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Post by peteduckworth on Aug 2, 2024 11:09:52 GMT
9am?! That would mean me leaving home at 7.00am
I'm out on Saturday night & highly unlikely to be getting up at 6.15am on Sunday!
Sorry, you had best count me out.
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Post by berkeley on Aug 3, 2024 8:37:17 GMT
9.30 start everybody .
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Post by proximocoal on Aug 3, 2024 8:59:12 GMT
Any chance of a last minute attendee?
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Post by peteduckworth on Aug 3, 2024 10:30:28 GMT
But earlier you said "Anyone arriving after 9.00 will have to anticipate a delay at the doors ."!
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Post by gonatas on Aug 3, 2024 16:37:02 GMT
“I say Ipho” said a voice from outside the tent, “Could you use an extra hand from me and my chaps?”
It was at just that moment that the sun broke through the rainclouds and lit up the valleys in all their glistening glory and that a choir of heavenly angels (male voice with a beautiful tenor line) sang their delight in the ears of Iphone ap Caradog ap Gruffyydd ap Llewellyn ap etc etc, King of Ceredigion, heir to the throne of Arthur and all round good egg. (When his mother asked his father if he had to have so many names she was told by the King that his little Iphone could not have too many Aps. It would be many years before anybody understood what he was talking about}.
“My dear Humphrey” he said, springing from his travelling bed to embrace his friend, “could you do that for me?” Humphrey was Ipho’s boyhood English friend from the Valley next door. Strictly speaking Humphrey was Ipho’s Feudal English friend but, because they were such good friends, he didn't insist on the formalities.
Iphone, or Ipho to his friends, had, for a while, been mulling over putting a Welsh team into the Thornbury Four Nations Tournament. Actually it was a six nation tournament as Italy and Israel were also allowed to enter teams, but the important countries would be England, Scotland, Ireland and, if he could enter, Wales. The problem was Ipho’s lads were all a bit light on their feet. They could shoot and run around alright but Iphone doubted that they could do much against all the heavyweight foot they were likely to meet. He was thinking that he would have to put off entering at all until Humphrey popped his head round the tent door and offered his help. A few Knights would be just the ticket.
“You’d have to come as Allies, mind” he told his friend. “We cannot have you in Welsh jerseys”.
“No bother at all old chap, pleased to be of help. By the way, are there any French coming? We would really like to have a pop at them”
“They might be there with an accredited visitors ticket but they cannot be treated as a home team. Just like the Romans, Vikings and, for some reason, Egyptians and Syrians. Anyway with you on board I reckon we can take on all comers. Now, this is how we will play it.”
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Post by diades on Aug 3, 2024 17:41:26 GMT
“I say Ipho” said a voice from outside the tent, “Could you use an extra hand from me and my chaps?” It was at just that moment that the sun broke through the rainclouds and lit up the valleys in all their glistening glory and that a choir of heavenly angels (male voice with a beautiful tenor line) sang their delight in the ears of Iphone ap Caradog ap Gruffyydd ap Llewellyn ap etc etc, King of Ceredigion, heir to the throne of Arthur and all round good egg. (When his mother asked his father if he had to have so many names she was told by the King that his little Iphone could not have too many Aps. It would be many years before anybody understood what he was talking about}. “My dear Humphrey” he said, springing from his travelling bed to embrace his friend, “could you do that for me?” Humphrey was Ipho’s boyhood English friend from the Valley next door. Strictly speaking Humphrey was Ipho’s Feudal English friend but, because they were such good friends, he didn't insist on the formalities. Iphone, or Ipho to his friends, had, for a while, been mulling over putting a Welsh team into the Thornbury Four Nations Tournament. Actually it was a six nation tournament as Italy and Israel were also allowed to enter teams, but the important countries would be England, Scotland, Ireland and, if he could enter, Wales. The problem was Ipho’s lads were all a bit light on their feet. They could shoot and run around alright but Iphone doubted that they could do much against all the heavyweight foot they were likely to meet. He was thinking that he would have to put off entering at all until Humphrey popped his head round the tent door and offered his help. A few Knights would be just the ticket. “You’d have to come as Allies, mind” he told his friend. “We cannot have you in Welsh jerseys”. “No bother at all old chap, pleased to be of help. By the way, are there any French coming? We would really like to have a pop at them” “They might be there with an accredited visitors ticket but they cannot be treated as a home team. Just like the Romans, Vikings and, for some reason, Egyptians and Syrians. Anyway with you on board I reckon we can take on all comers. Now, this is how we will play it.” “I used to have to go as far as Cardiff to see the boys from four Welsh valleys beat each other up with an odd shaped ball on Judgement day. It seems we need only go as far as Thornbury now. Let’s load up the longship with raiders and visit.” Olaf (and laf and laf, til heads roll off!)
