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Post by hamilcar on Jun 10, 2019 8:47:23 GMT
Thanks Steve and Martin. We had a couple of trial runs at the club, which was fun. We are eagerly awaiting Sunday :-)
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Post by menacussecundus on Jun 10, 2019 9:20:43 GMT
We had a couple of trial runs at the club, which was fun. We are eagerly awaiting Sunday :-) I hope it goes well. I'm sorry that I won't be able to join you.
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Post by martin on Jun 10, 2019 10:44:04 GMT
We had a couple of trial runs at the club, which was fun. We are eagerly awaiting Sunday :-) I hope it goes well. I'm sorry that I won't be able to join you. You’ll be missed, Denis (...must buy that telescopic sight.....😎). Can you nudge me nearer the moment (text or e.mail or here), and I’ll try to collate any Championship games and send them in. Not sure which SoA members will be there - meself, Mark Skelton and Ivan (if he plays), I guess. Martin
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Post by hamilcar on Jun 10, 2019 10:51:52 GMT
We had a couple of trial runs at the club, which was fun. We are eagerly awaiting Sunday :-) I hope it goes well. I'm sorry that I won't be able to join you. Thanks. I'm hoping to make this an annual event, a standard part of Valhalla - so there should be further opportunities.
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Post by hamilcar on Jun 10, 2019 10:54:53 GMT
I hope it goes well. I'm sorry that I won't be able to join you. You’ll be missed, Denis (...must buy that telescopic sight.....😎). Can you nudge me nearer the moment (text or e.mail or here), and I’ll try to collate any Championship games and send them in. Not sure which SoA members will be there - meself, Mark Skelton and Ivan (if he plays), I guess. Martin The SOA will have a stand at the show too and will run a demo game, though I don't know the rules this will use.
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Post by paddy649 on Jun 11, 2019 7:04:45 GMT
Ivan - do you still have space in the Valhalla Tournament?
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Post by hamilcar on Jun 11, 2019 9:22:18 GMT
Ivan - do you still have space in the Valhalla Tournament? Yes. I do still have two maybes but I have an area and table space in which I can squeeze things a little bit (but still keep things comfortable) and have spaces for four or even six more if needed (in total). This is now open, so people could turn up to claim those spots, but on first come - first served basis. If you need more spaces please let me have the name(s) and I'll put them on the list.
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Post by paddy649 on Jun 11, 2019 18:03:59 GMT
Thanks Ivan,
I’ve finished painting my army and have command approval from the Long Haired General. So I’m hopeful (95%) of being able to join you on Sunday. Count me in.
Paddy
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Post by hamilcar on Jun 12, 2019 11:27:57 GMT
Thanks Ivan, I’ve finished painting my army and have command approval from the Long Haired General. So I’m hopeful (95%) of being able to join you on Sunday. Count me in. Paddy Great, see you there (95%)!
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Post by paddy649 on Jun 16, 2019 22:44:08 GMT
Well I arrived in Aldershot with a Polybian Roman army that I finished painting on Saturday and itching for a fight. 12 players at first until a bruised and battered Arnaud joined us having fallen off his bike with Ivan, the organiser, making it 14.
First game I played was against John Saunders’ Galatians. I lost terrain and ended up with a big wood to my left and little else. John deployed a line of Wb with a central Scythed Chariot and Cav on his left. My Ps took the wood and I extended my line to overlap and TZ him with my Cav on the other flank. My General killed a Cav and my blade faced off against his Warband in single line. I was confident I had this battle won and the probabilities told me “don’t fear the Scythed Chariot.” Then John struck home with it vs my Blade - a 58% chance of a kill and I lost. My Cav and Bd hit his left and killed a Wb while his Scythed Chariot went into my second rank Spear - a 72% chance of a kill and I lost. His Cav died but the Scythed Tiger tank turned and took on another Blade and against the odds I lost again. So the Score was Polybians 3 vs Scythed Chariot 3. His bound and the Scythed ICBM killed another blade while the rest of his army killed an unnecessary Psloi. I lost 5:3 against a Scythed Chariot with 4 kills to its name - a probability of less than 2%! The curse of a newly painted army had struck.
Game 2 saw my Romans invade Colin Cox’s Early Germans. I lost terrain and got a Waterway on the right flank, wood on left and marsh to the front. My psloi took the wood with the Cav supporting while the Blades held the right. I lost an Psloi early but the Cav recovered the situation while my blade went into his warband and worked a hard flank. My luck peaked at average and I lost a Cav and a Blade but another maniple took out a hard flanked a double ranked warband and I sneaked a 4:3 win. A typically close fought Romans vs Warband fixture.
