Painting update

It’s been a very long time since I’ve written anything here. I have been playing a few games. In particular I’ve been playing Sellswords and Spellslingers with Kieran quite regularly. I even have some figures in 28mm I could paint for it. In additition last year I made some 15mm terrain for it, scrubs and boulders. I also bought some trees, but didn’t get so far with them.

Boulders and shrubs for SoBH and SS&SS

I have also ugraded my hills for DBA. I used a t-shirt base for the polystyrene hills. It gives some protection and makes them non-slip.

Numidian light infantry try out the new hills.

I may yet make some difficult hills that incorporate rocks. I got some moulds from the hobby shop last year; you can see some of the first lot of rocks incorporated into the scrubs above.

Otherwise, I have been playing DBA quite frequently. I’ve gone out to Nick’s regularly and we’ve used a number of armies each time. I also went to a pub on the North Shore during the week before the lockdown started. It was a great occasion and once lockdown ends could become a fixture. I had three games of DBA in the evening.

I have quite a few figures ready to paint. Rather than finish any of them I have got elements for four armies ready to go. Which ones will I do first?

Clockwise from the back: Late Imperial Romans, Syrians, Communal Italians and Veteran Carthaginians. 15 mounted and 114 foot.

The Carthaginians were started at the end of 2018, as were the Italians. I should get them finished first, as they are in various stages of completion. The Syrians will flesh out the Syrian Army that is complete, and I recently got their shields sorted, which was a major exercise, as they all come with little bucklers, and I want them to have shields with LBM transfers. Finally I bought the Romans at the end of 2018 and they’ve been at the back of the queue since then. I decided to get them all prepped, but I would like to paint them after the others (they’re the first of enough for BBDBA).

A Carroccio and Mithridates’ camp (also Veteran Carthaginian spearmen)

I’ve got a few more elements finished, and a number more very close to being finished. The first is the Command Wagon of my Communal Italian army (III/73a) that is taking shape. It is a morph of my Norman army, though I’m yet to paint most of it — the six elements of communal spearmen, the two elements of communal crossbowmen and the two elements of Contandini infantry (hordes). I’m actually planning to take a Medieval German ally (IV/13a), which allows more knights (3Kn/4Bd), and another element of crossbowmen. These are all started. I made the transfers for the Carroccio’s banner and the shields myself. I was following the picture in Ian Heath’s Armies of Feudal Europe (no. 94 on p. 111). I noted that some of cities (Bologna and Parma) had red banners and a cross on them. I somehow took from this a yellow cross, though when I reread the book I discovered that it should have been white.

The Communal Italian Carroccio.

Like the rest of the army, this is an Essex model. I chose to keep it to a 40 x 40 base, so I’ve not used the oxen. After I decided on this, I saw a very nice Carroccio with oxen. One advantage of the 40 x 40 base is that I can present the wagon side on.

Another angle.

The model came with a single monk (the one holding the crucifix), but I came across a few more while I was painting it, and decided to fill out the wagon a bit. These monks have picked up some dirty habits, courtesy of refreshing the ink in my wash just before doing them! They’re not just there to add moral support either; that monk in the middle is kneeling. If he stands up he’s a monster (a Museum miniature) … Beppo abandoned his questionable early life as a wrestler for a life of prayer, but should the wagon be under serious threat, he may revert to his old character, so watch out!

And another.

The wagon is guarded by a select guard of uniformed troops.

From the rear.

The occasion that led me to finding the other monks was my decision to finish off my Mithridatic army. Part of the work is to do the camp— Mithridates tent— which was guarded, I believe, by a stag, a bull and a stallion. I’ve had these figures for a long time; I even started painting them, in a desultory sort of way, so it’s good to get them done finally.

Mithridates’ tent.

Another angle.

And another.

Mithridates’ army will be joined by an Armenian ally that can add more horse archers and some cataphracts. These are under way. I also decided that I could use the Carthaginian veteran spearmen as imitation legionaries, which would be an incentive to get them finished—well, some of them. I’m also doing another element of Cappadocian infantry also by Corvus Belli. In all, this will represent eight new elements for the army (and a ninth if the camp is counted). Here’s the first of the finished spearmen/imitation legionaries.

Carthaginian veteran spearmen (or are they imitation legionaries?)

Another angle.

And another.

Once I’ve got the Armenians and Carthaginians done, it’s back to the Italian spearmen and crossbowmen (who got demoted in the painting queue last week).

Update after nearly a year

I’ve not had much time for gaming this year. For a while I was looking at getting into a bit of ancient naval wargaming, but moved to Adelaide before I could go further with that. I got a few games of DBA with Joel before I left and the Mithridatics had their first victory. Otherwise, I was going to try to play SBH: it’s more portable, and the community isn’t riven by disputes over rule changes, which has rather soured DBA for me. However, when I saw that Cancon would be using DBA 2.2, I thought it’d be fun to get along next year. I’m still deciding on armies; I’m tending towards Mithridatics (the last chance to use SCh while they’re fun possibly), but if I took Seleucids I could field 3Cm, who are also slated for emasculation. I have fewer options for a later army, but if I decide to take a different one from last time, it’d likely be the Pre-feudal Scots; they’re hardly dynamic, but they’re not pathetic. It’s a choice between them and the Komnenans, as I have nothing else ready.

In Adelaide I’ve played a few boardgames, particularly the new edition of A Game of Thrones, which is quite satisfying in its permutations. If I bring a few armies with me for Cancon, I may look to get in contact with DBA gamers there. I’m going to be there for another year.

While on holiday in Melbourne I’ve had a couple of games of DBA with Steve. We played Imperial Germans against Communal Italians. The Germans won decisively, but I can’t really remember how. We then played Papal Italians against Communal Italians. This time it was a victory for the commune, as their Knight general managed to destroy a Horde and a Psiloi. The Carroccio stayed firm on one flank, despite heavy pressure from the opposing spear.

Last night we tried Libyan Egyptians against Neo-Assyrians. The Neo-Assyrians were hard pressed by the Libyan archers, who recoiled them a long way back before being caught by the Assyrian cavalry. After that it was only a matter of time. The highlight for me was the Assyrian general’s charge into the Meshwesh (4Wb), who were reputed to be invincible. They died, but the general forgot about his pursuit and on the next turn the other Meshwesh turned and recoiled the general into a 3Wb; their boast of invincibility was not so empty, though by then it was too late and the rest of the army was in flight.