Song For Guy – DBA Celebrating The Life of Guy Sheppard
In May of 2023 the wargaming community here lost one of its great characters and true gentlemen, when Guy Sheppard succumbed to cancer. Guy had been a long time friend of mine and a great supporter of the DBA events I have organised over the years including competing in the first ever Landwaster tournament and winning Landwaster in 2022. A group of 20 players answered gathered in the chill of a Canberra winter at the old Dog Racing Club to celebrate his life with six rounds of DBA. There were a few touching moments as the entries flowed in, with Nick Rodgers using a Samurai army after asking about Guy’s favourite armies, Chris Cameron bringing along a Polynesian army that had originally been one of Guys, and Michael Spitzkowsky entering a Golden Horde army – the army used by Guy when they first played against each other.
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 built the foundations of the leaders, with not much in the way of upsets. Peter Spitzkowsky’s Athenians crashed through Adrian Willam’s South Welsh (borrowed from me) whilst Chris Cameron used Guy’s Polynesians to make short work of David Lucas’ Zanj Revolt (an army he bought from me some years ago). Greg Kelleher’s Early Polish gave Michael Spitzkowsky’s Golden horde a serious schooling and Adam Stone with his Armenians made short work of Jon Willacy’s Parthians in cataphract showdown. Austin Kenney’s Western Chou proved too powerful for the Sumerians commanded by Nigel Webster while Brenton Searles Early Imperial Roman had a predictable win over Mick Callan’s Ancient British. Gary Moriarty using Northern Dynasty Chinese rolled over the top of Tony Cotton’s Sassanids. Mark Brandon-Baker took on Phil Baldoni’s Papal Italian with his Qaramita and managed a close victory. Nick Rodgers and his Samurai had a similar narrow win over Alexander Webster using Free Company. Charmaine Benfield with the Umayyad Arabs fought Stephen Hopkins and his Carolingian Frankish to a draw.
Round 2 commenced sorting out the skilled from the lucky as the Swiss Chess draw system matched players on close scores. Adrian Williams Welsh bowmen overran Alex Webster’s Free Company. Stephen Hopkins came good with a convincing victory over Nigel Webster. Adam Stone rolled over the top of Brenton Searle’s Romans and Austin Kenney schooled Greg Kelleher. David Lucas redeemed himself with a convincing victory over Tony Cotton. Michael Spitzkowsky had a narrow victory over Mick Callan and Nick Rodgers proved too strong for Mark Brandon-Baker in a close fought battle. Charmaine Benfield went head to head with Jon Willacy and came out on top by the narrowest of margins. Gary Moriarty faced off against Chris Cameron in a game of manoeuvre but neither could game an advantage, whilst Peter Spitzkowsky and Phil Baldoni battered against each other’s lines but fell short of a victorious body count.
In Round 3 the field began to narrow. Youth had its fling, with Michael Spitzkowsky crushing his father Peter, whilst Alexander Webster made short work of Jon Willacy. Gary Moriarty easily overran David Lucas. Charmaine Benfield had a convincing win over Chris Cameron. Adrian Williams gave a good showing against Stephen Hopkins but in the end his South Welsh were not up to the task of taking on Carolingians. Similarly Michael Callan’s Ancient British went down swinging against Phil Baldoni and his Papal Italian. Nick Rogers scraped through with a victory against Adam Stone whilst Austin Kenney defeated Mark Brandon-Baker by a whisker. Greg Kelleher took Brenton Searle to the wire, and Nigel Webster’s Sumerian pikes proved too strong for Tony Cotton’s Sassanids.
Round 4 was the Highlander round as the last two undefeated competitors faced off, there could be only one. Austin Kenney fought long and hard, but in the end the Samurai, superbly commanded by Nick Rodgers proved too strong for his Western Chou. Jon Willacy came good with a solid trouncing of Tony Cotton, and Chris Cameron made short work of Peter Spitzkowsiy. Greg Kelleher took a hard fought win over Adam Stone, whilst Mark Baker had a similar result over Brenton Searle. Alexander Webster proved too strong for David Lucas, and Mick Callan crashed through Nigel Webster’s Sumerians. Charmaine Benfield held Gary Moriarty to a low scoring draw, and Phil Baldoni’s Papal Italians could not break Adrian Williams’ South Welsh but also would not give way.
