Project Lead Mountain

Not blogged since Iceni

Been concentrating on rebasing figures and clearing Feudal era figures from the 15mm lead mountain. Including finally finishing off some figures I started TWENTY years ago for my Crusader army :-) Done 20 foot with another 16 to do and the Military Orders options will finally be finished.

I will have to paint up some proper 13th C Wedge Knight bases too as currently I am taping together two normal knight bases as a temp solution as my proper wedge elements are really only suitable for the 14th and 15th C. I have had these figures for just as long so its good to finally make a dent in the last box of feudal era figures. A mix of old Gladiator/Blackhat and QRF[Feudals]l/Bloody Day figures which have now been renamed by their new owners.  

Once I have finished the Mil Order foot I will take a break from painting as I must get them all based properly as theres about 100 elements waiting . 

Playing at Caesaromagus next weekend too so thats going to stop me doing much until after its over.

I have just noticed my blog has now had over 10,000 hits including 50% from outside the UK!

Report Back From Iceni 2015

Results from Iceni 2015

Another excellent DBM Doubles weekend hosted by Coltishall Cowards in Hoveton. Great hosts, good food and nice players all making for a fun time.

Below are the full results by participants and final positions by round. Usual problem of failing to get a result in the time allotted when using 500 AP, even with two players a side a lot of teams struggled to get a result.

The tournament was played using DBM v3.2 but using the proposed house rules being trialled via the South-West Doubles League nominally titled v3.3. Most of the changes were minor except for the controversial Bw X firing in two ranks proposal.

Congratulations to Jeremy and John for winning for the second year running. Gareth's Portuguese were very difficult to handle and the one dimensional Swiss Juggernault only had two tactics, Place as much terrain as possible if invading and either sit between it and take a draw or push forward between it and hopefully take the enemy down by brute force.

Of the four games I played I enjoyed my game against Kevin and Robin the best as it was a violent see-saw of a game where in the last bound I had started to tear holes into his Sparbara and Immortals despite taking casualties from his bow fire as I kept attacking with my Elite Cv S and Dailami Reg Ax S. As is always the case I was half an element away from breaking one of his commands. The game against John and Matthew's Early Tang was interesting as it game me another chance to look at the army as its potentially going to be my new army project for next year. Pictures from the weekend are posted below the results tables [in due course once I have sorted through them and ID'd my own games.]

BHGS Doubles Iceni Hoveton 19th-20th September 2015
1st Round
Players	Army	Team	Score	Posn
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	Coltishall Cowards	5	4
Table 1 V
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	Mercenary	5	4
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	Coltishall Cowards	5	4
Table 2 V
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	Mercenary	5	4
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	Norwich Rearguard	5	4
Table 3 V
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	Mercenary	5	4
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	Coltishall Cowards	3	11
Table 4 V
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	Mercenary	7	2
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	Mercenary	4	10
Table 5 V
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	Mercenary	6	3
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	Mercenary	10	1
Table 6 V
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	Mercenary	0	12

2nd Round
Players	Army	Score	Total	Posn
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	5	15	2
Table 1 V
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	5	12	3
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	10	16	1
Table 2 V
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	0	5	11
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	5	10	6
Table 3 V
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	5	10	6
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	6	11	5
Table 4 V
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	4	9	8
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	2	7	10
Table 5 V
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	8	12	3
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	5	8	9
Table 6 V
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	5	5	11

3rd Round
Players	Army	Score	Total	Posn
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	5	21	1
Table 1 V
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	5	20	2
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	4	16	5
Table 2 V
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	6	18	3
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	6	17	4
Table 3 V
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	4	14	7
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	6	16	5
Table 4 V
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	4	13	8
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	5	13	8
Table 5 V
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	5	12	10
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	5	10	11
Table 6 V
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	5	10	11

4th Round
Players	Army	Score	Total	Posn
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	5	26	1
Table 1 V
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	5	22	4
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	4	24	3
Table 2 V
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	6	24	2
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	5	21	6
Table 3 V
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	5	21	6
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	6	20	8
Table 4 V
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	4	17	10
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	5	18	9
Table 5 V
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	5	15	11
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	10	22	4
Table 6 V
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	0	10	12

Positions After Round 1
Player	Army	Score	Position
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	10	1
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	7	2
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	6	3
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	5	4
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	5	4
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	5	4
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	5	4
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	5	4
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	5	4
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	4	10
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	3	11
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	0	12

