here is a brief report. Army list was:
c1: 1xRCvS CnC, 4xRCvS, 2xRCvO, 8xILHS 24ME
c2: 1xRCvS SG, 4xRCvS, 4xRCvO, 10x HdI 18ME
c3: 1xICvS Georgian SG, 1xRCvS, 4xRCvO, 2xIElO, 4xIPsO 18ME
c4 1xRCvS SG, 1xRCvS, 3xIAxO, 1xIPsO 9ME
baggage: 6xIBgeI
No AP for stratagems!

G1 vs Seamus McKenna wit Ltr Swiss
Seamus deployed in 3 commands - 1 PkS, 1 PsS + BdX, 1 KNS/I wedges,
BdX, PkS between a steep hill and a marsh. I assaulted the undefended
(he had BdX behind it) 0.5FE steep hill with LHS so I could get over
it in 2 moves, and his KnS/BdX/PkS command. I used the HdI to box him
in (although he was feeling defensive anyway) and redeployed 4
commands to beat up on this one of his. Eventually it broke and I was
nibbling at his PkS command but I couldn't get all the ME I needed to
break it before time ran out. Score 15-10 to me, although I had an 8
penalty point difference so I should have thrown in more Cv vs his Pk
line earlier, even though I would have taken losses. We had an
enjoyable game as Seamus is always a great opponent.

G2 vs Stephen Brittain with LIR snuggled between 2 RGo hills
My El were terrified of his 2 ArtF behind a centre of 12 Reg BdO so
hung well back. His high pip command toyed with my HdI+Cv on my left
while the real action took place as he evacuated his LHO LPIA allly
behind the RGo hill on my right and was holding it with a small pip
dump command of AxS, PsO + 1 CvO + 1CvO SG. Even though this would not
break his army I thought it worth assaulting as I could break it and
reduce the command and control of his army and thereby pick apart his
other commands. My LHS went in up the hill vs his LHO + micro command
but their initial charge was poor. I supported them with CvO
dismounted as BwO and AxO. Over the next couple of bounds I took a lot
of LH losses and lined up my c1 CvS to go in in support. I was close
to disheartening and strongly considering disengaging and forcing him
to come out after me but one of my LHS broke through and was in a
position to rear attack his arab LHO general, this did not kill him
but it put him facing the wrong direction for my CvS now advancing on
his rear (since he had turned to face the rear attacker). This decided
me and pushed the attack. A LHS went in against his CvO pip dump SG
and killed him. This broke the pip dump plus with another couple of
casualties broke the arabs too. Now things were wide open for me to
swamp his centre from 3 sides and threaten his high pip command.
However I ran out of time. It ended 14-11 to me. It is true that 2
6-1s on the hill swung things in my favour and Stephen did have a
string of 1s for his PIP dump command but I think that his army
structure (2 small commands + 2 large) was vulnerable and mounted
cannot hold a RGo hill any more since they get no uphill bonus in
either bound. It was certainly close to being the opposite result, but
Stephen is our no 1 ranked player so I was very happy with the
outcome. He is also a great opponent and we had a lovely game.

G3 vs Mark Gibson with Neo-Babylonians.
From earlier games I had heard that Mark had a large fortified BUA and
HO. There was very little terrain other than a river from his base
edge to my rt flank edge and his BUA in the centre of his rear. He was
not coming at me as he had spent a lot of AP on PF/HO. but sat in a
strong defensive position in front of the BUA. It took me 2 hours of
probing with my few light troops and some dismounted CvO as BwO to
find his HO. I was really glad that the dismounting paid off as I had
painted the dismounts during the week. Mark had not realised that I
could do this so the CvI that he was using as bait were very
disconcerted, although I only killed 2 of them with shooting. For the
last hour I went in everywhere I could (except against his BwX centre)
but there was insufficient time to resolve the game. I think that I
was in a strong position as I had re-deployed my LHS to support c2
attacking his middle PIP dice command and his lines were breaking up.
Anyway it finished 13-12 in my favour as the invader although neither
army had lost 10%. Mark is also an excellent opponent and we had a
lovely chat as I foraged in the dark for his HO!

G4: vs Mike Bennett with Dailami on table 2
Opps, I could not believe that I was in the running with this series
of scores, even worse to have to play against Mike who is a strong
player. Hmm, Cv army vs Ax army ... not likely to be very exciting.
Except for the fact that it was the final round and so a win would
probably secure a placing. Hence Mike filled the centre/right of the
table with terrain and proceeded to deploy on the open flank - because
he thought that I would never have attacked him if he dug in on the
other side. Thus on about 40% of the board we had a battle "as Barker
intended" since we could both fill the width.
Mike had more depth but I had some quality in the LH out on the flank.
My line was thinner but my CvS/CvO command was able to re-deploy to
make up the difference where it was needed - but would it get there in
time?. In the central 2FE dunes I had just about enough light troops
to keep him honest and I refused my El there too (although they
eventually went in and held him well). The fighting opened well with
insufficient PIPs to re-arrange my lines I had to let 2 LHS go sponno
into a LHO (with overlap). Then something brilliant happened that
could only happen in DBM_M_. Mike suspected a FF attempt. This gave
him cause for thought and maybe slowed his advance slightly so that I
got an extra bound to get c2 in place. Then next bound I had a chance
to charge my (thin) LHS into his LHO/CVS AG/CvO. I took it because
next bound he would have charged me when S would have done me no good.
I got lucky again and killed his AG, thus breaking his small ally.
This threatened the flank of his main CvS line but in fact I didn't
really get to exploit this as my combined CVS/CvO from 2 commands (+
the 2 generals!) broke through his CvS line. I think the fact that was
losing 2ME a pop while I was losing 1ME troops the majority of the
time really cost him and that command broke. Wow, the game had flipped
from him having depth + position to me rampaging through but I had a
lot of extra work to do to get the army and my CnC's command was near
disheartening.
A lesser player might have given up but Mike kept chipping away at my
exposed elements. His army was within 2.5ME of breaking but suddenly
my army was close since the CnC was disheartened and c3 was 2, 1.5 and
then 0.5ME from breaking! Eeek! Then both armies were within 0.5ME of
breaking. Actually we got a bit confused at this point and I know my
ability to work out combats was slipping away. We thought that Mike
needed an extra 0.5ME to take him over 50% and then both of us killed
the 0.5ME in an extra bound of combat and we thought it was a mutual
demoralisation. We both smiled. However we then discovered that Mike
had actually broken the bound before since the spreadsheet had already
added the extra 0.5ME to take him over 50%. He took this news in
characteristic good form and warmly shook my hand congratulating me.
Truly a gentleman. I hope that I'd be so gracious in similar circumstances.

So there it ended. 2nd place. I certainly had the breaks (as do most
people who end on the podium) but even if I had lost every game this
weekend I would have had a good time as I could not have asked for a
better set of opponents.

I have only started using this army with perhaps 4 games under my belt
before this event. I think that with more practice I will be better
able to force a win in competition time-frames and hence be more
competitive.

rgds
rob

PS I must give special thanks to Tony Farrell who destroyed my
Timurids in the first round of the RINWA league and showed me exactly
how *not* to structure the army and to Pete Haines for his tactical
advice on using Mongols that convinced me that the HdI are more
valuable than the deployment bonus for being an all mounted army - in
3 out of 4 games they were excellent.