Britcon Runners and Riders

[ney63]

Here they are:
Early Period:

Andy Ellis Norse Irish
John Patrick Post Roman British
Chris Tofalos Later Ptolemaic
Steve Brown Dailami
Christopher Proudfoot dailami
Marco Baroni Viking
Phillip Jelly Arab Conquest
Steve Murton Norse Irish
Graham Carroll Palmyrian
Chad Pillinger Western Wei to early Tang Chinese
Graham Briggs Norse Irish
Peter Card Early Successor
Phil Powell Later Macedonian ( floater)
David Morrisson Khazar
Pete Dalby Late Republican Roman
Tony Parkin Ancient Spanish
David Putt Kyrenean Greek
Martyn Simpson Dailami
Paul Johnson Spartucus(slave Revolt)
Dino Monticoli Dailami
Graham Roberts Italian Ostrogoth
Paul Longmore Seleucid
David Bannister Tibetan

Late Period

David Fairhurst Later Anglo Irish
lynda Fairhurst Swiss
Peter Butler Medieval castillian
Paul Bartlett Medieval castillian
Dave Ruddock Later Serbian
Antony Leroy free Company
Jacques destremau Late ottoman Turk
Jon Akers Early Anglo Irish
Derek Bartlett Condotta Italian
Robert Tayler Late Ottoman Turk
Phil Powell Mayan ( Post Classical) Floater

Thats 23 in Early and 10 in late Mr Powell as volunteered to be Floater but as it stands we have odd!!!
Let The Banter Begin

Andy

[petedalby]

Good to see another excellent mix of armies being taken. My pedestrians may struggle but I'm sure it will be an excellent weekend.

Looking forward to it.

[Robert241167]

Will Lynda be treating us to some skewered horsemeat over the weekend?

Rob

[spotteddog]

Will Lynda be treating us to some skewered horsemeat over the weekend?

Rob

I don't know about the skewered horsemeat Rob but yours looks like the proverbial group of death. Looks like a who's who of FOG AM. Makes for a great competition though. Good Luck to you all. I've a feeling that the eventual winner will have needed a bit of luck to edge ahead of the pack.
HH

[navigator]

Seeing as Phil Powell was less accurate than Ollie the Octopus here is the latest review....

Andy Ellis Norse Irish
Not an elephant in sight.. but shame the fallback position is a ‘competition’ army! Never mind the quality feel the width though. Will need some quick victories to keep the pundits happy. Third seed but without knights or elephants this will be more of a test for his tactical abilities.

John Patrick Post Roman British
Deserves to do well for the romantic choice. Should perform better if it’s using Dave Morrison’s figures! A well painted army that is often underestimated.

Chris Tofalos Later Ptolemaic
Sounds like a lot of pike to me.. no need for romance here just tootle on forward. Sounds like a plan!

Steve Brown Dailami
Never mind the width feel the quality. When Steve was last in Qazvin I suspect the romance of the location and history made this army the perfect choice.

Christopher Proudfoot dailami
Which brings us to Mr Romance himself. Without his dancing shoes it could be a less exciting weekend than last year. But at least Chris can concentrate on his on table activities with another old favourite of his.

Marco Baroni Viking
An innovative and exciting choice. You don’t need to be a surgeon to dissect Marco’s chances. Deserves to do well but there is always the fear of a Nordic film noir emerging.

Phillip Jelly Arab Conquest
Can we still talk about arab conquests in this post Blair world? Clearly a superior choice which will be hard to suppress. Has Phil finally got DBM out of his system? This could be his weekend!

Steve Murton Norse Irish
I wonder if Steve was thinking he was being innovative and exciting in his army choice? Well it’s the choice of all the big guns so it cant be too bad… even if its not innovative or exciting any more.

Graham Carroll Palmyrian
Full marks for originality… its nice to see other northern players playing for fun too. Just needs the right match ups and Queen Zenobia could be very amused.


Chad Pillinger Western Wei to early Tang Chinese
Sounds a bit eastern to me .. will have to check the army lists to see how these interlopers will get on.. all these foreign armies look the same to me. Should play the arab conquest at some point surely?

Graham Briggs Norse Irish
I’m sure Graham once used to be innovative and exciting in his choice of army and clothing….old habits die hard though. Top seed using figures that used to be new in the 70s. Watch out for the over sized generals too! Bookies favourite and hard to see him being beaten. It’s for him to lose.

