Trevor Pearless DBA Tournament, 2017

The 2017 MWS Trevor Pearless Memorial DBA Tournament got underway with eight players competing for the prestigious trophy!

Mike seems to have been tournament winner for what seems like forever now and it would remain to see if he would be taking the trophy home once again. It looked likely – Mike has a fondness for elephant-based Indian armies, and this time was no different. It looked good for him because most of the other players had knight heavy armies – a favourite target for those elephants to go after!

Scoring was simple – one point for each element destroyed, a bonus point if it’s the General’s element, and a bonus point if you win. Like previous years we also had random points awarded in some turns to give players something extra to strive for.

So, with players and armies all on the score sheet it was just a matter of getting on with it. Mike got off to a good start. Not only did he win his game but he also claimed the bonus for first unit killed in the tournament. Paul Lymath also got off to a good start, giving Paul French (fielding a French Ordonnance army – see what he did?) a good pasting.

A short round meant Mike missed out on points (if a game doesn’t finish before time is up then players get points for elements killed but no winning point). Paul Lymath and Andy had wins and the top of the table was starting to look crowded with no obvious pull-away lead. It would stay like that most of the day, with final victory possibly going to any one of three players. Paul French was faced with a dilemma in his game with Andy – whether to mass his artillery in one grand battery or not. He did and he was rewarded with a splendid victory.

In a later round we had a bonus for any player who managed to capture their opponent’s camp or built up area. Dave Simes, who’d had an unremarkable day, claimed this bonus for capturing a city off Paul French (though Paul still won the battle!). Pete Smith was one of those players who silently starting creeping up the board. He started well, then started losing, then began winning again with a solid victory over Dave.

OK then. So we managed to get in seven rounds during the day which meant that everyone got to play everyone else. Perfect. And at the end of the day the scores were in and…

1. Paul French (French Ordonannce) 37pts
2. Mike Proudlock (Hindu Indian) 34pts
3. Paul Lymath (Anglo-Norman) 31pts
4. Pete Smith (West Franks/Normans) 24pts
5. Andy King (Early Lombard) 23pts
6. John Lambert (Early Russian) 15pts
7. Dave Simes (Picts) 15pts
8. Chris Simes (Late Imperial Roman) 6pts

We have a new winner!

We also noticed how the trophy seems to permanently live in Ashford since all the winning players seem to come from there. So we have a new name for the trophy! The FIFA World Cup has the Jules Remit Trophy. Cricket has The Ashes. Rugby has the Webb Ellis Trophy. Well, the MWS DBA Tournament now has the equally prestigious Ashford Trophy!

Photos by Mike Proudlock