"Everybody knows the pre-Feudal Scots are s%*#" said our friend, Jeremy on Saturday lunchtime. Or words to that effect.
"Oh" said my (gaming) partner, Graham and I, doubtful but taken-aback.
"So, I suppose you took the mounted infantry option?" asked our friends Paul, then Mike, then our first opponent, John and nearly everybody else we met.
"mmm" we replied, shaking our heads, bewildered at first, wearily knowing at the end.
But when Sunday afternoon came along, we had reached the relative luxury of 19 points out of 30, needing just one for a respectable 50%, we felt confident. We had after all narrowly lost (4-6) against John, a very nice opponent who single-handledly commanded a Viking army whose axemen slaughtered our over-confident warband. Then we stormed to victory, chopping up a massive 54 element strong command of Early Serbs. Sunday morning saw more Vikings, this time Finnish Leidang, where Graham cleverly defended against an opponent boosted in confidence by our now tired warband (who had turned unreliable for this battle).
And now, we were happy to face our good friends from Cheltenham, David, James and Andy (not necessarily in that order) with a Khazar army beautifully painted by Adrian (sadly absent on husband duty). Two hours later, we were packing our figures away. My warband trampled by Khazar cavalry and my C-in-C's infantry slaughtered by enely knights. A glorious victory for the West Country, and an early bath (or return drive home anyway) for the sassenachs from Brussels. This was the traditional Sunday afternoon fiasco.
Another great weekend at Pevensey Bay. Possibly the only criticisms of the event I would have are that both the pubs we play on are carnivore-only zones, which is depressing, and that Adrian never wins the painting prize, which is manifestly unjust.
Incidentally, our we discovered that our third opponents, Malcolm and Steven from Durham, turned out to be avid readers of Tiny Tin Men. That was nice. In turn here is their website.
Next year the theme is the Holy Land. In the meantime have a browse around James's excellent Anderida site'.
Sounds like great fun again - too bad that the Sunday turned out to be so much of an anticlimax.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, if you can place midway on the results table with a bunch of unwashed northerners (although they did invent whisky of course), I would say that the Dynamic Duo has not yet lost its DBM touch. Well done!
As promised here is a comment for your excellent website.
ReplyDeleteA true reflection on a splendid weekend of gaming. We, the Durham Leidang, were as you said boosted by your warband command not feeling up for it, as it meant I only had to fend off two commands rather than the three of the previous game. Mind you, the way your Wb(S) performed is seriously influencing the choice of my next DBM army.
As we commented at the weekend your army looked
magnificent on the table with the evidence of many an hour of eye straining painting in evidence. By the way I forgot what make of figures were your Bd(I) as a fancy a few should I need to use some of my army as a Viking ally.
Malcolm
Hi Malcolm, thanks for the nice words. The Picts were my second dbm army and, indeed, took a few months to do. This time they morphed into Scots, with the addition of vikings and Galwegians. I'm still very fond of them. The axemen you liked were from Gladiator, sold as Estonian warband I think.
ReplyDeleteI like warband armies, even if they get you into trouble, which can happen frequently. But seeing them chop up an enmy line is very satisfying. Two years ago I painted up a Malay WB(S) army for Anderida, but we were stuffed. I was so disgusted with the whole thing that I sold the lot. But now with 3.1 of the rules, warband perform a lot better I find, so worth taking.
We enjoyed the game with you guys, and you were indeed unlucky not to win - though Graham is quite skilful at that sort of defence. Look forward to seeing you next year.