Aw Shucks folks, as I said on the day - I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it
Sorry for the delay - but here is the report and the full set of results
Landwaster 2022
As things have moved towards some semblance of normal this year, we have had a series of successful DBA Events here in the Canberra Region cumulating with Landwaster 2022 just before the end of the year and the lead up to Cancon.
The lead up saw quite a lot of enthusiasm, with 22 expressions of interest, but pre game attrition took out six players leaving a total of 15 including four previous Landwaster Champions including three-time winner Gary Moriarty, Adam Stone, the inaugural champion and winner of Landwaster XX, Brenton Searle who has held the trophy above his head twice and Mark Baker who has the honour of equal highest number of attendances as well as the trophy on his shelf. There was only one newcomer to Landwaster, Michael Spitzkowsky, no stranger to Canberra’s DBA events but never before picking up a dice in this most prestigious of the events.
Round 1 saw Guy Sheppard take a narrow victory from Jon Willacy in the battle of the Leidang. Greg Kelleher and his Patrician Romans managed to beat Michael Spizkowsky’s Celtiberians by the narrowest of margins. Gary Moriarty with his ubiquitous Spring and Autumn Chinese was soundly trounced Tony Cotton’s Classical Indians in the upset of the tournament while Austin Kenny made short work of Grant Snowsill’s Mongol Conquest. Stephen Hopkins and his Southern Dynasty Chinese rolled over the Eastern Han led by David Lucas while Brenton Searle, using Wars of the Roses English managed failed to crack open the Zanj Revolt fortress of Peter Spitzkowsky ending in a bloody draw. Adam Stone and his well turned-out Islamic Berbers proved too strong for Leigh Dunn’s massed Tuareg camels in this historical match up. Mark Baker’s Palmyrans fell to Nick Rodgers and the Black Sea Greeks by the narrowest of margins, with 12 elements killed across both sides before a decision was reached. This was a significant casting of the gauntlet for the Executioner Award.
Round 2 is traditionally where the lucky and the truly skilled are sorted out as the top half with one win under their belts face off. Austin Kenny’s French Ordonnance defeated Adam Stone’s Berbers after a long hard fight. Stephen Hopkins made short work of Tony Cotton’s Indians whilst Greg Kelleher edged over Nick Rodgers in a close and bloody fight. Guy Sheppard’s Leidang proved too strong for Peter Spitzkowsky and Mark Baker’s bow heavy Palmyrans were given a schooling by Brenton’s Wars of the Roses English. Michael Spitzkowsky’s Celtiberians made short work of Jon Willacy’s Leidang whilst Leigh Dunn scraped a win over David Lucas. Gary Moriarty regained his mojo against Grant Snowsill.
Greg Kelleher had taken a commanding lead going into round 3 and improved on it in a close fought battle with Stephen Hopkins. Guy Sheppard staged a littoral landing that put his Leidang Blades in amongst Austin Kenny’s Ordonnance Archers and made short work of them. Adam Stone and his Berbers bulldozed Nick Rodgers’ Black Sea Greeks while Michael Spitzkowsky staged an upset when his Celtiberians rolled over the top of Brenton’s Wars of the Roses English. Gary Moriarty managed a hard fought and bloody win over Leigh’s Tuaregs. Tony Cotton and his Classical Indians proved too strong for Mark Baker and the Palmyrans. Grant Snowsill scraped by against David Lucas and the Eastern Han. Peter Spitzkowsky and Jon Willacy went head-to-head in a crash of solid blade where neither planned to die wondering. As the dust cleared Peter’s Zanj had narrowly managed to beat the Leidang.
And so began the ‘Highlander’ round with Round 4. Greg and Guy, the last to undefeated players faced off. This was a long hard game that went to the wire and saw Greg’s Patrician Roman just get the goods on Guy’s Leidang. Stephen Hopkins took Michael Spizkowsky’s Celtiberians apart with his well generalled Southern Dynasty Chinese. Adam Stone was trounced by Gary Moriarty whilst Austin Kenny took down Tony Cotton and his Indians after a close fight. Leigh Dunn made short work of Nick Rodgers’ Black Sea Greeks, first by crushing the littoral landing and then rolling over the rest of the Skythian Light Horse with his camels. Peter Spitzkowsky managed a narrow victory against David Lucas whilst Brenton Searle proved too strong for Grant Snowsill. Mark Baker’s long streak of bad luck continued with a narrow loss to Jon Willacy’s Leidang.
