it is 'your' pair - and when it is your pair, your opponent picks which army to use.

Your challenge, if you like, is to pick a pair that is balanced enough not to give an easy game to the player who picks (not you) but which you know well enough to be able to win, either way.  The track record suggests I'm not very good at that challenge!

Then again, I tend to pick the armies I am doing at the time, to give them a run out ... hence Romans and Gauls, following the Telamon theme.

The upside, of course, is that you do get to know your new armies better (seeing how 'the other guy' would use them too, which is really useful), and the prize tables at Alton ensure that everyone's a winner.

(in addition to the Trophies in the header pic, everyone gets to pick something from the table)

There were two ready-to-run armies in the prize stash, including these Nubians, painted by the organiser, Martin Smith, in memory of fellow wargamer, Bill Dunlop.  Nice gesture.

It's about time I painted up and army for this reason.  I've certainly got plenty of 'reserve' lead in waiting.  But I am always touched by other people's generosity.  So 'a big up' to all the people who do this sort of thing and make our little communities so friendly.

The armies ... (both very simple)

GAULS II/11 ... LCh Gen;  2 x LCh; 2 x Cv; 6 x warriors (4Wb); 1 x Ps

MARIANS II/49 ... 4Bd Gen; 2 x Cv; 7 x legionaries (4Bd); 2 x Ps

My 'away' games were Asiatic Early Successor - Eumenus vs Antigonus (I chose Eumenes = 2 elephants)

(Asiatic Early Successor wars)

Chichimec vs Mound Builders (I chose Mound Builders = general on a litter!) 

(Dog People and Mound Builders ... not much armour in this one)

... and Early Polish vs Teutonic Order (I chose the Teutons as I have them on my back burner)

(a lot more armour in this one - heavily gepanzert on chivalry's Eastern Front)

The Polish/Teuton armies were very nicely put together, and a joy to play with ... but, like the other games, I could not outscore my opponent in any of the melees.  In DBA that's not a winning formula.

(scenes from the Romano-Celtic games)

So I think we can safely say I wasn't troubling the leader board this time around.  Martin asked me to slip into my Society of Ancients 'Life Vice-President' mode and hand out the prizes as I wasn't busy winning any of them :) ... So well done to winner Martin M (who did the donkey work for our victory at Tarrington).

My opponents took the Romans in my 'home' games and won with them.  Except Martin who took the Gauls ... and won with them.  As much as in any game, in Romans vs Celts, whoever wins the melees wins the game.  End of analysis.

So ... a splendid day out and another vere around the learning curve.

These Gauls need the rub of the green in DBA.  I had originally thought of building a Galatian opponent for the Thebans I am working on, but for this event matched them against Romans for two reasons: a. it joins up the Telamon theme (and the Telamon theme is why I took on the Celtic figures from David Constable's collection); and b. I thought the Theban infantry (5 with flank support or 6, if the double-ranked ... 7 with general) were every bit as tough as the Romans - just, being Spear, would be even better against the cavalry).  

Given that the Thebans are pretty much finished, I think, once Telamon is done, the Gauls will become Galatian again and go in a box as opponents for the Thebans. 

Appropriately enough, when it got down to my lowly position's pick, the Osprey book on Rome's Enemies was still there, so that came home with them.

DBA Yahoo Group (info, news and more pics here; you need to a Yahoo ID)

SoA UK DBA League page

Telamon BattleDay (Gauls and Romans everywhere)

25th February, Alton

... and quickly it was DBA again - this time the Alton matched pairs tournament.

Each player takes a matched pair of armies (armies and enemies on the lists) and every other game is played with your own pair or your opponent's pair ... 

The day is six games - so you get to use your own pair 3 times ... when using your own pair, the opponent chooses which army to use (otherwise the standard options apply) ....

