Time to get back on the horse....

 

You know how it is! As a wargaming butterfly I have so many projects on the go all at the same time.  Seems like I need to take stock of the many half-finished jobs (or at least some of them).

Turkomans - I still need to identify many of the 'strays' - take pics - post on Fanaticus and DBA Facebook group.

Americans - sort out the last of them - decide which armies are going to be ignored - Toltec for a start (11 x 4Bd & 1 x Ps).  Paint up the 'additions'.  Dispose of the remainder.

Indians (Asian sub-continent) - haven't really looked at these yet.  Another victim of DBMM army list changes.  Maybe park it for a while (or indefinitely)!

Russians - still on my paint table.  Get on with painting them - check on the shortages - purchase extras where necessary.

HotT - opponent for my 15mm Garden Gnomes.  Put some more paint on the 20mm figures.

Of course I should rationalise all my stocks.  Sell off anything I haven't used for a while.  Throw out all those 'parked' projects (e.g. WW1 East Africa).  Then again I am a wargaming butterfly.
 
Just seen a 3D printed ziggurat on Tony Aguilar's channel...Oh! Pretty!  Pretty!

-------------------------------------------------

DBA v3.0 - Gt.Houghton - Sat 19th June 2021

1)  2.20a Ptolemaic v 1.56a Early Kyrenaean Greek        4:2 loss
2)  2.60  Caledonian v 2.53  Ancient British                    4:1 win
3)  2.48  Mithridatic v 2.37  Parthian                                6:3 loss           

I was 3:2 up at one stage
 

4)  2.64a  Western Roman v 2.65b Tervingi                     4: 0 loss          

My troops were useless - movement was erratic - very poor shooting and fighting dice.  Clearly they hadn't wanted to turn up at all.

A reversal of last week's results

----------------------------------------------------

DBM - Wrenthorpe - Mon 21st June 2021 - COLD

2.32  Later Carthaginians v 2.20 Ptolemaic        Draw        

Loss of all expendables (elephants) but we were starting to turn Al's flank.

We 'pulled stumps' when Chris left.  Not getting a conclusive result is probably my biggest gripe with DBM.

DBx - Bits & Pieces

 

 

(a)  Just a few oddments leaving the painting table:

Left & Centre: Polynesian & Melanesian - 3 x (3Ax/3Wb/3Bd) & 1 x 7Hd.   

Right: Incas - 2 x 5Hd (hopefully these will fare better than my Pk(F)) - originally Naismith Aztecs.

(b)  Stuck in the queue:

Aztecs - all figures need their shields done
Tarascans - slow re-paint job
Russians - a bit of colour on them

Spanish - 1 element - mixed arquebusiers & crossbowmen (to replace the 4 x arq)
              - 1 element - Conquistador knights (to replace the mainland Sp general).
              - 2 elements - Ginetes/Jinetes (Minifigs)
So after all the transfers have taken place I will have 1/3 of a Spanish army (Conquistador period) available.

Mound Builder American - bare metal
Hawai'ian pikes - bare metal

French crossbow - 23 figures part-painted - seem to be dark ages rather than medieval


DBA v3.0 @ Gt Houghton (Sat 12th) - 4 games:

1.6b  Midianite 1500-312 bc v 1.27  Early Hebrew                                  4:3 loss
         I didn't get the terrain - camels are not much use in woods
1.17b  Later Hyksos 1590-1537 bc v 1.7a Early Libyan 3000-1251 bc    4:3 win
1.25a  Middle Assyrian v 1.34a  Later Hebrew                                         4:3 win
1.29b  Later Philistine 1099-600 bc v 1.45  Neo-Assyrian Imperial         4:3 win
           How I scraped a win on this one I will never know.

Every game a 4:3 result - don't think that has ever happened before!
 

DBM @ Wrenthorpe (Mon 14th)

North Welsh v English
Two enemy commands broken for no loss - decisive victory.

Whilst waiting for the host to finish his dinner a couple of new residents came to the garden gate and asked which of us was the owner.  In almost total unison we said "none of us".  Just shows how long we have been wargaming together.

