"Themed Competitions" Topic

My invitational themed DBM competition took place over the weekend – the results are on my web site at link This year the theme was the Franks and their enemies, 850-950 AD, so most of the armies featured Irregular Fast Knights for a real control nightmare. There was a high proportion of decisive results, the notable exceptions being games involving the infantry-heavy Vikings, Leidang and Andalusians. The winner was Kevin Everard with Western Slavs (the army of Good King Wenceslas), whose massed spearmen convincingly defeated three Frankish armies and narrowly beat Bretons.

A high spot came in the game featuring Normans against Bretons with Norman and Viking allies. The Norman ally-general stayed resolutely unreliable for twelve turns and then changed sides to join his compatriots – entirely logical! The all-mounted Magyars failed to make any impression on East Franks, were ridden down by Carolingian Franks and more East Franks, then invaded Italy and gloriously defeated the Lombards. The weakest army was probably the Wends, led by DBM maestro Jeremy Morgan; relying entirely on hiding in bad terrain and luring enemies into ambushes, they avoided defeat in their first three games and then crushed a rash East Frankish army to finish in a respectable 5th place.

Next year's theme will be Wars of St Louis – 13th century Mediterranean armies. Should be a fine sight.

Interesting.