I opted to take Mongols and Seljuqs as I reasoned with time tight on the clock, all those potential 2/2 and 1/1 combats would give a good prospect of a completed game each round (as indeed they did)

My armies

IV/35 MONGOL CONQUEST (Cv gen; 4 x Cv; 6 x LH; 1 x Art):

1 x General (Cv), 2 x Mongol armoured cavalry (Cv), 5 x Mongol horse archers (LH), 1 x stone thrower (Art), 2 x Khwarizmian cavalry (Cv) and 1x Kipchak horse archers (LH) …  Steppe.  Agg: 4

III/74a SELJUQ TURK - Army of RUM (Cv gen; 3 x Cv; 5 x LH, 2 x 3Bw; 1 x 4Kn):

1 x General with mamluks (Cv), 2 x askaris (Cv), 5 x Turkoman horse archers (LH), 1 x Kurds (Cv), 2 x Armenian foot (3Bw), 1 x Agulani (4Kn) … Steppe.  Agg: 3

Each army had its quirks ... the Mongol stone-thrower is an interesting asset to take to a 'horse archer' fight.  The Seljuq Agulani add some punch but are at risk with all that light horse around.

The other players chose:

Teutonic Order v Early Polish; Ptolemy Keraunos v Galatians; Zenobia's Palmyrans v LPIA; L. carthaginian v Polybian Roman; Hellenistic Greeks, Sparta v Boiotia; Guti v Akkad; Italian Condotta v French Ordonnance; Early Welsh v Middle Anglo-Saxon; NKE v Ugaritic; WotR, Tudors v Rebels; French Ordonnance v Medieval German; Early Sumerian b list x 2; Middle Assyrian v Hittite Empire; Attila v Patrician Roman W.; Gallic v Celtiberian; Teutonic v Post Mongol Russian; Mitanni v Syro-Canaanite ...

My away games were ... Egyptian vs Ugaritic, Welsh vs Anglo-Saxon and Zenobia vs the Arabs

Unusually, I did quite well with my own pair ... my opponents gave me the Mongols each time - but I won 2 of the 3 games.  Sadly the other games didn't go so well.

So I wasn't threatening the podium this time.   Mark, Pete and Colin were ... so congrats to them - with Mark finishing in the top spot ...

It was a splendid day's wargaming and the battles were all entertaining in their own way - excellent!

Results of the 2017 Alton DBA Matched Pairs:-

1) Mark Skelton, 119 pts; 2) Pete Duckworth, 116 pts; 3) Colin O'Shea, 103 pts; 4) Scott Russell, followed by Peter Ellis, Bill MacGillivray, Kev Casey, David Constable, Richard Pulley, Lindon Paxton, Terry Ellis, Phil Steele, Neil Mason, John Saunders, Paul Clair, Denis Grey, Mike Thompson and Tim Moore.

Well done to everyone ... here they all are (with Martin, who took the picture, snipped in for completeness) ...

Well done also to Martin for organising this and sticking with an entertaining formula ...

More on the Society of Ancients here

More on the SoA UK DBA League here

(Early Welsh occupy a hamlet: figures by Martin Smith, resin huts - from The Square - by Phil Steele) ... 

Hammerhead next ... and the Society sponsored DBA Northern Cup.  See you there.

Next on Shows North will be a day out with the Society shows team at Cavalier in Tonbridge.

(snapping the winners: looking over the organiser's shoulder ... ) 

22nd March, Alton

OK - here's the way it works ... each player takes along a suitable pair of armies (there's a preference for historical opponents - and balance, of course, is down to the player).  At the start of the day players randomly draw their match numbers.  All games are 'odds' vs 'evens', and in round one, 'odds' get to use their own pairing ... in round two, 'evens' get to use theirs ...

When it is your pair in play, the opponent gets to choose which army to use (and vice versa).

I took a pair to recall 'the Axumite Invasion of Arabia' ... Abyssinian & Horn of Africa (II/62) and Later Pre-Islamic Arab/Nomad (II/23(a)  ... We are in the 6th Century AD.

(thrice deployed by mine enemies: the Arabian Nomads)

We were all present and signed in before 10:00 which meant we were able to have 1 hour game windows, 3 before lunch and 3 after.  So 6 games, 3 of which would be with your own scenario.  A pretty good return for a day trip to Hampshire.

In every case my opponents chose the Arabs (ironically, given I had tried 3 games with my local wargamers during the week, notionally to 'test' for balance and the Arabs had lost all 3) ... one game went down to the wire but the Arabs snatched it, one clear win to the Axumites, and one walk over to the Arabs - so (after 3:0 to the Africans in the week) 2:1 to the Arabs on the day.   And a rare DBA win with my own armies to me.