 

Breaking Up The Aztecs - Pt.3

 After painting up the 'Spanish & Tlaxcalan' DBA army I researched other possible morphs:

    4.19a - Tarascan or Toltec-Chicimec - additions required:  20 Bw; 6 shield-bearers
    That's a lot of bow but I have them part-painted.
    Plenty of info - shields and uniforms.

    4.53 - Mixtec, Zapotec or West Mexican - additions required:
    1 x Ax(g); 9 x Ax (suit wearers); 6 x Ax; 6 x sling
    Again I have these in stock
    Less info but still adequate.

   4.71 - Coastal Peruvian - no additions required
    A nice bonus army
Very little available information on the Tallanes - this will have to be the subject of a future 'In Search Of' posting.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even after all this work there will still be a 'rump' to be disposed of.  I did consider using the 'Irregular Warfare' rules for my 15mm but I already have plenty of figures in 20mm for that.  Clearly I need to find someone who is familiar with Ebay!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DBA games - Sat 5th June 2021 (Gt. Houghton)

1)       4.19c Spanish & Tlaxcalan v 4.63 Aztec                                    4:0 win
          A good result for their first outing - the Kn did nothing but observe
 

2)      4.37a Malay v 3.23a    Khmer                                                     4:1 loss

3)      4.40 Siamese v 3.9b  Burmese                                                    4:3 win
 

4)      4.81 Inca Imperial v 4.63  Aztec                                                4:2 loss
         Another Inca failure - on paper it should be a good(ish) army.
         I am now painting up 2 x 5Hd to replace the 2 x 3Pk.

5)      2.1  Republican Indian v 2.15  Alexandrian Imperial                4:3 win
         I thought the game was over when I had lost 3 elements (to 1 kill).  
         The dice gods decided otherwise.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources:

(1)  "Armies of the Sixteenth Century - 2"  Aztecs & Incas
    Foundry Books 1998 - Ian Heath

(2)  FoG - Blood & Gold - the Americas at War - ISBN 978-1-84603-691-0

(3)  FoG - Cities of Gold - Africa and the Americas - ISBN 978-1-84908-235-8

(4)  DBA v3.0 (2014) - by Phil Barker & Sue Laflin-Barker

(5)  DBMM Army Lists (Revised Edition - 2016) - books 3 & 4 - by Phil Barker

(6)  DBR Army Lists (1995) - book 1 - by Phil Barker

(7)  Stevens Balagan (website) - multiple articles on uniforms and compositions of 'American' armies e.g.     https://balagan.info/painting-guide-for-an-aztec-army

(8)  Weapons & Warfare - another website with multiple articles e.g.
     https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2019/04/23/aztecs/

(9)  Meshwesh - army lists for 'Triumph' ancient rules e.g.
     http://meshwesh.wgcwar.com/thematicCategory/5fb1b720e1af060017701946/explore

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

More Americans

 

 

Looking through the blue box I discovered a hotch-potch of figures - old Minifigs, Gladiator and...I don't know what else.  So what to extract from this mess?  Turns out that the Tlaxcalans wore similar outfits to the Aztecs with the exception that there were fewer 'suit-wearers'.  The 'common man' also had a plain shield.  Sounded good to me!  Unfortunately, DBA list 4.19c is for a Spanish & Tlaxcalan army.  Nil Desperandum - dig out those Conquistadores that I bought at Phalanx years ago.  The bases need flocking but otherwise that's another DBA force marked off the spreadsheet.

There were some Naismith Incas in the box but not enough.  I ordered the missing troops from Lurkio.  With the new recruits I could put together list 4. 81 Inca Imperial.  Easy enough to paint if you simplify the designs on the uncu and shields.  Two down and many more to go.   

En passant I finished an element of armoured snails for my HotT Garden Gnome army.  Normally I field these as knights but I suppose behemoths would be just as appropriate!  Now if only I could find an opponent for them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what's left?  The yellow box contains my WRG 6th Ed Aztec army - all figures are Tin Soldier.  These do not mix well with others (the eagle-eyed could spot a psiloi element amongst the Tlaxcalans).  They have suffered from years of handling and so needed more work than I, at first, thought. Brushes were engaged but work stalled when I realised just how many shield patterns and suit-wearers there were to do.

The non-TS 'rump' has some very simple, but small' (probably Naismith) warriors with spears or blades plus an assortment of 'chiefs' (many manufacturers). Cannot see what I am going to make of them!  What to do with the bulk of the TS Aztecs as well!

