Once again I embarked on the Journey to Lancaster. This year however, I would bring a new army, the Middle Imperial Romans. The time period was 284AD to 305AD. during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. During this time. Roman Legions were usually paired to the frontier. My list was based on the XIII Gemina and V Macedonia legions which were posted in Egypt at one time. Using the WRG Book 2 list, this allowed me to have a nice variety of troop types, including Equites catafractarii, dromedarii, and eastern border horse archers. No darts for the legionaries or auxiliary. Some "B" class troops for the bulk of the fighting. supported by "C's" and a couple of "D's."

My first game was with Ed Kollmer who fielded an Early Imperial Roman Army. There were almost enough Roman armies to have an "Open Roman Theme." Ed and I both have Greek armies and both decided to try Romans this year. This was going to be a very Interesting confrontation. Ed and I rolled successfully for our terrain. so there were plenty of hills, woods, a gully and a major water feature. All the sub-generals were bold so the basic plan for both armies was attack..attack..attack! We completed six bounds and literally beat on each other turn after turn. The die rolls were pretty even with neither side rolling unusually high.

There were a couple of plus 2's when they Were needed, but they were not one sided. Neither one of us was able to force anything along the line and we finally wound up with I point for Ed and 2 points for me. It was an enjoyable battle.

My second game was against Dave Ray and his Sicilian Normans. The terrain die for me was not as successful as my first game and left a lot of clear space for Dave's knights. This time we both had cautious sub-generals, but they both obeyed their orders. This turned out to be another slug fest. Dave pushed on my left flank while I pushed on his left flank. The center stayed stabled. as Dave concentrated his knights away from my legionaries. The die rolls went against Dave when it came to waver tests. The melee die rolls were somewhat even, neither one of gaining an advantage. We completed six bounds and finished 2 points for Dave and 2 points for me. Hopefully Dave Improved his waver die rolling later in the tournament. Another good battle.

Game three introduced me to J.J. Fairleigh, a wife of a WRG gamer. How he got her interested in WRG is something worth looking into. My wife has no interest at all. (Just in WRG, she still likes me.) My terrain did did much better this game, giving me all the pieces I wanted. JJ picked a major water feature on which she placed a ship and four bolt shooters. She was using a Late Imperial Roman Army. I figured my legionaries would not stand up well against hers, so I positioned mine on two hills in the center. This turned out to be a very good idea, but later I would be boxed in on the hill and unable to take advantage of a flank attack against one of her legionaries. Once again it was 6 bounds to the finish. JJ with 1 point and me with 0 points. I tried to give JJ a better understanding of the rules and make sure she enjoyed the game rather than just "beat-up" on her and take advantage of her inexperience. She is going to be a good player and really did quite well.

Thank you once again to Scott Holder for all his efforts. This year I see he had some help. so he did get some kind of break. One of the nice things about the Open Tournament is that it seems there are less and less times a ruling is asked for. In my games we pretty much declded between us as to what we would do.

I'm already looking forward to next year. Pikes or pilums? Maybe Normans, maybe Palmyrans.