Trevor Pearless DBA Tournament, 2014

It's that time of year again. The 2014 DBA Tournament had thirteen competitors, which is the second highest participation (best was in 2008 - we had fifteen players!). We stayed with 15mm from any army list. This is clearly the preferred option rather than theming and we will be staying with it for next year.

OK then. Mike Proudlock was our returning champion, having won the previous two years. He was using his Burmese, which had won him the trophy in 2012. The ethos behind the tournament is that players are not allowed to use the same army twice, but also no one is expected to go and buy new armies so if one is all you have then that's the one it is! However, Mike does have other armies so I think next year we'll have to make him change!

This was the first year for new club member Michael as well. He'd played DBA before so it would be interesting to see how he got on.

There was a good mix of armies. Not so many Knight based armies as previous years. Some exotic armies, and some 'core' armies. I think this is what people like about the 'anything goes' approach, allowing players to game something they may not otherwise choose.

So we got the tournament underway. Brett was nursing a hangover so he had a bye on the first round. Players taking byes would be awarded their average score of the day for that round. Mike had a very good first round, scoring 8 points against Paul Lymath. John Lambert had done almost as well, scoring 7 points with his Medieval Irish. Good opening rounds also went to Chris (Marian Romans) and Colin (Mongols). Dave Sime had a lucklustre opening round, losing all his games (but not his general!).

Ian (Neo Assyrian) picked up his pace and started winning, beating John's Irish, Chris' Romans, and Dave's Celtiberians. Mike was also having consistent wins, and scoring good scores into the bargain. Dave kept losing (but not his general!), and Andy (Picts) was also struggling. Brett's (Ptolemaic) half-cut state must have helped somehow because he was also having consistent good results. Michael (Early Imperial Roman) was also rising to the top.

One thing we did this year, to keep things going, was to impose a time limit. All games were limited to 1 hour. This could possibly be cut short if all games had finished except one and that one game showed no signs of reaching a conclusion. Fortunately we never had to do that but it was there to encourage faster play so that those who had finished weren't left thumb-twiddling.

End games had a bit of a shake-up. Bob (Early Egyptian) had a surprising win against Tony (Middle Imperial Roman) ensuring he kept off the bottom of the table. Andy and John met in battle, but I think the two of them spent more time complaining how they had chosen the wrong armies (John won the game - presumably he'd chosen less badly than Andy). And Dave kept on losing (but not his general!).

Right then, game over and the final scores were in. Places, armies, and points as follows:

1. Mike Proudlock (Burmese) 47 points
2. Brett Smith (Ptolemaic) 42 points
3. Michael Livermore (Early Imperial Roman) 38 points
4. Paul Lymath (Seleucid) 35 points
5. Tony Gibbs (Middle Imperial Roman) 34 points
6. John Lambert (Medieval Irish) 30 points
7. Ian Fitzgerald (Neo Assyrian) 24 points
8. Colin Campbell (Mongol) 23 points
9. Alan Ockleford (Komnenan Byzantine)16 points
10. Andy King (Pictish) 15 points
11. Chris Sime (Marian Roman) 12 points
12. Bob Colman (Early Egyptian) 8 points
13. Dave Sime (Celtiberians) 4 points

So Mike held on to the trophy for the third time! This equals Alan Ockleford, who has also won three times. Let's see if either of them can win next year, or maybe there'll be a new champion…

Photos by Mike Proudlock