This simple De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) campaign was the brainchild of David van Hoose and run by Mike Stelzer, with the help of Dennis Frank and Mike Demana. The game was DBA Ancients played on wide boards, 24Ó x 36Ó. The original idea was to play a regular DBA campaign on site. David thought we could finish it in under six hours. When I was asked to host it, I knew that was optimistic, that eight or more hours would more than likely be needed.

So, the simple campaign was born, each army representing its country. If you are defeated while on the defensive, you become a vassal. The only way to take another player as a vassal was to be the attacker and defeat them. The winner was to be the player with the most vassals at the end of the campaign.

The players were Gary Overmyer, Bud Hunter, Steve Smith, Dick Keyel, Bob Boggs, Jim Williams, Dennis Frank and Mike Demana. They were split into groups randomly of odds and evens, with Gary, Bud, Steve, and Mike as evens. And Dennis, Dick, Bob, and Jim as the odds.

In Round one, the Evens won the initiative, and in number order, choose their opponent.

• Gary (Marian Roman) attacked Dennis (Nubian) and lost.
• Steve (Normans) attacked Bob (Early Imperial Romans) and lost.
• Mike (Sassanid Persians) attacked Jim (Polybian Romans) and won becoming Jim's Overlord. Mike would pick who Jim attacked next round.
• Bud (Medieval French) attacked Dick (Medieval French) and lost.

In Round Two, the Odds got to pick whom they attacked.

• Dick attacked Gary and won making him Gary's Overlord.
• Dennis attacked Mike and lost.
• Bob attacked Bud and lost.
• Jim had no option but to attack Steve and he lost.

Round Three was the Overlords round -- the Overlords and their vassals attacked.

• Dick attacked Bob and lost.
• Dick sent Gary to attack Bud and he lost.
• Mike attacked Steve and lost (Editor's note: Obviously, Steve cheated).
• Mike sent Jim to attack Dennis and he lost

Round Four was the Independents' round.

• Bud attacked Jim and won, stripping Mike of a vassal and gaining one.
• Bob attacked Dennis and lost (This was a surprise move by Bob and could have been the best match up against Dennis' terrain).
• Steve attacked Gary and won, stripping Dick of his vassal and gaining one.
• Dick and Mike forced to fight with Dick winning the aggression roll. Dick won, gaining Mike as a vassal.

At this point, the campaign was called for time, and Dick was declared Emperor of Great Lakes, as he was the longest surviving Overlord. He won a painted Marian Roman army for his victory.

The games were all great and many ran long as they were close to the end. It seemed they were either short and sweet (or bitter sweet), or long and arduous for the players. The total campaign ran just over five hours, this had to do in part with Steve teaching Bob the fine points as they played the first round. We would have had time for a fifth round if the games hadn't been so close. I didn't want to call games if at all possible, so had planned on five rounds but was ready to do only four.

The surprise of the campaign was Dennis' Nubians surviving the whole campaign without becoming a vassal. He faced three heavy foot armies and one Cavalry with Elephants army and never lost while defending. Overall, three players were 3-1, three players were 2-2 and two players were 0-4.

I think this will become a standard feature at future ATCs (with some minor changes to how it worked). The biggest change will be to theme the event to get armies that are more evenly matched in time. And as five of the eight that played came from the period of Rome, then that will probably be the theme. Check the ATC list, though, for details next year. Thanks to all that played and I hope all had a good time. See you all next year!