David Taylor was the winner of the competition with a Nikephorian Byzantine army structured as follows:

Nikephorian Byzantine 976 AD

Army EE 53.5 Dem 27 399AP

Command 1
EE/BP 16/5.5

1 x Reg Cv(S) CinC
6 x Reg Bw(X) Skoutatoi & Archers
6 x Reg Bw(O)  - DBE
4 x Reg Ps(S) Akontistai
4 x Reg Ps(O) Skirmishing archers
2 x Reg Art(O) Bolt-shooters on wagon
6 x Irr Bg(I) Immobile Baggage

Command 2
EE/BP 10/4

1 x Reg Cv(S) Sub-general
6 x Reg Cv(S) Tagmatoc kavallarioi
3 x Reg Lh(S) Prokoursatores

Command 3
EE/BP 4/2

1 x Reg Cv(S) Sub-general
1 x Reg Cv(S) Tagmatoc kavallarioi
2 x Reg Lh(F) Flank guards

Command 4 (Bagratid Armenian Allies)
EE/BP 23.5/8

1 x Irr Kn(F) Ally General
3 x Irr Kn(F) Nakhararks
2 x Irr Cv(O) Azatks
2 x Irr Lh(F) Skirmishing Azatks
12 x Irr Sp(I) Foot warriors
6 x Irr Ps(O) Archers
1 x Irr Ps(S) Skirmishers
2 x Irr Bg(I) Immobile Baggage

Rob Brennan was in 2nd place. He used Later Achaemenid Persians structured as follows:

Later Achaemenid Persian 331BC

Army EE = 60.5 Army Dem = 30.5 AP = 400

Command 1
EE = 20 Break = 7 Elements = 33

1x Reg Cv(O) chariot CnC
2 x Irr Cv(O) Persian or Median cav
5 x Irr LH(O) Paphlagonians etc
7 x Irr Ax(O) Takabara
6 x Irr Ps(O) Persian archers or slingers
4 x Irr Hd(O) Levy and servants
8 x Irr Bg(I) Immobile baggage

Command 2
EE = 18.5 Break = 6.5 Elements = 21

1x Reg Cv(S) Sub-gen
2 x Reg Kn(F) Kinsmen cavalry (upgraded persian cav)
3 x Irr Cv(S) Satrapal guard, Armenians, etc
1 x Irr LH(O) Paphlagonians etc
1 x Irr LH(F) Skythians and Parthians
6 x Irr Cv(I) Colonist cav
2 x Irr Cv(O) Persian or Median cav
5 x Irr Hd(O) Levy and servants

Command 3
EE = 18.5 Break = 6.5 Elements = 23

1 x Reg Sp(O) Greek Sub-gen
2 x Reg Sp(S) Guard infantry
5 x Reg Sp(O) Mercenary Hoplites
6 x Irr Cv(I) Colonist cav
6 x Irr Ps(O) Persian archers or slingers
3 x Irr Hd(O) Levy and servants

Command 4
EE = 3.5 Break = 1.5 Elements = 4

1x Reg Cv(S) Sub-gen
1 x Irr LH(F) Skythians and Parthians
1 x Irr El(O) Elephant
1 x Irr Hd(O) Levy and servants

Charlie Dickinson was 3rd. He used an Eastern Later Imperial Roman army structured as follows:

Eastern LIR 325-336AD

Army EE = 61.5 Army Dem = 31 AP = 400

Command 1
EE = 15.5 Break = 5.5 Elements = 20

1 x Reg Cv(O) CinC
8 x Reg Bd(O) Legionarii
8 x Reg Ps(O) Archers supporting Legionarii
2 x Reg Art(F) Bolt shooters
1 x Reg Ps(O) Skirmishers

Command 2
EE = 14 Break = 5 Elements = 26

1 x Reg Cv(O) Sub-General
4 x Reg Ax(S) Auxilia Palatina
4 x Reg Ps(O) Archers supporting Auxilia Palatina
4 x Irr Ax(I) City militia
2 x Reg Gal(F) Dromons
2 x Irr Ax(O) Marines
1 x Reg LH(F) Equites sagittarii
8 x Irr Bg(O) Baggage
9 x TF for camp

Command 3
EE = 13 Break = 4.5 Elements = 13

1 x Reg Cv(O) Sub-General
2 x Reg Kn(F) Catafractarii
5 x Reg LH(O) Equites Illyricani
1 x Reg LH(F) Equites sagittarii
4 x Reg LH(F) Equites sagittarii indigenae

Command 3 (Early Armenians)
EE = 19 Break = 6.5 Elements = 19

1 x Irr Cv(S) Ally-General
4 x Irr Cv(S) Cataphracts
4 x Irr LH(F) Horse archers
8 x Irr Bw(I) Archers
2 x Irr Ax(O) Javelinmen

Carolingian vs Patrician Roman

This round one game between Eric Nolan and Stephan Clarke (a visitor from Manchester) was Eric's 1st comp game with the Carolinginans. He managed to bag a win - something risky to do with CnC's (KnF vsLH(S)) fighting each other I gather. Unfortunately the rest of the comp didn't go so well and he finished in 13th position (exactly the same as last year). So much for the theory that changing army would make a difference.

