Few generals in history had experience in leading more than one nation's army. However, the winner of the 4th Annual Capcon DBA Tournament commanded Saxons, Romans, Ostrogoths, and Northumbrians, scattering his enemies each time.

This years tournament in Columbus featured eight historical battles from Cynoscephalae (197 BC) to Bremule (1119 AD). The participants fought four rounds, rotating among the tables and playing a different opponent and battle each time.

Jeffrey Rodgers from Cincinnati won the battles of Mon Badonicus, Carrhac, Taginae, and Nechtansmere for a perfect 4-0 record. He was awarded a painted Midianite Arab DBA army (donated by Bloodaxe Miniatures) as first prize. The second, third, and fourth place finishers won unpainted DBA armies from Bloodaxe Miniatures.

All participants said they enjoyed the format, which forced them to adapt their tactics to wildly different troop types and Army styles. The armies ranged from the all-horse Parthians to the mostly warband Saxons.

Each battlefield featured pre-set terrain to resemble the historical one. Players used the basic 12 element armies from the DBA rulebook, with some modifications to resemble the actual order of battle. For the enjoyment of the participants and spectators, a half page summary of the historical events leading up to each battle and its outcome was displa'zd-on the table. The organizers relied heavily on the excellent scenario b9oks by eteP r Sides and Terry Gore.

The Tournament used the following battles:

Cynoscephalae, 197 BC. Later Macedonian vs. Polybian Roman.
Carrhae, 53 BC, Marian Roman vs.Parthian.
Mons Graupius, 84 AD, Early Imperial Roman vs. Caledonian.
Mons Badonicus, 517 AD. Sub Roman British vs. Early Saxon.
Taginae, 552 AD, Early Bizantine vs. Italian Ostrogoth.
Nechtansmere, 685 AD. Pictish vs. Northumbrian.
Civitate, 1053 AD, Papal Italian vs. Norman.
Bremule 1119 AD, Feudal French vs. Anglo-Norman.

The choice of battles proved fairly balanced as none ended up with one historical victor winning every time. However, four of the matchups ended up 3-1. In Mons Badonicus, King Arthur's Britons (cavalry and auxillia) beat the Saxons three times. The hills of Cynoscephalae witnessed the later Macedonians, with their balanced pike armies, defeat the Polybian Romans (equally balanced, but with blade weapons instead) three times, too. This was surprising since blades are probably the toughest troop type in DBA.

And in the most challenging tactical puzzle, the all-horse Parthians rode down the Marian Romans all but one time. This battle featured no terrain and no camps, so there was nothing for the Romans to anchor a flank on-- as historically. However, the tourney winner played the Romans in this battle and beat the Parthians. During the tournament organizers play testing the Romans won too. So, as expected, the winners found a way to solve the tactical puzzles presented to them.

The standings for the April 19th tournament were:

1. Jeffrey Rodgers 4-0 27pts
2. Paul Westermeyer 3-1 24pts
3. Allen Sams 3-1 24pts
4. Pete Panzeri 3-1 23pts
5. Chris Davis 2-2 21pts
6. Terry Hollern 2-2 18pts
7. Tom Graves 2-2 18pts
8. Doug Jackson 2-2 17pts
9. John Presutti 2-2 16pts
10. Karl Evoy 2-2 15pts
11. Bethany Haller 2-2 14pts
12. John Pittenger 1-3 11pts
13. Chris Becker 0-4 5pts
14. Steve Sattler 0-4 4pts

Points were scored for destroying enemy elements (1), killing generals (2), and occupying enemy camps (2), plus a bonus for winning the battle (2).