Game 3 was against Mark Skelton’s rebellious slaves led by Spartacus. I won terrain and the only thing of significance was a Hamlet on the right. I deployed Cav to the open left, Psloi on right and Blades centrally. Mark countered with Psloi and fast Wb on his left, then Cav then the 4 blade and the 4 fast Hoard on his right. A cleverly designed army that was hard to kill plus you didn’t even get points credit for killing the hoard. I put my Velites into the hamlet but Mark countered turning a 50:50 to his advantage overlapping my troops by 1mm. Well played Mark! My dice then remembered that my army was newly painted and a barrage of 1s and 2s followed. My psloi died and the rest bugged out. The Blades and Hordes pushed each other with little resolve but Mark’s Cav hit and he also picked up a victory over a blade. I felt almost sorry for an embarrassed Mark who began apologising for every 6 he rolled or every 1 my dice gave me. I took a late consolation psloi kill but went down 5:1 winning Mark top billing on my grudge list and my dice an appointment with a heavy, blunt instrument......but to be honest an enjoyable defeat. I must get me one of them Spartacus armies!
My final game was against Magnus Brown’s Gauls and I couldn’t have had a nicer final opponent. I won terrain and put down a hamlet on the left and a scrub on the right. I deployed psloi left and moved quickly into the hamlet, Cav right and blade central. Magnus came on with central warband in 2 ranks, Cav on left and fast troops on right. My Cav positioned and were hit by his Chariots while the psloi were hit in hamlet and ran. I killed a light chariot but lost a couple of blade to warband charges. The battle was finely balanced until I hard flanked two lots of double ranked warband for a 5:3 win. A close run game.
So I finished 2-0-2 and 6th from 14 - so decidedly average.....unlike my dice! Matt Bennett’s Marians had a convincing win ahead of Martin’s Ptolemaic and Arnaud’s Parthians (who seemed curiously immune to the curse of the newly painted armies.) Thanks for a well run tournament Ivan and thanks all for some good competition. See you all next year!
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Post by twrnz on Jun 17, 2019 0:34:04 GMT
Scythed Chariots - I fear them, and this account has not helped!
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Post by paddy649 on Jun 17, 2019 7:48:36 GMT
Scythed Chariots - I fear them, and this account has not helped! I stand by the probabilities that indicate Scythed Chariots are mostly 58% shot at giving the enemy a 1BW overlap and note that I have only met 1 SCh I’m 20 games and that this was a <2% chance. So on that basis I should be safe for another 1,036 games......or until the next competition which ever us sooner. “Dice May go up and down and there are other ways of losing DBA games.”
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Post by twrnz on Jun 17, 2019 7:55:08 GMT
“Dice May go up and down and there are other ways of losing DBA games.” I have found several! But will continue to look over my shoulder when Scythed Chariots are mentioned...
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Post by hamilcar on Jun 17, 2019 10:56:57 GMT
A big thank you to everyone who made it to the Valhalla 19 DBA tournament!
In the end we had 13 players (and I took part as 14th!) - all of whom played with great skill and spirit, making the games and the tournament good fun for everyone. Many dice were rolled and blood was spilled (literally - one of the players turned up with some cuts after falling off a bike on the way), but it was Matt Bennett, commanding Marian Romans, who took the laurels. Not only was he the only player to score all four wins, he also got the most "extra" points (for killing generals, enemy elements, taking camps, etc.) and all that having fought against the highest-ranked opponents. A honourable mention also goes to Martin Smith and Arnaud Marmier, who took the 2nd and 3rd place, with three wins each.
It was also a pleasure to see the other players' armies, many of which were beautifully painted. There are several who would have been worthy of this award, but there can be only one winner - and that honour went to Ian Pain and his stunning Marian Romans.
I am very grateful to everyone who turned up and made it a great day, in spite of some players enduring streams of 1's and 2's. (A note for next year: many of the traders at Valhalla sell dice of all sizes and colours, so if yours are letting you down there is no shame in re-equipping!). I enjoyed the day very much, even though I got completely toasted in three games - my only win coming thanks to two consecutive 6:1 rolls with Ps against Wb! In truth, it was quite difficult to focus both on games and running the tournament - there, I have an excuse :-) It was great to break out of the regular circle of opponents too and I'll be looking for more of the same, including other tournaments.
Finally, having spoken to the organisers from our club, the Farnborough War Games Society, the word is that Valhalla will be on again next year, though it will probably be moved to the following weekend (after discussions with most traders). I am looking to make a DBA tournament a regular feature of the show, so do expect it to happen next year as well - you have been warned!
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Post by martin on Jun 17, 2019 14:04:46 GMT
Pics now on Yahoo DBA List...please add if you can
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