Day 2 of the De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) – the Worlds – competition dawned overcast and rainy. A cool day for Canberra at CanCon 2013. I was in sixth position overall and with a fresh slate for the day 2 competition.
Today it was the turn for the Later Hungarians, the army I had being painting in Singapore, then Macksville then later in Singapore again.
![]() The First BattleThe opening battle was against Lachlan Bayliss-Smith again. After the first day the software being used for the draw was reset and seeded with positions from Day 1. The system uses a Swiss Chess System where the higher scored players play each other each round. Apart from a couple of practice games with Doug a few weeks ago, this was also the first time I had been using my Later Hungarians. It was definitely the first time that I had used them with the two war wagon option. The multiple war wagons are nice in that you do not require a camp and therefore there is one less thing to protect, however, they move slowly and require additional Player Initiative Points (PIPs) to move. In this battle I was the attacker again – the Hungarians are more aggressive than the Koreans. Advancing my main striking force (the troops on the left) I engaged part of the Serbian line. After a couple of rounds of melee and the loss of some Light Horse of mine I managed to eliminate enough Serbian elements and then took out his general. An 8-2 win and another general killed to start the second day of the competition. A excellent start. |
![]() The Second BattleThis was against Sam Braham using another one of the book IV lists that use war wagons – five of them! Managing to get some good match-ups here was going to be difficult, especially with the terrain. I was forced to come inthrough two areas of rough ground. I needed to keep my war wagons out of the area otherwise they are unable to move. Sam played an excellent game and I was both out maneuvered and outfought. A loss – 2-8! Those war wagons are a problem to use and a problem to beat. Still, I reckon i’m in a reasonable position still so on to game 3! |
![]() The Third BattleThis battle was against Bas Braham using Later Polish and once I had gotten the Yul Brynner Taras Bulba Polish joke our of the way ((“Put your faith in your sword, and your sword in a Pole” – OK, it was one of the lines from the movie)) we started the battle. Once again I was the attacker. Attacking had generally been kind to me so I was hoping for a good result here. The Later Polish are a strong mix of knights and cavalry with some other supporting elements. Bas came at me and there was little I could do except watch my elements be eliminated – four of them to the one he lost. So, for me, a loss again, 2-8. I reckon that’s me done for the World’s and the Day 2 competition. I’m starting to wonder why I made such an effort with the later Hungarians. It may have been quicker and more effective to paint the Serbian Empire army I have at home (or the later Polish for that matter)! |
![]() The Fourth BattleI squared up in this battle to Brad again. He was using a lovely Free Company army but this time I was the defender. The picture here shows the position after a few moves. The blue patch in the centre is, in fact, a low hill (don’t ask). I defended in this game (and in the next two as well) which was kind of frustrating. Brad danced and we finally moved into contact with each other where my general was quickly hors d’combat. Game over! Final score was 1-8 against me. Still, my general died heroically at the end! |
![]() The Fifth BattleBy this stage of the day I was playing for prestige points only – I could at least look at finishing in the top half of the field for competition overall. I now had to face Andrew Smith using book IV/55b Ottomans. They were a lovely army, well painted. They seem to have done well in the DBMM competition and looked so good here I am sorely tempted to think about buying and painting some for the next Worlds. Andrew tried to work the Light Horse on his right (the left of the picture above around my left flank to squeeze my forces from two sides. I managed to block his attempt with some of my own Light Horse and the War Wagons. The War Wagons were quite effective in this game, destroying a couple of his Light Horse. It was a tough battle of riposte and counter-riposte and at the end I managed to nail his general, an 8-1 win for me and another general executed! |
![]() The Sixth BattleThe last battle of Day 2 and of the Worlds. As I understand, the title could have gone to one of a number of players … er … excluding me. This battle was against I rolled as the defender and set terrain. I used my warband for the first time in this battle. This was a tough battle that swung both ways. The Medieval Scandinavians contained a number of blades which are quite effective against my war wagons, however, my knights are also very effective against his blades, as is my warband. My knights managed to kill an element for the first time on Day 2 and it was then that one of the problems of the Hungarians became apparent. The knights are on large deep bases and as they burst through the enemy line, it is almost impossible for them to do anything except keep going straight ahead. We fought many rounds of melee and some distance shooting until at last, I had lost four elements for a 3-8 loss. |
Oh well, what a finish
So, at the end of the second day I was placed in seventeenth position with two wins from six matches. On a positive note, that gave me 6 wins and 6 losses over the two days so probably a middle of the field result.