Round 5 saw Nick Rodgers as the one remaining undefeated player, and he kept his position with a very narrow victory over Greg Kelleher. Alexander Webster managed to beat Chris Cameron by a whisker and Charmaine Benfield scraped over Brenton Searle by the narrowest of margins. Michael Spitzkowsky fought long and hard against Gary Moriarty but was beaten in the last minute, however he took down a camp giving him a very high scoring loss. Mick Callan had a solid win over Adrian Williams and Phil Baldoni trounced Jon Willacy in a hard fight. Stephen Hopkins had a very convincing win over Austin Kenney. Tony Cotton rolled right over the top of Peter Spitzkowsky and Mark Brandon-Baker crashed through Adam Stone.
Nick Rodgers went into the final round as the favuorite, with only a major upset able to knock him out of the top spot. All eyes turned to his game, and saw him brought undone by Stephen Hopkins and his Carolingian powerhouse. This threw the whole top 3 into contention and suddenly a the results of a number of key games became crucial. Autin Kenney soundly defeated Alexander Webster and Mark Brandon-Baker gave Greg Kelleher a schooling. Gary Moriarty totally wiped out Mick Callan and Chris Cameron crushed Adam Stone. David Lucas narrowly beat Jon Willacy whilst Adrian Williams cut down Tony Cotton. Peter Spitzkowsky ended on a high note with a convincing win over Nigel Webster. When time was called Charmain Benfield and Michael Spitzkowsky were still fighting as were Brenton Searle and Phil Baldoni.
The final tally saw the scores fall as:
1. Stephen Hopkins – III/28 Carolingian Frankish – 42 points
2. Nick Rodgers – III/55 Early Samurai - 41 points
3. Mark Brandon-Baker – III/54b Qaramita – 40 points
4. Austin Kenney – I/32c Western Chou and Spring & Autumn Chinese (Other) – 37 points
5. Gary Moriarty – II/79a Northern Dynasties Chinese – 35 points
6. Greg Kelleher – III/63b Early Polish – 33 Points
7. Chris Cameron – IV/12c Other Polynesian – 32 points
8. Alexander Webster – IV/74 Free Company – 31 points
9. Michael Spitzkowsky – IV/47 Golden Horde and Successors – 28 points
10. Charmaine Benfield – III/31 Umayyad Arab – 28 points
11. David Lucas – III/50 Zanj Revolt – 28 points
12. Adrian Williams – III/19b South Welsh – 26 points
13. Michael Callan – II/55 Ancient British – 26 points
14. Adam Stone – II/28b Early Armenian (Other) – 25 points
15. Phil Baldoni – III/77 Papal Italian – 25 Points
16. Brenton Searle – II/56 Early Imperial Roman – 24 points
17. Peter Spitzkowsky – II/5b Later Hoplite Greek (Athenian) – 23 points
18. Jon Willacy – II/37 Parthian – 22 points
19. Tony Cotton – II/69a Sassanid Persian – 19 points
20. Nigel Webster –I/1b Early Sumerian – 18 points
The Executioner Award for the most kills in a single game went to Austin Kenney who opened the competition with scored 7 kills against the Nigel Webster’s Early Sumerians in Round 1.
The Magister Militum Prize (aka “The Maurice”) for the highest adjusted score went to Adrian Williams whose adjusted score moved him from 12th to second place.
The “Scalphunter Award” presented by Ocker Games for killing the most generals went to David Lucas after a 5 way dice off to determine which of the players (all of whom had killed 1 general) would walk away with the prize.
We raised $250 from a portion of the entry fees and donations by the players, which added to some sales of Guy’s gear since last year allowed us to donate $750 to the Cancer Council in his name.
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 second and third place and by honouring Guy’s own Landwaster 2022 voucher allowed me to present the victor with a Hawaiian army.
• 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 Army for the Magister Miliutm Prize
• Chris Cameron of Ocker Games - Ocker games who provided the “Scalphunter” award.
• Dean Bedlington of Olympian Games -
www.olympiangames.com.au/ who donated vouchers for the Executioner Award and Last Place.
• 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 2024
• MOAB in Sydney in October and then
• Landwaster in Canberra the Vikings Club on 24th November.
• Then we are sailing into 2025 and Cancon.
And Song for Guy will be back for next year along with my other events.
So get the lead out – paint it and play DBA
Cheers