Post Cancon 2014

It’s been two weeks since I have returned from Cancon and a month since my last post.  I'm truly amazing how much the real World can interfere with my hobby!

What I came away with from Cancon

I thoroughly enjoyed my two days in Canberra. Not only was it an opportunity to relax and play twelve games of DBA against a variety of gamers, but it also afforded me the chance to chat with some friends, both old and new.

I must thank Ailsa and Mike, though we hadn’t seen each other for over five years, they welcomed me into their home for a drink and the conversation flowed, as if we had been in regular contact during that time.

As usual, my thanks also go to Greg, Mark and David for organising a great weekend of gaming.  Mark’s selection for the traditional Cancon DBA dinner, though undersubscribed was an excellent choice as usual.

Day one of the competition saw some interesting match ups for my Bosporans and at the end of six games I had scored 32 out of a possible 48 points.  The best placed gamer at the end of Day one was Peter on 43.  Importantly for me, when I had been defeated in these games, except the game against Peter, I took points off my opponent for having eliminated several of their elements.  This was an improvement over past competitions.

Unfortunately, day two and my selection of Hussites, proved to be less successful, primarily because I didn’t fully understand how to use this specialist troop type.  For example, in my final game of the day, I was defending and left three blades on my right flank guarding my artillery against four knights.  Sounds positive, however knights quick kill blades, so all my opponent had to do was beat me in combat by one and I lost an element!

I finished Day two on 28 points and an overall total of 60 points.  Twenty points behind the eventual winner.  The worthy winner of Day two, Marcus ended the day on 43 points, had I not thrown my last game through poor deployment, the win would have made me more competitive.       

Before going to Cancon, I had decided that I wouldn’t purchase any more lead to be added to Mount Neverpaint for the year!  It was difficult, given some great figures being on display at the traders' stands.

Well as can be seen by the photo below, which depicts what I purchased at Cancon, this resolution remains unbroken, technically!

You will see, in the above photograph, that I did buy two packs of Donnington Miniatures from Dean of Olympian Games.  One contained some barrels and crates and the other a field blacksmith.  

Before going to Cancon, I had identified that I owed six Medieval DBA armies, both painted and unpainted, but I only had four tents from Claudio at Baueda Wargames to be fielded as camps for these forces.  The field balcksmith is generic enough to work with all of these DBA armies.

You will also see that I purchased Maurice from Nic at Eureka Miniatures.  The purchase of another rule set doesn’t signal a new period of gaming, which will require the purchase of more lead.  Rather, these rules will enable me to use what I already possess, both painted and unpainted for the Seven Years War ('SYW') and the Wars of Succession. 

Over the years, I have collected the core of a well turned out Austrian SYW army using 15mm figures from Old Glory.  I also have painted British and Franco Bavarian armies in 15mm for the Marlburian Wars.  These latter forces were sourced from Dixon Miniatures. 

As one might expect, I also have several large trays full of unpainted lead to be used as re-enforcements for these three armies, as well as a Russian SYW army, all waiting the application of paint.  The former three armies will, over the next few months, be re-based for use, as I prefer to use a standardised base width of 40mm as recommended in the rules.  Additional units, will be organized and painted during the second half of the year, as my understanding of the rules improves.

The resin forest bases purchased at Cancon were an excellent find and are sourced from Battlefield Accessories, an Australian business.  These will enable me to mount the drawer of trees I currently have, primarily of K & M manufacture.  Once completed, these bases will be used for DBA, as well as encounters using the Maurice rules.

I also picked up some basing material manufactured by Army Painter from the War and Peace games stall.  A great find is the container of ‘snow’, so I no longer have to contemplate the use of Bi Cab soda as a means of depicting snow bound forces.

Because I was involved in the competition over the two days, I lacked the time to really check out some of the other games on display which was a disadvantage.  I did quickly check out the two demonstration/participation games run to promote the rule set, Chain of Command by Too Fat Lardies.  Suffice to say, I liked what I saw, have purchased the pdf version of the rules, as these rules affords me a reason to paint up the understrength platoon of AB 20mm Germans I bought off Nic a decade ago!

Ensuring posts will depict photographs of my Bosporans and Hussites.  As I complete other DBA armies, these will also be photographed and published.