Positions After Round 2
Player	Army	Score	Position
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	16	1
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	15	2
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	12	3
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	12	3
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	11	5
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	10	6
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	10	6
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	9	8
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	8	9
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	7	10
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	5	11
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	5	11

Positions After Round 3
Player	Army	Score	Position
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	21	1
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	20	2
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	18	3
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	17	4
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	16	5
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	16	5
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	14	7
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	13	8
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	13	8
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	12	10
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	10	11
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	10	11

Final Positions After Round 4
Player	Army	Score	Position
Jeremy Morgan John Calvert	04/36 Later Muslim Indian 1388 AD MM	26	1
Gareth Evans [Singleton]	04/68 Medieval Portuguese 1385 AD M	24	2
John Graham-Leigh Russell King	04/79 Later Swiss 1477 AD MM	24	3
Derek Bruce Stuart Bruce	02/11 Gallic 226 BC MM	22	4
Richard Gill [Singleton]	02/35 Later Macedonian 171 BC M	22	4
Drew Jarman [Singleton]	03/43 Khurasanian 927 AD MM	21	6
Kevin Everard Robin Honey-Frazer	01/60 Early Achaemenid Persian 525 BC MM	21	6
Andy Brooker John Brooker	01/11 New Kingdom Egyptian 1543 BC M	20	8
Paul Apreda [Singleton]	02/03 Classical Indian 321 BC MM	18	9
John Vaughan Matthew Vaughan	03/20 Early T’ang Chinese 640 AD MM	17	10
Duncan Thompson [Singleton]	03/05 Middle Frankish 562 AD MM	15	11
Mark Allison [Sat] Kevin Baker [Sun] Bob Billing	04/83 French Ordonnance 1497 AD MM	10	12

Game Reports:

My chosen army was organised as follows

ICENI 2015 DBM Doubles 500 AP Tournament [v3.2/v3.3][Date chosen 927 AD]

03/43 Khurasanian [MM list] Samanid 927 AD – 999 AD

Dry. Ag 1. Rv, H[S], H[G], Rd, O, E, RGo, BUA, D, G

[Rv, DH, RH, GH, Rd, O, E, R or SF, G, BUAf, Samanids only: D or G, Oa]

Command 1

1 x CinC Reg Cv S 30 AP

6 x Ghulam Reg Cv S 60 AP

4 x Bedouin Arabs Irr LH O 20 AP

4 x Mercenary Turks Irr LH S 28 AP

6 x Khurosani armoured spearmen Reg Sp O 30 AP

4 x Khurosani infantry archers Reg Ps O 8 AP [Ps may support Sp]

4 x Khurosani infantry archers Reg Bw O 20 AP

2 x Hashayrian levies Irr Hd O 2 AP

31 E/28 EE/9.5 D [198 AP] [25%=7 EE]

Command 2

1 x Sub-general Reg Cv S 30 AP

6 x Khurosani noble cavalry Irr Cv S 54 AP

4 x Khurosani skirmishers Irr LH F 16 AP

6 x Khurosani armoured spearmen Reg Sp O 30 AP

3 x Khurosani infantry archers Reg Ps O 6 AP [Ps may support Sp]

6 x Dailami zupin-men Reg Ax S 27 AP

3 x Dailami archers Reg Ps O 6 AP [can support zupin-men]

2 x Kumajis or other hillmen Irr Ax O 6 AP

31 E/28 EE/9.5 D [175 AP] [25%=7 EE]

Command 3

1 x Sub-general Reg Cv S 30 AP

1 x Elephants Irr El O 16 AP

2 x Kumajis or other hillmen Irr Ax O 6 AP

4 E/4 EE/2 D [52 AP] [25%= 1 EE]

Command 4 – Ziyarid Ally [Buyid 3/58]

1 x Ally-general Irr Ax S 9 AP

13 x Dailami Irr Ax S 52 AP

7 x Dailami archers Irr Ps O 14 AP [can support zupin-men]

21 E/17.5 EE/6 D [75 AP] [25%= 4.5 EE]

Command 5

8 x Baggage Irr Bg I 0 AP

8 E/0 EE/0 D [0 AP]

Army [500 AP]

87 E/77.5 EE/39 B

Two identically sized commands to give me maximum deployment options with the elephant PIP dump command and a Buyid ally with was capable of contesting most terrain features when facing all but the most mismatched enemies.

