DBM Tournament
2004
A strange thing happened this year at the club. DBM took over...
Club Member Dave Willock organised a DBM tournament, and club
members jumped at the chance to take part. Dave wanted to promote
DBM within the club as no-one (or hardly anyone) seemed to play
it.....and guess what, we're all at it now. There were 9 players
in the tournament, so everyone had to play 8 matches...
The tournament is now over, and Dave will be providing a tournament
write up (with results) in the near future. In the meantime, club
member Steve Hardy has written his own (very detailed) account
of the
tournament.
DBM Club Tournament 2004
A Player’s Perspective
(Steve Hardy)
Introduction
For some time now, myself and a few chaps from the club have been
planning and building armies for a campaign based around the Mongol
Conquest period. After much early work we settled on 15mm figures
and DBM basing conventions. We’d intended to use these ‘generic’ measures
with other game systems, notably Piquet and possibly Warhammer
Ancient Battles. However, as things developed and the armies neared
completion, we were drawn closer to using the DBM rules themselves.
After some initial reservations concerning certain ahistorical
elements of the DBM gameplay we warmed to it. Then Dave declared
that he was (independently of what we were doing) setting up a
DBM tournament at the club so we readily signed up – keen
to try out our new armies! The tournament itself was a relaxed
affair, planned to run for six months or so (until Christmas).
It’s no exaggeration to say that we are all now hooked on
DBM. I certainly spend an unhealthy amount of braintime thinking
about the game and I know others do too! Oh dear.
So anyway, we set about a series of practice games with our armies
and when the tournament began I was fairly confident that I’d
hammered out an adequate force with some decent tactics. Dave had
introduced a handicap system as some players were veterans and
others (like me) were green as apples. So initially I was given
the full 400AP to build my tournament armies. After our numerous
practice matches, however, I couldn’t in good consience say
I was now so green and voluntarily dropped my army AP total to
380. So the first tournament match came round…
The Battles (Click for Details)
Overall Conclusion
This tournament has been a wonderful shot in the arm at the club.
Playing competatively really gives these games a passionate edge
and with a wide variety of opponents to face it has been great
fun restructuring forces and trying all sorts of different tactics
to meet the challenges of various armies. I think all involved
(and certainly I) have greatly enjoyed playing and all praise
goes to Dave for organising things earlier in the year.
The tournament has also raised the profile of DBM in the club.
Always bubbling under, this excellent ruleset has come to the fore.
While often ahistorical, the rules and armies are very well balanced
and it makes for a fantastic game.
I simply can’t wait for next year’s tournament.
