May/June Game Schedule

Okay, the next two months already have some games/events planned - here is the list so far

April 30 (Thur) - DBA (Chuck, Wayne)
May 7 (Thur) - DBA (Chuck, Justin)
May 14 (Thur) - ??
May 21 (Thur) - WAB (Chuck, Dan)
May 23 (Sat) - Swap Meet, Cookout
May 28 (Thur) - Fast Warrior (Dave)
June 4 (Thur) - First week of DBA tournament (Chuck)
June 6 (Sat) - Big D-Day Game (Joseph, others)
June 11 (Thur) - ??
June 18 (Thur) - ??
June 20 (Sat) - Bagration FoW Game (Steven McCabe, others)
June 25(Thur) - ??

Send more games to cturnitsa@yahoo.com or the ODMS or Hangar mailing lists.

Alea Iacta Est - an Age of Rome DBA Tournament

The Die is Cast - an upcoming DBA Tournament, to be held in the month of June.

If there is enough player interest, I would like to run a DBA tournament during the month of June. As this tournament will stretch over four weeks, it is similar to a mapless campaign. Each battle will follow the normal rules of DBA v2.0 for terrain selection and set up. The referree (Chuck) will provide a number of pre-made playmaps for the typical terrain types of armies of this era. The games will be played in 15mm. If you want to play but don't have an army, then let me know and I can gladly lend you one. The tournament has a handicap/points system to determine the winners (four trophies, provided by me), but the players only need to be worried about playing games. As many as possible, and wherever is convenient for the players (at home, at the Hangar, at the Battle Barn, etc).


Tournament Name: The End of the Republic

Tournament Theme: The final century of the Roman Republic and the first century of the Roman Imperium saw warfare involving some of the most colorful empires and leaders in all of history. This is an exciting time to wargame, and the variety of armies really lends itself to a DBA tournament.

Description: Beginning with the reforms of Marius in the Roman army (107BC), and leading through the following two hundred years, some of the most colorful military leaders would battle in and around the Mediterranean basin. Leaders such as Marius, Jugurtha, Boudica, Vercingeterox, Agricola, Mithradates, Cleopatra, Sulla, Pompey, not to mention Julius Caesar and Marc Antony make this a very exciting period to wargame in. The Roman Legions are just the start. There are exciting armies to command ranging from the Numidians and Ptolemaic Egyptians of North Africa through the Gauls and Germans of Europe, and the armies of Pontus and Judea in the east. All of the classic troop types represented in DBA are available here. There are chariot armies, pike armies, warband armies, and blade armies. A ripe field for tournament play.

Rules:

1. Each play must submit, via email, a preferred army list, from the DBA Version 2.0 rulebook (Feb. 2001), chosen from the list presented below. This list is (broadly) the Marian Roman army, the Early Imperial Roman army, and their enemies (with the exception of the Middle Imperial Roman army). This army choice must be emailed to the referee (Chuck) no later than the end of May. If you don't have an army in 15mm to play in this tournament, then ask, I have plenty to lend.
2. Beginning with the first week in June, each player has the opportunity to play in as many DBA games as they can arrange. Each other opponent in the tournament can be played once per week. Specific standings will not be posted until the end of the tournament, but it is in the player's best interest to play as many games per week as practical. Playing other players who have a "winning record" also pays off. Defeating a weak player may not be worth as many points as losing to a really good player. However, all games are worth points - nobody can lose points by playing.
3. There will be four awards given. Two for the top two players, in a run-off battle - these are chosen by having highest total score. Then the player with the highest win/lose ratio. Finally, the player who plays the most number of games.
4. Required paperwork - each week, each player must turn in a list of all games played, and against whom, and who won. It is sufficient to say "Brian played Dave, and Brian Won". This should be emailed to the referree at the end of the week.
5. The reason that turns are oriented on weeks, rather than on Thursday nights, is to give players an opportunity to play on the weekend. Each week starts on a Monday, and ends the following Sunday (so all games play Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday count as in the same week).
6. Final handicap of each player (at the end of the tournament) is equal to the number of games won, plus 1. So (example) if a player plays a total of eleven games in the tournament, and wins six of them, then at the end that players handicap will be equal to "7".
7. Final score of a player will be determined by the handicap of other players he played against. For each game played, a player gains the other player's handicap in points if he beats the other player, and he gains half the other player's points if he loses to the other player.
8. Calculation of handicap and points will be done by the Referee, so players only have to keep track of who they play, and who wins each game (this information is turned in each week, as mentioned in number 4 above).

Awards:
Four awards will be made, with trophies, to be labelled with the winning player's names, and to be displayed at the Hanger and on the ODMS website - these include "Dicatator of Rome", "Magister of Equitum", "Orator of the Senate", and "Tribune of the Plebs".