The day two positions were:
Position | Player | Points | Army |
---|---|---|---|
1st | Peter Braham | 43 | Medieval German |
Marcus Treganza | 43 | Italian Condotta | |
David Lawrence | 43 | Christian Nubian | |
4th | Mark Baker | 40 | Low Countries |
5th | Brad del-Munns | 36 | Free Company |
6th | Sam Braham | 34 | Hussite |
7th | Brenton Searle | 33 | Early Burgundian |
Iain McCartney | 33 | French Ordonnance | |
9th | Murray Woodford | 32 | 100 Years War English |
10th | Mark Davies | 31 | Komnenan Byzantine |
11th | Joe Unwin | 30 | Hindu Indian (Harsha) |
Bas Braham | 30 | Later Polish | |
13th | Steve Jones | 29 | Medieval Scandinavian (Others) |
14th | Greg Kelleher | 25 | Burgundian Ordonnance |
14th | Stephen Cumming | 25 | Medieval German |
14th | Lachlan Bayliss-Smith | 25 | Serbian Empire |
17th | Ian Thompson | 24 | Later Hungarian |
George Birt | 24 | Rus | |
Joshua Bayliss-Smith | 24 | 100 Years War English | |
20th | Andrew Smith | 22 | Ottoman |
21st | Oliver Birt | 21 | Medieval French |
22nd | Elijah Birt | 17 | Medieval Scandinavian (Others) |
It has since occurred to me that instead of busting a gut painting like a mad man for the last couple of weeks, it may have been better and produced better results if I had used my Rajput Indians in Day 2, after all they had already run second in 2011 and I must have been used to using them by now. It felt, however, like I should use a new army for this competition. Maybe next time.
The results from Days 1 and 2 were then tallied up to determine an overall winner and World’s Champion. The final results were (out of a possible score of 96 points maximum):
Position | Player | Points |
---|---|---|
1st | David Lawrence | 81 |
2nd | Brenton Searle | 77 |
3rd | Peter Braham | 76 |
4th | Brad del-Munns | 74 |
5th | Murray Woodford | 73 |
6th | Iain McCartney | 72 |
7th | Marcus Treganza | 69 |
8th | Sam Braham | 65 |
9th | Steve Jones | 63 |
10th | Mark Davies | 62 |
11th | Greg Kelleher | 59 |
11th | Mark Baker | 59 |
11th | Ian Thompson | 59 |
14th | Joe Unwin | 57 |
15th | Stephen Cumming | 55 |
15th | Bas Braham | 55 |
17th | Lachlan Bayliss-Smith | 52 |
17th | Andrew Smith | 52 |
19th | Joshua Bayliss-Smith | 49 |
20th | Elijah Birt | 38 |
21st | George Birt | 37 |
22nd | Oliver Birt | 36 |
Overall, a creditable performance and one to improve on in the future. Participating has motivated me to look at some new armies and get painting now rather than later.
I had a wonderful time there. Thanks again to Greg for organising it and the other 20 players who made each game a great deal of fun for me. Also thanks to Doug (taxi to and from the station as well as to and from Cancon), Doug and Gillian for putting us up for the four nights we were in Canberra), John and Cathy for the lovely lamb and salads and lastly for CountryLink for getting us to and from Canberra in style and good order.
The next World’s? I believe they are on in Koblenz in late 2014 – plenty of time to paint and prepare!