Work in Progress - Renaissance Spanish

Well.....after all that analysis I just went on and started painting.  Not just Spanish but a couple of 30YW command bases:

30YW Swedish (Confederate cavalryman), 30YW French (temporary mounted figure) 

and Spanish Colonial.

On my painting table are the following:

16 - Crossbow                                18 - Sword & Buckler                            20 - Muskets   
24 -  Half-pikes                                 8 - Pikes                                                 9 - Indian Bow
15 - Indian Blades                             1 - Gun (plus 3 crew)                              3 - Lancers

Only 4 of the pikes have metal armour - the other four are cloth.  I have decided to allocate the former to a Spanish Imperial army for the Dutch Rebellion period.  The cloth four will become a colonial unit. 

Half-pikes provide an interesting problem.  Given their "Irregular" nature, and the terrain they had to work in, to me they are like Ax(X) in DBM terms so should be 3 to a base. 

(All conversions of musketeers)

Sword & buckler men are an easier decision - surely Bd(F) in DBM terms and therefore 3 to a base.

Muskets - I'm still torn between 3 or 4 to a base (any suggestions?).

Looks like this project is growing in an 'organic' manner in spite of its 'scientific' start.  Next thing to deal with is the 'native' problem.  Oh Well!

Going Back to the Source

I thought that I would take a look at the original site for 'DBA in the New World' - Steven's Balagan:

http://balagan.org.uk/war/dbx/dba/new-world/index.htm

...and what did I find:

Element Type		Abbreviation	Cost (AP)	Official DBA equivalents	Suggested Base Size (mm)	Suggested No. Figures
Lancer aka Knight		Ln	15	3Kn	40 x 40	3
Shooters	European	ShE	7	3Bw, 4Bw, CB	40 x 20	3-4
	Superior	ShS	5	4Ax, 3Bw, 4Bw	40 x 40	5-8
	Ordinary	ShO	3	3Ax, 3Bw	40 x 40	5-8
Blades	European	BdE	7	3Bd, 4Bd	40 x 20	3-4
	Superior	BdS	5	4Bd, 3Wb, 4Wb	40 x 40	5-8
	Ordinary	BdO	3	3Ax, 4Bd, 5Wb	40 x 40	5-8
Skirmishers (i.e. Psiloi)		Sk	2	2Ps	40 x 20	2
Artillery		Art	15	Art	40 x 40	1 gun + crew
Litter (i.e. WWg (I) )		Lit	3	Lit	40 x 40	1 litter + crew
Pike		Pk	3	4Pk	40 x 20	4
Spear		Sp	4	3Sp, 4Sp	40 x 20	4
War dogs (i.e. Warband)		Wb	3	3Wb	40 x 40

I also searched for photos - Will McNally's blog provided Conquistadores, Aztec & Maya:

http://willwarweb.blogspot.co.uk/

Conquistadores -  standard bases - Shooters & Blades (3), Lancers (2), War dogs (3), Artillery (1)
Aztecs - all on squared bases - Shooters & Blades (5), Skirmishers (3)
Maya - all on squared bases - Blades (4), Skirmishers (3)

The squared bases follow the ideas of Michael Fischer:

http://fanaticus.org/DBA/variants/squarebases.html

Now I need to sit down and compare the evidence before me.

Sorting Out the New World - Part 2

After a DBR troop type grid I looked at DBA & HOTT:

	DBA
Depth	Troop Type	No. per base
80	Artillery	1
30	Auxilia	3 to 4
30	Blades (3 Bd)	3
20	Blades (4 Bd)	4
60	Blades (6 Bd)	6
30	Bows	3 to 4
60	Bows (6 Bw)	6
40	Camelry (3 Cm)	3
30	Camp Followers	2 to 4
40	Cavalry (3 Cv)	3
80	Cavalry (6 Cv)	6
80	Cavalry (Lch)	1
80	Elephants	1
40	Hordes (7 Hd)	7 to 8
40	Knights (3 Kn)	3 to 4
80	Knights (6 Kn)	6
80	Knights (Hch)	1
40	Light Horse (2 Cm)	2
40	Light Horse (2 Lh)	2
20	Pikes (4 Pk)	4
30	Psiloi (2 Ps)	2
80	Scythed Chariots	1
30	Spears (3 Sp)	3
20	Spears (4 Sp)	4
20	Warband (3 Wb)	3
30	Warband (4 Wb)	4
40	Warband (5 Wb)	5 to 6
120	War Wagons (Lit)	5 to 6
120	War Wagons (Wwg)	1

	HOTT
Depth	Troop Type	No. per base
80	Airboat	1
80	Artillery	1
80	Beasts	2 to 4
80	Behemoth	1 to 4
20	Blades	4
40	Clerics	1 to 3
80	Dragon	1
40	Flyers	1 to 3
40	Hero	1 to 3
60	Hordes	5 to 8
60	God	1
40	Knights	2 to 4
40	Lurkers	1 to 3
80	Magicians	1 to 3
40	Paladin	1 to 3
40	Riders	2 to 3
30	Shooters	4
30	Sneakers	1 to 3
20	Spears	4
30	Warband	3

To be continued .......

Sorting Out the 'New World'.

Looking at my stash of Spanish Renaissance figures I managed to put together a DBA-RRR 1.41 Spanish Colonial army (12 elements).  Painting commenced - then I thought about the 'DBA in the New World' rules set.  Would it be possible to combine the two?

My first step was to look at troop basing.  The listing in the DBR (v1.1) book is in an interesting order so I worked out a grid that I prefered.

  DBR – 25mm scale        Frontage – 60mm
       

Depth	Troop Type	No. per base
60	Artillery (I), (F) or (X)	1 to 2
60	Artillery (S) or (O)	1
60	Baggage
30	Blades (S), (O), (F) or (I)	3
20	Blades (not F) – alternative	3
120	Boats (S) or (F)	1
120	Boats (O) or (I)	2 to 4
30	Bows (S) or (O)	3
30	Bows (I)	3
40	Camelry (S) or (O)	2
40	Camelry (F)	1
60	Dragoons	3
80	Elephants	1
120	Galleys	1
40	Hordes	5 to 8
40	Lancers	2
40	Light Horse	1
30	Pikes	4
20	Pikes (alternative)	4
40	Pistols (S),(O) or (I)	3
40	Pistols (F)	2
120	Pontoneers
120	Ships	1
30	Shot	3
40	Sipahis	2
30	Skirmishers	1
30	Warband	3
20	Warband (S) – alternative	3
120	War Wagons	1

Next was to look at the DNW troop definitions:

Artillery
Blades
Camp Followers / BUA  Denizens
Cavalry
Elephants
Lancers                                       "Knights are simply renamed as Lancers"
Light Horse
Litter
Pikes
Shooters                                    "Treat Shooters as DBA Bows"
Skirmishers
Spears
War dogs                                   "Warband has only been retained for War Dogs"

European troops - Bd(E) or Sh(E) - 3 or 4 per base [author prefers 3]
Natives - if DBx (3 or 4), author prefers 5 to 8 (as Horde), alternative - 2 x DBx (6 to 8)


To be continued .....