DBA Special ... a camp for IV/75 (Timurid)

 a Mongol/Timurid Camp ...

Originally, my Mongols and Timurids shared the same camp - but I had a number of camels surplus and an idea for scratchbuilding a yurt ... so the idea for a camp was born, and allocated to the Timurids:

(DBA Camp for book IV/list 75 Timurid)

The model is therefore a very small part of camel stop-off or caravanserai, where a number of laden beasts are being parked next to a yurt.

The camels are mostly Gladiator with contributions from Irregular and Falcon ... the cameleer is Museum with a Gladiator head (the yurt is bottle top with s tissue covering and detailing in wire and miliput) ...

 

 

As usual. the Camp Follower is separate and can be detached,

 

CAMP FOLLOWER

 

 

 

 

Book IV List 75

 

DBA Special: IV/83a/b Wars of the Roses Yorkist/Tudor at Bosworth (54mm)

 WARS OF THE ROSES 54mm BOSWORTH 1485

These bespoke armies were configured during the development phases of V3 and represent my thinking of how the historical orbats translate for DBA.  I'll point out the deviations where they occur.

The number figures on a base is also not as specified (purely in order to have a comfortable fit for the 54mm figures on a conveniently sized element stand).  The bases are 80mm wide, which allows for a 4 ft wide table.  The mounted are all 'Kn' and are 2 to a base.  The foot are all 3 per base except for hand-gunners/psiloi, but there are several double bases (so 6 figures in 2 ranks).

 

(me using the 54mm DBA game to explain the battle to cricket legend Freddie Flintoff)

 

Each army has  3Kn general

 

 Richard has 2 more Kn although Northumberland can only move on a Pip roll of 5 or 6

 

(Richard's cavalry at Bosworth: 54mm DBA Wars of the Roses)

The earl of Richmond might get some support from the Stanleys

 

(Henry Tudor and the Stanleys)

The infantry

 

(the Yorkists)

 

(the Tudors)

 

For the Tudors, I chose to represent the earl of Oxford's Anglo-Welsh vanward as a traditional mix of bows and blades

 

(Vanward ... 2 x Bw, 1 x Bd: Talbot, Oxford, Savage)

With the Welsh in the mainward a mix of Ax (Ap Thomas) and Bd (Tudor/Pembroke)

 

(Tudor ... 1 x Ax, 2 x Bd)

... and for best effect, the mercenaries (Pike), I chose to represent as 8Sp.  They can be played as Pk, of course (the difference is interesting but probably not a game changer) ...

 

(Henry's mercenaries under Philibert de Chandee and Bernard Stewart d'Aubigny)

Royalist/Yorkist

Contempoaries  describe Norfolk's solid line as a rampart compared with Oxford's slender line.  I therefore took advantage of V3's 8Bw (Lb) troop classification to show this solid mix of archers and combat troops (it certainly looks right to me).  I take the Burgundian 8Lb in list IV/85 to be based on late 15th Cent English practice (so this interpretation isn't straying from DBA orthodoxy by that much, really) ...

(Somerset, livery, Norfolk and Catesby)

The figures in this army are a liberal mix of old plastic soldiers (Britains, Timpo), more modern 1/32 figures (Airfix, Italeri etc.) and metals by Irregular Miniatures.

The splendid fabric flags were researched and created by my lately departed friend, heraldry buff and wargame project collaborator Graham Fordham of Fluttering Flags.  Even though he was mainly a 28mm enthusiast of late, these scaled up versions really make the best of 54mm's visual impact.

Without anything much in the way of field artillery in this scale I adapted the pieces in Irregular's 40mm Renaissance range.  The designs basically work, and so a relatively big 40mm gun becomes a medium piece in 54mm.  The Ribauldequin is simply several such, crafted into one.

 

(some of Richard's seven score serpentines)

 

(54mm Bosorth DBA ... 1 x Art, 1 x (handgunners) Ps: Tudor)

CAMP

Neither side's camp played any part in the battle so they don't really need to be depicted in the game.  Some say the finds associated with Whitemoors relate to Richard's camp, so it makes a fun albeit tactically insignificant addition to the set up.

 

(54mm DBA IV/83b: Ricardian camp scene)

The vignette includes an Irregular Miniatures cart in difficulties in the marshy conditions typical of the battlefield ... for completeness, it incorporates a Camp Follower element which shows the Stanley family's Lord Strange (a hostage in Richard's camp) accompanied by a mercenary headsman.  Needless to say, I wasn't actually there, so can't say how authentic this scene might be.

