War & Conquest Tournament 2014

I know this is a bit late as the tournament was held in November, but I did not have a blog then and as I stuck my neck out and went, having only played two trial games, it deserves a mention. I will fall in with the general concensus and say it was a great event, well organised by Phil and Dave, and played in a wonderful sense of fair play and fun by the contenders. I had to learn fast, but not fast enough as I came in 12 out of 14. Oh, and I took my Romano-British.

Deployment phase for Reece Payne (Welsh) against a smiling Lex Luthor (Dave Toone).

 Game 1: Confused and running out of space.

Game 1:  The army I feared, Late Romans (Tony Rodwell), is poised to hit my already suffering line of battle, but I got a surprising win, however my elation was not to last.

Game 2:  Normans (Dave Howes), at first dismissive of the small infantry centre I held high hopes for this game, but was soon disabused of that. I was slaughtered and taught a lesson by an excellent player.

 Game 3: Normans again! I had to deploy first, which was a big disadvantage, but I was going to take it steady this time. It was not to be, my Comitatus cavalry fled the field on the second turn leaving my right hanging. Things went downhill rapidly from there. Once again I was at the mercy of a very good player.

 Game 3: Lawrence Widdecombe painted this host in two weeks to bring to the tournament, the picture does not do them credit. Lawrence went on to win the tourney, which made me feel slightly better about my defeat.

 Game 3: A laugh at my expense no doubt, but indicitive of the atmosphere; Michael Curtis, John Grant, Dave Toone, Simon Curtis.

 Game 4: My game in the foreground against Saxons (Phil Turner).

Game 4: I thought I played well in this game, and as you can see Phil was taking a lot of casualties and had cavalry on his right flank. With time running out I threw my foot elites into a lone Saxon unit which had punched a hole in my line expecting an easy couple of points. To my horror the Comitatus were routed and promptly fled, they were taken out as was a unit of mounted Milites behind them. We decided on a draw, and I was left to gnash my teeth at what might have been.

Anyway, another tournament in May and I hope to be there, renew acquaintances and have some fun.