After a long hard struggle Paul Hodson, member or the Amsterdam6shooters, was crowned champion of the Unofficial Dutch DBA International Outdoor Wargaming Tournament in Amsterdam. He won with two Roman armies against three Caledonian commands.

The Dutch Unofficial DBA Outdoor Open is a wargame tournament that takes place every year when the 18th of June falls on a Saturday, for a select group of international elite players, in the garden of Eden backyard of one of our super rich sponsors who was on his yacht in Monaco this weekend.

We played one game which was also the final. We had a player from Portugal who was born in Angola (Henrique), a Dutch player (me) who has spent holidays in the USA and Japan, and Paul; born in the British Empire and now a soon-to-be-retired employee of the European Commission. So the whole world was present.

The all-important final was a replay of the Mons Graupius Battle, 83 AD. Again, civilization won and barbarians were chased back “deep down to Caledonia back to Aberdeen/ Way back up in the woods among the evergreens/ There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood/ Where lived a country boy named Calgalus B. Goode/ Who never ever learned to read or write so well/ But he could play bagpipes just like a-ringin’ a bell“

Roman soldiers cheered to their triumphant general.

Paul and this game will get ‘Legendary’ status from the International Association of Amateur Outdoor Wargame Players and get an automatic invitation for the second edition, in the backyard of a certain Calgalus near Aberdeen. Better be good, then!