The camp area is completed by a fairly successful repaint of the old Timpo plastic medieval tent.  Lovers of detail might like that I have topped the tent pole with a crown finial ... it's actually an inexpensive bracelet ornament you can buy in the Heritage Centre Shop (it really is an authentic Bosworth souvenir.  Who would have guessed?)

 

(Bosworth 1485: Yorkist tent with Murrey and Blue details)

 

(Camp Follower element: Lord Strange)

I also made a thorn bush:

DBA Special: Book IV list 83a Wars of the Roses 1455 to 1485 (1460)

Many thanks for indulging me this little 'late August; flurry of posts ... there are a number of items that have been almost ready post, and relate to the July-August activities that I had had scheduled to clear before the end of the month.

Today we are catching up with the Wars of the Roses ...

 Book IV list 83a Wars of the Roses 1455 to 1485 (1460 battle of Northampton) 15mm

Drawn from my '3 command' Northampton specific collection ...

I x Gen ... 4Bd or 3Kn

 

(a: Yorkist commanders at Northampton)

 

 

(b: Lancastrian commanders at Northampton)

 

There are other Lancastrians you could use - Percy and Beaumont come to mind.

There are a variety of figures here, but for the command elements in particular, I have made much use of the amazing 'Burgundian' range from Mirliton, and some New Age Donnington.

The flags were printed fabric by the late Graham Fordham of Fluttering Flags who was always there with advice on heraldry, liveries and contacts.

 

1 x currours (Cv) border staves (LH) or unreliable levies (7Hd)

 

(improvised cavalry ... figures by Corvus Belli, Irregular and Donnington)
 

 

 

But the core of the DBA army is 8 infantry, 4 longbow and 4 bills/men-at-arms.  Here are some Harringtons and some Fauconbergs.

(4Bw: Figures here from Corvus Belli, Mirliton, Peter Pig, TTG, Essex and Irregular)

 

1 x guns (Art)

 

Although not all battles featured artillery, and some involved so many guns, I'd allocate 2 elements, the basic DBA army requires everyone to have one piece.  They would have been proper wheeled field guns, not obsolete bombards.

(a nice, handy, 15th cent. Field Gun from Peter Pig)

1 x Welsh (3Pk),  Irish (3Ax), men-at-arms (3Kn/4Bd) or mercenary handgunners (Ps)

(an interesting pair of handgunners fron Thistle & Rose: they needed an extra deep base)

CAMP

(15mm Royal tent)

This is actually the King's tent from the Lancastrian camp at Northampton - the Yorkist baggage would have been some way from the battlefield ... but the Lancastrian camp was taken, and the hapless .king captured at his tent.

The model is entirely scratchbuilt from card and tissue.  Graham printed me an extra 'plantagenet' flag to cut up and apply as drapery.

The flags to the flank are Beaumont (left) and Egremont - 'Percy' (right)

EDIFICE

(the archbishop of Canterbury and the Eleanor Cross, Northampton 1460)

No battle of Northampton would be complete without a cross on a hill - from which reliable sources say Thomas Bourchier, the archbishop and Francesco Coppini watched the battle.  It may indeed have been site of the Yorkst HQ.  Coppini excommunicated the Lancastrians before the battle - so it may even have been important.

The model is entirely scratchbuilt from cork, mdf, metal rod and miliput.  I followed the extant original as best I could (although my method and intentions were knowingly impressionistic*)

 

(Phil's Eleanor Cross and the real one)

There are some tweaks in list 83 for Henry Tudor's army at Bosworth, but basically, this army fights other versions of itself. Or you can design your own variant according to a given historical prototype.

* NB it is quite a complex structure *wry smile*

DBA Special: Book 1, list 58 - Meroitic Kushite 592BC to 350AD

 

DBA I 58 Meroitic Kushite

 

I planned this army some time back.  I was inspired by the note by Herodotus that the African  Aethiopian warriors painted half their bodies vermillion, half white.  Now, most commentators place these Aethiopians in Sudan, in what we might otherwise term the Kingdom of Kush.  Maybe.

