Bart came over to my place on Tuesday for another shot at armati. This time we chose, or at least I decided on, two mounted armies - Ottomans and Serbs. This would make an interesting contrast with the previous game between Bart’s barbarians and my Picts.

The main contrast in the end was that Bart won this game even more quickly than the previous one. When I deployed my crack Guard cavalry in such way that they could not move (or at least not without turning round (one move), retiring (second move), turning back round (no surprise that this is the third move) and etc etc etc ) I suspected it would be a difficult encounter.

It was. Bart charged his Knights and Heavy Cavalry in two waves - impossible to do in dbm by the way. And these rapidly rolled over my Turks.

He deployed well and played with elan, so well done, Bart. And he only drank tea, refusing my offers of 9% beer or wine. That was another sneaky manoeuvre.

A good rule set, that plays quickly, without the more idiotic quirks of dbm and one that does not depend on fiddly, cheesy moves to win and certainly does not feature tiresome millimetre perfect measuring. Well, actually, it could if it wanted too, it’s just that Bart and I play in such a gentlemanly way, I suppose.