In the other games, I got to play Sicilian against North African/Sicilian Muslims, Alexander against Darius and Samanids against Saffarids ...

I picked the Sicilians as the are a classic Phil army so I was familiar with their modus operandi.  Actually I lost narrowly (I failed to destroy a Psiloi with a Knight General - so 4:2 with quick kill to the Knight - to win the game in my turn, then succumbed in the enemy turn that followed ... Hmmm)

I picked Alexander as he won historically - and also I thought the artillery might give me a long range shot or two.  Actually I handled it badly and it got killed by Light Horse without firing a shot, by which time the high rolling Scythed Chariot was in amongst my line.   It took a while to sort out the mess and I was 2 down before I really got going.  I pulled the deficit back but eventually lost what turned out to be a very close game.

A real roller-coaster of a game.  I chose the Samanids because they had an elephant.   I might have done so anyway (elephants are part of the ancient wargame if you ask my opinion) but further, my opponents were giving me the Axumites all through, so my elephant game was warmed up.  

I was very pleased to get the elephant in on some Warband and then (uncharacteristically) rolled high enough dice to take them out.   I did equally well on the right flank, and with Bowmen and Auxilia against Warband and Auxilia ... and that was enough to get me over the line in another tight and entertaining tussle ...

(around the tables ... the Ishtar Gate BUA was subbing as Sardis)

There were lots of other great pairings in play (you wished the day had opportunities to play more of them, really ...) with Early Muslim North Africa & Sicily popping up an improbable 3 times, and Early Bedouin twice.

One of the Bedouins fought Makkan ...

(1/8(a) Makkan vs 1/6(c) Early Bedouin)

Possibly my favourite game was Martin M's Lydian vs Persian complete with Cyrus's war towers ...

(1/50 Lydian vs 1/60(b) Early Achaemenid Persian)

As has become the custom, there was a full table of prizes which players could choose from in addition to the trophies which this year were a colossal Pharaoh for the winner and a splendid Greek style plate for the runner up.   Prizes ran from two deluxe painted armies ready to go into action down to individual figure packs, Barker Markers and scenic items ... everyone got something.

(a couple of views of the trophies and painted army prizes) 

The results were ...  1. Mark Skelton (Makkan v Early Bedouin) 119pts; 2. Martin Myers (Cyrus v Croesus) 101pts; 3. John Drury (Early Bedouin v Kassites) 98pts; 4. Bill McGillivray (EMNAS v Sicilian) 98pts; 5. Paul Clair (Attila v Aetius) 95pts; 6. Paul Hodson (West Franks v EMNAS) 82pts; 7. Colin O’Shea (EMNAS v Al Andalus) 79pts ... Scott Russell (Athens v Sparta), Terry Ellis (Thebes v Phokis), Phil Steele (LPIA v Abyssinian), Dunc McCoshan (Saffarids v Samanids), Denis Grey (Alexander v Darius), Robert Dowling (Nikephorians v Georgians), and Martin Smith (Thessalian v Illyrian) also played ...

(and here we are ... Martin with his eyes shut, and me edited into my own photo at the back to make the numbers up ... )

See you next at the BattleDay on Saturday ... or maybe at Salute next month?

23rd March, Alton

ALTON DBA MATCHED PAIRS

(a round of the 2013 Society of Ancients UK DBA League)

Nearly Easter, now, but we still seem locked in frozen weather, snow and alarmist public service warnings.

Rule 1: keep calm and carry on: nothing is ever quite a bad as the panic-mongers and sensationalists at the BBC would have you believe (the only reliable source of information in the UK, these days, seems to be your own eyes and ears).

So I braved the driving sleet and snow and ploughed round the M25 to Alton, as did most of the players who had signed up.  The turn out was good.   I'm glad I made the effort - the return trip was painless, and the event was great fun.

(star prize: a splendid Donnington Nabataean army II/22(a) painted by Colin O'Shea)

Martin had organised a wealth of prizes to reward the players, including a number of DBA armies and a selection of BUAs and camps.   I think everyone picked up a token of one sort or another.   

Star Prize was a very attractive Nabataean army kindly donated by Colin O'Shea and made up of tough looking Donnington Miniatures, new and ready to go to war for the winner (see pic.).

