DBA 15mm Hittite Army

"The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Bryon
was easily an inspiration for my Hittites.

The Assyrian (in my case Hittites) came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts (think chariots) were gleaming in purple and gold;

The Hittite Army was my first foray into the realm of 15 mm armies. I purchased it when DBA was the new kid on the block. At the same time I thought that I'd buy some extra chariots, just in case I ever wanted to expand the army. I was still hooked on WRG 7th edition rules at the time, and an arms race was never far from my mind.

First Element Type: Two Heavy Chariots (or Light Chariots)

Note: I have 4 heavies

These represent the chariots of Hatti and their allies. The LCh would not really be an option after 1380BC and should be compulsory before.

Second Element Type: Four Light Chariots (I have Six)

These represent Syrian or Anatolian chariots used in shirmishing.

Third Element Type: 3 Cav (missing 3 man Blade)

Fourth Element Types:  3/4 man Aux

These are a) Hittite infantry (4Ax), or b)Anatolian spearmen or Syrian vassal spearmen (3Ax)

Fifth Element Type: Included in the above Right Photo: Two Psiloi (Archers)

elements of Anatolian archers or Syrian archers or javelinmen

Sixth Element Type: 4 man Bow (Not on List)

The army has changed a great deal from what was sold to me to the army found in the Version 2.2 rulebook. I do not even remember which company these figures were produced by. If you can identifly them please let me know.

The current list for the Hittite Empire I/24 (b) 1274-1180 BC calls for the following troop types.

1 x  Heavy Chariot General
1 x  Heavy Chariot
2 x Light Chariot
6 x 3 Spear
1 x 2 Psiloi
1 x 7 Horde or 2 Psiloi
 
It would appear that I'll have to order some more spearmen and a horde to bring this army up to the required levels.

Note: HE Army I/24 (a) 1380-1175 BC has no Heavy Chariots and will use a total of 4 light chariots instead. All other options remain the same.

US Civil War: Rebel Camp

15mm Stone Mountain Miniatures CSA Camp

http://www.historicalminiatures.com/smm.html

The other day I dusted off my CSA toolbox and assembled the ragged hordes that answered the call for a 2nd American War of Independance. I lined up some figures to obtain a photographic portrait of a manned defensive position. I wanted to take pictures of the 15 mm gabions that I had just painted.

Afterwards I embarked to add Litko magnetic underbases to my entire rebel army. I had put off the job for a while, being afraid that I'd want to rebase the entire force. That was not to be the case.

http://www.litkoaero.com/mag_bots.php

I also decided that it was time to change the look of my camp. Before the troopers were mounted on pennies and the tents were loose. I adopted the DBA/HOTT standard 40 mm x 40 mm element as the optimal for a tent. I had six remaining Gale Force 9 magnetic bases  left in my collection and felt project could use them.

  

The Stone Mountain Camp provided six resin tents and numerous figures in a number of different poses. Figures are shown resting, working or even drinking coffee. The female figure is a conversion. A stack of rifles is in front of each tent. The set included a wood stove and campfires (not shown). In my opinon a very good deal from Stone Mountain Miniatures.

Daredevil Adventures: The Cast of Second City

When I dug Ginger out last week to be photographed while on safari I looked at the other figures that I used on the tabletop in my Daredevil's Campaign. The campaign was set in Second City, named in honour of that great Canadian TV comedy series, SCTV. Like Springfield in the Simpsons, one never really knew the location of Second City as it would float around according to the dictates of the game. But most players believed it was set on the US west coast near San Francisco

The figures were mounted on pennies and since I had them out I'd spend the time to put them on Gale Force 9 (25mm square) magnetic bases. Most of these figures were from the Call of Cthulhu range by Grenadier Miniatures, or Ral Partha. Also included are a couple of Shadowrun figures. The majority were painted by John Saranic in Halifax in the late 1980s. The Sahdowrun figures were by Peter Dixon and Anne-Marie Lindley.