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Post by proximocoal on Aug 3, 2024 17:42:04 GMT
Right Mush, if we're playing we'll make sure an' be bang tidy
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Post by berkeley on Aug 3, 2024 17:47:26 GMT
All the wecome ,late night entries fine . So ,you are playing , British or English enemy
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Post by berkeley on Aug 3, 2024 18:00:46 GMT
Any chance of a last minute attendee? Absolutey
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Post by menacussecundus on Aug 4, 2024 7:38:46 GMT
Good luck to all: the early-bookers; the last minute entrants; and anyone who had a heavy night last night.
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Post by martin on Aug 4, 2024 18:08:11 GMT
Looking forward to the reports, when you generals return to base 🙂⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️
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Post by gonatas on Aug 4, 2024 19:20:27 GMT
Well. That went well" said Humphrey. He and Ipho were relaxing, both with a glass of wine, and reflecting on the five battles they had just been engaged in. Ipho was never going to fall out with his (Feudal) English friend, but there was something on his mind and he had to say it. "We did well bach. Do you think though we might have done a bit better if you and your lads had actually got stuck in a bit? No offence meant, it is just for my future reference like, but I think only one if your guys ever charged anybody throughout the whole campaign". "You know, Ipho old bean, I think you are right now I come to think about it. Still we were a top notch threat in being all day. Who knows what a psychological effect we had on everybody. How did we do in the end?" "Well we managed to beat a Feudal English Army by shooting better than them" "It is all about skill" said Humphrey sagely. "We then lost to a 100 years War Army who shot better than we did". "Sometimes you need a bit of luck" said Humphrey, sagely. "Then those Ancient British types overextended a bit and lost a few warbands when they took on our Auxilia and got flanked". " We could have been useful there" said Humphrey " but we were very threatening elsewhere, which I think proved very helpful in the overall scheme of things". "And then we saw off Richard III....." "I thought we used that central hill very well to keep out of the way of that infernal artillery piece while your archers skilfully shot away the opposing bowmen" enthused Humphrey, "and what a glorious bit of support we gave when you charged in to finish those longbowmen off". "Hmm" said Iphor, who was a touch miffed that he had had to charge the bow himself while rather his heavily armoured and supposedly ferocious neighbour who otherwise had done nothing but act as a threat in being throughout the whole game. "And then" said Ipho, still amazed at having had to fight every battle away despite having an aggression factor of 1 "having invaded our way throughout the whole of England all day, in the top table final scrap, we ended up turning round and invading Martin ap Myers of Glamorgan with an almost identical army who was being helped...." "Yes, I know. I thought I saw cousin Rupert with a few of his chaps acting as a threat in being behind the wood in the middle.." "It was just a shame that he was threatening us" said Ipho resignedly. "Anyway, his archers managed to shoot our archers away...." "Oh, bad luck" said Humphrey "We were so close to getting involved too - we were just a bound away and rareing to go. We would have had em!" " You are so right boyo. If only...."
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Post by colinthehittite on Aug 4, 2024 23:21:20 GMT
I took Feudal French (IV/4b) to the very British sounding “Thornbury”; one of the few non-British entries. It was an opportunity to legitimately field a scratch-built model of castle Queribus. There were no Cathars in sight, but a lot of Welsh longbowmen turned up. In fact, there were a huge number of Welsh longbowmen represented in the armies of the day.
My morning went well, (after finally being allowed to enter the venue, “No DBA on my list!” was my welcome at the door) exchanging blows with Middle Romans, Wars of the Roses and Hundred Years War English armies. After the lunch break the Welsh turned up at Queribus and upset the party followed by Ancient British warbands who barely broke stride as they scythed through the flower of French chivalry. It was almost five ones against five sixes and my opponent was in hysterics, although I didn’t quite see the funny side of it. Still, it gave me half an hour to wander around the huge plastic modelling show. Who knew there were so many grey-haired men beavering away at their plastic models in preparation for showtime renown. It was not a great DBA turnout in this holiday season, and I would have preferred six games rather than five, particularly after getting up at 5.30am and driving for over two hours, but I had some excellent games against worthy opponents.
