Britcon 2003

Well my second Britcon and it was even better than last year. Superb
organisation and everything went without a hitch from my POV. Thanks to
all at the BHGS for the hard work.

Here's a short version of my games, I'll probably do a long one soon - you
have been warned :-)

I took the Ghurid along for a run out on the Friday afternoon in the
pre-comp games and played Jan-Chris Plaggemars who used Dynastic Bedouin.
My list was:

C-in-C: 5 Reg Cv(S) inc gen, 5 Irr LH(S), 5 Irr Pk(X)/(I) DBE, 5 Irr
Ps(O), 4 Irr Bw(O), baggage;
Sub 1: Reg Cv(S) gen, 5 Irr Pk(X)/(I) DBE, 10 Irr Ax(X), 5 Irr Ps(O), 4
Irr Bw(O);
Sub 2: 5 Reg Cv(S) inc gen, 5 Irr LH(S), 2 Irr Cv(O), 1 Irr LH(F);

I invaded down a river and deployed from the river the C-in-C, Sub 1 then
Sub 2. Jan-Chris had a Regular Hamdanid with lost of mounted Bw(I) and
deployed massed Bw + the few Cv(S) by the Rv, mainly LH in the centre and
LH, mtd Bd(I) and the 'Abid on the flank, his 4th command of more mtd
Bw(I) and LH flank marched. I decided to ignore the flank march and push
forward and luckily the flank march took 2 hours to come on. On my right
my Bw(O) shot dead 2 Bd(I) and the Pk killed 2 more by hitting a LH in the
flank where the Bd prevented the recoil - a bit of a mistake by Jan
there - and then the LH(S) rode down the 'Abid from the flank to break the
command. On my left my few Bw caused casualties to Jan's before finally
succumbing to superior numbers and with other losses broke my C-in-C's
command - the (now demoralised) Pk got some other Bw and I broke that
command for the game with Jan's flank march only a move or 2 from my
baggage.

The main comp saw me use Beja with the following list (all troops Irr):

C-in-C: 6 LH(O) inc gen, 1 LH(I), 6 Cm(S), 5 Bw(I), 8 Ps(O);
Sub 1: 5 LH(O) inc gen, 4 Cm(S), 6 Bw(I), 1 Ps(O);
Sub 2: 1 Cv(O) gen, 2 LH(I), 6 Bd(F), 10 Ax(O), 1 Bw(I0, 6 Ps(O);
Sub 3: 3 Cv(O) inc gen, 6 LH(O), 1 Ps(O), Baggage;

Game 1; played Pierre-Arnaud Demeret who used Medieval French. I invaded
France on a moderately wooded table. The major factor in this game was
Pierre's ambush of 8 Kn(S) including a subby in a large Wd on his right -
a very ballsy deployment. I found it and pinned it back with LH, it fought
it's way out and broke my C-in-C, but lost a few Kn to the Cm (S). His
C-inC was taken out of the game by my Sub 3 running round the flank of his
army and his centre command was broken up by a suicide LH and broken by my
Cm and LH killing 7 Kn(S) inc the general. I then managed to mop up the
rest of Pierre's Kn(S) from the ambush command for the army. Apart from 1
demoralised Cv(O) I only killed Kn(S) all game. 25-7 (8-2) win.

Game 2; played Andy Wilcox who used Med Portuguese in a Bw heavy Irr
version. Again invaded and Andy's anti-Cm terrain fell badly for him and
hardly affected the game. Andy deployed basically what was a Bw centre
with Kn + support wings. I deployed a Bd centre with Cm wings to mirror
him with Sub 4 on the flank that Sub 1 was on to boost numbers. The game
went pretty much "as Barker intended" and there was little manoeuvring and
cunning moves - mainly because Andy's PIPs were poor so he couldn't and
whilst mine were good (only 2 PIP dice threw 1 all game and in each case
it didn't matter!) I didn't need to. I broke up one wing of Kn with the
obligatory suicide LH and mugged them with Cm and LH, the Bd hit the Bw
without Andy's shooting even causing a single recoil and the C-in-C's Cm
hit the other Kn wing. The Bw died like dogs breaking his centre, my
C-in-C contained his C-in-C and I broke the command on the other wing.
Andy's dice were awful all game (as he was beaten next round by another
Beja I think they had an allergy). 31-1 (10-0) victory.

