Scottish Open, 26-27 November 2016

[spotteddog]

Ooops - went with when it was this year, sorry. Larkhall for those who are interested.
HH

[spotteddog]

Back to Scottish Open business.

Do you boys want the draw before the basho or at the basho? I can do it at the club on Thursday night if you think scheming adds to the enjoyment!

HH

[spotteddog]

It is absolutely not true that George has bloused out of taking his new Aztecs in favour of his old Lithuanians. He has merely taken this opportunity to show solidarity with continental cousins in view of the brexit vote. That's what he tells me anyway!
HH

[marshalney2000]

I tihnk George was afraid that if he took the Aztecs that we would have built a wall to keep him out and then made him pay for it!!
John

[spotteddog]

You will pay for that!

[spotteddog]

Anyone want the draw done tomorrow night or do you want to wait till the day.
HH

[marshalney2000]

Oh just do it Hunter. It will certainly provoke more discussions, threats, blustering etc.
John

[spotteddog]

I'll get Chef Eric to do the draw tonight at the club so there are fewer shouts of "fix" than might otherwise be the case. Honest John will be there to insist on fair play ........

I'll aim to post the draw out early tomorrow morning so that it provides a focus for basho goers car trip conversations on Friday night/Saturday morning.

Its all getting soooooo exciting!

HH

[Three]

I'll get Chef Eric to do the draw tonight at the club so there are fewer shouts of "fix" than might otherwise be the case. Honest John will be there to insist on fair play ........

I'll aim to post the draw out early tomorrow morning so that it provides a focus for basho goers car trip conversations on Friday night/Saturday morning.

Its all getting soooooo exciting!

HH

Pointless unless you include the respective date ranges for some of the armies.

[spotteddog]

John Munro was first with Paul Johnston and Gary Lind second and third. Thanks to all. HH.

[marshalney2000]

Thanks to Hunter for the organising the tournament and of course Chef Eric for the unending supply of food.
Great to meet so many friends again and to catch up.
As for the games, I had four enjoyable contests all played in the best spirit although how Gary kept his composure in the face of some of my high die rolls was a wonderful example of self restraint.
Before the tournament, as many of you will be aware, I lobbied for a possible change of rules next year, but I will be honest enough to say that FOG still produces an exciting game with varied interactions. I am not just saying that because I won. Indeed, I won because I was able to use the army in a totally unhistorical way. In my third game against Mike my lumbering Khofun Naras weighed down by heavy armour could manoeuvre like skirmishing Apaches using hit and run tactics. It was a battle but my my troops were in nothing like a battle line but rather swirledcall over the table regardless of distance from generals etc. This lack of a battle line was also prevalent in many other games such as the last game between Mark and Hugh. The units were so intermixed and facing in so many directions, the casual observer could not tell who was who.
I think FOG allows units to be used in a non historic way and with greater flexibility of movement than they actually had. This happens because in FOG you can move every unit every turn regardless of how far away it is from a commander. Yes, you do have some restrictions with complex moves but careful placement of generals especially inspired commanders do not make this much of a problem. Most of the other main sets restricts how many units you can move through either dice (ADLG and DBX) or cards (MEG). They also make movement more restrictive if you are not in command distance. This tends to lead to more historical battle lines rather than a swirling dervish horde of unconnected units.
Please take this as a post competition reaction rather than a moan - hell I won so bring on FOG again next year!!

[Robert241167]

Well done John on a famous Scottish win !!

Rob

[philqw78]

I think FOG allows units to be used in a non historic way

DBM? Rose tinted spectacles come to mind

[spotteddog]

Well done John - and everyone else. Looked like a great time had by all. Shout out to Graeme Carroll who beat me 25-0 to get into a good spot to challenge for a place in his last game but fell foul of his mentor Paul de Johnston who then bagged second. Poor old Gary swept all before him before his army collapsed before John's Munro's wily Japanese. Still bagged a third though.

Great basho as always.

HH

[petedalby]

Please take this as a post competition reaction rather than a moan - hell I won so bring on FOG again next year!!

Well done John and good to read that you are still enjoying your occasional foray into FoG A&M. It may not be the best or most accurate historical simulation but it is still a cracking game with lots of choices to be made by both players. And long may it continue.

[navigator]

Yes well done to John.. When I played him, his No fun kara ( early version with superior armoured bows) ran as fast as their little Japanese legs would carry them into two areas of rough terrain.. so they could hide from my troops...!!!

yes I would also agree that the games don't look particularly historical at times but on the positive side there are lots of decisions to be made and there is a 'mental' challenge to be had from playing.. as opposed to moving in lines straight to combat.

Hunter and the Scottish chaps always give a warm welcome to foreigners and the SO is always worth a trip... and my vote still sticks with Fog for the time being at least
p

[spotteddog]

Thanks for the vote of confidence PJ. I also can live with FOG AM as a good game to quote the irrepressible Brucie.

[dave_r]

Any chance of getting the full results for the rankings please?

[spotteddog]

I'll aim to post on Monday Dave.
HH