Thank you, Keith, for putting this on and I hope you didn’t mind me butting in to help with the organisation. The scoring system seemed to work this year. When prizes were being awarded the noise in the cavernous hall made it difficult to hear anything so I would be pleased to see a list of armies in attendance… final positions and point scores…best armies etc.
Sign me up for next year. Colin
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Post by proximocoal on Aug 5, 2024 6:51:59 GMT
I took early Welsh (iii/29a I think?) with Viking allies
I thought about trying Wenglish for this, be glad I didn't 😝
First game against John S saw me fight against 100yw English. The Vikings rebuffed the knights early, giving me a fighting chance but not enought to seal the deal 3/4 loss
Next game against Stephen before he heads off for sunnier pastures. Mirror match, but with no cav general or viking allies. This was made up for when he was able to hold the high ground. Close fought game, but the dice favoured me this time, 5/4 win
Next up I fought Martin, who bought South Welsh with Feudal English allies? Essentially I got a bit keen with my warband and the English showed why the Welsh switched to bows. 4-0 loss
Next I fought Gareth, coming all the way from Japan! A surprise enemy of the Ayubids (enemy of Richard III) the Welsh were looking strong until my general took an arrow to the eye. Several bounds of no moves meant the Ayubids quickly made a comeback, but Gareth's dice betrayed him at the last second and he just couldn't get the final kill. 4-2g loss
Final game against Keith saw me fight against the White company. I tried to make a cheeky early swipe at psiloi in the wood, but fast blade double backed to sort out the trouble makers. In order to manage this he did push a column of 3 knights forward, getting in piles of trouble, though 1 escaped. At last knights on the other flank flattened the vikings making it a 4-2 loss.
Had a good time with great folks. Hope I can make the next one.
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Post by diades on Aug 5, 2024 10:52:51 GMT
Well, after the great gonatas had given away my game plan...great minds etc...
I took southern Welsh with Feudal English allies. I chose a cavalry general with the full monty of 8 fast Longbows, allied to 3 units of English knights.
First up...my reserve choice of Ancient Britons with EIR allies, under the command of Andrew Avery, emerging from the woods. My plan was to tackle him at the edge of the woods, where his double ranks would not count and mop up any break-throughs with the knights. The warband general pushed and pushed bows. Rear ranks came into play, flanks were turned, but still, push..push..push. The knights were eager to step in, but the bows resolutely kept recoiling. Eventually the British chieftain decided to turn 90 degrees and push the hard flank recoiler across the board, at least it was away from the knights. Finally the bows' recall was blocked and British chieftain cut them to ribbons to seal what had been a close and entertaining game lost 4-2.
Next up, Richard Pulley's Feudal English. The English sent a party forwards on their right towards some woods, but we're mobbed and sent packing back to difficult hill protection by Welsh longbows. The longbow advanced on both flanks and had a pretty good time of the shoot offs. The one shot the English crossbows managed against their treacherous knight opponents alone was successful. Much carnage. A 4-1 Welsh victory with 2 hordes destroyed to boot!
Third against proximocoal's early Welsh and vikings. As he describes...the Warbands came out of the woods, the English knights charged...game over!
After lunch, against Colin's Feudal French, fielding a very impressive fort. Longbows advanced on each flank and had a better time of shooting than the English. The blade garrison sallied forth and chopped up a unit of longbows, but the Welsh were well endowed with PIPs and brought knights to bear in the centre and continued to shoot well for a 4-1 victory.
Finally gonatas' mirror army. A diagonal of terrain across the middle of the board, difficult hill, difficult hill, wood, hamlet. Gonatas had two auxilia and six longbow. 3 bow and the auxilia advanced into the wood. I felt compelled to take the fight to them in the bad going when the bows were ahead of the auxilia before I was overpowered. Much combat. My remaining bows advanced on the left, whilst the enemy knights advanced towards the hamlet to turn the tide. My luck was greater for an entertaining 4-2 victory.
A grand day out. Sleep deprived. Noisy, but plenty to look around. Many historic match ups. A great bunch of fellow competitors and well run by Keith.
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