On the 3rd of May 2003 a DBM competition was organised by CRAP in Macroom, Co. Cork. This page contains the final results of the competition and a report on the personal experiences of one compeditor, John Graham-Leigh.
This was a small comp with 8 players but some of those there had travelled long distances (two from Belfast, one from England). It was held in Richard' s house in Macrooom. Richard was the playing umpire umpire.
This was a 1-day, 3-round 300AP open event using +100 scoring. Everyone had a great time and the games all proceeded smoothly.
| Position | Last Name First Name | Total Score | Army List | Club |
| 1 | Aynsley, Richard | 224 | LPIA | CRAP |
| 2 | Graham-Leigh, John | 222 | Early Crusader | England |
| 3 | Coughlan,William | 221 | Konstantinian Byzantine | CRAP |
| 4 | McKenna, Seamus | 220 | EIR (Eastern) | Dragonslayers |
| 5 | Bracken,Padraig | 112 | Han Chinese | DGG |
| 6 | O'Brien,Peter | 109 | Galatian | CRAP |
| 7 | O'Sullivan,Paul | 7 | MIR | CRAP |
| 8 | Snoddy, Tim | 5 | Andalusian | Dragonslayers |
I took part in this competition, at Richard Aynsley's house near Macroom, Co. Cork, while visiting my brother who lives near Dunmanway. The rest of the Graham-Leigh family managed to amuse themselves elsewhere for the day…
The competition was open DBM, any army, 300 AP. I took Early Crusaders: the Irregular version with C-in-C's and ally-general's commands composed of the usual Fast Knights, Ordinary Bowmen, Inferior Spears and bow-armed skirmishers (Ps(O)), plus a Byzantine ally with 6 Superior Light Horse and a single Spear element with a boat. The generals were Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert of Normandy and the Byzantine Taticius. The small armies on 6' x 4' tables made for plenty of manoeuvre room.
There were eight players. In the first round I faced Tim Snoddy from Belfast, fielding Andalusians - lots of nice vulnerable Cv(O) and LH(O), plus some rather tougher spearmen. My Byzantines faced an attractive-looking open flank but decided I hadn't been paying them enough and were unreliable - curses! Tim obviously thought he'd better press his advantage before the Byzantines decided to join in, and sent two LH(O) into my ally-general's knights, to get them broken up and rushing towards his waiting spearmen. Both LH elements died, and unfortunately for him Tim had left another element from that (small) command within reach and the knights despatched that too. The Andalusian command broke, the Byzantines joined in and the rest of the Andalusians were soon enveloped. 10-0 to Godfrey, Robert and the boys.
Next I faced a Peter O'Sullivan's Galatian army: only two commands, one of which was just a huge mass of Superior Warbands and a few skirmishers, the other (much smaller) having the chariots. I held my C-in-C's command well back facing the warband while Robert's knights and the Byzantines sorted out the charioteers. My allied knights hared off in pursuit of the remnants, but the Byzantines took the warbands in the rear and started killing four elements at a time, while Godfrey's knights came thundering in to the front. The Galatians were destroyed; I don't think the Crusaders lost an element.
Plenty of time to watch the other games. Richard Aynsley's Later Pre-Islamic Arabs were locked in a thriller against Early Imperial Romans; I fervently hoped the game would end in a draw, as then I'd face the Romans in the last round and I was confident that the crusading knights could ride over them. However, Richard got a last-gasp win so I faced the rather less appealing Arabs.
This game was another thriller. Richard's army had four small commands and he filled the table with dunes and camel-friendly brush, with a lot of troops hidden in ambush. My C-in-C's command, supported by the Byzantines, faced the enemy C-in-C (who had camels to the fore and feeble infantry held well back), while Robert faced a large area of dunes with his infantry (who included plenty of crossbowmen) in the hope of finding some camels there to be turned into pincushions. It was an excellent plan - there were indeed lots of camels quaking there.
Unfortunately Robert was having none of it: a succession of lousy PIP dice propelled him and his knights forward, far ahead of his infantry, to be picked off by Arab camel-riders and light horse. Robert went down and his command broke. On the other flank, though, Godfrey's knights performed prodigies against the camels and light horse facing them and, with an assist from the Byzantines, broke the Arab C-in-C's command.
So, a command each and all to play for. However, the Arabs had three commands left to my two, Godfrey's knights were scattered beyond control and eventually enough of them were picked off to make half my army lost. 8-2 to Richard, who thus won the competition with 24 points; my 22 points were enough for second place.
An excellent day! Unfortunately the subsequent Munster Opens have been in January rather than May, when travelling is not so attractive, so I haven't been back since.
John Graham-Leigh
Go Back to the IWorg.Com Competition Results Page