The winner of the second annual 15mm "De Bellis Antiquitatis" Ancients tournament was Paul Ohtonen, who came down from Detroit to rampage with his Vikings. Last year's Advance the Colors tournament winner, Terry Hollern, was second with his Marian Romans.

There were 10 entrants this year, down two from last, but we met one of our goals with half the players being new to the game. One of my hopes is to use these tournaments to broaden interest in ancientswargaming generally, and DBA specifically, by making it attractive to new players. This year we had six people show up for the introductory session who had either never played the game before, or who were very new to it. One of them was unable to participate in the tournament, but learned enough to look forward to future gaming with the ruleset.

In the first round of the event, I match a new player with a "veteran," and I want to especially thank those players for assisting the newbies through their first tournament games. Too often we see new players ground into the dirt, but that attitude was noteworthy for its absence at ATC '99, compared to other places I've gamed.

We had a bunch of Viking armies this year, partly because I acquired several to use as loaner armies for this event. This army is relatively easy to use and is also fairly potent. So, it is an attractive one for new players. Nonetheless, we ended up with some variety, as a number of mounted armies took the field to oppose them.

The only adjustment I ended up making from last year's tournament was in the scoring. About 3 am the morning of the event, it occurred to me how to avoid "punishing" winners who achieve an early victory by killing the enemy general. Without an adjustment, some winners will end up with fewer victory points than if they'd destroyed the normal four enemy elements. Instead, I awarded winners a minimum six points (one for each enemy element destroyed, plus bonus two for victory). Without this, the early winner could end up with fewer victory points, which doesn't seem appropriate in a tournament situation. It seemed to work, as five generals were killed in the 15 games -- at least two in the first bound of combat. However, the game winner's points placed them appropriately in the final results.

I'd like to thank Brian O'Leary for his help in organizing the event, and all who participated for their cooperation and good spirits. I'm looking forward to next year.

15mm De Bellis Antiquitatis Ancients Tournament Results:

1. Paul Ohtonen, Vikings, 3-0, 18 points.
2. Terry Hollern, Marian Romans, 2-1, 17 points.
3. Evan Moloney, Late Romans (Eastern), 2-1, 16 points.
4. Sean Hoyt, Thematic Byzanlines, 2-1, 14 points.
5. Mike Demana, Later Sassanid Persians, 2-1, 13 points.
6. Steve Smith, Vikings, 1-2, 11 points.
7. Jim Williams, Mongols, 1-2, 9 points.
8. Dick Keyel, French Knights, 1-2, 9 points.
9. Uwe Eickert, Vikings, 1-2, 7 points.
10. Kyle Carroll, Vikings, 0-3, 4 points.