Richard Aynsley's Vietnamese Baggage

Richard tried out a brave new army - Early Vietnamese - at this comp and provided some nice baggage based on a souvenir picked up in a local shop. This blasphemy obviously didn't go down well with the powers that be and Richard had one of his poorer comp outings. We have been assured that the Vietnamese have been consigned to the dustbin of history (or at least of competition gaming ;-)

Nicolas deploys for his first comp game

A new DBM player, Nicolas, deploys his Late Imperial Romans for his first competition game. He looks happy - and well he should as he had an excellent weekend scoring 12 VP and beating a couple of old hands in the final placings. Could it be beginner's luck or will he be a player to watch out for?

Graeco-Bactrian vs CAT

Alex Moran deploys his Uighers in the 1st round vs Brian Bull's Graeco-Bactrians. In a hard-fought game Alex won in the end. Graeco-Bactrian was a new choice of army for Brian, one of many such changes in the line-out this time. Alex went on to have an unspectacular comp - perhaps the pressure of trying to win 3 comps in a row was just too much? :-)

Ltr Achaemenid Persian vs Ltr Carthaginian

Rob Brennan (LAP) and Tom Sheeran (L.Carth) met in a repeat of last year's 1st round pairings. This year it was no walk-over for the Persians. Despite crossing a lightly-defended invader's river and sacking the Carthaginian baggage (top left of photo) the Carthaginians put up stiff resistance with a couple of El(I) despatching the Persian cavalry force. The game went right down to the wire but eventually the loss of their baggage and accumulated casualties broke the Carthaginians (but the Persian losses had been heavy).

Setting up for Round 3

The first game on Sunday is never easy after a good Saturday night. There were 17 players in attendance which is a large number for a  2-day, 400AP competition in Ireland. At the far end of the hall you can see a large Vietnam participation game run by Stephen Bankhead.

Ltr. Carthaginian vs Norman

Tom Sheeran (Carthaginians) plays John Lavery (Normans) in round 3. John is only an occasional competition player so it was good to see him in attendance at the weekend. Obviously the Norman knights couldn't crack the Carthaginian wall of spear and the spear couldn't trap the knights as this game ended drawn on 5-5, one of many draws over the weekend.

Tim Snoddy between games

Obviously some searching for some vital tactical edge... Tim tried out his new army, Early Byzantines, at the comp and I think that he was pleased with their performance - certainly a nice change from Irregular armies and not a drunken camel in sight!

Classical Indian vs Carolingian Franks

The Frankish (Eric Nolan) shieldwall (looking very Anglo-Saxon) attempts to close with Darren Birt's Indian Bw(X) and elephants. It never really made a substantial contact, Sp(I) just find it too hard to close with Bw(X/S). During the game Eric couldn't really see any hope for his army of Kn(F) against the Classical Indians - afterwards he was enlightened about the power of dismounting the knights. The game finished 110-0 to the Indians.

Graeco-Bactrian vs LIR

Neil Blanchflower was another DBM first timer at the comp. Here he is deploying against Charlie Dickinson's Later Imperial Romans. The two red circles highlight gaps in his line - the perrenial curse of a Warhammer player starting to play DBM. Neil had a good first comp and managed to take a few victory points off his opposition.

Early Vietnamese vs Ltr Achaemenid Persian

This shows Richard's monster army (95EE) in some places it was at least 6 deep - Bow or Blade then Psioli then Warband. That's a lot of killing that you have to do to break the army. Fortunately the Persians were able to invade during rainy season and right on time the rain started to fall. The shear size of the army gave it great resilliance though and the game ended an 8-2 draw in favor of the Persians.

LIR vs Hsiung-nu

This was a game Tony (Hsiung-nu, moving player) just had to win - Nicolas was a beginner using an army that Tony had lent him! Tony's first day had been below average just to add to the pressure. However a win on this table started a strong come-back on day 2 of the comp and Tony finished well.