Thus I introduce you to the Cast of Second City:

A) The Tough Guys:

B) The Coppers:

C) The Adventurers:

D) The Dames:

E) The Swells:

and finally F) The Freaks

Terrain Projects: The Devil is in the Details

This week I continued my plan to conmplete some projects that have been sitting on my work table, in some cases for almost a year. As they say, the devil is in the details and what I really needed to do was complete the details.  All three projects are related to tabletop terrain.

Project number 1: Armorcast River Pieces by Armorcast Battlefield Scenery

http://www.armorcast.com/

I had two packages of river pieces that I started painting some time ago. The first package included two 4 inch wide river sections. Total length of the two sections combined is almost 12 inches. These are listed as

ACRV011 4" River Straight and Curve.

25mm Roman Cav for Scale

The second river package is ACRV004 2" River Y and Spring (1x4.5" and 1x5"). These are as noted 2 inch wide river sections. The same digure is included in the photo for scale. I am now able to place on my tabletop an 11 foot long river (note my gaming table is only 6 feet) that can range between 2 and 4 inches in width with transition pieces as shown in my Blog entry of last August. I am happy with the effect.

ACRV004 2" River Y and Spring

25mm Roman Cav for Scale

To complete the above project I had to ink the rocks, paint the sandy areas and add the green for vegatation and finally do the whitecaps on the waves.

Project No Two: 15 mm Resin Wicker work Gabions

According to Wise geek the word gabion is derived from the Italian word gabbione, a gabion is a container that is filled with sand or dirt. The device is often used in civil engineering projects, as well as some military applications and general road building. Gabions have been in use since medieval times, and are still employed by many civil engineers today.

I don't know what company the following product was produced by, but it was a purchase I made on Ebay earlier this year. The price was very good. The pack contained 3 x 6.5 cm sections, 3x 7.0 cm sections and 2x  right angle corners, each with a total length of 5 cms.

It is shown below defended by 15mm US Civil War figures. When Harris, Charles and I ordered civil war figures, they started painting first. I found that by default I had won the right to defend the rights of the states. Thus I painted a Reb division for the Fire and Fury Rules,

Gabions defended by 15mm Infantry by Stone Mountain (I think)

15mm Rebel Artilley Redoubt

Project No 3. Japanese Bamboo and Paper House

Again I am unsure of the manufacturer but this is a very heavy resin type house. I have some 25 mm Japanese Samurai figures I need to paint to go with it. In the meantime a 25mm Police Officer is included for scale. The piece came as 4 walls and two roof sections. The roof is removable and superglue was used to cement the walls together.

25mm Japanese Home

Soldiers of the Queen: Royal Artillery

Soldiers of the Queen

18x 28mm Foundry British Artillerymen

Song by Leslie Stuart (15 March 1863 – 27 March 1928)

http://www.esnips.com/doc/5ead13ce-8c25-4fa8-b6c6-c33fd3d2bc06/Canadian-48th-Highlanders---Soldiers-Of-The-Queen

It's the soldiers of the Queen, my lads
Who've been, my lads, who've seen, my lads
In the fight for England's glory lads
When we've had to show them what we mean:
And when we say we've always won
And when they ask us how it's done
We'll proudly point to every one
Of England's soldiers of the Queen

Close-up

The third and final project that I completed this week was 18 Artillery Crewmen. The figures are by Foundry while their guns were by Ral Partha. Under the Sword and the Flames Rules, an Imperial Artillery Battery consists of three guns, each with four crew (1 Lt or Sgt and 3 other ranks). I personally think that I either have two under strength batteries or one over strength battery.

