Many thanks to Tim and the WAR team for another excellent Warfare competition
and show – one of the best events in the calendar in my view, if not the best.
And before you start, Jer, Roll Call I am sure is great as well.

Tim is especially to be thanked as he raced frantically around all weekend
constantly answering innumerable complex impetuous questions, spitting umpire
decisions like Greek fire. No, I jest, there were very few and all simply
solved by reading the rules, as I understand it!

I took Pre-Feudal Scots to the 25mm competition and very good they were too.

Army was:

C-in-C Thorfinn (Macbeth) Irr Cv(O), 21 Pk(F), 8 Wb(S), 2 LH(O), 3 Ps(S), 2
Ps(O), 2 Bts(S) - 30ME
Sub Thorkel `Fostri' Amundason Irr Cv(O), 9 Pk(F), 3 Kn(F), 4 LH(O), 4 Ps(S), 5
Ps(O) – 25 ME
Ally Rognvald Brusison Irr Bd (F), 24 Wb(F) – 18 ME
Bg 6 Bg(F) – 6 ME (Tim was allowing Ally baggage to be in an Army Baggage
command unless it was a civil war).
79 ME total

I took a bit of a liberty with the generals' names since they are more Norse
than Scots although there is a theory that Thorfinn the Mighty became Macbeth
when he converted to Christianity. I also think Rognvald died before 1052, and
he certainly wasn't a Galwegian. Still nobody noticed! Good book about it by
Dorothy Dunnett called `King Hereafter'.

First game against Phil Hosker's Charles the Bold - the One True Army apparently
- except Jim Gibson had one as well – can there be Two True Armies? Charles is
inert so the Burgundians get lots more dangerous stuff. Phil had planned it so
that the PIP loss never seemed to be a particular problem which made him a tough
nut to crack. I messed up the deployment of the Sub which meant the Kn(F) got
picked off and that command broke. The real killer though was we were in Mud
which took all the Kn down a point in combat and made attacking uphill a very
dangerous task. It did mean I managed to kill Charles the Bold and his command.
On both sides the broken command's knock-on 2 MEs took other commands to within
half an element of disheartening, which would have been serious for either of
us, but especially me since both my other commands were within ½ ME. Time was
called for a 14-11 to Phil – which could have been a lot worse for me, and would
probably have been a total wipeout without the mud hampering the Kn. (Shades of
Agincourt). Note to Knight armies – don't attack Cool in Spring!

Second game against Marc Priest with Rus – nice contemporary match up, and I
thought I would be alright against massed Sp. The lines went in and we fought
all along the front. I could make no headway against Ps supported Sp and he
began chopping away at my Wb and Pk. Eventually the C-in C's command went down,
leaving him with only a few more elements to get for the army. 23-2 to Marc.

So I went home on day 1 with only 13 points, feeling disheartened if not broken
as I had been beaten by the medieval loveliness of the Burgundians even in the
Mud and the barbarian hordes of the Rus (which were the only two types of army
in the comp).

Fortified by excellent curry, and one of our countryman's delicious breakfasts
(Jarl McDonald's), Day 2 saw me facing Mike Newnham with 100 Year's War English.
Lots of Mtd Bw(S) and some Kn(I). I was worried about these, but in the end
didn't need to be. Mike dismounted some Kn after some confusion as to where my
Wb command started, but they were still Bd(S). His shooting was average to
poor, so he killed a few, but once the Wb reached the Bw it was all over very
quickly. The Mtd Bw(S) are just too expensive, and in 25mm, even at 350 points,
there is no room to take advantage of the Mtd mobility. First round of combat
disheartened his centre command and it was rapidly over after that. 23-2 to me
in pretty short order.

Last game and there is everything to play for - well not quite everything
because Neil Sutherland was on an unassailable 68 and could only be beaten into
second place by Jim if he lost 25-0, which with Jim's Burgundian's against
Neil's Early Saxon behemoth was just not going to happen. However, everyone
else except Mike, who had had a disgruntling weekend with the 100YrsW English,
was in potential running for 3rd place, or even 2nd if Jim didn't get
significant points against Neil. It's what's good about a small field, a lot of
people end up with a chance.

