Five games at the English DBA Open on Saturday, held at Chawton, near Alton, Hants.
There were 24 players, split into four groups of six in approximate chronological order. Four games against fellow group members would decide who would go on to the semi-finals.
My Book IV Anglo-Irish, with Islesmen allies, were dated to around 1200AD, but a dearth of Book III armies saw me grouped with a strange cross-over mix of Imperial Romans, Crusaders and Papal Italians.
My initial games were:-
1. Defending against Peter E.'s Later Crusaders (knights, spearmen and crossbows). The Islesmen made a bold landing on the enemy flank, but were rapidly dispersed by Frankish spearmen. The main Anglo-Irish body now moved forward, cutting down some crossbowmen, but a counterattack by Crusader knights finished my lot's chances pretty quickly. Loss 1-5+Hd.
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2. Defending against Andrew W.'s Early Imperial Romans. The Islesmen again landed, and got into a scrap with the Roman cavalry guarding the seaward flank...holding out longer this time, but still finally crumbling. Meantime the Anglo-Irish knights attacked, but the general was killed in a head to head with legionaries (Kn v Bd draw 😶)...a 1-4g loss.
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3. Invading this time, facing Paul C.'s Later Imperial Romans, eastern version. Seeing the Roman deployment, the Anglo-Irish sent their colonist longbowmen to harry the Roman mounted, causing extensive disorder, and prompting the survivors to charge. The Roman leader and his equites were subsequently surrounded and killed, giving an Anglo-Irish win by 4g-1.
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4. Last game of the group stage, my Anglo-Irish defended against Phil B.'s Papal Italians and their eastern Frankish allies. In a shootout, my longbowmen and the Italian crossbows both lost men, while the Islesmen scrapped away with Frankish knights, some of whom, their Swabians, had dismounted to fight on foot with huge swords. More colonist archers fell to a cavalry charge, and during an intervention by the Anglo-Irish commander, the knightly leader was peppered with crossbow bolts and fell (the dreaded '6-1' 😯)... Another loss, 3g-1.
Well short of a semi-final slot, as an 'also-ran' for my last game I was drawn against a regular opponent, Richard P.
5. Richard commanded a late medieval Spanish force, who had brought along a Genoese ally to assist. When placing terrain (as defender) my Anglo-Irish moved inland from the coast, knowing the Genoese troops penchant for naval operations, and chose a battlefield with plenty of good ol' Irish rough terrain. This channelled the advancing Spanish troops, who encountered fierce archery from some hedged fields to their front. The Spanish sent in pikemen and swordsmen to clear the way, but advancing English colonist spearmen and Islesmen won that duel, giving a 4-1 win to round off the Anglo-Irish army's day.
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So, two wins and three defeats, all against good natured opponents. Great stuff.