DBA Special ... II/33 Polybian Roman

 

This army is drawn from Scipio's legions from the Zama game ...

 

The 10mm figures are mostly the Armies in Miniature figures that used to be sold by Chariot Miniatures.   I still think they are some of the best, despite their slightly flimsy weapons shafts.

They are on 40mm frontages with 3 to 6 mounted figures ... the foot I tried to give a more Roman flavour  so are in 4 figure clumps: 1 clump for the Triarii, 2 for the Principes - and for the Hastati, a figure in the gap between 2 clumps (intending the indicate maniples spreading out or contracting down in the line relief system) ...

(arrangement of the 10mm figures on Phil's Polybian Roman DBA bases)

The generals are individually based and detachable purely for flexibility.

Here's the army:

 

Cv Gen plus 1 Cv  

 

(Scipio Africanus)

 

2 x Sp (Triarii)

 

4 x 4Bd (Principes and Hastati)

 

2 x 4Bd (Hastati)

 

2 x Ps (Velites)

 

stockade Camp with bolt shooter CF element

For Zama, of course, the allies would be Numidians

 

Numidian ally Cv and 2 x LH

So (the basic army) Cv gen; 1 Cv, 2 x Sp; 6 x 4Bd, 2 x Ps.

Very simple but hard to beat.

 

This army 'pairs' with Later Carthaginian

Newark Showground - but not yet!

SoA DBA Northern Cup at Newark returns next month ...

Yes ... the snow got the better of Hammerhead which means the first show for us this year will be Alumwell WMMS next week.

Here's a view from our 4x4 the evening before the show.  It got worse overnight.

 

I was going to be playing DBA and supporting the tournament with a DBA display battle.  I had decided to go with the 10mm Pharsalus Double DBA from the 2016 Battleday.

I ticks a number of boxes ... it promotes the BattleDay as well as the Northern Cup - it also shows a slightly different take on DBA to the 'book' version used in the games.   And it shows an alternative to the standard scale convention.

 

The set up features 10mm figures on the standard 40mm frontage ... generally 8 to 10 Heavy Infantry per base, 5 or 6 cavalry or 3 skirmishers ... so a slightly more 'massed' look than bigger figures.  

I had some running repairs and some finishing enhancements overdue, and was engaged with these during the week (and intending to write it up) ... well here are some pictures of the preparations although you'll have to wait a few weeks for the main report.

 

... so a little work on the terrain board ... and some varnishing of armies ...

 

(DBA ... 10mm Marian Romans from Phil Steele's Pharsalus game)

 

(10mm Romans on 40mm wide bases)

About 400 pieces will feature in the game ...

 

(10mm Roman Civil War forces for DBA) 

The wargame uses Polybian figures for Pompey's army and these make a nice DBA army (originally assembled for the battle of Zama BattleDay)

Here's the army.

See you at WMMS

Looking Back at 2017

Welcome to another 'end of term report' and Happy New Year to all my fellow enthusiasts and visitors.

(for a header I have chosen a DBA army ... in this case some late medieval Germans)

2017 started what seems a long time ago and although I know I have slimmed my commitments down significantly, still seems remarkably full of activity.  Late in the year I suffered a close family bereavement which swung my attention away from wargaming ... and equally I guess I am more active as a military historian who wargames than as a wargamer that does some history.

Things change.  We used to do around 2 events per month as Shows North, as a team of, say four ... these days it's maybe half that - and seldom are there more than a couple of us.   Diversification has undoubtedly benefited historical wargaming (but does mean people are always doing different things in different places.)

That said, the continued success of DBA v3 and the popularity of the UK League I brokered with the Society of Ancients means I still get to play quite a lot.

Ancient and Medieval, we did 9 tournaments or events (1 ADLG, 8 DBA) ... 7 shows in addition to 2 that I attended principally to play in a tournament (so 9 shows really) ... and 8 other events (conferences, battlefield anniversay events etc.)*

24 outings altogether** ...

My game tally for the year seems to be around 76 (3 a fortnight, if you like) ...

Tournaments (click on the pictures to go to the report)

 

Mercia DBA (Coventry) 

 

 Hammerhead and the Northern Cup

 

 Alton Pairs DBA

Bakewell DBA

 

Britcon DBA 

  'Derby' ADLG

 

Octoberfest DBA (Bakewell)

 

DBA English Open

 

SoA UK DBA League (finals at the English Open)

 

Tarrington scramble

Shows

 

 

 

 

 

 

and related events

 

The 'Arsuf' SoA BattleDay

 

Stoke Field and the Battlefields Trust AGM

 

Northampton 1460

 

Anniversary walk

 

The Conference of Wargamers at Knuston Hall

 

Edgcote anniversary walk

 

Bosworth

 

SOAC 2017

 

The vast majority of those 76 games were ancient or medieval and quite a few were DBA.   We also played some AMW, some ADLG and some home grown ... plus the odd game of Saga, Lion Rampant and Dux Bellorum.  At SOAC I ran the 1960s Tont Bath wargame.

*I'm excluding events that are exclusively later history - so ecw etc. - which do fill in some of the rest of my calendar ...

**compared with 22 last year

11th November, Tarrington

The Society of Ancients UK DBA League 2018 Round 1: the Tarrington Scramble

 

Back at Tarrington after missing a year ... for the start of the new DBA League season.

Tarrington is a scramble and I took Mongol Conquest.

The reasoning behind that decision - and everyone's - is to be the subject of a forthcoming article for Slingshot ... but generally, here's how it works: 

... the army you take will be put into the scramble.  You will play against in the first round and with it in the last.  Otherwise it will be randomly allocated to other players and you will have something else from the mix.

So taking an army that you know well but which doesn't give your opponent too much of an advantage would be good.   Many players look at it as an opportunity to take something interesting but normally uncompetitive.  Some see it as an opportunity to set the others a challenge ... or two ..

So in addition to my Mongols, I got to play with ...

Pictish (Barbarian Conspiracy) ... Carolingian Frankish ... Skythian ... South Welsh ... Alexandrian Imperial ... 

That's a great mix for one day's wargaming I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was nice to finish with the Mongols - who had done rather well during the day - up against the Macedonians, whom I had already surrounded and beaten with Skythians.   We had worked out a plan by now.

The Macedonians are, you would have thought, quite a good army ... but came bottom in this particular test.  My fault, to some extent ... they played 6 games and I lost with them and beat them twice.  It is the luck of the draw sometimes.

A great day was had by all.  Mark won, the Mongols came runner up in the army stats and I finished about half way (played 6: won 3; lost 3) - a universal thumbs up to the Scramble format.