Two Guns (7 or 9 LBERs Firing Direct)

In total I have 7 Guns (5 x 7 or 9 Pounders and 2 x four-barrel Nordenfeldts). It is clear that I will have to purchase some more crew and I am thinking of making an order to Old Glory. More on that later. I have painted the officers wearing distinct red (Infantry) tunics. I know that this is ahistorical but I wanted to be rapidly able to distinguish them from the other ranks. Figures and guns are all mounted on Gale Force 9 magnetic bases. On the whole I am very happy with the paint jobs of these crewmen.

Two Guns (7 or 9 LBERs Firing In-direct)

Two Ral Partha Quad Nordenfeldts

Ancient China DBA 15mm Chariots

Chinese Chariot with General

The second project that I completed this week was three 15mm Essex Chariots that I won at auction last year. It was one of the few times that I allowed myself to get caught up in the emotion of the moment. I really wanted the figures and I ended up adding to my initial bids. In the end I paid too much, but it reinforced a lesson that I already knew. Place your maximum bid at the start and walk away. You'll either win or lose, and if you lose you'll have to wait for another opportunity, or order directly from the manufacturer.

General (Blue Chariot) with Bodyguards

I purchased a painted 15mm DBA army at Cangames about 5 years ago. I have added to it a couple of times and these chariots were the latest figures. When they first arrived I painted the horses and the chariots but I never painted the crews. They were completed this week.One chariot contains a general and the other two have archers as the third crew member. I have been to the Essex site but I am unable to determine the exact historic period that these figures belong to.

Daredevil Adventures: Happy Hunting Ginger!

In the early 1980s Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) released two of the finest (IMO) role playing games, both based upon Aftermath system. The first was Bushito, which was heroic role playing set in mythical feudal Japan. My good friend, Harris MacPhail ran a great campaign for a small group of Halifax Gamers. I enjoyed many an evening playing Bushito at Fort Robie.

I purchased Daredevil Adventures, which was role playing in the roaring 20s, I rapidly advanced the milieu to the mid 1930s to create a pre-war scenario atmosphere. I still have my records from the days I ran those games, including the Player Character Sheets as well as all the miniatures I used on the tabletop. Most of these figures were the Ral Partha ranges of the period. Some day I may go back to running these adventures.

Last weekend I decided that I would clear off my work table and work on completing some have completed projects. The first of these offerings was a group of Foundry's Deepest Africa Figures. It consisted of 4 native armed riflemen, 2 bearers and 4 female figures.

Ginger, the Great White Hunter and the Hunting Party

To this group I have added a great white hunter. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Michael "Ginger" Thockmorton-Smythe. When asked by his current (number three) wife to add a new piano conservatory to the family home, he immediately headed to Africa to obtain the ivory necessary for the piano's keys. Thus allowing himself to avoid any of the unpleasant consequences of the renovations.

Villagers await the return of the hunting party.

28mm German Naked Savages

These figures are from Black Tree Design and consists of two major designs. Item IA1412 is German Naked Savages which contains 4 different models from a selection of 28 different poses. Item IA1183 is Germans in Bearskins with Hand Weapons, which is distributed in a pack of 4. Both of these are available from BTD as Army Packs of 20 figures.

I purchased these figures on Ebay about 4 years ago, as a unit of 27 figures. My plan is to field at least one Warhammer Ancients Army. They have been based either as single figures on a 25mm square base or as groups of four figures on a 50mm square base. All bases are from Gale Force 9.

The Anatomy of a Small War Part 4

As I wrote last March (the Anatomy of a Small War Part 3), I needed to pick up some 20mm tanks to provide support for my Japanese infantry. This year at Cangames I purchased three Frontline Wargaming Resin Kits from Five Arrows Figures and Fine Art (www.fivearrowsfigures.ca), one of the dealers who was in the Cangames marketplace.

I purchased two J3 TYPE 97 STANDARD MEDIUM TANK (CHI-HA) and one J4 TYPE 97 SPECIAL SHINHOTO (CHI-HA) tanks. These were the first resin kits I dealt with. Reading on the web I found the wise advise that I should soak the pieces in warm water with dish detergent, and scub them clean with a toothbrush before rinsing them clean. Afterwards it was very easy to apply both glue and paint without worrying of the effects of the chemicals used to seperate the kit from their molds.