This army is generally seen as a sub-Egyptian styled army (and indeed, the rock sketches of the king/general on an elephant show him with a pharaoh's crowns) but I wanted to follow Herodotus and show a more tribal force.  Perhaps these are non-Egyptising rebels, then?  Likewise, I have dated the army to 500 (so, more or less, the Persian period).

The trigger for getting on with it was spotting the tribal head I have used in the camp vignette whilst browsing the Acheson Creations website (whilst looking for something else in one of their sale windows).  I immediately got this entirely fictional image in my head, more H Rider Haggard, I suppose, which just seemd right for the then dormant 'Tribal Kushite' project ... so I hope you like it.

 

(DBA Meroitic 'tribal' Kushites)

 

The spearmen are mostly the Feudal Castings figures now sold by QRF/Freikorp, otherwise it's a mix of Essex and Chariot with the odd Falcon and Peter Pig figure thrown in.

The general rides a repurposed toy elephant that came in a Christmas cracker.  It's what I had.  It's a bit small, but I think they would have been.

 

 

The general could also be an archer - but if you are going to do this army, I think it has to be the elephant general.   That, and the fact that you don't get the general's plus in shooting (which would make him a very vulnerable element if you went that route*.

 

(Meroitic Kushite:15mm figures by Essex and Chariot)

 

 

 

(DBA Book I/list 58 Meroitic Kushite: tribal infantry by Feudal Castings/QRF et al)

 

These simple figures are somehow very appealing.  They are a mix of spears and various bladed weapons, but I chose to use a variety of them for the spearmen, and to use 'sub-Egyptian' style infantry (Chariot, Essex and Falcon) for the tribal axemen and swordsmen ... again, this was pretty much and intinct + aesthetics decision (going with what seems to work!).

 

 

 

 

(Meroitic Kushite infantry: various)

 

The Camp 

As already admitted, more H. Rider Haggard/Darkest Africa than culturally Meroitic .. a train of porters brings in supplies.  The line of march takes them past a tribal rock image, guarded by warriors.  As usual, there is a detachable Camp Follower.

 

 

 

(Tribal Kushite DBA camp element)

 

 

(Kushite camp: details)

 

For these bases, I tried to go for a deeper, less bleached African soil, more Sudanese than Saharan.

Maybe it works.

This army can fight Egyptians, Persians, Nobades, Axumites etc. (so fits well with my collection)

*he should at least get it when shot at - but, given Bw aren't supertroops, I'd just let the generals have their plusses in all combats.  Keep it simple.

DBA Special: III/17 Maurikian Byzantine (15mm)

 

 

 

This is the second army to emerge refurbished from my large Armati/DBM Byzantine box (which, pretty much, still has an ADLG army left in it!) ... 

 

This army is crafted around some very stylish Kavallarioi with teardrop shields by (these days, generally unfancied) Irregular Miniatures.  I like their swagger, although I have had to replace their slightly wonky cast-on spears (whilst retaining the characteristic penons and speartips) ... It meant the army spent too long on my desk in bits (but I think it worked) ...

Anyway, here's what you get:-

The general is a Museum torso grafted in, and the army banner is my usual foil and tissue lamination.  

He's a Cv element, as is the main battleline of the army ...

(Kavallarioi, 5 x CV - figures mostly by Irregular) 

 

As usual all the shields etc. are hand painted.  The dragon windsocks are actually 10mm pieces from Penrdaken (but I thought they were too big for 10mm figures so used them here instead!)

 

You can then mix and match around this cavalry core. 

 

(Byzantine Light Horse - figures by Gladiator and Essex)

 

I would usually take one of these LH but seldom all of them.

 

Instead, I would take some western-style knights ...

 

(Optimates: 1 x 3Kn - figures by Essex) 

 

All mounted options ...

 

 

 But I would usually take some of the infantry shown here, around the camp ...

 

 

The options line up like this ...

 

 

Very rarely, you might take some or all of the skirmishers

 

(mixed Ps figures by Chariot, Essex and Gladiator) 

The Camp 

... is my take on the time-honoured 'tooth-pick' stockade with a couple of waggons drawn up as the outer defence.

(DBA Byzantines: Waggon and stockade camp)

(Waggons by Gladiator, figures by Irregular and Hallmark)

My usual configuration for this army would be:

 

Cv Gen + 5 Kavallarioi (Cv), 1 x Optimates (3Kn), 1 x LH, 2 x Sp, 2 x 4Bw

It's natural opponent in my collection is Arab Conquest.