Game 1 v Early Tang. 
John and Matthew organised it as follows:

C1 22 E/22 EE/8 D/5.5 [25%]

C2 22 E/22 EE/8 D/5.5 [25%]

C3 16 E/10.5 EE/3.5 D/3 [25%]

C4 10 E/10 EE/2.5 D/2.5 [25%] - Ally

Army 70 E/64.5 EE/34.5 B

Game ended on a 7-3 victory for me when time was called. I had taken out most of the mounted they had in the centre by this time and had punch through his left flank after destroying his light horse so I could have reasonably expected to have rolled up his left flank command within another couple of bounds and probably broken his army. I felt that John had taken far too much mounted Reg Bw X and his wasn't in a position to make any use of it in this game. This army is on my possible to buy list for next year as a new army painting project but I am still thinking about it. John had strong winds blowing into his face all during the game which reduced his effectiveness of the bow fire on the few times he managed to get in range.

Below are some pictures of the game.

Some pictures of other Round 1 games.

Game 2 v Late Swiss.

John and Russ organised it as follows:

C1 29 E/29 EE/10 D/7.5 [25%]

C2 33 E/28.5 EE/9.5 D/7.5 [25%]

C3 23 E/19 EE/6.5 D/5 [25%]

Army 85 E/76.5 EE/38.5 B

Game ended after 2 hours with a 5-5 draw. John and Russ deployed their terrain to ensure they has an impossible position to attack and then just corner sat. I deployed into the best situation I could to threaten an attack but when I did the maths all the combat chances relied on me getting record numbers of 6-1 dice rolls to just get recoils and maybe the once in a while casualty with the risk that I could actually stick in combat and get hard flanked attacks. Was rather a waste of my Saturday afternoon and Jer had already advised me not to take Swiss. My deployment could not be called timid and I covered the entire frontage of the table to make sure of all eventualities.

Below are some pictures of the game.

I wandered around the hall and forgot to take anymore pictures.

Game 3 v Medieval Portuguese. 
Gareth organised it as follows:

C1 21 E/18.5 EE/6.5 D/5 [25%]

C2 21 E/18.5 EE/6.5 D/5 [25%]

C3 16 E/15.5 EE/5.5 D/4 [25%]

C4 10 E/10 EE/4 D/2.5 [25%] - Ally

Army 69 E/62.5 EE/31.5 B

Gareth wrong footed me with his deployment as I had seen his field fortifications in his previous games where he deployed outside of them. This time he also corner sat, but his game plan was to charge forward with superior knights and sweep me away. His hit my right flank command and after three bounds of combat was nearly through them. When this command eventually broke I had moved my elephant over to threaten his knights. Funnily enough my demoralised command fought much better than before it had broke! His concentrating on this command because his knights were out of control meant I had time to stabilise the rest of my army and held on to lose 4-6 despite losing lots of elements. Always nice to play against Gareth and he handled this army very well. 

Below are some pictures of the game.

Some pictures of the other Round 3 games.

Game 4 v Early Arcaemenid Persians.
Kevin and Robin organised it as follows:

C1 29 E/27.5 EE/9.5 D/7 [25%]

C2 29 E/26 EE/9 D/6.5 [25%]

C3 29 E/23 EE/8 D/6 [25%]

C4 13 E/13 EE/4.5 D/3.5 [25%] - Ally

Army 100 E/69.5 EE/45 B

I deployed quite narrow expecting Kevin and Robin to attempt to take the central area. They put their ally on the left flank and for the first three bounds had lots of PIP's which they used to threaten my open flanks. My Buyid ally was unreliable, the first time this weekend which prevented me from pressing his ally. I fell back to the rear of the RGo they were holding in the hope they would become reliable and cut the small LH force off from retiring whilst I ran over four of my own LH to secure my right flank. I did the same on my left flank with my other LH and the elephant command. I had lots of mounted in the central area along with all my supported spears and Dailami which allowed me to push forward and threaten his centre. I quickly lost three elements to some bowfire and them closed into combat against his Sparbara and Immortals. I recoiled or drew lots of combats and failed to make any dent in his front line until I threw in my CinC alongside my spearmen and destroyed a LH, fled off two more LH and then destroyed a Cm O element which then left Kevin's center open to allow me to start to roll up his Sparbara. I attacked with my Dailami on the left and managed to eventually contact his immortals causing two bases to be destroyed by hard flanking. I was half an element away from breaking his C2 which would have left me needing to only get another 5 elements from his command containing the Immortals to break his army when time was called. It was easily the best game of the whole weekend for me.

Below are some pictures of the game.

Some pictures of other Round 4 games.

The winners and the trophies.

If you ever get the chance I cannot recommend this tournament more highly. Despite only having 12 entries you get a disparate choice of armies every year.