> I would like to echo the positive comments that have been made about last weekend's DBMM tournament at Britcon. As a first time attendee I was not quite sure what to expect, but having been there would certainly not hesitate to recommend the event. I would especially like to thank all six of my opponents for providing challenging yet convivial opposition, as well as umpire Geoff Pearson and list checker Dave Mather for their hard work.

>

> FWIW, here's a brief account of my six games. I used a Sui Chinese army as follows:

>

> C1 (28ME): Reg Cv (S) C-in-C, 3 x Reg Cv (S), 2 x Reg Cv (O), 5 x Irr LH (S), 2  x Reg LH (F), 6 x Reg Bw (O), 2 x Reg Ps (O)

> C2: (24 ME) Reg Cv (S) Sub, 3 x Reg Kn (X), 2  x Reg LH (F), 2 x Reg Cv (O), 4 x DBEs of Reg Bw (X/O), 2 Reg Bw (X), 4 x Reg Ps (O)

> C3: (14 ME): Reg Kn (X) Sub, 4 x Reg Kn (X).

> C4 (2ME): 4 x Reg Bg (I)

>

> The basic idea was to take a Kn (X) army as a counter to the large numbers of Cv (S) armies I expected to encounter. In the event however, this strategy backfired when match ups went badly for me. I drew three of the four participating Kn (S) armies (I got all three Assyrian armies), but only one of the nine Cv (S) armies. I also got the Sumer (masses of Pk (X), which was't great. Anyway, having made my excuses in advance, here's a brief account of my six games.

>

> Round 1 - Vs Bill Skinner Neo-Assyrian Empire

> While this was my highest score of the weekend, I can't remember much of the detail. I attacked on my left with C1 (Cv and LH (S)) in an attempt to get at Bill's Cv (O). He reinforced with Kn (S) and a confused battle developed which went back and forth. The game was on a knife edge for several bounds but in the end I got lucky to survive two rear attacks on my C-in-C  before finally tipping Bill's army over the edge to give me a hard fought 19-6 win.

>

> Round 2 - Chris Jolley - 62 - Neo-Assyrian Later Sargonid

> Chris sent one commnd on a flank march on his right so I pressed hard to take advantage of its absence and attacked while he corner sat. He put some Bw (I) in the front line, which enabled me to break his left when C1's Cv (S) supported by C2's Bw (X/O) destroyed them. However, my  centre (C1's LH and C2's Kn (X)) eventually succumbed to his. With his flank march arriving late, the game came down to whether I could destroy enough of Chris's baggage to break his army before he broke mine by overwhelming C3, which fought with uphill advantage but was outnumbered by masses of Kn and Cv (S) from his flank command. Chris won it by a whisker but I took enough of his army to get something out of the game, which ended in a 16-9 win for Chris.

>

> Round 3 - |an Austin - NKE

> Ian had an inert C-in-C with four generals and magic tents, which gave him a big quality army with reasonable command control. I concentrated C2 and C3 against his two left wing commnds while holding up his two right wing commands with C1. Ian eventually overhwhelmed C1 but I managed to kill one of the command's generals to dishearten it and effectively take it out of the game. After a poor start (cataphracts bounced back all along the line by bow and blade, and then  an element lost to an untimely 6-1), C3 and C2's Kn (X) smashed through and broke Ian's centre left command. C3's Bw X held off the Cv (S) of his left. C2's Kn (X) now got at and killed some Cv (S) chariots while C3 pillaged the Egyptian camp to break Ian's army and make it 15-10 to me. As Ian was top seed, this was my best performance of the weekend.

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> Round 4 - Steve Rathgay - 83 - Early Sumerian (Kish)

> Steve deployed masses and masses of Pk (X/I) backed by Kn (I) battle cars and flanked by Bw (I) in a very strong defensive position with a gentle hill in his centre and rough or difficult terrain on his flanks. I took advantange of deploying second to optimise match-ups and besiege him on his hill with distant shooting, with pride of place going to my Bw (X) opposite his Bw (I).