The format is 'matched pairs': each player brings along a pair of armies (preferably historical opponents or similar ...) ... and will use his/her pair every other game.   When using them, the opponent chooses which to go with ... otherwise aggression, terrain, deployment etc. goes as normal.

(my six games: 1, 3 and 5, mine; 2 - Roman vs Dacian; 4 - Blemmye vs Arabs; 6 - Sub Roman Atrebates vs Sub Roman Regia)

6 UK-style games against a 45 minute clock, 3 either side of lunch ... Randomly drawn opponents and prize-giving around 4:30.

This format offers just about everything I like ... quick games that are broadly historical ... a balance of variety (half the games are what you chose to offer, half are what other players prefer) ... a random draw ... and generally an absence of uber armies ...

In the end I opted to take along a couple of my Gothic style armies ... based on Stilicho's 405 Fiesole campaign where he used Gothic foederati against Radagaesus.   So Goth against Goth, really, but I employed the Ostrogoth and Gepid lists to give variety to the two armies.

Elsewhere, the was a very enjoyable mix and some well-presented armies.

(Phoenicians vs Babylonians)

(Macedonians vs Thessalians)

(Umayyad vs Later Visigothic)

(Roman vs Caledonian)

All of my 'away' games were close affairs, I thought (though the score lines varied).   Lots of terrain made fighting off the Dacians a challenge.  I just lost a very dicey game using Blemmye against Colin's Arabs.   And I managed to pinch the points in the Sub Roman war ... Richard pushed his warbandy Brits up a road, I managed to absorb the charges and surround them (and fortuitously called the combats in the right order in what proved to be the last turn)

(some of the Alton players: with apologies to those who got chopped off the edges)

Martin kindly asked me to represent the Society of Ancients for the presentations, so as an alternative to lots of handshakes, here's a line up of happy campers ...

A very successful day based on a simple but effective formula.   In addition, thanks to all of the sponsors and individuals who donated prizes.  Much appreciated all round.

GOTHS AND GEPIDS

These armies derive from an Armati Gothic army, hence the matching look.   I gave the wagon laager camp to the Ostrogoths and made a second one up for the Gepids incorporating the Roman watchtower (a splendid Baggagetrain 10mm item): a much better employment of it than its previous appearances as a BUA (like ... as if I know how best to use a BUA in this game ...) ...

Gepid (II/71): Ag:3; Steppe; Kn Gen; 3xKn; 4xWb; 4xPs.

Ostrogoth (II/76a) Ag:3; Arable; Kn Gen; 4xKn; 1xLH; 4xWb; 2xPs.

(The Gothic cavalry is mostly Lurkio with some Black Hat/Gladiator and Chariot)

The Ostrogoth, I think is clearly slightly more attractive (it is easier to see how to use the extra Kn and LH than 2 extra Ps, I think: anyway, my opponent took the Ostrogoths in all 3 games ...

So my game involved using the Ps to tie up the enemy foot, and to use the Warband to tempt the Gothic knights into a position where I could gain the edge: certainly I should be able to tie them up with 4 Ps at my disposal, and certainly, with an advantage in Knights, the enemy will try to get them at my Warband ...

But could I take advantage in those circumstances?   Well it worked for me in 2 of the 3 games.   In the 3rd the enemy indeed took the bait, and allowed me to engage with overlaps ... however, he won all the combats, taking down all the warband, a Knight and the General in one turn!   

Some plans do not withstand contact with reality!

However ... that's 2 successes out of 3.   Last time in this format I lost all 3 of my home games ... so my choice was obviously a touch wiser this time.

I'm also pleased that all 3 (indeed all 6 of my games) were completed inside the distance (which at 45mins doesn't allow for much dithering): Knight and Warband armies against each other are 'result armies'!

************

I also won 2 of 3 away games - so came an unlikely third ... winning another trophy and picking up a Chariot Miniatures Theban army which will need painting!  Thanks, Magister Militum: lovely stuff!

Alton DBA Pairs tournament: 1: Lindon Paxton; 2: Martin Myers; 3: Phil Steele. 

(UK DBA League page)

Riches indeed!  See what I mean?  What more could you ask of a one-day tournament?

BattleDay and Doubles Masters next ....

Alton, 26th March

The Lost Legion

The Society of Ancients UK DBA League came in to being late last year in discussions which followed the English DBA Open.

