Collision Course VIII – DBA With A Twist
On Sunday 28th May a band of brothers gathered at the Lanyon Vikings Club in Canberra to play DBA With A Twist. The now internationally renowned Collision Course variant where deployment rules are modified to simulate the accidental encounter of two marching armies was played for the 8th time. Fourteen players competed over 5 rounds. This was an excellent turnout for the cold dark months of Canberra.
Scoring followed the standard form that I have been using since the early 21st Century. The winner scores a flat 8 points, the loser scores 1 point plus 1 point per element killed (to a maximum of 3), with 1 extra point for killing a general and 1 extra point for capturing the baggage. An unfinished game scores the same as a loss, but without the first 1 point for losing. It is possible to score 6 points when losing – however I would love to see a game where a player killed 3 elements, including the general, and captured the baggage but still lost the game.
Round 1 saw foundations of the standings with few upsets. Gary Moriarty rolled over the top of Leigh Dunn’s Lydians with his Spring and Autumn Chinese. Phil Baldoni had a close but comfortable win over Austin Kenney in the Parthian showdown. Peter Spitzkowsky and his Philistines took down Dave Quilty using my New Kingdom Egyptians. Brenton Searle used his Yuan Chinese to school Peter Phelps’ Early Samurai in another of the first round historical matches. Mark Brandon-Baker used his Ottomans to good effect against Mick Sellman’s Italian Condotta where the game hinged on Mark’s high PIP reaction to the Italian littoral landing. Mick could still claim the glory of capturing the Turkish baggage. Adam Stone and his Ming Chinese could claim the Mandate of Heaven after a hard fought win over Nick Rodgers’ Early Tang. Jon Willacy with his knight heavy African Vandal scraped through to a narrow victory against Richard Sisson’s Medieval German.
As the second round matched up the upper and lower end of the table with each other, the games were generally closer, with only two exceptions. Gary Moriarty made short work of Richard Sissons and Nick Rodgers sought redemption with a comprehensive victory over Dave Quilty. Adam Stone defeated Brenton Searle by the narrowest of margins. Jon Willacy once again took the win by the skin of his teeth against Mark Brandon-Baker. Leigh Dunn defeated Peter Phelps in a close fought match. Phil Baldoni snatched victory from Peter Spitzkowsky by the narrowest of margins whilst Mick Sellman managed a close but comfortable win over Austin Kenney.
In Round 3 the field began to narrow, Phil Baldoni comfortably rolled over the top of Adam Stone. Gary Moriarty brought Jon Willacy’s streak to an end in a complex game. Mark Brandon-Baker put himself back in the running with a convincing win over Brenton Searle. Leigh Dunn caused an upset with a surprise victory over Mick Sellman and Richard Sisson defeated Austin Kenney. This was Austin’s third loss in a row with a 3 point score. Peter Phelps and David Quilty fought each other to a standstill as did Peter Spitzkowsky and Nick Rodgers.
Round 4 was the Highlander round as the last two competitors with all victories faced off, there could be only one or so we thought. Phil Baldoni and Gary Moriarty fought long and hard to end with a 3 all draw, there could be only none. This opened up the top three to a number of additional players. Mark Brandon-Baker took down Leigh Dunn whilst Adam Stone hammered Jon Willacy. Mick Sellman gave Richard Sisson a schooling and Brenton Searle likewise convincingly drubbed Peter Spitzkowsky. Nick Rodgers crashed through Peter Phelps and David Quilty turned his luck around with a convincing victory over Austin Kenney.
With the start of Round 5 there were four contenders for first place and easily six for the top 3, more if there were upsets. All eyes were on the Mark Brandon-Baker vs Phil Baldoni and Adam Stone vs Gary Moriarty matches where the top four players faced off. In the periphery Jon Willacy fell to Brenton Searle whilst Mick Sellman made short work of Nick Rodgers. Peter Spitzkowsky ended the competition on a high with a narrow win over Leigh Dunn while Dave Quilty carried on his late streak soundly defeating Richard Sisson. Peter Phelps took down Austin Kenney giving a win at the end and placing Austin at the tail. Mark and Phil threw their lines at each other and a long back and forth push ensued with victory going to Phil in the end when he managed to turn the Ottoman right flank. Adam and Gary appeared to be approaching a stalemate until Gary was able to switch more troops to Adams left and punch through the line.
The final tally saw the scores fall as:
1. Phil Baldoni – II/37 Parthian – 35 points
2. Gary Moriarty – I/32c Western Chou and Spring & Autumn Chinse (Other) – 35 points
3. Mark Brandon-Baker – IV/55b Ottoman – 31 points
4. Brenton Searle – IV/48 Yuan Chinese – 30 points
5. Mick Sellman – IV/61 Italian Condotta – 30 points
6. Adam Stone – IV/73 Ming Chinese – 29 points
7. Leigh Dunn – I/50 Lydian – 24 points
8. Nicholas Rodgers – III/20c Early Tang Chinse (with Central Asian City State allies) – 24 points
9. Jon Willacy – II/84 African Vandal – 23 points
10. David Quilty – I/22a New Kingdom Egyptian – 23 points
11. Peter Spitzkowsky – I/29a Philistine – 22 points
12. Richard Sisson – IV/13b Medieval German – 18 points
13. Peter Phelps – III/55 Early Samurai – 18 points
14. Austin Kenney –II/37 Parthian – 13 points
The Executioner Award for the most kills in a single game went to David Quilty who scored 5 kills against the Medieval Germans in Round 5.
The Magister Militum Prize (aka “The Maurice”) for the highest adjusted score went to Adam Stone and his low rated Ming Chinese who did well punching above their weight, moving from 6th in raw scores to 2nd in adjusted scores.
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 vouchers for the Executioner Award, Magister Militum, 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 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.
There is plenty more DBA events running by 2023
• MOAB in Sydney in October and then
• Landwaster in Canberra the Vikings Club on 27th November.
• Then we are sailing into 2024 and Cancon.
• I am also trying to get a Faux Wintercon DBA up and running later in the year – stay tuned.
So get the lead out – paint it and play DBA
Cheers
