"The Armati UK League Championship" Topic

The Armati UK League Championship

The Glasgow event is now officially the first of the League's 5 counting tournaments for League year points – your average score from your best 3 events you attended determines your League position. Glasgow now starts this count so we can award the annual champions trophy at Glasgow for the previous year (count). However this League is more successful in promoting games of a competitive nature played within a friendly atmosphere and 'bon ami' social spirit of an evening at our weekends.

2012 in retrospect:

We held our usual discussion "parlement" at the end of the Glasgow 2012 presentations. We heard that 35 different players had participated at one or more weekends during last 12 months. Bournemouth was the most popular event in terms of participation with 20 players then came Glasgow 2012, with 18, and then Derby with 14. Britcon and London had 8 each. We noted various reasons for swings in participation: players tightening belts in face of redundancy or rising prices and falling wages / salaries; clashes with other commitments like Scottish schools re-starting after summer holidays in second week of August, as well as fashions in rules and Armati being seen as a 'dead' set of rules as out of print and rarely promoted. There are various ideas about how to encourage new players to take up Armati UK games weekends from greater self promotion – so you are free to copy and paste our calendar below – to rewarding new players for participating – like the army of figures donated by Mark Fry to best newcomer at Bournemouth. We discussed how we could change the League scoring system to reward both adventurous play and also those novices who inflict hits on more experienced players armies during games. There is talk of returning to the experiment of players having a PLAN A and a PLAN B list at Bring Your Own Army events like Britcon and London (West) so novices may be better armed in facing more varied armies and experienced players.

2013 GAMES CALENDAR

We put in place plans for games weekends as follows; (no trade show unless noted and all UK events bar Paris, France):

BOURNEMOUTH – ARMATI BY THE SEA – 2 day event, 2nd & 3rd March 2013{scenario based, 5 games, with 2 matched armies per game, from biblical to medieval, randomly drawn, no need to bring an army}. Organisers / umpires: Peter Barham, Roy Boss, Mark Fry. Great atmosphere. Usually held in hotel conference suite and Peter obtains discounted accommodation for us too. Shared meal on Saturday evening for those wanting to share Armati "bon accord" – to borrow a catch phrase from a Glasgow pub name.

LONDON (WEST)- 2 day event 18th & 19th May, 2013. In its 2nd year. Bring your own army, from Antiquity / Age of Empires or in historical terms from "classical Greek" to "Republican Rome" and their contemporaries. John Bradley, organiser / umpire, has some plans to add an extra twist by thinking of 2 of the 5 rounds being played with an opponents army!! Nice idea. Again 5 games.

PARIS event ?8th June 2013 – doesn't count towards Armati UK League title points as scored differently, but has attracted participation from a number of British players (and their wives), including me! Organiser / umpire is Vincent Auger. See this website and Armati yahoo group website for details of next year's event or previous events.

BRITCON in Manchester (BHGS event with small trade show)- a two day Armati event – over 17th & 18th AUGUST – but we need to (a) confirm BHGS dates; and (b) confirm how many Armati players are participating in this bring your own army event, probably based on Triumph of Cavalry Armies. The prospective players need to determine armies, as Mark Fry is standing down as umpire for this event due to a clash with other commitments – well done Mark for trying to keep us in order and developing Umpire role over a number of years. Regular Britcon participants / players: Craig Tannock, Steve Metheringham, Vincent Auger, Bill Wilson and Karsten Gould have been volunteered to organise and promote this bring your own army event so it doesn't fail due to low numbers participating. 5 games planned starting Saturday morning and NOT Friday evening.

DERBY 5th & 6th October (at World Championships with a LARGE and INTERESTING TRADE SHOW all in one hall) – a two day event with 4 games being played from either Biblical with Triumph of Cavalry (I think, as in discussion Antiquity / Age of Empires seemed popular choice alongside Biblical!) – so time to shop too or take in the demo games – with pre-set armies chosen randomly, (yes we need you to volunteer armies but those travelling a distance or without armies can enter event without bringing an army for others to use). Many players arrive Friday evening for a meal and drink but thats simply a social extra you can simply turn up to play Saturday! Organiser / umpire is Steve Metheringham.

GLASGOW 2013 Phil Rodgers Trophy event: 2 day event, to be held on 23rd and 24th November 2013. 5 games, scenario based, from Bibilical to medieval, matched armies. Randomly chosen armies from those loaned by Phoenix club players principally.

If you are interested in participating in one or more of our games weekends then contact me through this website and I will add you to our mailing list.

Carl Luxford

What scale do you play?

Hi Dave,
due to the popularity (and ease of carrying figures) the weekends have relied on 15mm figures.

We did have a 10mm army once and previously a 6mm doubles day at York's (February?)trade show. I play 25mm and some 28mm.

There is no reason why games could not be played in scales other than 15mm. Bigger scales may need bigger tables. Smaller scales have been played on 15mm tables using same base sizes just more figures per stand. So could always try to introduce a table or two in other scales, in scenario weekends. In 'bring your own army' weekends it is harder to introduce other scales unless based on same base sizes as 15mm, which would work for 10mm and 6mm.

Carl

Thhanks for the reply Carl

Although a long time Ancients player I have never played Armati so your post caught my eye. I am very much a 25mm man though

Dave

Dave

the game does play differently in different scales simply due to the base sizes of the bigger figures, so on small tables bigger figures appear very close up and virtually without space for manouevre while on same table with smaller base sizes the scope for flank movement increases. If memory serves me correctly the table playing area in 15mm is 64 x 40 inches, while recommended area for 25mm is larger. I have played on 6x4 feet table with 25mm but a table thats 8x5 or bigger gives more scope for manouevre.

If you live near to any of the venues then come and have a look (only Derby and BHGS would there be an entry fee due to trade shows). If you could visit and bring a 25mm army I could do same and play a game to show how it works. Or perhaps ask if anyone in your area with 25mm army who could do same?

There are many unused 25mm armies among these Armati players from the days of early WRG type games. The basing is similar in 25mm to older rules, with likes of 4 HI / MI stands making an infantry unit in Armati, 2 cav stands likewise a unit, and 2 skirmish or LI or LHI stands also a unit). Although the Armti mechanisms for melee and shooting are simpler than the older maths laden rules where 1 fig = 20 potential casualties. Armati units are destroyed through hits taken in melee and shooting and their melee potential depleted by fatigue from melee. Each army has its own breakpoint (of unit losses) and when this is reached the armies morale is broken and the game is over.

hope your 25mm figures see action soon.

Carl