I was playing Mark Schofield's Anglo-Danish. Truly historical match up as the
Scots (for the only time during the weekend) attacked - into England. I thought
this would be a bloodbath with his front line of Blades (5 of them Superior)
quick killing my Wb and Pk in their bound, and my Wb quick killing him in mine.

In the event it was a bloodbath but all on his side, my numbers and killing two
ranks tipping the balance very quickly. The Pk(F) held up well with their
factor of 5 being a great help. The Blades' (S) grade didn't protect them well
and at 2 ME that command went down quickly, with the knock on 2 ME breaking
another command for the army. 25-0 to me, rather to my surprise, again in short
order.

Tense moments then as Neil and Jim were still playing, and Phil and I both had a
chance of being in the prizes if Jim didn't score big. This was looking dodgy
for a bit with Neil's Wb bouncing off the Bd(X) and a lot of dead Saxons. But
it was all taking too long and time was called, putting Phil into second and me
into 3rd place. It is not often that I am in the running for a placing
(although I seem to do well at Warfare) so it was exciting to be working out the
points and checking out Neil and Jim's game with baited breath. OBVIOUSLY I
play for the fun of it, and prizes are NOT important at all, but it's still nice
to carry off a trophy! – Even in a very small pool.

Things I learnt.

The Knights were a bit of a pointless expense - not manoeuvrable enough to be a
mobile reserve and a PIP drain keeping them out of trouble. At 4.5 AP for an ME
they are not expensive, but they are an expensive ME loss when one dies. I'd
probably take them as Cv(O) next time with a few LH, to act as flank guards, and
go for more Pk which are quite good and benefit from numbers.

Are Wb the new Cv(S)? Not really, but they can be good. I think this seems to
be a bit unexpected especially Wb(F), but the ½ ME value makes them troublesome.
It was expressed to me that this is a good thing as it will help to balance up
competitions – with people taking knights to beat warband which will lead people
to take heavy foot to counter knights, etc. All good for variety. However this
may be mainly a 25mm peculiarity. Foot armies have always been better in 25mm
because the flanks are much more easily protected.

In both games on Day 1 I put down the Sea so I could use the Bts. I like Bts.
They did nothing against Phil, bound 1 against Marc they 6-1'd an Ax(S), and
then did nothing. They also restrict the other terrain you can use. After a
cutting remark from Neil about gimmicks (that man knows how to hurt, darling!) I
didn't use it on Day 2. Not sure if it made any difference, both games were
short order massacres, but the point is taken!

The deployment and terrain distances for 25mm on a 6x4 are very odd (dare I say,
not particularly well thought through?). Armies end up at 90mm and 150mm from
the centre line and 150mm and 300mm from the edges, which makes it a pretty
straight fight if you deploy up to the line. It also makes unreliable allies
not so much of a disadvantage. The Galwegians were unreliable in both games on
Saturday, and although I reactivated them, this was unnecessary in one game
since Marc came close enough to do it automatically, and Phil would have done so
next turn probably. Placed in the centre of the line, there was no opportunity
to surround them or flank them or anything.

Generals' deployment command radius is only 300mm (less than in 15mm!) which can
give you deployment problems if you have a large army or even if you want to put
him to control some impetuous troops at one end of the line.

Terrain is 15mm size but the distances they have to be apart are 25mm base
widths according to the rules.

Perhaps a note to competition organisers to think about this?

In summary, I know I have been sounding off about rules niggles recently, but I
like doing that. It doesn't alter the fact that DBMM is a very good game
indeed. Complex? Yes. But so are most other rule sets that give this level of
game variety. I think that FOG is just as complex, for example, and with
different problems in terms of layout and clarity. Haven't played it enough to
say whether it is a good game or not.

There, now I've mentioned MacBeth and FOG in one post. I'll probably be
moderated off!

Jonathan