Peter Card Early Successor
Solid, dependable but with a hint of flair…. That’s more like it. Deserves to do well with a traditional in period army

Phil Powell Later Macedonian ( floater)
Somewhat predictable for someone so poor at predictions. The perfect army choice for someone who hasn’t been to bed the night before.

David Morrisson Khazar
Inside every plodding foot soldier there’s a cavalier waiting to burst out and express themselves. There could be a lot of dashing cavalrymen on display here. Not sure which way they will be dashing though?

Pete Dalby Late Republican Roman
A world beating army for a world beating general. A match made in heaven. Or is Pete heading to repeat his Britcon disaster of two years’ ago. All those skilled swordsmen tho…. Bring on the Dailami!
Second seed based on his generalship qualities.

Tony Parkin Ancient Spanish
Another great fun choice which puts the more ‘established’ players to shame and deserves to do well. Not one seen often on the competition tables so I will need to have a root through the army lists. I presume they fight better than the 1810 version.

David Putt Kyrenean Greek
Solid, dependable and a world of pain for many opponents. But can he keep all those plates spinning in the air at the same time?

Martyn Simpson Dailami
Yawwwwwwwn. I will enjoy all those civil wars in the first round. Martyn risks boom or bust but perhaps his list is different from the others.

Paul Johnston Spartucus(slave Revolt)
A bold, almost original, and refreshing choice. Deserves to do well, if only for his down to earth attitude. It will be interesting to see if Paul can make a silk purse from this sow’s ear.

Dino Monticoli Dailami
Dino is calling on all his years’ of experience with his almost world beating army. He will need his full powers of concentration to nurse his army to victory. Still it’s a more funner army than his Tibetans.

Graham Roberts Italian Ostrogoth
Yea, top marks for a fun choice. Deserves to ride over all those ‘competition’ armies. Will be watching with interest.

Paul Longmore Seleucid
Inside every MAWS competition player there is a fun character waiting to emerge. Paul is almost there… solid, dependable army with a hint of fun… has he taken the exciting option with all the toys or has the ‘safety first’ route been taken?

David Bannister Tibetan
Hello hello hello.Oh dear. Deploy, dismount, deploy again. Could be a long weekend for his opponents. Shame that Dave the free spirit mongol has reverted to another plodding safe option… but I could be wrong? Might be an outside bet…although don’t ask him to talk you through Tibetan military history.

[navigator]

oops posted twice by mistake.. now deleted

[petedalby]

Nice job Paul - although I do worry that you may have too much time on your hands.....

[notrum]

Steve M's army is the wargamers romantic choice of I have finished painting it so its time to use it.
Never the best choice
But it did use up all those odd dark age figures

[grahambriggs]

Graham Briggs Norse Irish
I’m sure Graham once used to be innovative and exciting in his choice of army and clothing….old habits die hard though. Top seed using figures that used to be new in the 70s. Watch out for the over sized generals too! Bookies favourite and hard to see him being beaten. It’s for him to lose.

I fear you are mistaken sir, I have never been innovative nor exciting. I bought the great majority of the army off of John Skelton, but enjoyed painting the superior MF and the generals. They may be 1970s but they are probably 1980s; unlike my 1972 era late roman minifigs strip figures

I do like the army, and I think I was using it in competition before many other people. I don't recall it ever winning a competition though, partly because when it does win it's usually 20-5 or similar and partly it struggles to catch some armies - maybe not on a small table though. It's good against anyone who's paid a lot on armour, but not so great against warband types. Not not sure how it'll do against lots of pikes, but I suspect we'll find out at some point.

[marshalney2000]

Well as the first guy to bring Norse Irish to Britcon several years ago, I am excited to see that others have followed.

[marshalney2000]

Bye the way do the other players get to crucify Paul if his Spartacus army loses? I do provide a nail sharpening service!!

[petedalby]

Well as the first guy to bring Norse Irish to Britcon several years ago, I am excited to see that others have followed.

And I still have fond memories of how that ended.

[philqw78]

Bye the way do the other players get to crucify Paul if his Spartacus army loses? I do provide a nail sharpening service!!

