|
|
Post by paulisper on Oct 13, 2024 7:35:24 GMT
Today's the day. Good luck to the two dozen (or however many it turns out to be in the end). And to the big three going head to head in the league finale 🏆😎 P |
|
|
|
Post by pawsbill on Oct 13, 2024 17:33:52 GMT
Thanks to the 20 who played. Full results to follow, but top 4 were as follows:
Champion - Martin Myers
Runner-up - Richard Pulley
3rd place - Pete Duckworth
4th place - Ivan Djokic
|
|
|
|
Post by hodsopa on Oct 13, 2024 18:07:00 GMT
Congratulations to Martin (who must surely also win the SoA league) and to all the top four. Thanks to Bill and Lindon for organising and Martin for the venue and warm welcome to Alton. A pleasurable day indeed.
Paul H
|
|
|
|
Post by allnewstevie on Oct 13, 2024 19:07:09 GMT
Seconded, a good day's gaming, many thanks all. Congratulations to Martin (who must surely also win the SoA league) and to all the top four. Thanks to Bill and Lindon for organising and Martin for the venue and warm welcome to Alton. A pleasurable day indeed. Paul H |
|
|
|
Post by martin on Oct 13, 2024 19:27:08 GMT
Good to see all the twenty most excellent gamers today + Many thanks to Bill and Lindon for running the admin and doing that so very well indeed.
Congrats to Martin, Richard, Pete and Ivan for their top rankings. Well done you lot!
Just as a taster, here’s a list of the players and their army choices. The group stages were based on the approximate chronological midpoint date of the players’ respective armies..
English Open 2024 Players…
Stephen Etheridge…New Kingdom Egyptian (a)
John Saunders ……..Later Hittite Imperial
Ivan Djokic…………….Lydian
Paul Hodson………….Early Achaemenid Persian (c)
Andy Davies………….Republican Indian
Mark Kulke…………….Bosporan
Martin Myers…………Galatians
Mark Skelton…………Arabo-Aramaeans, Edessa
Paul Clair………………Later Imperial Roman (East)
Colin O’Shea…………Chinese Northern Dynasties
Martin Smith…………Tamil Indian
Pete Duckworth…….Qaramita
Andrew Avery………..Cilician Armenian
Paddy Myers…………Scots Common
Matt Bennett…………Palaiologan Byzantine
Colin Cox………………Medieval German (b)
Neil Mason……………Lithuanian
Peter Phipps………….Moldovan
Peter Ellis………………French Ordonnance
Richard Pulley……….Medieval Spanish (e).
|
|
|
|
Post by martin on Oct 13, 2024 20:58:07 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by colinthehittite on Oct 14, 2024 7:09:19 GMT
Chawton is without doubt one of the prettiest of England’s villages. With cars airbrushed out of the scene we might have imagined ourselves in Jane Austen’s gentle Regency Hampshire. A serene idyl soon to be shattered by coarse male voices emanating from the village hall with the likes of, “That’s dead!” and “Not another six one!” I can almost see an amusing Hampshire Chronicle minor article desperately inserted to pad out the lack of news from a quiet weekend…
What about the games I hear you say? Well, despite the organiser having car problems on the way to the venue, lieutenants frantically generated a matrix in his absence and games got under way pretty much on time without preamble. A commendable feat, so well done guys. As their blood pressure readings returned to normal, we got on with what we came for – tabletop carnage! I suspect we had minimal game time as there were a few draws – I suffered the frustration of one myself but had some excellent games against a wide range of armies. For those of us not lucky to have made the finals there was a sixth game.
The end came all too quickly for me. In danger of upsetting the sensibilities of the Alton Christian Spiritualist Church group due to arrive at the village hall PROMPTLY at 5.00pm the players were herded towards a hasty prize giving and ushered out the side door, others perhaps like me, smiling sweetly at any locals peering through gaps in the car park hedge. The organisers probably breathed a sigh of relief as they cleaned up and scuttled to their cars. Another great DBA event conducted with minimal collateral damage.