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> However, Steve completely wrong footed me on his first bound, using first move advantage, and aided by good PIPs, to march his entire army on top of mine for an immediate attack. This was compounded by carelessness on my part assuming my Bw (X/O) were facing "Bw (I)", when in fact a large part of these turned out to be Bd (F)! These proceeded to wipe out my Bw (X) in short order. On my right, Steve's Pk ground down my Kn (X) before C1's mounted could exploit his open flank. It all went downhill from there and ended early at 23-2 to Steve, putting me out of contention for a top three finish.

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> Full marks to Steve for suckering me with his sudden switch from defence to offence. And serves me right for not inspecting my opponent's army more closely in future.

>

> Round 5 - Adrian Coombs-Hoar (LIMP)

> Adrian also fielded a big army led by an inert general and took full advantage of deploying second to optimise match-ups. This meant his massive central command of Wb (O)) backed by Bd (O) and Ax (S), faced C2's Bw (X). On his left, he (rather ironically I thought in view of my Kn (X) strategy) had 6 x Kn (X) supported by LH facing C1. On his right he had a command of Bw (O), Ax (S), Cv (O) and LH (O) and (F).

>

> Learning my lesson from the previous game, I worked hard to avoid his centre and work his flanks. On the right, C1's Cv rode right around Adrian's Kn (X) while my LH engaged his in a nip and tuck battle, leaving the Cv (S) to head for his camp. In the centre I evacuated the Bw (X) and C3's Kn (X) to my left to leave his Wb facing fresh air. After marching to my left, I organised a successful attack in multiple lines which quickly disheartened the Roman right. Alas just as I was on the verge of breaking his right and enveloping Adian's centre with flank and rear attacks, my C-in-C perished in an untimely 6-1 combat.

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> As a result of this calamity, the glittering prospect of a big win evaporated as C1  was suddently disheartened and then broke soon after to leave me hanging on for a draw. 15-10 to Adrian.

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> Round 6 - Jeavon Hood - 70 - Neo-Assyrian Empire

> Jeavon deployed first with three commands. The two on his right comprised a line of Ax (S) with Ps (O) support backed by a second line of Kn (S). His right also had Cv (O). On his left was a weaker command of Irr Ax (O) with a few LH (I) and (F). I attempted to counter the threat of his Kn (S) by deploying Bw (X) and Bw (O) backed by Kn (X), the idea being to shoot up his Ax and snuff out any breakthroughs by his Kn (S) with 3-1 counter attacks with the Kn (X). On the left, C1 Cv and LH were to get at his Cv (O).

>

> The two lines tactic yielded mixed results. I destroyed quite a few of Jeavon's Ax (S) by attacking them with Kn (X) coming through the archers. However the Bw (X) performed badly against his Kn, dying in virtually every clash with his Kn. This meant there were very few 3-1s counter attacks for my Kn (X), and even those I had failed to come off.

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> To the left, C3's Kn (X) also killed quite a few Ax and Ps and also a Kn (S) with flank locking assistance from one of C1's LH (S). I managed to get the other four in at overlap for a series of 2-2 combats against two of his Kn (S), but none of them came off.

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> Worse, C1's C (S) failed to assert their superiority over the Assyrian Cv (O), but died immediately anytime they met their Kn (S). From a promising start, the game now went away from me and with both C1 and C2 disheartened, I was happy enough when time was called at 14-11 to Jeavon.

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> Post Mortem

> While 66 out of 150 (44%) was hardly a stellar performance, this was more than mitigated for by the hard fought yet enjoyable nature of all six games. In spite of the result, I remain reasonably happy with the Sui as an army choice. The one question mark over the army is whether Kn (X) are worth it when you consider that in spite of their high AP cost, they are vulnerable to a significant number of troop types, not least Kn but also Wb, Bd and Pk (X). It's true that they have the advantage of not following into combat, but when they cost just 2 AP less than Kn (X, yet are so much more vulnerable, you have to wonder if they are worth it.

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