Oh we will

[philqw78]

My 2 pence

Dailami - 4 of these, they should get enough terrain, except against the Khazar and Palmyran. Should do well, especially Dino who has had more prcatice than any of them. If they do not get the terrain they become very dependent upon impact against the HF armies and unless very careful Tibetans and Khazar should roll them up
Irish - 3 of these. I really do not think they will perform well against the armies listed. Palmyran, Tibetan and Khazar will punish them if little terrain, as will the armies big on HF. They will need to push through terrain and try to gain there before the stuff they have in the open collapses
Pikes - 4 different types. Small tables suit them well and they should do at least as well as the Dailami, but they can suffer from lack of terrain troops, those they have ending up massively outnumbered in the terrain and then butchered.
Spears - Kyreneaen, Viking and Arabs. The arabs haven't got any armour and not enough lancers to fight against, pretty much the same for the Vikings, though their Huscarls will be very good. The Kyrenean will suffer at impact and they are all average. Don't think they will do well
Romans - Pete's LRR Providing Pete hasn't taken too many light troops these are a good bet
Spanish. Very reliant on terrain. Little armour. Need to win a lot of impacts
Lancers - Palmyran and Ostrogoth. Ostrogoth has won Britcon, so is a competition army unlike what Paul's short memory believes, but its not good on small tables. Neither can dismount. At least Palmyran can have steppes. Both will find it very tough against the pikes and anything that is using terrain well. Not enough Romans for the Palmyran to pick on and not enough room for the Ostrogoth to stretch his opponents
Post Romans - Paul got this right
Chinese. Needs a bit more room to get his cavalry to work, and no killer troops without that
Dismounting lancers - Tibetan and Khazar. If they don't get the terrain the want they just get off their horses. Khazar will get an extra BG. The amusing play here will be if they fight each other and who gets the choice to dismount first. Will both do well, but not that well
Spartacus - One cross each, line on the left

Hard to call a top 3 but: I'm more than happy with my army choice: Dino will be up there: its an unusual army for Pete Dalby, so he may take a bit to get going: Graham Briggs is a very good player and will make the best of his poor choice, whereas Armies Andy will get depressed with it: Dave Bannister knows his army well and has done well with it before, but people know its tricks now and it will be harder for him.
So head on the block
Me
Dino
GB

[Torquemada]

I read Phil's comments with interest and agree with his comments in general, however I will say that as the Spanish commander I have found having units with less armour than the opponent isn't that much of a problem. As he quite rightly said I need to win the impact phase especially against pikes and spears. however if you turn that logic around then pikes and spears can't afford to lose bases, or cohesion as that may allow my swordsmen skill to kick in. Combine this with the fact that I will have more units than the average Dailami or pike army and that in it self can present a problem.

At Derby last year in the eastern period I took an army composed mainly of medium impact foot with no armour and I came second primarily because the enemy flanks collapsed before the centres got to grips. In a practice game against a Selucid army my army broke but his was only one point from breaking and I can only describe the table as open with only my right flank offering any decent terrain. this suggests to me that win, or lose it is unlikely to be a walkover for pike armies, or any other.

[philqw78]

primarily because the enemy flanks collapsed before the centres got to grips.

Things can always go wrong (or right depending which side of the table you are) and the impact is where the pikes pray to some weird god.

Unfortunately for the Spanish the table flanks are smaller by a foot this year but If the pike player makes the mistake of contesting too much terrain against the Spaniards then they will get overwhelmed and the Spanish will mop up.

If the Spanish do not do well at impact then melee is awful for them against pikes

There are going to be a lot of casualties with these armies on the smaller tables

[Torquemada]

The match up between pike and protected medium foot is as you say a horrible thing to behold when it goes wrong but given that there are only four pike armies in the tournament then fingers crossed I wont fight to many of them.

As you said they tend to have very few medium foot and often get overwhelmed in the terrain. This means they either sacrifice their medium foot and hope to get their main line in before the MF are broken, or they keep their MF in reserve and avoid terrain like the plague, only committing it if forced to.

It will be just my look I end up fighting all four pike armies.

[petedalby]

Romans - Pete's LRR Providing Pete hasn't taken too many light troops these are a good bet

Bugger! So my 42BC option may not have been the best bet.

That was a pretty good summary though Phil - and good to see you backing yourself. I think that army did very well last time out on the smaller tables - a good mix of superior pike and Galatians as I recall. Plus Thracians & Thorakitai - what's not to like?

[petedalby]

Looks like we have a late entry in the Ancients pool to bring us up to 24 & 10. Happy days.

[Robert241167]

You can keep Phil !!

Rob