The Ribble chaps, Pete and Geoff, assisted by Sam, Roger and Ian, ran a dead good event up in Preston at the end of April.
Dead good for many reasons:
i) It's Preston, in Lancashire, (waits for inevitable bias from Yorkshire people making their usual rants). My family hail partly from Lancashire, and it's dead good to get back.
ia) You could see the Lakes as you drove past Preston as the weather was perfect, traffic was light, Ipod was full of good tunes, and it was dead good.
ii) I went to Lancaster Uni, it was lovely to see the old place again, so many great memories, it was dead good.
iii) My brilliant and amazing friends Lynn and Martin still live in Lancaster, and allowed me to stay in their incredibly comfy spare bed, drink their beer with them and eat Chinese take away while watching great movies and laughing until my sides ached, which was dead good.
iv) My army features the c.C4th garrison of Lancaster, Cohors Tertaie Nerorium (archaeologically attested to Lancaster in the late 300s, but not mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum) so are dead good, and dead.
Seriously, driving South to a competition in Lancashire just felt amazing two mornings running, crystal clear skies, many memories, and an ever so slightly hungover each day, plus nice guys to play against.
My army?
Really?
Can't I just wax lyrical about the beauty of the M6 corridor in spring a bit more?
Oh all right then...
Nothing much has changed since you last saw it to be honest! Yes, I did submit the list in Latin. The only change is my archers are not combat shy. This was to prove an interesting choice, as later events will show! Why the list? I had been planning to take either Dacians or Jewish Revolt, but after several players moaned that the Romans could not win anything I thought I had to prove that contension wrong!
The Runners and Riders - from beginning of the 'Empire' to end of Rome basically, so a good deal of lists to choose from. Some seriously good players and a great spread of armies to boot. Pete and Sam buddied up to even up numbers across the days.
Player - Army
Ray Duggins - African Vandal
Richard Baliszewski - Bastarnae
Sam Street - Early Byzantine
Jeremy Howarth - Early Franks
Roger Whittam - Early German (Marcomanni)
Geoff Pearson - Early Imperial Roman
Robin Spence - Foederate Roman (West)
Keith Spedding - Hunnic
Nik Gaukroger - Hunnic
Will Denham - Imperiam Romanum (Occidentis et Britanniarum)
Hunter Hope - Later Moorish
John Munro - Later Moorish
Steve Stead - Later Republican Roman
Laurence Donohoe - Later Sarmatian
Mark Hargrave - Numidean
Ian Crosby - Palmyran
Peter Reilly - Palmyran
Matt Poole - Parthian
James (Hammy) Hamilton - Scirii
Richard Jeffery Cook - Spanish Sertorian
Peter Entwistle - Turcilingi
Some lists in there that do not usually see the light of day, which is great (two Palmyrians and a Parthian), and Nik with the inevitable horse archers (he would go on to win, and a well deserved win too), but Keith also took Huns in a differet format and did really well with them too. Cid was brutal with his Sarmatian lancers, and Hammy had a good run with the Scirii horses too. Mark's Numidians with a massive SUG selection and no camp was a real leftfield swerve, and proved to be a huge issue for many players, as he avoided the obvious Roman ally. Hunter and John brought Moors from North of the Wall. I was interested to see whether I could out perform the other Romans especially Mr Stead with Julius Caesar's 10th Legion.
So, quite a lot of horsy armies, and I brought a mostly foot force! Why? Because Rome's strength was always her infantry, and I think I have got mine to a decent build after Burton 2019 where I had the generals wrong. Let's see how I did?
Round 1: vs Geoff and Early Imperial Romans
Round 2: vs Pete E and Turcilngi
Round 3: vs Peter R and Palmyrian
Round 4: vs Hunter Hope and Later Moorish
Much as I enjoy visits to both Cumbria and Yorkshire, Lancashire also has it's merits. I've still got family in Preston, so I have to say that!
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