Two Type 97 (CHI-HA) Medium Tanks

with 20mm Infantry shown for scale.

According to Wikipedia "The Type 97 medium tank Chi-Ha was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of the period.

The Type 97 was initially equipped with a Type 97 57mm main gun. The cannon was a short barreled weapon with a relatively low muzzle velocity but sufficient as the tank was intended primarily for infantry support.

It also carried two 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns, one on the front left of the hull and the other in a ball mount on the rear of the turret. The latter could be remounted on top of the top of turret for anti-aircraft use. The turret was capable of full 360-degree traverse but the main gun had a second pair of trunnions internally allowing a maximum 10-degree traverse independently of the turret. The turret featured a small periscope for use when the tank was "buttoned up." On the front of the tank was a searchlight.

The Type 97 medium tank was manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (1,224 units), Hitachi Industries (355 units), as well as some limited production in Army’s Sagami Arsenal. A total of 2,123 vehicles were constructed from 1938 to 1943, of which 1162 units with the standard Type 97 and 930 units were the improved Type 97-kai (Shinhoto) version. The remainder was various specialized variants produced in small numbers, such as recovery, flail mine clearers, engineer, bridge layers, 20 mm and 75 mm anti-aircraft and self-propelled guns.

The shortcomings of the Type 97 with its low velocity 57 mm gun became clear during the Nomonhan Incident against the Soviet Union, where the 45 mm gun of the Soviet tanks outranged the Japanese tank gun, resulting in heavy Japanese losses. This convinced the Army of the need for a more powerful gun, and development of a new 47 mm weapon began in 1939 and was completed in 1941. This gun was based on Soviet 45 mm anti-tank guns[citation needed] captured during the Nomonhan conflict and was also influenced by the German PaK 36 37 mm anti-tank gun[citation needed]. Although it was a smaller-caliber weapon, the 47 mm gun's longer barrel generated much higher muzzle velocity, resulting in armor penetration superior to that of the 57 mm gun.

1 TYPE 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha ("new turret")

with 20mm Infantry shown for scale.

From 1942 onwards, production of the Model 97 was changed to use the new 47 mm gun, which also required a larger turret. The turret was taken from the Type 1 Chi-He medium tank to resolve this issue, and the new version was designated "Type 97 Improved Medium Tank" or Shinhoto Chi-Ha ("new turret"). About 300 of the older Type 97s were also upgraded to use the new gun. The 47 mm gun was easily capable of dealing with the armour of the American M3 Stuart, though had difficulty with the heavier M4 Sherman. However as the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff believed that any tanks fielded by the Allied nations would only be of the lighter types, the lack of capability against heavier armour was considered acceptable."

Undead HOTT

Joseph and I have been emailing with regards of playing a Big Battles HOTT when I am in Halifax this summer. One thing I started work on was the idea of basing 15mm figures on the recommended 25mm DBX Elements.

I wanted to see the illusion of mass figures as well as an opportunity to mount some 25mm figures that would be more impressive when viewed along with some 15mm figures. I offer the following photos as examples of my next undead army.

Photo 1: 15mm Black Raven Knights and Cav.

I could only mount 5 Figures per 60mm x 40mm Base.

Photo 2: 25mm Pal Partha Fire Elemental

I thought this figure makes a cool God when

compared to 15mm figures.

Cangames 2010 Purchases

As I wrote in my Sunday's posting I purchased a painted 15mm Babylonian Army. I thought I post some photos of the figures.

Photo 1: General in 4-Horse HCh with Friends

Photo 2: 3 of 5 Two Man Psiloi Elements (L)

3 Four Man Spear Elements (R)

Photo 3: All 5 Cav Elements

A useful addition that can be fielded against my 15mm Hittite Army (by Irrgeular Miniatures) that I painted years ago.

