Landwaster 2019
Sunday 24th November was another year of the highly successful Landwaster DBA Tournaments, the 17th year in fact. We assembled at the Austrian Australian Club in Mawson, all up there were 12 entries including myself stepping up to keep the numbers even. This has been the premier DBA Event in Canberra since 2002 and while the numbers peaked over a decade ago it still brings out a strong field and pleasant days gaming.
We had five of the previous Landwaster Champions entered, including David Osborne coming back to defend his 2018 title. We also welcomed back Scott Blanch who has not been behind a DBA army for the better part of 10 years. Every one of the entrants had played in at least one Landwaster – making them all eligible for the Mithradates trophy. As Scott Blanch entered with the Burgundian Ordonance – the last army in the lists, I thought it would be proper to bring the Sumerians (list number one) to the party. It was a decision I came to regret. In fact there were a number of what can only be described as “Courageous Decisions” in the entry list.
Round 1 saw wins to most of the usual suspects. Gary Moriarty and his Scandinavian Union made short work of Scott Blanch’s Burgundian Ordonance whilst Jon Willacy and his 12 Knight African Vandal crashed through Steve Hopkins’ Sassanids. In a “Great Revolt” match up Greg Kelleher’s Guti made short work of my Sumerians. David Lucas’ Han Chinese were no match for Brenton Searle’s Elephant heavy Tamils.
In Round 2 Gary Moriarty continued his winning ways with a convincing win over David Osbornes Romans. Greg Kelleher claimed the scalp of Brenton Searle whilst Mark Baker used his French Ordonnance to school Jon Willacy’s Vandals. David Lucas’Eastern Han once again proved to be my Kryptonite as he rolled over me and Leigh Dunn’s Samnites continued to be the doormat of the event after being rolled over by Scott Blanch’s Burgundians.
Come Round 3 Gary Moriarty’s Medieval Scandinavians had a convincing win over Mark Baker’s French Ordonnance. Greg Kelleher continued his own winning streak with a hard fought win over David Lucas. Brenton Searle recovered his pride by stealing my dignity, thoroughly crushing my Sumerians and Mick Sellman had the narrowest of wins over Jon Willacy. Other victors were Scott Blanch who beat David Osborne and Steve Hopkins who overran Leigh’s Samnites.
So Round 4 brought about the face off between the last two undefeated competitors – Thunderdome style – two go in, one comes out. Gary and Greg fought lone and hard but in the end Gary came out ahead. I had my first (and only)win against Leigh Dunn, in a very close battle. Mark Baker staged a comeback convincingly winning the battle of the Ordonance armies and Steve Hopkins added to David Osborne’s woes with a solid Sassanid victory over the Romans.
Round 5 was the major upset as Gary’s unbeaten streak came to an end as the Tamil Elephants crashed through the Scandinavians in an extremely hard fought battle. Greg Kelleher beat Mark Baker effectively removing him from contention and Jon Willacy rode down Leigh Dunn’s Samnites. David Osborne scored a victory over my Sumerians rallying after the loss of his general with sufficient PIPs to flank my Pikes. (O.K. Sumer). However when the dust settled, Gary still remained in the lead. His battle with Breton had gone to the wire, and the points he clawed back in the fight kept him one point up on Brenton. The top of the table was on a razor’s edge.
So the final reckoning round began and the task of holding the current leader (Gary) in check fell to Leigh Dunn and his Samnites. The same army referred to as a “Courageous Decision” and one that had gone into almost every battle as the attacker, despite being a collection of Jungle fighters. The other important battles saw Brenton Searle and Mark Baker fight an epic battel that Brenton won only by a whisker while Mick Sellman triumphed over Greg Kelleher in a similar close and brutal fight. Steve Hopkins and his Sassanids rode down my Sumerians in short order barely suffering a scratch. Jon Willacy made short work of David Osborne’s Romans and David Lucas with his Eastern Han had a narrow win over Scott Blanch and his Burgundians. But there was no upset in the unequal struggle between Leigh Dunn and Gary Moriarty. The Samnites were no match for a combined arms Sccandianavian Union army with German allies, who would have thought. Leigh’s army was walked over by so many troops that they have been reclassified as terrain features.
The final tally saw the scores fall as:
1. Gary Moriarty – IV/54b Medieval Scandinavian (Union)with Medieval German allies – 44 pts
2. Brenton Searle – II/42b Tamil – 42 pts
3. Greg Kelleher I/4c Guti “Great Revolt” with Elamite allies – 39 pts
4. Mick Sellman – IV/61 Italian Condotta – 36 pts
5. Stephen Hopkins – II/69c Sassanid Persian – 36 pts
6. Mark Baker – IV/83a French Ordonnance – 33 pts
7. Jon Willacy – II/84 African Vandal – 33 pts
8. David Lucas – II/41b Eastern Han Chinese – 30 pts
9. Scott Blanch – IV/86a Burgundian Ordonnance – 26 pts
10. David Osborne – II/64a Middle Imperial Roman – 25 pts
11. David Lawrence – I/1c Sumerian “Great Revolt”- 20 pts
12. Leigh Dunn – II/13 Samnite – 13 pts
The Executioner Award for the most kills in a single game went to David David Osborne who scored 6 kills against my Sumerians, despite having lost his general early in the battle.
The Magister Militum Prize (aka “The Maurice”) for the highest adjusted score went to Steve Hopkns and his masterful Late Sassanids.
The Mithradates Trophy for highest adjusted improvement on the best previous Landwaster position went to Jon Willacy who once again managed to maintain his existing best percentile score for this year’s event.
None of this would be possible without the support of a number of sponsors
• Ray Compton of Essex Miniatures Australia -
www.essexminiatures.com.au/ who provided vouchers for first, second and third place
• Brian Hall from Hall of Ancient Warriors -
www.hallofancientwarriors.com/ who donated the first place trophy
• Mick Sellman of Mick’s Metal Models -
micksmetalmodels.com/ who donated DBA Armies for the Mithradates Trophy and the Magister Miliutm Prize
• Dean Bedlington of Olympian Games -
www.olympiangames.com.au/ who donated vouchers for the Executioner Award and Last Placel. Dean also engraved the trophy plates.
• Barry Scarlett of Leadbear’s Tufts who donated a voucher to each entrant. Leadbear’s has a Facebook presence and now sells his tufts on eBay as well so I urge you to search him up and buy tufts.
Please support these businesses that do so much to support us by ordering lots of product from them, and if you see them at a tournament – why not buy them a coffee or something.
Landwaster, like Collision Course and Wintercon earlier this year is part of the Magister Militum Per Capitoline Territorialis Circuit – the final events of this circuit are the two days of Cancon in January. Anyone who competes in at least three of the events (Cancon is two events) could win the “Grand Maurice” which averages the best three adjusted scores across the events.
So get the lead out – paint it and play DBA
See you at Cancon
Cheers