As usual after a weekend at Britcon I am drained physically and mentally. The
adrenalin rush is gone and the fleeting chance at the top has gone for another
year.

But it was a great weekend and I got to meet up with some old and new faces.
Have a good laugh, drink some nice Port (thanks Richard) and play 7 jolly decent
games of MM against delightful opponents.

Obviously well done to Jan/Greg/Niall.
Greg has been granted honourary Wolfpack Gibson status for his salutory lessons
in surfacing :)

Ok game wise I was using a hastily put together Navarrese list.
IIRC
Command 1 CinC IrrKnO, 5 x IrrKnS, 2 x IrrKnO
Command 2 SubG IrrKnO, 14 x IrrAxS, 2 x IrrSpO, 4 x IrrPsS
Command 3 SubG IrrKnO, 12 x IrrAxS, 2 x IrrKnO
Command 4 AllG RegKnI, 3 x RegKnI, 6 x RegBwS, 2 x IrrBwO, 4 x IrrPsS

Game 1 I was drawn against Richard Aynsley last years winner using a warband
Vietnamese monster. Not and ideal draw as every game I have ever fought against
Richard has been an absolute ding dong with a good degree of mutual respect on
each side.
On my left flank I had a scrub hill to deploy on opposite a difficult hill that
Richard had. The middle was open and the right flank had some terrain but played
no real part in the battle.
I deployed from left to right Cmd2,Cmd4,Cmd3 with cmd 1 behind Cmd3. Opposite
Command 1 in the difficult hill was an AG with AxO and PsO.
Opposite Command 2 was a mainly BwI command but with supporting bolt shooter and
a couple of warbandand some Ps. Opposite my command 3 was more warband than you
could shake a big stick at and 2 elephants. Richard also had another command of
Bw facing nothing.

The game started early with an early morning sneak attack by myslef in Spring so
a couple of turns of 80p forward movement.
Then I advanced my whole army quickly to engage all along the front.
At the time I reckoned my left flank could crush Richard's ally and the English
could see off the BwI and was hoping that my Ax with the cream of Navarrese
Knights in reserve behind vs his warband would hold it up long enough for my
left wing to get into it.

As it turned out the dice gods were playing fast and loose with Richard and his
initail downhill charge with the ally evaporated almost in the 1 turn. Even at 5
vs 2 his bolt shooter could not kill an English bow so it wasn't long before
they piled the pressure on to that command.Meanwhile in the centre my AxS were
killing lots of warband for very little pay back. Then on a particulary bad turn
Richard's pips deserted one of his warband Generals who came rushing on.
Fortunately I had enough pips to get a PsS in the front and side.
A 2 vs 2 which saw that General go down at the same time as the Ally broke which
broke the Bw command and the big warband command all in 1 turn. The remaining Bw
command of the Vitnamese not playing much part at all. So a 23 to 2 to me in a
game that I was probably expecting to be close to a mutual destruction because
we were both going for the straight up fight.

Next game was against Gordon with Abbasids and after the last one was a bit of
an anti climax. A River cut through my deployemnt at about the centre point of
my table edge. Then roughly on the centre of the battlefield was a bua and to
the right and towards Gordon's table edge was some rough going. I set up in the
same order as before to the right of the river. I advanced my army and wheeled
to my left and then advanced with my left flank on the river bank my centre now
facing the bua and my right facing the rough going. The manouvering took a while
and we had a running fight with some Lh on my right flank with quite a few LH
dying but not enough to worry Gordon as they were part of the dancing CvS
command in his centre behind the bua. The English took the bua as the game ended
killing a few bow and Ps that had made it hard going. On the left my AxS
struggled against some SpO and SpI although I was about to chance my Knight
reserve into the spear as my Ax were close to disheartening. A disappointing 13
to 12 for me.

Next game was against Jan and I had some rough hills slightly on my side that I
thouht I could get to first. Deployment was as before.
However Jan had a night attack and got a couple of moves in before he tiggered
my ambush in the centre hill. He deployed well with most of his army facing my
right hand Ax command. This meant a long wheel to get my left hand Ax and the
English into the game. I made a mistake in this one and it cost me. I decided to
contest the middle hill hoping to hold Jan long enough for my left wing to get
round. I should have left a couple of Ax to slow him down which I did consider
and decided against as I knew that if I had done that we would have danced the
hours away. As it was the game ended just after my AxS had broken and I had done
a little damage to Jan's right flank of warband and Ax. The game ended 14 to 11
in Jan's favour.

Game 4 , the third on Saturday and normally the one when you are at your lowest
ebb and starting to flag so joy of joys I had the number 1 seed Ian Austin using
Hittites. Normally our affairs can be a bit nippy, 2 Scots away from home vying
for bragging rights and all that.
Anyway we had an excellent fast moving game.