The appetite for 'one-day' DBA events seems consistent, and linking such events together an obvious 'next step'.

The Lost Legion is one of several new events that have emerged in response to the idea of a Society sponsored series.
The formula was for players to bring along a matched pair of armies, and then, game and game about, to play either their pair or their opponent's pair. When playing your own game, the other player gets to choose which army to use. After that, the game proceeds by the book (invader, terrain, edge selection etc.)...

This gave me something of a problem - I am a 'cross over' from DBM, so I don't have lots of little armies in matchable pairs (I have quite a few big armies without the specific opponents that DBA - sometimes idiosyncratically - lists as appropriate) ... Where I have opposing forces, these are historically constructed (and my categorising/basing doesn't always match the DB classification).

Where I do have smaller armies, they are based-up in double depth for Armati (or are genuinely smaller, like my 10mm)! It took me a while to get my head around this problem.

As I have several thousand 15mm figures in only a few period bands, it seemed obvious that finding an interesting and compatible pair amounting to just 24 elements ought to be straight forward. Ought to be ... but isn't!

In the end I opted to go with my favoured Crusades period, and a fairly adaptable Syrian army. I thought that the 5 Spears in the obvious opponent for the army (i.e. Later Crusader) was potentially a bit stodgy (for a quick-fire game schedule) and, in truth, not especially typical of Crusader armies of the period.

A plausible 'in period' enemy for the Syrians (though not listed in the rules), the Lusignan Cypriot looked a bit more attractive to play with, so I decided on that as the other half of the pair.

I clearly judged well, as all my opponents thought the Cypriot army looked attractive ... so picked it and beat me with it. Hmmm.

The joy of this is that you only have yourself to blame ... I got my own game three times, was given the Syrians each time and lost the match 3 - 0.

(Lusignan Cypriot ... in the background, another win is being chalked up)
I played my opponents' games 3 times, and won that rubber 2 - 1. I hold my hands up at that. I have always been prepared to admit that I am far more bothered about historical content and military interest than ever I am in play balance.

Well, I should add, that I'm not putting that forward as an excuse ... my opponents played well in all 6 games and I could have expected no better than 2 or 3 wins.

I enjoyed all 6 games though I must say that the opener against the well tutored martin Smith was something of a fools mate ... I lumbered myself with a BUA which I couldn't defend adequately, Martin got it on his side of the table and quickly went 3 up. I lost the fourth valiantly trying to kill his general as the only real option given the BUA handicap.

Without taking sides (haha!) I fully understand why so many people consider the BUA rules to be stupid.

Each to his own, of course, but I can't think of much historical justification for the arable set up or the way the BUA works in the game (most historical battles just don't work like that). Silly.

Somewhat more fortuitously, although I did include a naval baggage element for the Littoral Lusignans (so geared them up for all sorts of landing options) ... all the games were in arable Syria (so the road or BUA nonsense prevailed) ... Still, the ship is a pretty piece of decoration for the army.

(Randon eye candy from the Lost Legion... )

(Classical Indians)
(Armies at Alton: click on the images for a bigger picture)
The away games I got were Ptolemy Keraunos against the Galatians, Lydian vs Medes and Hittite vs Minoans. A good mix, given the Crusader period that was my home game.

As ever, I met some new enthusiasts, learned a few more nuances of the game and had an enjoyable day out.

(The Land or Littoral Baggage choice provided for the Cypriots)

Martin intended to host a small event for a dozen or so players. He got 20. Seems like it was a good idea, then. Well done ...

You can find out more about the League by visiting the PAWS page Society of Ancients UK DBA League(a DBA family photo ... some of the players at Lost Legion 2011)

The Alton results were ...

1 Colin O'Shea 102 points; 2 Adrian Webb 98 points; 3 Matthew Bennett 98 points; 4 Martin Myers; 5 Martin Smith; 6 Bill MacGillivray; 7 Duncan McCoshan; 8 Patrick Myers; 9 John Drury; 10 Scott Russell.

The other ten players on the day were, in no particular order :-David Constable, Luca Blasi, Peter James, Mark Skelton, Phil Steele, Gordon Frater, Ray Briggs, Denis McManus, Tim Moore, and Aislinn Smith.