The final round was still tight and with the top player playing the fourth ranked player and the second and third ranked players facing off the final result was too close to call. Greg Kelleher faced Gary Moriarty, with Gary picking up the win and Greg only making enough kills to keep his score even with Gary. All eyes turned to the game between Guy Sheppard’s Leidang and Stephen Hopkins’ Southern Dynasties, they fought on while the other games finished around them. Austin Kenny and his French Ordonnance crushed Michael Spitzkowky’s Celtiberians in short order. Brenton Searle’s Wars of the Roses English mowed down Leigh Dunn’s Tuaregs with longbows. Adam Stone and Peter Spitzkowsky hammered out an even draw with three kills apiece. Tony Cotton made short work of Jon Willacy’s Leidang. David Lucas ended the day on a high with a convincing win over Nick Rodgers. Despite the last place prize being quite classy, Mark Baker was determined that someone else should have it and made sure of Grant Snowsill’s Mongols with determined Palmyran skulduggery in the dunes. Then and only then, just before final time was called did Guy Sheppard manage the last kill to get the win and with that the championship.
The final tally saw the scores fall as:
1. Guy Sheppard – III/40c Norse Viking and Leidang (Leidang) – 36 Points
2. Greg Kelleher – II/82b Patrician Roman (East) – 34 Points
3. Gary Moriarty – I/32c Western Chou and Spring & Autumn Chinese (Other) – 34 Points
4. Austin Kenny – IV/82a French Ordonnance – 33 Points
5. Stephen Hopkins – II/79b Southern Dynasties Chinese – 30 Points
6. Brenton Searle – IV/83a Wars of the Roses or Tudor English – 29 Points
7. Tony Cotton – II/3b Classical Indian – 28 Points
8. Michael Spitzkowsky – II/39b Ancient Spanish (Celtiberian) – 24 Points
9. Adam Stone – III/75 Islamic Berber – 24 Points
10. Peter Spitzkowsky – III/50 Zanj Revolt – 24 Points
11. Leigh Dunn – III/70 Tuareg – 23 Points
12. David Lucas – II/41b Eastern Han Chinese – 22 Points
13. Mark Baker – II/74b Palmyran (Zenobia) – 21 Points
14. Jon Willacy – III/40c Norse Viking and Leidang (Leidang) – 19 Points
15. Nick Rodgers – II/5l Later Hoplite Greek (Black Sea Greeks) – 19 Points
16. Grant Snowsill – IV/35 Mongol Conquest – 16 Points
And so, for the second time in a row, the Landwaster Trophy has been won by a Scandinavian army.
The Executioner Award for the most kills in a single game went to Nick Rodgers who scored 7 kills against Mark Baker’s Palmyrans in Round 1.
The Magister Militum Prize (aka “The Maurice”) for the highest adjusted score went to Stephen Hopkins and his Southern Dynasty Chinese.
The Mithradates Trophy for highest adjusted improvement on the best previous Landwaster position went to 75 percentile points improvement from Landwaster 2021.
None of this would be possible without the support of a number of sponsors
• Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures Australia -
www.eurekamin.com.au/ who provided vouchers for first, second and third place
• Brian Hall from Hall of Ancient Warriors - brianhallhaw@bigpond.com who donated the first-place trophy
• Mick Sellman of Mick’s Metal Models -
micksmetalmodels.com/ who donated a DBA Armies for the Magister Miliutm Prize
• Dean Bedlington of Olympian Games -
www.olympiangames.com.au/ who donated a voucher for the Mithradates Trophy and Last Place. Dean also engraved the trophy plates.
• Barry Scarlett of Leadbear’s Tufts - Leadbear's Tufts | Facebook 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. For the Canberrans you can also find the tufts at Ronin Games.
• A shout out to Laura from Posters and Coasters who gave me a discount on the very classy Indian Elephant and Bayeux Tapestry coasters which was part of the Mithradates Trophy and last place prize. You can find Laura at the Canberra Bus Depot Markets.
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 2023 – Cancon is already open for registrations and in February there will be a Kn themed event at Goulburn. After that my events kick in again.
So, get the lead out – paint it and play DBA
Cheers