Tony Bath Commemorative Tournament

By Steven Neate

[Note: Tony Bath, one of the giants of wargaming, passed away in June 2000. Although not a fan of tournaments per say, Tony Bath was best known for his campaign games, especially the famous Hyboria fantasy ancients campaign recorded across the pages of Military Modelling magazine The Tony Bath Commemorative Tournament (dubbed "Campaign Across Bath-World") will be held on 9 Sept. 2001 in Leeds, England, UK in his memory, and is deliberately designed to incorporate the flavor of campaign games in an alternative tournament-style format.]

The World

The World is divided into four continents. These correspond roughly to the DBA terrain types and are the:

Dry/Hill continent
Arable/Littoral continent
Tropical/Forested continent
Steppe continent

Each continent is composed of twelve 2x2 foot terrain areas, each of which will serve as DBA battle fields as required. Each terrain area will contain terrain suitable to that continent type and which will be pre-set and laid out on tables.

Each player, having brought their own 15mm DBA army (including a suitable camp/baggage element), will start off on the continent which is listed for their army in the DBA version 2 army lists. Each player will start on their own square if possible.

Movement

Armies move by terrain area (2x2 squares). Any army containing any infantry, elephants, artillery and/or warwagons can move up to two squares only. An army that is all mounted troops can move up to three squares. All movement is simultaneous. Movement cannot be diagonal. Movement halts if an army enters a square occupied by another player, either someone staying put or finishing their move in that square. An except is that on Arable/Littoral or Steppe continents all-mounted forces can pass on if the army occupying the square has less than two mounted elements, the all-mounted force assumed to have skirted around the slower army.

Invaders and Defenders

An army not having moved is automatically the defender. An army moving into the square is the invader. An army crossing into a new continent is automatically the invader, even if a "home" continent player moves into the square also.
If no automatic defender, but two invaders, check each DBA army list. The army with the listed lower Aggerssion is the defender, the high Agression the attacker. If the same, then roll a die, lowest score is defender.
If multiple invadders vying to fight a battle, go through the above process in 2. If there is automatically a defender, then the invaders go through the above process to determine who is the "actual" invader for this game. If there are only invaders present in the square, then all roll a die and add their Agression, with the lowest total becoming the defender and the highest the attacker. If there is a draw then the drawing parties dice out until the highest scorer becomes the invader and/or the lowest scorer becomes the defender.
By mutual consent, two non-participants can move to an adjacent unoccupied square and start at 2 above. Getting games in is a most important facet of the day! And points mean prizes..."

Armies not now defender or invader can be enlisted as allies. This works something like the "Participation by Allied Contingents" on page 15 of DBA.

The higest scoring non-participant can offer his services as allies to the invader. Then the lowest scoring participant can offer their services to the defender. In both instances, these can be refused. Note, however, if only one non-participant, the attacker can outnumber the defender.

Non-participants who are not allies return back one square, even if occupied. If there is a single army present in that square they can act as an invader. If there are multiple players or the process is underway, they can join in as above if battle hasn't started yet. If the defender is outnumbered, they can offer their services as an ally.

The strength of the ally contingent is not known until they arrive. Ally contingents have no baggage.

Allies roll their own D6 in turn after Attacker, Defender, Allied Attacker, Allied Defender. They arrive only when they score a 6 and then in a single-element wide column. On rolling a 6, throw again. Odds -- they invade on the table edge from which they invaded the square; Evens -- they arrive on the base edge of the army they are allied to. Once this is selected, roll again. On a score of 1-4, the allied continent is 3 elements strong; on a 5-6 it is only 2 elements strong. Allies -- can they ever be relied upon?

Allied elements that are destroyed count toward the defeat conditions for the side they are supporting. Loss of the ally general does not immediately lose the battle, counting only as a normal destroyed element, but he does count as a General for Victory Points (see below). All surviving ally elements of this command will fight on but suffer a -1 to all movement and melee dice scores.

Battle

As per the DBA version 2 rules, except:

If fighting your first battle on a "new" continent (i.e. one you didn't start the campaign on) you must "acclimatise." Thus, for your first battle in this strange new world, your troops will be sluggish and apprehensive so on any losing combat subtract one from your score. The same applies to any allies new to the continent and for whom this is their first battle on it.
This applies every time you enter a new continent. If you are forced to retreat due to a lost battle and you have to move back to this continent, you must acclimatise again.

After Battle

Losing invaders (including Allies) must retreat back one square from the direction they came from. This does not cause any immediate conflict with anyone occupying the square. Losing defenders remain where they are.

Sieges

An invader who has won a battle may attempt to besiege the defender's city/castle/encampment/hill/fort. This is just assumed to be in the square. Allies who have fought in the battle are not part of this procedure, these being assumed to have cleared off in search of loot or a safe haven.

The invader and defender count up their surviving elements from the battle. Thus, a successful invader should already outnumber the defender.

Modify the score with the following:

-4 if defender lost general (a serious morale blow!)
+1 for each surviving element of Knights, Spears, Pikes, Blades and Bows
+3 for any surviving Artillery elements (always useful on either side of a seige)

Each side now adds the score of a D6

If the invader now outnumbers the defender by 6 or more then the siege has been successful. Any other result and the besieged have valiantly fought them off.

Victory Points

When time expires, the winner is determined by number of Victory Points:

+5 for invader or defender winning a battle (allies don't receive this)
+5 for winning (or surviving) a siege
+2 for each enemy general destroyed by your own forces
+2 for looting a camp
+2 for allies being on the winning side and surviving the battle (i.e. must be on the table at end of game)
+1 for each enemy element destroyed by your own forces
+1 for destroying a War Wagon element (usually Holy relics of significance!)

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Last Updated: May 16, 2003

Questions, comments, suggestions welcome. Send them to Chris Brantley at brant@erols.com.