|
|
|
|
Post by paulisper on Oct 14, 2024 7:27:49 GMT
Congratulations to Martin (who must surely also win the SoA league) and to all the top four. Thanks to Bill and Lindon for organising and Martin for the venue and warm welcome to Alton. A pleasurable day indeed. Paul H Once the final results are posted, I’ll update the final league standings and announce the overall 23/24 season positions 😁 P |
|
|
|
Post by martin on Oct 14, 2024 8:29:41 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by pawsbill on Oct 14, 2024 20:26:20 GMT
Thanks to the 20 who played. Full results to follow, but top 4 were as follows: Champion - Martin Myers Runner-up - Richard Pulley 3rd place - Pete Duckworth 4th place - Ivan Djokic And the remaining placings were... 5th - Martin Smith 6th - Mark Skelton 7th - Paddy Myers 8th - Peter Phipps 9th - John Saunders 10th - Colin O'Shea 11th - Andy Davies 12th - Peter Ellis 13th - Andrew Avery 14th - Mark Kulke 15th - Neil Mason 16th - Matthew Bennett 17th - Paul Hodson 18th - Paul Clair 19th - Steven Etheridge 20th - Colin Cox |
|
|
|
Post by martin on Oct 14, 2024 21:01:32 GMT
Thanks to the 20 who played. Full results to follow, but top 4 were as follows: Champion - Martin Myers Runner-up - Richard Pulley 3rd place - Pete Duckworth 4th place - Ivan Djokic And the remaining placings were... 5th - Martin Smith 6th - Mark Skelton 7th - Paddy Myers 8th - Peter Phipps 9th - John Saunders 10th - Colin O'Shea 11th - Andy Davies 12th - Peter Ellis 13th - Andrew Avery 14th - Mark Kulke 15th - Neil Mason 16th - Matthew Bennett 17th - Paul Hodson 18th - Paul Clair 19th - Steven Etheridge 20th - Colin Cox Thanks Bill 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼. |
|
|
|
Post by martin on Oct 14, 2024 21:41:37 GMT
My day at the English DBA Open (…after the initial runaround of setting up!) consisted of five games. I took Tamil Indian II/42b, as it’s a tough army which I don’t think I’d used at a tournament since version 3 of DBA was published in 2014-15. The army list was:- Elephant riding general, 2 more elephants, three fast Valpera swordsmen (3Bd), three light-footed archer units (3Bw), one of cavalry, one of skirmish foot and a single warband. The army has ‘low aggression rating’, so usually defends and picks the type of battlefield. My games were:- 1. Against Pete D.’s camelly Qaramita. We defended, and Pete chose to fight from an open side of the field, with a small wood in his front. Qaramita light horse threatened, but were mobbed by warband and cavalry, and then the elephants and swordsmen closed on Pete’s main line and started trampling stuff. The resulting grinding match went very much the Tamils’ way, for a 4-0 score. 2. Facing Palaiologan Byzantines, commanded by Matt B. We again ‘defended’, approaching a relatively inert Byzantine force (low activation dice) across an open battlefield. Byzantine shooting failed to halt the Tamil advance, but ‘time’ was called just before the crunch…nightfall perhaps 🙃. Winning draw 1-0. 3. Fighting the Scots Common Army of Paddy M., next. The Scots pikemen massed to the clearer side of a patch of woodland and villages which were controlled by his warbands and archers. After the Tamil elephant corps closed on the Scots pikes, the initial success and breakthrough of the Tamil leader saw him and his elephants pursue headlong deep into Scots-held territory. Here he was duly surrounded and skewered (see pic 😁). The Scots now rallied and fought hard, their knights rolling over the now leaderless Tamil swordsmen. However, a lucky command roll (4 PIPs) allowed a remaining elephant unit to charge the Scots knight general, who died beneath the feet of the rampaging pachyderms. A very bloody and closely fought 4g to 2g win for the Tamils. Phew…….  4. The Tamils now unwisely invaded the hills of Cilician Armenia, to meet Andrew A.’s knights, spearmen, archers and hillmen. The highlight of this game was the destruction of all three Tamil swordsmen units by Andrew’s much lighter troops, on open ground between steep hills and woods. (Perhaps the swordsmen were exhausted from fighting the Scots 😶). The elephants’ assault had some successes, and the Tamil warband got lucky against Armenian spearmen, but eventually the day was lost - a 5-3 win to Andrew’s Cilicians. 5. Having not progressed to the semi-finals, my final game of the day saw the Tamils defend against Stephen E.’s New Kingdom Egyptians. Egyptian light chariots and Indian bowmen threatened each other ineffectually on the Tamil right, while the main action developed in the centre. Stout Egyptian massed archers did a fine job, halting the Tamil grey-skinned beasties, and causing consternation and confusion in the Indian ranks. For a while it looked like the Pharaoh would soon be carving victory reliefs back home, showing his kopesh-wielding warriors taking and counting Tamil hands. However, fate decided otherwise, and a Tamil resurgence led to a sudden and unexpected Egyptian collapse. 5-2 to the Tamils, but far closer than the score suggests. An enjoyable day against fine opponents. Thanks to all I played for the exciting and varied games…. challenging camels, hairy hillmen, massed Egyptians, decadent Byzantines, fiery Scots. 😁 |
|
|
|
Post by peteduckworth on Oct 15, 2024 6:22:53 GMT
Thanks to the organising team. To my six delightful opponents. Congratulations to Martin on his thoroughly deserved victory (apologies for my failure to provide as much as a road bump in our semi final game!.
I was hugely impressed by the variety and quality of the armies that the contestants had brought. Some beautifully painted figures sumptuous base camps and ingenious pieces of terrain. Well done everyone.
|
|
|
|
Post by martin on Oct 15, 2024 6:44:03 GMT
> I was hugely impressed by the variety and quality of the armies that the contestants had brought. Some beautifully painted figures sumptuous base camps and ingenious pieces of terrain. Well done everyone. There certainly were, Pete….lots of well presented armies and NO duplicates 👍🏼✔️✔️✔️🙂 |
|
|
|
Post by diades on Oct 16, 2024 21:10:18 GMT
Huge thanks to Lindon, Bill and Martin for running an excellent event.
I took Ii/30b Galatians. A general in a light chariot, 2 cavalry, a unit of mail clad solid blades, 6 naked warriors (solid warband), a lone psiloi element and a stolen scythed chariot. I deliberately chose the high aggression period and expected to attack often.
First up, knight heavy Bosporans, on a bowling Green narrowed by a waterway. The mounted contingent charged up the right flank, with blade trailing…The Bosporans were phenomenally well endowed with PIPs; I was not. Fortunately that reversed spectacularly when my advance hit home and the Bosporan left wing collapsed before my advance could be enclosed, or my warband lurking in reserve be attacked.
Second, Iinvaded Edessan territory. The opposition deployed between a spectacular fort and a difficult hill. I refused the open right flank and deployed in and behind dunes. The plan was to advance up the left and take bows with warband. Enemy camelry made a nuisance of themselves in the dunes and fighting on the hill was largely inconclusive. A 1-1 draw. It would have been a lengthy fun game to conclude.
Third, I defended with Chinese Northern Dynasty invaders. A central wood was dominant. I deployed in depth centrally, with mounted to the fore. The Chinese advanced bows through the wood, forcing my mounted troops to split wide. The bows pursued my general across the field leaving him and accompanying cavalry little choice but to engage. Fortunately the bows were trampled. The Chinese majority were now threatening him. Cagey exchanges centre field with warband using the wood, followed by the scythed chariot crossing from the left to despatch a knight before being destroyed. At 3-3 for a while…a very exciting game, which I just scraped the 4-3 victory.
Fourth, a largely open field against later Hittites. The Hittites anchored their right ina small wood. The Galatians deployed to their own right to avoid an overlap…the galatians’ 3 sets of double rank versus the Hittite 2ndouble rank pikes…Low PIPs all round…the galatianmounted right charged again. This time the scythed chariot self destructed on impact leaving the Galatian general fearfully exposed. The Hittite heavy chariot thundered through and closed the gate, but advanced a single pike to cover its flank. The Galatian general was lucky and the loan pike duly despatched by warband. The Galatian right then had luck in the right places and it was the Hittite leader on the rails for another Galatian victory all quite quickly.
3 wins and a draw on only their second outing…a good day.
The finals with Aztecs. I am coming to love fast hordes! A pity I don’t own any of my own. Perhaps next year’s Alton event is a target to rectify that :-)
|
|