Game 3; played Christian Guillaume who used Lithuanian. I invaded and his
terrain picks cluttered the battlefield badly for me - there was a large
Wd in my central sector on the centre line. (Chritian's terrain pieces
were large laminated photo's he had taken on his holidays of the relevant
terrain, so the Wd was a photo of trees <g>). His army was not the usual
Teuton enhanced variety but an earlier Polish ally one, he flank marched
the ally. bacially due to terrain I ended up corner sitting in my left
waiting for his flank march to arrive which I expected to be able to mug.
When it did arrive my C-in-C's Bw(I) nearly shot the general off the table
edge but failed by 1 on the dice (I did get another Kn though). However,
my PIPs had not allowed me to properly organise a Cm reception and my
combat dice didn't dig me out and my C-in-C broke. *PANTS MOMENT ALERT*
However, even after this I should have held on for a 3-7 result, but in
bound 2 with a 1 on Sub 2's PIP dice with no enemy withing 2 1/2 feet of
the command I forgot to hold the Cm(S) who promptly ran away to their
death some bounds later - doh! Now with these losses that command is 1.5
elements off breaking and the Bw in the command are holding a H(G) on my
right - Christian attacks these at the end of the game after last bound is
called and rolls up enough to get the army. Argh, but my own fault. 1-31
(0-10) loss.

Game 4; Martin van Tol using Lithuanians, but the normal Tuetonic ally
version. I'm invaded and clutter the table with lots of nice Cm friendly
RGo and D - this leaves one obvious path for Martin's foot and Teutons.
With this being the last game on Saturday (3rd of the day) I think it is
fair to say that neither of us played our best game ever. This is where
the main action in the game was as Martin pushed WWg protected Bd + Ax
through the gap with the Teutons in support. After a dodgy deployment I
manage to get Cm + Bd attacking his foot/WWg command although some Bd
suffer from Turtonic counter measures. The Cm ride down the Bd and Ax and
bd take out WWg, as a Cm stuck to his C-in-C he was limited in how he
could react and wasn't helped by poor PIPs and the fact that the Cm
wouldn't die even when totally surrounded. That command broke towards the
end of the game. Meanwhile action in D had resulted in his small command
being 1 element away from breaking with Ax fighting Cm(S), however, they
just hung on to the end of the game. 21-11 (7-3) to me.

Game 5; John Sampson using Med Portuguese. I again invade Portugal and
John's anti-Cm terrrain all lands on my side of the table. We also have
mist to discomfort his 2 Reg subbies :-) He deploys with a Sp(I) + Bw
centre and 2 wings of Kn+ supports. I deploy with a Dd centre with Cm + LH
wings - it all looked quite familiar :-) I pile forward with LH running
round his flanks in move 1. In his first bound his right wing gets a 1 and
the mist lifts. John now repeats my pants moment from game 3 and fails to
hold his Kn. This effectively seals the game. His Kn come forward and get
eaten and I pick up a couple of LH for the command. In the centre my Bd
get into the Sp(I) and cause a mess aided by a Cm(S) who rode down 2 Sp.
It was all over quite quickly. 30-2 (10-0) to me.

Game 6; Mick Owens using Later Hungarian. I defend and clutter the table
in the approved manner, Mick adds a rocky gulley which is a good idea for
him IMO which contricts my left. Micks army is quite foot heavy with WWg,
Sp and Bd and comes forward quickly leaving me with less room than I
really needed - he is also sensibly attacking my contricted left. My Bd
command goes in against the foot and after 6-1ing 2 WWg start to die off
slowly but surely (I lost all but 1 of the Bd and all but 1 were killed by
the (F) factor kicking in). My C-in-C's Cm prove unable to do anything
much and end of going loopy and getting into his Bg at the end of the
game. I have 1 sweaty bound where I could have lost the game 10-0 but
manage to extract some key elements so that only Sub 3 is at risk. In the
end he just bholds on until time is called. 16-16 (5-5).

I ended up on 124 (from a possible 192) or 40 from a possible 60 in rules
money, finishing joint 7th.

All games were great fun with friendly opponents and fought in excellent
style.