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Post by colinthehittite on Nov 5, 2023 7:02:34 GMT
What is your worst DBA tactical nightmare?
Finding your light horse facing massed bows…
Watching your psiloi trying to outrun knights or your solid Auxilia trying to outrun fast blades…
Being unable to deploy your close formation infantry because of the wall to wall bad going…
Well, all these and more can be part of your life’s rich tapestry if you enter The Cold Ash Clash.
With; the widest possible range of armies available, not knowing what you will be handed each round, or what you might face, and knowing that half the players have provided their army with unsympathetic terrain, the nightmare scenarios are endless! Add to this the usual vagaries of the dice god’s behaviour; let alone the risks of getting the Feng Shui wrong when you choose a gaming table… it is a wonder so many seemingly otherwise happy, cheerful, and well balanced people actually pay money to face this particular form of torture.
Seriously though, I had a great day. Thank you Diades; despite being obviously unwell and having to play to make up numbers, you ran your usual supremely well organised and managed tournament. Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Aug 7, 2023 6:54:07 GMT
Keith, note to self:
“I must not attempt to umpire two wargames tournaments and play in one of them at the same time again.”
Disappointingly nearly half the players did not turn up.
Most versions of Romans arrived to play at this massive show; with three full sports halls. I took Marian’s with an Armenian ally and most other players took a similar mix. With similar armies games revolved around getting an advantage on the edge of the blade line, with good PIPS at crucial points being key.
I had three really close games out of the five and my ones did not count as much as my sixes.
Thank you, Keith, for a fun day of gaming, I particularly enjoyed it as I have not played a game for two months and was itching to shuffle figures again. My prize is magnificent – my wife almost suggested I hang it on the front door like a Christmas wreath…
Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Jun 4, 2023 19:21:50 GMT
I’m not sure what the collective noun for loads of sixes is but today I had an embarrassment of 6s. After a year of dismal tournament luck, I spent today changing my die AND still throwing sixes. A few ones here and there seeing off my god did little to ease my embarrassment. So, yes allnewstevie, you wuz robbed!
I should play this great game more often, it is such fun. Thank you Nick for a great day of gaming and for my HotT pie lunch – very welcome after the mornings slaughter.
Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on May 12, 2023 5:50:52 GMT
Count me in.
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Post by colinthehittite on Apr 15, 2023 21:34:26 GMT
In the 1980s film ’Clockwise’, John Cleese’s orderly world steadily falls apart through a series of very unfortunate events; relentlessly, one after another. Very funny, but you think it couldn’t possibly happen in real life. In DBA I suppose you could find yourself with the wrong army, in the wrong terrain, being forced into poor match ups, throwing low… and it could happen game after game. But that couldn’t possibly happen, could it…?
Great new venue for Alton DBA. A very atmospheric 1920s village hall – roomy, airy and with all facilities – in a very attractive Hampshire village. 1920s England at its best, with the elderly couple who look after the hall popping in to check we were all OK and scuttling off to make a minor adjustment to the heating, wide eyed at all the brightly painted little soldiers on display. No new-fangled fancy technology here, good old paper and pencil was the order of the day, chaps! Well, it works, and it worked jolly well, I say.
Good to see players from all points of the compass gathering in Jane Austen’s home village of Chawton and congratulations to those who did well. I spent the day fighting for last place but was pipped at the last post – you would have thought 9 points from 6 games would be enough to clinch it!
Thank you, Martin, for organising and managing an excellent tournament (he even had to play to even player numbers; slaughtering my Vikings with his Stone Age Eastern Forest Indians on the way).
Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Mar 13, 2023 11:25:15 GMT
Oh! Well, I’m seeing Richard Pulley tomorrow – should I exchange my third prize book for his fourth prize waterway?😢
Colinthedowngraded
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Post by colinthehittite on Mar 12, 2023 10:47:34 GMT
I’m not sure how the scoring system worked but with 5 wins and a winning draw I came third! In my final game we got to 4-4 and in the next bound I took a further 4 elements, ending on an amazing 8-4!
The Tudor Arms is an excellent venue; good parking, spacious, airy and with pub food on tap. I even managed to watch the beginning of England’s epic slaughter by the French at Twickenham. It was good to play mainly against local players who rarely venture to other tournaments, and I had six close games, decided by key die rolls, in a competitive and friendly atmosphere. The winner’s trophy was gorgeous.
Thank you, Keith, for a good day of gaming.
Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Feb 26, 2023 7:38:19 GMT
I don’t think I ever got off the naughty (bottom) table! I thought my Bosporans had a nicely balanced mix, but they did not have a good day, winning only once in the hands of an opponent. I was interested to see some new situations in games - one of my legionaries was destroyed by two shooting bows on a 6-1 and in another game my spear line was decimated by spears (who usually go on scrummaging for ever). Had my greatest successes using other players psiloi. So, an interesting set of games against fun opponents.
The venue was excellent and the whole thing was ably run by Pete. Thank you.