My second purchase was from Daniel, from Crossed Swords (http://www.crossedswords.net/) a well known dealer from Toronto . It was a 15mm terrain piece, consisting of three 160mm lengths and two 80mm lengths of reinforced wood walls.

15mm Archers for scale. Note Rear view of wall behind the archers.

These resin pieces were very easy to clean and paint. My only complaint would be one of the 8mm pieces had a 3/4 inch piece broken off one corner. Since it was not in the bag, I could not make repairs. Still for $8, I think this was a very good buy. I added static grass along the wall after the piece was painted.

Cangames 2010

It has been two weeks since the end of the of the XXXIV edition of the CANGAMES Gaming Convention. As always, I had a great time. The Organization Committee and the volunteers are to be lauded for their continual success. A word of thanks should also be extended to the bar and canteen staff of the Rideau Curling Club for putting up with all our foolishness. The door opened Friday May 21st at noon and the con finally ended Sunday May 23rd at 11:00PM. The convention was organized by 4 hour gaming session with an hour long break between sessions. The 4 hour gamings sessions were sub-divided for some games.

View from the main floor near the Marketplace Entrance

There is something for everybody at CANGAMES, including children. The convention is for the whole family. Games are classified into the categories of Children’s Games, Role Playing Games, Miniature Games and Board Games. In addition there are further sub-divisions based upon skill level (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) and if the game is a demonstration, a qualifying round, or if play is for a Trophy or Certificate or some other prize. In addition places are provided for open gaming and Warwick Gaming group provides numerous board games, that you can try out.

CANGAMES also includes a Marketplace with local, and well known regional dealers, as well as a 2nd hand market run by the Cangames committee, where for a percentage of the sale, you may flog your unwanted games or gaming supplies. This year I purchased a painted 15mm Babylonian DBA army for $50. I used $45 in rolled change that I brought with me. I didn’t have the time to get to a bank before leaving Montreal. Happily it was warmly received by the staff.

I arrived Friday afternoon and started to look around. I was not scheduled for anything until the 7:00PM gaming session. Things were off to a slow start so I used the time to take a walk to Fandom II, a well known Ottawa gaming store. I arrived back at the convention and rapidly meet up with a group of guys with whom I game occasionally with in Montreal.

An Ogre in all its glory, advances for the Honour of the Regiment.

I took the time to speak with Garth Elliott. Garth was running a 1/300th scale game of Ogre. The object was to destroy the Command Post and escape off the board, which I believe was the basic objective in the Steve Jackson Game Ogre. Garth is an Ottawa area school teacher who has introduced his students to miniature gaming. I really liked his cityscape terrain. He mounted colour photographs, taken from goggle earth images on foam board. Thus parts of his terrain included for example the US Capital building easily identified from its satellite image. Way to go!!

The US Capital Building

Friday evening I was signed up for Junta run by Noral Rebin. This is a fun game of lying, cheating and stealing, while trying to establish the family with a largest Swiss bank account in a corrupt banana republic. Noral runs the game with some simple rules that add to the game. For example the Minister of Security must always try to assassinate one of the other players. This year there were only enough players for one board. I think last year we had three games running simultaneously and I was part of the board that had every player assassinated in the same turn. Life can be fun in the Republic.

Saturday and Sunday were to be long days. The doors open at 8:00AM each morning with the last game closing at 11:00PM. I have to admit that I no longer can keep up with that sort of schedule and decided I’d arrive when I arrived on Saturday morning. I’m not sure when I got there but my first stop was the Marketplace. Steve accompanied me to the con in the morning. My thanks to Steve and Doreen for putting up with me on the long weekend.

The far end of town.