• In the end, the two player with the highest total scores will be awarded the status of "Consul of Rome" and will play each other in the final battle.
• The player winning the final battle is awarded the title of "Dictator of Rome".
• The player losing the final battle will be awarded the title of "Magister Equitum".
• The player (other than the Consuls) won has the highest "handicap value" (i.e. - highest win/lose ratio) will be "Orator of the Senate".
• The player (other than the Consuls or Orator) who plays the most games will be awarded with the title of "Tribune of the Plebs".

Schedule:
Week 1 1-7
Week 2 8-14
Week 3 15-21
Week 4 22-28

Winners will be announced and awarded with suitable laurels the first Thursday evening in July (July 2).

Spring Fever - this weekend

There will be a handful of ODMS gamers running events at Spring Fever. I hope that as many of you as possible can make it!

Upcoming Events

There seem to be a couple of Flames of War events brewing that will be played at the hangar in the upcoming months. Also a DBA tournament, in the month of June. Watch this space for details...

Historicon in Baltimore for 2010 and 2011

UPDATE! The convention has changed (at least for 2010) from Baltimore to Valley Forge! For update see this posting

It's official . . .

Following several years of research and fact-finding, HMGS East has contracted the Baltimore Convention Center, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland, for Historicon 2010 and 2011.

The Board determined that this location provides a great new opportunity to accomplish HMGS' Charter and Purpose of "Promoting the Hobby of Historical Miniatures Gaming."

After extended negotiations to meet all of HMGS's requirements, the final agreement addresses issues raised from wide-ranging discussions and Member/Vendor feedback. The Historicon Convention Team and HMGS East will continue to take input as we prepare for the move.

The Historicon Convention Team and HMGS East Board Members will now devote our full effort to meeting all of our attendee and vendor needs for Historicon to include no price increase, as well as appealing hotel, parking, dining and access/loading options.

HMGS East will release more details as soon as possible via the HMGS East Newsletter and the HMGS East Issues Forum.

Tank Shock - April 25-26 - Danville VA

TSS has a website with the details about Tank Shock (April 25-26 at the American Armoured Foundation's museum in Danville Virginia). For details check it out.

If anyone in ODMS is interested in running an event, then taking some Williamsburg Muster flyers and also the banner to hang on the table would be a good thing. Email Pat Walther (email patwalther@earthlink.net) to register an event.

AAR - Vietnam, Saturday Feb 28, 2009

Justin submitted this AAR to the email list -

Played two Vietnam games at the Hangar using modified Flashpoint Vietnam rules.

The first game John Snelling, Carl, and Brian Compton played U.S. Army squads heloed in to search a village that intel stated contained VC. I played the VC.

On landing, Sgt. Compton's squad immediately when toe-to-toe with a VC machinegun bunker in a firefight losing a man. Lt. Sciscio's squad was chopped up by a VC fire team concealed in a set of rice paddies losing two men in the process.

Compton continued fighting the bunker losing another man but taking out one VC. Sciscio could not return fire at the concealed VC in the rice paddy as he could not acquire their location but Sgt. Snelling's squad did and took out one of the VC.

VC concealed in the jungle behind Sciscio's section laid down fire on this squad killing one man and the VC in the rice paddy killing another of Sciscio's men.

Sciscio's squad finally acquired the VC in the rice paddy but their fire was weak as the result of having to have to split fire to fight the enemy in the jungle behind. Snelling's split his squad on the left of Sciscio to fire at both the VC in the rice paddy and the VC in the jungle behind his position. Snelling's fire team using overwhelming fire power finally took out the VC fire team in the paddy but could not acquire the jungle VC. Compton continued his fight with the MG nest but pulled back a little to concentrate his fire more.

Another VC fire team concealed in a hog pen began firing on Sciscio's squad killing one man. The VC in the jungle behind Sciscio fired at both Snelling and Sciscio to no effect. The MG nest in front of Compton traded shots with his squad.

Using maximum firepower, Compton took out the machinegun nest. Sciscio traded shots with both the VC in the jungle and the VC in the village accomplishing nothing. After swing around Snelling's squad obliterated the jungle VC with withering fire. It was at this point the VC withdrew.

The second game was played by Kriegbaum, and Oscar as U.S. Army heloed in to an area to search a village and hold a bridge. Carl's force rolled on the battlefield in APCs and some special forces. The VC were Snelling and Justin.

Although Sgt. Oscar's force was chewed up on landing, he held his own against three VC fire teams. Lt. Kriegbaum sick with beri-beri fever than landed in support. Soon after rolling on the battlefield came the APC's under Sgt. Sciscio demoted as a result of a recent event. Although fired at by RPGs the APC's rolled on. Accurate fire by Sgt. Oscar's squad soon had the VC running with the assistance of Lt. Kriegbaum.

It seemed everyone like the game and we are going to play it again maybe this Thursday (MAR5) as it seems to be Carl's favorite period after WWII.