Samurai Night Fever Game Results.

It took digging, but I found the crumpled stack of papers. Sigh...organizationally challenged for sure.

Here is the list of Bushido points won by the players through their valour.

9 points.
1st place
Joe Crow-Mongol Conquest IV/35
Awarded the Red Katana of Awesomeness

8 points.
2nd place
Mark Stadel-Alan II/58
Awarded the Blue Katana of Bodaciousness

8 points.
3rd place
Don Ray-Southern Dynasty Chinese II/79b
Awarded 'Best in Show' Barker Marker

6 points.
Mark Wall-Early Samurai III/54
Rob Elliot-Golden Horde IV/47

5 points.
Marco Musa-Early Samurai III/54
Mark Leong-Ming Chinese IV/73

4 points.
Mike Johnson-Post Mongol Samurai IV/59b
Sean Devitt- Early Samurai III/54

3 points.
Terry Silverthorn-Mongol Conquest IV/35

2 points.
Liam Devitt-Post Mongol Samurai IV/59b

0 points.
Bill Seney- Han Chinese II/41a

Summary.
I was very pleased to see a Mongol Conquest army take the top spot (albeit narrowly) amidst tight competition. I continue to suggest that it is not the doomed 'great in history, crappy in the game' army many on-line DBA pundits claim it to be.

It was very gratifying to see the breadth of 'eastern' and 'asian' armies contributed to the games and their utter gorgeousness. I loved Mark S's Alans, very scruffy and steppe-ish. As always Joe Crow and Mike Johnson do an ne plus ultra presentation of their craft. Don's Southern Dynasty army had a vivid energy which quite entranced me and with the wobbly jumbo depicted such a strong definitive character. Kudos too to Rob Elliot's Golden Horde, I wish I had more and better pictures of it. He chose a very heterogeneous mix of figures that represented the polyglot nature of that far-flung empire. Mark Leong's funky Foo Dog camp made me very happy who along with Bill Seney's doomed Han Chinese and Marco's sinister and dark Samurai made for very colourful and dramatic tournament.

No real gripes but two. As I stated last post, I really wished we had more raw n00bs for the game. Our two more junior players really didn't count as such. Terry, while new-ish to DBA is an experienced gamer. Liam (the Pre-Teen Visigoth) has played several contests with me and is the co-author of "Pokemon and DBA is sort of the same thing". Maybe published next year. The other thing that annoyed me was having one of the FallCon brass sign up for the tourney and do a no show. Now, don't get me wrong, FallCon people are hard working and friendly sorts. But I see how much gaming they tend to get in over the weekend...very little! On account of the aforementioned hardworkingness. That slot however could have let another player in. As it was we had an uneven number and I had to jump in. Which is dandy, but distracting... I suppose if that's as much crank as I can summon up you can be pretty sure it was a fun time.

This may be the last time I use the 'kill the general with your general' style of scoring. At least without some modification and buffing. The points were too low and with not enough spread. I need to work out a way to balance the 'clever tactician' mode with the 'brave risktaker' mode without leaning too far one way or another.

Some meditations on various armies:

Early Samurai- still remain a favourite of mine. Despite being a fairly 'light' army in DBA parlance, Mark and Marco managed to parlay the Auxilia and Cavalry heavy force to some success. I played with 'Lord Saketumi' my Early Sams with a Bw general and collected a serious beatdown each time.

Chinese Southern Dynasty- really intrigues me. It's a classic Asian 'Zen'* army, with an elephant. But with enough balance of Bw and Bd you can present a reasonable unified front. The game Don played with Rob's Golden Horde was a intractable affair as Rob was very cautious about breaching Don's defended river position. I wish I had a top-down shot.

Mongol Conquest- it's the new black. I really look forward to getting to know mine, as I hurriedly painted it up for the con. Terry liked playing it. Joe's is gorgeous, an essay on how to do it. Every DBA gamer should have this army. Period.

Alans- yeah, Barker-sama's fave. Like the Mongols, it's also an excellent choice for you accountant minded cost-effectiveness sorts. 31+ unique opponents spanning over 1400 years. Cool. And it really doesn't suck on paper or on the field.

Post-Mongol Samurai- seem really under-represented in the scoring for this tourney. But a little examination bears more detail. Liam decided the best way to win was to charge his general headlong into fray and roll 6's. Not bad strategy given the scoring design of the tourney, but doomed without support from the slow Spear and Blade elements that make up the rest. Mike Johnson long ago offended the household gods of FallCon. What impropriety he committed to insult the lares so is unknown, but he has been unable to roll greater than a 3 at FallCon for years. He rolls much better and deadlier elsewhere.

Again thanks to all who contributed and participated!

'Yay our team!'

*Why Zen? Because it's 'one with everything'. Bad-um kish!

Update October 27: Encoded in the timeless prose of the NAGS/CCF format and presented here for you is the match-ups and scores for SNF II.

IV/73 Ming Chinese over II/41a Han Chinese 2G-1

IV/47 Golden Horde over IV/73 Ming Chinese 4-0

III/54 Early Samurai over III/54 Early Samurai 4-2G

IV/59 Post-Mongol Samurai over IV/35 Mongol Conquest 4-3(unclear..)

III/54 Early Samurai over IV/59b Post-Mongol Samurai 3G-2

IV/59 Post-Mongol Samurai over IV/59 Post-Mongol Samurai 4-0

III/54 Early Samurai over IV/35 Mongol Conquest 3-2

II/58 Alan over III/54 Early Samurai 4-0
III/54 Early Samurai over IV/73 Ming Chinese 2G-1
II/58 Alan over IV/59b Post-Mongol Samurai 4-1
IV/47 Golden Horde over II/79b Southern Dynasty 3G-2G
IV/35 Mongol Conquest over II/58 Alan 4-1
IV/35 Mongol Conquest over II/41a Han Chinese 2G-0
II/79 Southern Dynasty over IV/59 Post-Mongol Samurai 4-1
III/54 Early Samurai over III/54 Early Samurai 4-1
III/54 Early Samurai over IV/35 Mongol Conquest 4-2