Saturday 2:00PM.
I was signed up to take part in a 25mm Fire and Fury Game. Unfortunately, one of the two refs was not available. The other organizer of the game offered in its place a 25mm Duster, played with a rule set called Desperado. Checking the web I found that this rule set is now available in a 3rd edition. I am not sure what edition we played with but the game mechanics were fairly simple. Each player controlled two Gunfighters. Jim Wilson, the ref, controlled all the townsfolk. Jim is to be complemented for the fine game he put on, as well as to the level of the terrain and miniatures used. They were an inspiration to us all

My character, Drew Colbourne is on the right. I failed to bushwack the central figure.

The figure on the left is a NPC who will finish me off in the following turn.

The object was to be the Gunfighter who escapes off the board (a specific edge) with a rescued prisoner. You were not required to be the person who freed him. As I stated the mechanics were fairly simple. Each figure had two cards in the deck, The NPCs were represented by just two cards, If their card was picked the ref would act with the town person that was nearest a player character. Movement was based on dice, If your card was flipped you could crawl 1D6, walk 2 D6 or run 3D6 in inches.

All PCs were armed with six shooters. So you could shoot 1, 2 or 3 shoots. The more shoots used the harder it was to hit. The further you moved, the harder it was to hit. Cover made it more difficult to hit a target as well as the range. I think 6 inches was short range, to 20 inches medium range and anything over was long range. Thus you could move and shoot in the same turn. If you remained in a place you could also mount a search, for the prisoner, another weapon (shotguns were popular) or more ammo. You rolled percentile dice to hit and damage was also by percentile. You rolled to hit, your target rolled the damage. Sometimes you’d have immediately fatal results, other times it would be a long time before your opponent died. Each PC began with 100 points.

Ref: Jim Wilson 2nd from left and the other players.

Winner: Duncan 1st person on left

One of my characters was finished off by an innocent (my eye) townsfolk and the other was run over by another NPC (controlling a wagon) as I tried to prevent the escape of the prisoner by stage coach. I thoroughly enjoyed this game. At least I wounded the coach's horse and they were force to flee on foot, and finally by rowboat. After both my PCs died I was handed control of one NPC who could have saved the day. Instead I rolled 100% and had my gun blow up in my hand. Duncan escaped with the prisoner and won the game.

My 2nd Character (Aces and Eights) run down by a wagon while trying to prevent the Stage Coach from Leaving Town.

The Final Escape from Town

The Price of Failure.

Saturday 6:00 PM
Doreen picked up Steve and I for dinner. I had to be back by 7:00PM for my next event.

Saturday 7:00 PM
I was registered to play in a Rail Baron tournament run by Donna Balkan. I was 15 minutes late but Donna was happy to see me. I was player number 18. She was running three boards each with 6 players. With my arrival, she could enjoy being the referee instead of playing the final slot. This is the first time I’ve played Rail Baron since leaving Halifax. I think we’d play normally with four players. I don’t remember ever playing with six. This becomes a very tight game. Players are shut out of regions and it becomes very expensive, very quickly to use another players rail line. Hats off to Donna for a well run tournament.

Sunday 9:00 AM
I habitually play in two tournaments each year at CANGAMES. Sunday morning at 9:00AM is the Diplomacy Tournament run by Ken Murry and I look forward to the DBA Open Book Tournament run on Saturday nights at 7:00PM. This year I was thrown for a loop. The DBA tournament was scheduled for Sunday at 7:00PM. It was going to be a long day. I really wanted to play in the DBA, so I did not pre-register for the Dippy Game. I spoke to Ken on Saturday evening and said as usual I been in by 9:15AM. The bus schedule from Steve’s on Sunday morning is not the most convenient and I was not going to be on a 7:30AM bus in order arrive almost an hour early for the Dippy game.

I'm playing the Illyrians (yellow)

When I arrived the game had already started. Ken had just enough players this year for one seven player board and since I was not officially registered he started with the seven players he had. If I was there at 9:00AM he would have been forced to run two four player games. What was I to do? Within 2 minutes I was sitting down with a group of guys who were sitting up a pick up game of Civilization. This was to occupy me until 6:00PM. Civilization is such a fun game. We played on the western board with just 4 players, with all the cards from Civilization and Advanced Civilization. Great fun was had by all. One of the four players had to leave at 2:00PM as he was registered for another event. His position was played by three other gamers who rotated in and out based on their own availability. All three were involved in their own games, but were happy to help us out. This is one game I’d like to see on the schedule next year. I’d play again.

Sunday 7:00PM
This is the event I looked forward to all weekend. The DBA 15mm Open Book Tournament run by Tod Creasey. This year we had 12 players available for the tournament. I arrived with an Early Burgundian Army (Book IV/76). It consisted of the following troops

1 3Kn or 4 Bd (Gen)
5x3 Kn//4Bd
1 3Kn// 4 bd or 3 CV
2x 4 Pk or 4 LB (I use the Longbow)
1x 4CB
1x 4 LB
1 Art.

The tournament is played in 4 rounds. Each round consists of 45minutes of play followed by 15 minutes administration time. You are matched with a different player each round and points are based upon the number of enemy elements killed.

Early Burgundian Army Photo 1

1x3Kn General w/ 5x Kn

(Used in all 4 Rounds. I did not use foot options)

Mike Abbot, my first opponent fielded a Post Mongol Japanese Army. It was the same type of army I brought to Cangames last year. I won the first round destroying 4 elements including the general, losing one element. It was a good start to the evening.

Company Wars (Warfare in the Age of Reason)

25 mm Game run by Perry Gray & Eric Ritchie

Round two was against Duncan Martelock (who won the Western Duster game on Sat afternoon) and his Neo Assyrian Army. It did contain chariots which allowed me to win by forcing them back through rough terrain. I lost two elements but again destroyed four including the enemy general.

Early Burgundian Army Photo 2

2x 4 Pk or 4 LB (I use the Longbow option)

1x 4CB (rep by 3 man stand) and 1x 4 LB

Round three I was going up against Patrick Laffey and his Chanca Army. It was my bloodiest battle of the evening. Patrick destroyed five of my elements including my general, while I destroyed four of his. The lost of my general was a complete surprise but bad dice often are. Despite the lost, the four elements I killed were added to my over all total.

In the final round I got to play with the organizer of the tournament, Tod Creasy and his Serbian Empire Army. It was another quick game, where I bagged four elements to a lost of two. Tod’s general managed to evade me. In between rounds I was asked to play against a young man whose father was also taking part in the tournament. It was another close game but I lost four elements to his three. I believe he was undefeated all evening and received the award for top young blood.

Early Burgundian Army Photo 3

1 3Kn// 4 bd or 3 CV (I used the Kn option)

1 Art.

The evening was over. I entered the final round with one of the top scores of the evening, but was it enough. I finished tied with Wlad Kinastowski who, according to the OMG Yahoo Group won the most closely contested DBA tourney yet. The final decision was based upon the number of elements destroyed by our opponents and the fact Wlad won all four of his rounds. I hope that next year I’ll have the opportunity to cross swords with Wlad. This is the 2nd time in three years that I placed second in the DBA tourney. Wlad received the DBA trophy and a 15mm Early Achamenid Army painted by Tod Creasey. As 2nd prize I received an unpainted 15mm Nikaian Byzantine (Book IV/31) army donated by The Ottawa Miniature Gamers. Thanks to all that make this event the apex of the Cangames weekend.

The very Popular Star Wars: A New Hope

Designed by Bernhard Holmok

Winner of the award: for Best Theme Game

Any mistakes in this text regarding names, armies or events are mine alone. Please advise me and I will make changes. It has been two weeks since the event and I didn’t make notes for my blog. I am relying on my memory and the Cangames schedule for details. I look forward to Cangames XXXV in 2011.