Terrain fell kindly for both of us. Mostly open in Ian's half of the table. On
my side I had a difficult hill just left of centre then about a 3 base gap to a
rough hill in the centre and then a base gap to another rough hill then a large
gap to a rough hill on my right flank. Various bits of difficult and rough in
the rear of my deployment area as well.

Ian deployed an Ally Gen of CvO and Ax on my extreme left opposite the difficult
hill then to the right of that as I looked at it some PkF and more Cv chariots.
Then to the right of that some BdF and a big line of CvS and O and KnO chariots.
His 4th command was further to his rear and to the right of this as I looked at
it again with a mix of Cv and Kn chariots. Liberally spread around most of the
commands was a good quantity of Ps.
So and you should know my deployment by now, Cmd 2 at the rough hill in the
centre, the English to the right at the next rough hill with the cmd 3 Ax to the
right in the open backed up by the Normans. If I remember correctly Ian swung a
right hook with his Agen supported by PkF and BdF. Held in the centre and swong
out on the other flank as well. I responded by advancing onto the 2 hill with my
left Ax command and the English in the centre. I then swung out to the right
with the Ax and advanced as quickly as possible leaving a gap for my Knights to
ride into and threatening Ian's centre Cv. They subsequently rode away allowing
me to bring my English off the hill into the centre. Meanwhile my Ax on the left
deployed into a better defensive position on the hill waiting Ian's attack but
it never came as it withdrew. Meanwhile on the right flank my Ax clashed with
Ian's mixed command of KnO,CvS and CvO. Ian killed a couple of Ax and I evened
with a dead CvS, lots of back and forwards. I then rashly took my KnO general
through my Ax to kill a CvS but forgot about the follow up which took me away
from my flank cover and exposed him to a front and flank from Ian. Fortunately
he survived and by now my own Knights were now threatening Ian's and prolonging
my Ax line.
Time was now pressing and my Ax command was close to disheartening but so was
Ian's and on what turned out to be the last combats of the game he had allowed
me to front and flank his General which unlike Ian I killed which broke that
command. Result was a 15 - 10 to me and a good end to the day.

Game 5 was now against John Fletcher and his Seleucid. I ended up attacking and
chose a couple of rough hills, for some reason that still escapes John went for
sand dunes,2 difficult hill and bua. It nearly all ended up on the one half of
the battlefield. John put a sand dune at the middle of my table edge. That was
my flnk secure then. He then had a difficult hill on his right table edge and
probably on the centre line. The bua to the right of that and another hill to
the right of that all close together. I was fortunate and had a rough hill
opposite the bua with a 4 element gap between that and the sand dunes.
John deployed his pike on the open half of the board and his Ally and AxS
elements in the bua and hill on his side of the board. I deployed , well you
should know how I deployed by now. No actually you shouldn't because I changed
it. My knights deployed behind the English with AxS on their left flank and AxS
in the dunes on their right flank. We had a bit of manouver as John rushed 2 ax
forward to slow my march towards his ally and big pips on his first rolls
allowed him to do that. He advanced on his left but his left did not fancy the
bds/bws combo on my hill with AxS waiting to pounce out of the sand dune to an
exposed flank if he attacked my hill. These were also backed up by my Norman
Knights and 3 dismounted knights from its own command. Meanwhile we had a little
skirmish in the bua which looked like it was starting to swing my way but the
game ended in a 13 -12 to me.

So to game 6. Last game and sitting 4th behind Niall in 3rd. So sure enough it
was me vs Niall. Jan and Dave about 10 points ahead on the next table. Terrain
was minimal some on my left flank which meant I did not need to worry about a
flank march and the only other significant piece was a gentle hill in the centre
on Nialls side of the table. I set up in my usual position Ax 4 wide and deep
Bd/bwS 4wide and then Ax 4 wide and deep with the Knights behind. As I was
facing the Alans and new he had just 4 lots of LH and would be able to circle me
I rested my left flank on the terrain to my left and planned to swing right
expanding as I went so that I marched long ways down the board hopefully denying
Niall the space to get round and into gaps. The biggest blow in this game was
attacking and then doubling Niall which meant deploying first. Fortunately Niall
put his troops were I expected so I did as planned. Niall held a coomand of LH
on the hill and advanced 2 others 1 towards my centre and 1 to my right flank.
We were both up for the fight and my outer left Ax charged up the hill at the
pip poor Alans on the hill. Meanwhile my right hand Ax had engaged 2 commands of
Alans and held them up long enough for my Knights to get into the fray. Heavy
fighting on the flank saw my right hand and Nialls left hand command quickly
dishearten. Then my Ax broke and if Niall had killed 2 knights at the same time,
the Knights would have broke probably taking the army. My turm and I needed 1
LHs and 2 from the other command to break him.
Time was called and we did not get to see if I could break him.
14 to 11 for Niall.

The fleeting chance snatched away by an early whistle.

All great opponents and fine games. Thanks to all.