Auckland Wargaming Club

Postcard from the Derby World Teams FOG Championship - 2 & 3 October 2010 at Derby University - from AWC member Ben Hill.

This was the convention and competition I was looking forward to since arriving in the UK. I was just hoping that my game play would not be distracted by the retail opportunities in the other hall! More on the trade stands in the next postcard.

At the latest AWC Club Meeting a new period made an appearance, 28mm World War 1, specifically one of the “Side Shows”. Somewhere near Chunuk Bair the ANZACs and their British compatriots came face to face with Johnny Turk. The game was played using a variation of The Sword And The Flame (TSATF) Colonial Rules, and featured rules modifications and ideas from the Side Shows of the Great War Yahoo!Group. For more detail’s of the game and a gallery of photos see the article at John Moher’s Wargaming.info site.

Mid-1884, The Mahdist Rebeliion is reaching it's peak - Gordon is isolated in Khartoum, and the rebellion steadily spreads north towards the Egyptian frontier. As the main relief expedition to go to Gordon's aid is finally being formed, news comes that a large number of European, Greek, and Egyptian Civilians, along with a small British Hospital Corps detachment, have been cut off in the town of Dongola; and the local Egyptian Commander has only a small number of Bashi-Bazouk Irregulars and whatever Civilians that can fight to try and defend the town (who's defences are in a poor state)...

I gave up DBMM at the start of the year. Had a few too many games where, as a result of army matchups, terrain, weather or time of day, one side had an edge before the first pips were thrown. Just did not suit my (emphasise my) preferences - so I played the other game this year instead. However, Benny pushed for DBM240 games, and having 2 games on a club day, or 3 games per day in a competition seemed to offer a way around my problem - one game might be a bit dull, but the next one good.

This is exactly what I found. At the comp, my middle game was not that enjoyable (I attacked an encamped enemy in pitch black with 3 hours till sun-up and my magic night-vision allowed me to avoid his KnS and attack the softer bits of his army to win), but the other two were good well-balanced games (admittedly both Free Company vs. Free Company which naturally balances play).

The tournament in Auckland used the latest draft of the DBMM v1.1 rules. There was a nominal theme (blatantly plagiarised from an event in the UK earlier this year) which asked players to base their armies around a film or TV series. This resulted in some interesting army choices, although a number of the more 'hard core' players paid only lip service to the theme and chose highly geared armies that ensured the rules were given a reasonably thorough workout.

A successful DBMM240 “Armies of the Movies” tournament was played at the AWC on the 6 December 2009. A full report will follow elsewhere, meanwhile here are some photos of the event and some of the armies involved…

Note: No Spartan Rhino’s were harmed in the making of this Photo Gallery!

Our friends down at the North Shore Wargaming Club (NSWC) look like they have been sneaking in some DBMM240 practice for the tournament this weekend...

Three games were played at the NSWC's first November meeting and another 4 games at the following meeting (this weekend just passed) - sounds like some serious preparation down at the NSWC! Check out the NSWC Site for the results...

Romans (both Early & Late Imperial and Hun Allies) and Seleucid & Alexandrian Macedonians with Scythians, Galatians, and more, from the collections of Nick Buckby, Glen Tibbles, & John Moher - these photos are from a large DBM 'Mega Game' (about 650 AP) in November 2001 that also involved Auckland Wargamers Philip Abela; Gerard Lelieveld; and Greg Simmonds: