I'd been to Belgium before, for a long weekend of sight-seeing, and enjoyed the beer, chocolate and wild boar, so was very pleased when Frederick Robert said he was organising a Desperate Journeys tournament, and did I want to attend: he would find me somewhere to stay (for free!). At that stage the other tournaments I knew of were in Scotland and Manchester, the latter with people I'd had no contact with, the former a long way from Exeter.

There were hopes of it becoming a truly international affair with Rob from Essen (Germany) and my chum Andy (Wales) who would borrow my Unicorn army. In the event, Rob had a christening to go to, and Andy's daughter thought her dad should be there on her sixth birthday.

Eurostar offered me an attractively priced excursion fare from Exeter to Brussels - so that was it.

The reality of then carrying an army, plus rulebooks etc. and clothes comes into it's own. Plus, I decided I was going to be different, and play with Ashiguru. Yes, I said Ashiguru - I had some Old Glory figures, which would be finished being painted a few days before the journey. The original plan had envisaged lots of Ashiguru archers, in the "rain of death" Crab army, before my Heavy elites got stuck in. Toturi's army expansion scuppered that, as it alters the basic Ashiguru and reduces their range to 8"/16". In any bow fight I was going to be outclassed on range by normal samurai. Still, I'd painted the figures, and they were going to be used. And being a crab army, I use my nezumi (converted GW skaven) as well.

Thus, I'm faced with carrying well over 100 figures. Why didn't I choose an army of 2 wound units and expensive characters, so I could fit them into a box the size of a clan expansion. Despite the Coolie Corps article last issue, I choose yet another method of carrying them, since Eurostar would allow me two bags (and I only have two arms). I looked at the DIY tool trolleys in B&Q (British DIY chain), and may yet return to them. What I eventually settled on was using a soft pilots case that would take two clan war basic set boxes in the main compartment, with dice and the tac cards etc, and the side compartments would take the rules, army lists etc. Inside the basic set boxes, would be the foam inserts from the new Games Workshop carrying case (obviously worried by OC#2, they produced a new case in response to my article): each box will take two of the foam trays. With three trays in the one case, then the other box used the ordinary sheet foam that the sets come with - I would need that for my cavalry anyway.

As the best tour books say, test your bags before going: the strap on the case broke at the end of the road, barely 100 yds from my front door!

So, onto Belgium (reading the rules on the train, and looking over the army list). I'd now like to confess to the lads in Belgium that my army wasn't tournament legal - in draughting out my army I transposed the defence and leadership skill on Toku (and played him that way, until I realised my mistake in the third game) - thus, he couldn't actually lead my 20 nezumi! Just as well that I didn't win.

Friday Night (2 am finish). Warm up mass game, Crabs (2 players) vs the others (Dragon and shadowlands). I played opposite the Dragon player, who was fielding a Dragon, and in the Dragon vs Ashiguru contest you can probably guess who won. I realised then that if I fought the Dragon later, then it would have to be shot to bits by archery as soon as possible, and preferably, a long way from my troops.

Saturday (2 am finish). In view of the small number of players, a "league system" was in use to determine the finalists.

Round 1: vs the Dragon - Full of its success from the previous night, the Dragon advanced out in front again. Only this time, the archers were in the right place, and were successful. Following matches would see the Dragon screened bv some infantry.
Result: Victory to the crab, only because the Dragon was too bold.

Round 2: vs the Crab - Interestingly enough we had similar basic concepts of hiruma archers and a decent melee unit (crab heavy elite or berserkers) with only the rest being variety. I had my ashiguru, nezumi and some cavalry - Serge had his kiau engineers and defenders of the wall. The archery was an even fight and therefore wasn't going to give victory to either side. The berserkers and crab heavy elite ended up in a war of attrition in the middle.
Result: Draw

Round 3: vs the Crane - I seemed to lose out in archery duels, duelling and morale tests. I had a repeat game against the same army the following day, and lost again.
Result: Crane victory. (The Cranes would eventually win).

Round 4: vs the Shadlowlands - Not a good battle for me. I advanced my ashiguru spearmen too far, so they got flanked, and attacked by tattooed madmen and ogres, my crab heavy elite stood around doing little, and my light cavalry decided it would be a good idea to charge the plague zombies, since the skeleton archers were shooting them up. If there was a lesson to be learned, then it's read the opposing unit card. In the friendly spirit of the game, Bart did ask was I absolutely sure that I wanted to attack the plague zombies?. Something should have warned me then, but the ogres had played a nemesis card on Sanzo (the leader), and I thought my hiruma archers were winning the archery contest with the skeleton archers. At least on the other flank, the ashiguru archers held out against the lost moto, making morale rolls as if was no problem.
Result: Victory for the Shadowlands.

Overall placing, third I think because I scored more VP's against the Dragon player than my fellow crab. I fought him first and managed to kill the dragon: in the following game against my fellow crab, the dragon was screened by infantry in the approach, and thus not vulnerable to archery fire.

So, I had a good time, and would like to give my thanks to:
Serge (Crab), Bart (Shadowlands), Nicholas (Dragon) and Frederick (Crane), plus of course Phillippe the shop owner. Photographs of variable quality after I dropped the flashgun a couple of times... And I still need to be find a way to take decent pictures of an army lined up.

It's good that the club is in Belgium though. With meals delivered from the restaurant across the road, Belgian beer the local stuff, and a chocolate shop just down the road, then within weeks I'd be even more overweight than I am now.