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Post by colinthehittite on Jan 30, 2023 7:04:59 GMT
I’d like to attend Keith. I didn’t realise last time you held this event that the room hire was free but we were asked to order a pub meal in return. Is that still the case? If so, others ought to be aware. I think the food is at least bordering on good if I remember right – I had a meal there one evening. Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Jan 29, 2023 7:37:17 GMT
Well, that was a much more interesting tournament than I expected after reading the initial advertising. At first, I thought; lots of difficult hills, lots of auxilia struggling to fight in bad going, lots of draws. However, on the day I found myself conducting bad going combat in just one game.
I only wargame maybe once a month so took the opportunity to play a few games recently using the Bakewell terrain placement rules. I realised that despite the requirement for 3 difficult hills the gaming boards could be surprisingly open, that winning the terrain would be crucial and that, instead of taking my Celtiberians or Nabataeans which were my initial choices, I should take a standard balanced army with elements comfortable in open terrain and others needing bad going. Hence the Cilician Armenian (IV/2) that I arrived with containing four spears from the optional spear/auxilia list (I think Stephen chose 3 and 3... perhaps that is where I went wrong!).
My first game was against Paulisper’s Illyrians. I won the terrain and placed the perfect arrangement for my army which was the opposite of what the Illyrians wanted. I lined my spears up against his bravely advancing auxilia in open terrain (all good so far). I then launched my knight general (shouldn’t be a problem) onto an auxilia element on the end of his line and… suddenly the game completely changed in character. My general died on a 6-1. Paulisper started throwing 5s and 6s for PIPS, I couldn’t move and the game was soon over to the sound of whooping Illyrians slamming doors. In the following games my Cilicians did better than I did. I don’t think other players expected to meet knights in this tournament. After one swift defeat by Claudius who was using my army to completely thrash his own south Welsh (in his choice of terrain placement), we played a second game… with another story line. 7 games in the day!
It is always a pleasure to game at Bakewell where I meet players from all points of the UK compass. I had some excellent tabletop tussles using a range of armies and every opponent was fun to play. Thank you, Simon, and well done Stephen – 6 wins is a huge achievement!
Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Jan 24, 2023 21:39:50 GMT
I'm interested. Always enjoyed my January visits to Penarth.
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Post by colinthehittite on Jan 16, 2023 16:27:02 GMT
I didn’t know Frank well and I think I only played him once or twice, but I got the impression that a DBA tournament was an important social event for him and that he was as much interested in gaming chat as he was in the gaming – perhaps more so. It didn’t seem to bother him that he often lost his games, he was consistently philosophical about it; never getting upset or frustrated and always ending games with me on a smile. We can all learn, I think, from this fine example. I’m sure he will be missed by players further north who knew him better and maybe we will all dwell for a moment on the realisation that you often only really value something when it’s taken away.
Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Jan 15, 2023 12:44:11 GMT
Three draws and one win from the 40 minute group games got me into the playoff for third place! My Medieval Germans then faced Paul C’s Medieval Germans. Two similar armies fighting each other often makes for a dull game, but adding an Early Polish ally just gave me an edge which helped turn the game... and I didn’t keep throwing ones for PIPS. Hoorah! The sun had set and we played most of the game in the light from Mark’s phone in the now gloomy Victorian casemate.
Good to see Paul H back on the circuit.
Thank you PAWS. Nice trophy.
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Post by colinthehittite on Nov 27, 2022 8:39:00 GMT
Sign me up Simon.
Colin
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Post by colinthehittite on Nov 14, 2022 9:58:06 GMT
A Short Guide To Preparing For The Cold Ash Clash (for next year)
1. Select an army. Remember; you will only play with it once so dust off those old Mike’ Models which are difficult to distinguish between the blades, warband and auxilia - for that matter, from the cavalry! The ones with the figures painted in dark tunics on really dark bases, that you have never won a game with. Don’t make it easy for others! Make sure you have a couple of elements of something no one has ever used before. You know, the ones where the rules don’t quite explain how they work. Select your most heavily armed camp followers – you may need them in the last game to sally forth when you must fight with this bunch of misfit losers.
2. Select terrain. Now are you going to choose a grouping that your army can actually fight in or are you going “ maximum bad going for your 12 light horse?" The choice is yours, but remember there is no lighting in the car park at all and you will want to reach your car without being accosted by some frustrated gamer who had the misfortune to play with your selection. You may wish to check your tyres before setting off.
3. Die choice. On no account must you buy new dice before the tournament, since you will probably be burning yours after the Scramble. Next week is the time to buy; oh, and choose some with big holes in each dot so that the six has the lighter side and always ends up on top.
4. Lunch choice. Now you could plan to go to the pub, if not you may need something in your lunch box to steady your nerves…
5. Select a tray. You need to provide a base for your figures and terrain so that others can easily collect and return them. Some players pick up any old thing; others dig out grandmas gold filigree edged extra-large tea tray, you know the one with roses painted all over it… anything to unsettle opponents!
6. Finally put some beer in the fridge for when you return, looking grey and haggard and your partner says, “Have you had a nice day?”
If you want to try to win this tournament, talk to Alan, as he has obviously cracked it… but don’t ask me!
Colin
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