Britcon 2024 - DBA event

[Imperial Dave]

Had this just plop through the e-letter box from Paul Murgatroyd and I hope he will not mind me posting this on here as I am sure there will be some interest. I may even try to go to Britcon myself....(steady on Ed.)

This is the first notification that Britcon 2024 will be taking place on 9th-11th August at Nottingham University and, after the success of last year's DBA, we will be continuing with the format of a two day summer festival of DBA, making use of both Saturday (10th) and Sunday (11th) of the event. The website link to Britcon is here: www.bhgs.org.uk/britcon.html

The framework for the weekend will be as follows:

1. The two days of gaming will run from Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon. Players can opt to play on both or either of these two days, which gives people flexibility to just game on the one day which works for them, or aim for both days, if they really wanted to go 'all-in' and get the full Britcon experience! A variety of options for people to stay overnight on the Saturday is available, so that we will hopefully have a repeat of the social get-together after the Saturday's gaming, adding to the weekend's fun. Accommodation options include the opportunity to stay at the University of Nottingham's student halls, if this is of interest, and the pricing was pretty reasonable this year.

2. On Saturday there would be three 'mini' tournaments of three rounds of games in each, with Sunday having two 'mini' tournaments of three rounds of games in each. Timings will be approximately 9:30am-12:30pm, 1-4pm & 4:30-7:30pm on Saturday and 9:30am-12:30pm and 1-4pm on Sunday, with each game lasting around 50 minutes. This will give additional flexibility for people to play as many of the 'mini' tournaments in each day, so for instance, if they didn't want to commit to and max out on 9 games in the day, it may be that a gamer on the Saturday plays the first two tournaments, if they wanted to be away by 5pm, or travel on Saturday morning and play the second and third tournaments, or they could play the first and third and have a break in the middle to have a breather, browse the show and have a leisurely lunch and a chat. Lots of choice there to cater for different persuasions...

3. This format will allow us to put on a range of themes across the weekend and, hopefully, increase the diversity of the competition. With a mini-tournament theme, if it's not going well, then never mind, as another one is just around the corner! This will also give the advantage of bringing a range of armies to play with and hopefully add to the variety of the weekend's competition. Themes have been planned so that it is possible for an army to play in more than one over the weekend, should the owner prefer, and 'loaner' armies will be available, for those with limited armies of their own or for people not wanting to transport too many over the weekend.

4. The mini-tournaments will have the following themes in 2024:

Saturday 10th August

'He Died Old' - The Near East in the Time of Mithridates (100BC-1BC) (note the PS at the foot of the email for permissible armies and allies)
Steppe Right Up - Any Steppe army (Allies permissible)
A Knight to Remember - Any army with a minimum of 4xKn (either 3Kn, 4Kn and/or 6Kn) elements (Allies permissible and can count to the minimum Kn allowance, but no dismounting allowed)

Sunday 11th August

Wimp Wars - Minimum 6 elements of Ps and/or LH (Allies permissible, but no dismounting allowed)
Book 3 Open - Any army from Book 3 (Allies permissible, but must also be from Book 3)

The Graham Fordham Trophy will be competed for over the course of the weekend and the winner will be the gamer with the highest points average, with a minimum of two mini-tournaments to count. Each mini-tournament winner will receive a prize too. We will endeavour to ensure that players do not play each other more than once over the weekend, wherever possible, to increase the diversity of opponents played, and a Swiss Chess style system will operate for rounds 2 & 3 in each mini-tournament.

5. Entries are now open on the Britcon website and costs are £27.50 for the Saturday (which would include lunch and a £5 discount voucher) and around £25 for Sunday (again, this would include lunch and a £5 discount voucher, for those not at Saturday's gaming - the link is not currently up for this option, but I'm chasing the organiser here). The full weekend ticket is £47.50.

I hope to see as many of you as possible at Britcon in the summer of 2024!

Regards
Paul

PS. Armies permitted for the first themed mini-tournament: 'He Died Old' - The Near East in the Time of Mithridates (100BC-1BC) (allies must be from this list too, if used):

I/43b Skythian (not Hu)
I/47 Illyrian
I/48 Thracian
II/6 Bithynian
II/14 Ariarathid Kappadokian
II/19d Seleucid
II/20c, d Ptolemaic
II/22a, b, c, d, e Arabo-Aramaean
II/23a, b, c Later Pre-Islamic Arab
II/24 Early Rhoxolani Sarmatian
II/25 Bosporan
II/26 Siracae & Iazyges
II/28a, b Early Armernian
II/30b Galatian
II/37 Parthian
II/44 Commagene
II/48 Mithridatic
II/49 Marian Roman
II/50 Hasmonean Jewish
II/51 Late Judean
II/55a Nobades/Blemmye
II/56 Early Imperial Roman

[Denis Grey]

Other Ancients competitions include L'Art de la Guerre (in 15 and 25mm), SAGA, Swordpoint, DBMM (also 15mm and 25mm), Mortem et Gloriam (15mm), Field of Glory (15mm), Barons' War, To the Strongest and Armati.

[Imperial Dave]

absolutely Denis and apologies for overlooking these elements

[lionheartrjc]

Britcon is a great event and I would thoroughly recommend it.

Richard

[Imperial Dave]

That's a good enough recommendation for me