Landwaster XX – Still Going Strong
Things have been quiet on the DBA Front in Canberra with lockdowns in the ACT and NSW keeping us from the table. As we prepared to move into the new normal all eyes turned towards Landwaster. The Landwaster tournament series began in 2002 – if we were numbering them like movies it would be Landwaster XX, issues arose over viable venues. In the end we were able to set aside a room in Goulburn once again. This rural city is 100km north of Canberra, convenient to both Canberra and Sydney.
In the lead up to the event we had 20 entries, but game day attrition took out two – leaving us with 18 players facing off for the title. Notable entries included four previous Landwaster Champions including three-time winner Gary Moriarty and Adam Stone, the inaugural champion. The roster included five first time Landwaster players including one newbie to the ACT DBA tournament circuit.
With Round 1 Leigh Dunn got off to a good start, his Tauregs overrunning Stephen Hopkins Later Sargonid Assyrians in a hard fight. The Camels were finally paying dividends. Adam Stone’s Vikings schooled Austin Kenny and his Polybian Romans. Phil Baldoni’s Warring States Chinese made short work of David Lucas’ Eastern Han. Mark Baker with his Palmyrans made short work of David Williams and his Early Imperial Romans. Peter Spitzkowsky came out in front of Peter Braham in the Umayyad Arab civil war, whilst Adrian Williams crushed Andrew Chicco in the East vs West Frankish battle, with a massive casualty list for the East Franks who lost 8 elements when the dust cleared. Brenton Searle used his Fatimid Egyptians to good effect making short work of Greg Kelleher’s Anglo Norman. Guy Sheppard’s Burmese proved too strong for Grant Snowsill’s Mongol Conquest. But the real upset came when new player Tony Falzarano and his Italian Condotta came out on top over Gary Moriarty using French Ordonnance.
Round 2 saw a number of close fights with Brenton Searle managing to defeat Adrian Williams by the narrowest of margins and Guy Sheppard narrowly losing to Phil Baldoni. Leigh Dunn continued his winning streak as his camels defeated Peter Spitzkowsky’s Arabs. Adam Stone’s Vikings found the Palmyrans to be a soft target and Gary Moriarty expunged his round 1 defeat with a convincing pantsing of Stephen Hopkins. Grant Snowsill’s Mongols ran rings around Andrew Chicco’s East Frankish and Greg Kelleher’s Anglo Normans proved too strong for Austin Kenny.
By Round 3 Adam Stone’s strength was apparent when his axe swinging Vikings overcame Leigh Dunn in a tightly contested match that went to the wire. Brenton Searle proved too strong for Phil Baldoni while Guy Sheppard’s Burmese Elephants schooled Adrian Williams’ Norman Knights. Gary Moriarty surged forward with a convincing win over Peter Braham and Greg Kelleher rolled over the top of Mark Baker, mirroring their three practice games the night before. David Lucas and Andrew Chicco fought hard but failed to reach a conclusion and David Williams lost to Grant Snowsill by the narrowest of margins.
Round 4 was the ‘Highlander’ round. The last two players with all wins faced off, there could be only one at the end. Adam Stone and Brenton Searle got right to it, their lines collided in a way that showed that no one planned to die wondering. The Vikings took the field leaving Adam well and truly in the lead. Leigh Dunn staged a comeback with a narrow win over Guy Sheppard. Phil Baldoni began a new charge with a convincing win over Peter Spitzkowsky while Greg Kelleher suffered a nasty schooling from David Williams.
Now moving into the home straight Adam Stone found himself facing the Burmese competently generalled by Guy Sheppard. He succeeded in delaying the elephants crashed into the lighter armed Burmese foot, picking up his fifth win after a long hard fight. Other notable games included Leigh Dunn crashing through Brenton’s Fatimids in short order, Phil Baldoni coming back from what looked like an impossible position to roll over Gary Moriarty and David Williams making short work of Peter Braham. Tony Falzarano and Andrew Chicco fought long and hard with the win going to Tony just as time was called.
Round 6 remained a tight competition. Adam was in the lead but there were still a few players in striking distance. Adam faced off against Phil Baldoni while Leigh Dunn took on Gary Moriarty. Guy Sheppard lined up against Brenton and Peter Spitzkosky faced David Williams, both Guy and Peter were outside chances depending on the fall of the upper results. Adam and Phil fought tooth and nail, with victory going to Adam by the narrowest of margins. Leigh’s camels finally paid a decent return on his investment taking down Gary Moriraty’s French Ordonnance. Guy and Peter won their games but the fall of the top two results locked them out of the podium. Phil managed to stay in third based his score from the body count against Adam. Mark Baker rounded off his day with a narrow win over Grant Snowsill.
The final tally saw the scores fall as:
1. Adam Stone – III/40a Viking – 48 Points
2. Leigh Dunn – III/70 Taureg – 44 Points
3. Phil Baldoni – II/4e Chinese Warring States and Chin Chinese (Others) – 39 Points
4. Peter Spitzkowsky – III/31 Umayyad Arab – 37 Points
5. Guy Sheppard – III/9a Burmese – 34 Points
6. Gary Moriarty – IV/82a French Ordonnance – 32 Points
7. David Williams – II/56 Early Imperial Roman – 32 Points
8. Brenton Searle – III/66 Fatimid Egyptian – 30 Points
9. Stephen Hopkins – I/51 Later Sargonid Assyrian – 30 Points
10. Mark Baker – II/74b Palmyran (Zenobia) – 29 Points
11. Peter Braham – III/31 Umayyad Arab – 28 Points
12. Greg Kelleher – IV/3 Anglo Norman – 28 Points
13. Andrew Chicco – III/53 East Frankish – 28 Points
14. Tony Falzarano – IV/61 Italian Condotta – 27 Points
15. Grant Snowsill – IV/35 Mongol Conquest – 25 Points
16. Adrian Williams – III/52 Norman – 24 Points
17. David Lucas – II/41b Eastern Han Chinese – 21 Points
18. Austin Kenny – II/33 Polybian Roman - 19 Points
Thus with six wins from six Adam Stone the inaugural Landwaster Champion got to hold the trophy above his head for the 20th Event.
The Executioner Award for the most kills in a single game went to Adrian William who scored 8 kills against the Andrew Chicco’s East Frankish in Round 1.
The Magister Militum Prize (aka “The Maurice”) for the highest adjusted score went to Peter Spitzkowsky and his Umayyads.
The Mithradates Trophy for highest adjusted improvement on the best previous Landwaster position went to David Williams with an 5 percentile points improvement from Landwaster 2006.
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 tthe Magister Miliutm Prize
• Dean Bedlington of Olympian Games -
www.olympiangames.com.au/ who donated vouchers for the Executioner Award, Magister Militum, Mithradates and Last Place. Dean also engraved the trophy plates and donated the figures used on the trophies.
• Barry Scarlett of Leadbear’s Tufts who donated a voucher to each of the prize winners. 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.
One way or another there will be more DBA in January 2022 – either Cancon or something we organise ourselves, then the fun continues with a Horde themed event in March.
So get the lead out – paint it and play DBA.
I will put this report up on the Book of Face along with pictures from the event.
Cheers