Falling Off the Straight and Narrow

 

 

It seems that wargaming is slowly re-starting.  Members of our club (Wakefield & District) have commenced Garden Games followed by Home Hosting.  Later on the church hall may become available. So, real, social interactivity in the future - maybe!  Seems that the Staines club has managed it.

Recent emails with Chris have got me thinking about Post-Lockdown Wargaming and how it might change the status quo.  For me the usual fare of regular DBM games has lost its appeal.  During lockdown DBA v3.0 has been the mainstay of my diet - with some variations: DBN, DBA-HX, DB3H2, DBA-RRR, DBC & HotT.  I have also played Pre-Dreadnought naval (what next?).  

[You will notice that "DB stutter" (as Bob called it) does not feature in the above list.  This is mainly because, for me, it shares too many mechanisms with DBR.]

The 'pastures new' that I am looking at are:

(1)  Spaceships/Starships/Sci-Fi - 'Full Thrust' looks like a good system (plus our own 'home grown rules').  For ground actions maybe the emerging, and free, WTF rules. Also considering adapting 'Wings of War'.

(2)  Pre-Dreadnought naval - tried 'Damn Battleships Again' but was not enamoured.  Need a fairly simple, fast action, set of rules.  Any recommendations?

(3)  Renaissance - have played DBA-RRR for some time now and have over 20 armies available.  Watched another rules set being played at the club (Baroque - I think!) and that seemed to flow OK.

(4)  Rebel & Patriot - plus other sets from the 'Lion Rampant stable'.  Unfortunately LR does seem to get a bit bogged down so, maybe, swerve that one.

How many of us have thought about what we used to do pre-Covid?  Anybody considering going off in a different direction?  Will we be able to persuade others to join in?

I'm somewhat concerned about the prevailing ethos at club level.  Having been a member of well over a dozen clubs since 1975 I have noted certain traits, trends and retrenchments.  

(a)  Fracturing of established rule sets.  At one time there were dominant rules e.g WRG 'Ancients.  Now they are multiple and competing.

(b)  Isolationism - increasingly small islands of players dedicated to one particular set to the exclusion of all others.  Difficult to get into these Brobdignavian enclaves.

(c)  In all my years as a wargamer I have met fewer than 10 female wargamers. They are, however, present at FRP clubs. Is this cultural stereotyping?  Noticed more and more females at conventions but they are usually either accompanying their partners or helping out on demo games.  Maybe we need to ask them why they don't join in!

Anyway...I'm looking forward to re-starting face-to-face gaming again.  Roll on the lifting of restrictions so that we can all recover from this extended 'Annus Horribilis'.

No Wheels & Horses Please…..We're Americans

 The inhabitants of the Americas discovered the wheel outside of the ‘Ancients’ period. It’s a similar story regarding horses.

 Lurkio - Chinantec command

On Saturday I used my, newly painted, Incas against Ian’s Aztecs and got slaughtered. I muttered under my breath that the victorious forces were once mine. When I got home I started looking through my Meso-American boxes again and wondering where I could purchase figures to make up some more armies (It’s the masochist in me).

My researches turned up some manufactures of 15mm figures suitable for DBA armies of North, Central & South America:

Tribe / Nation	DBA	Manufacturers	Notes
Amazonian	4.72	Eureka(1)
American, Eastern Forest	4.9
American, North-Western	4.11
Araucanian	4.84	Khurasan, Lurkio
Aztecs	4.63	Essex, Gladiator(a), Irregular, Tin Soldier
Canari		Lurkio
Chanca or Chinchaysuya	4.70	Irregular
Chichimecs	3.41	Khurasan
Chimor or Chimu	4.71	Irregular, Lurkio
Chinantecs	4.19	Khurasan
Cholula*	4.19		Toltec city-state
Colhuacan*	4.19		Toltec city-state
Conchoco	4.71
Cuilapan (Mixtec)	4.53
Eskimo	4.11	Mick Yarrow	NW American
Huexotingo*	4.19		Toltec city-state
Inca	4.81	Khurasan, Lurkio, Irregular
Inuit	4.11	Mick Yarrow
Iroquois	4.9	Khurasan	EF American
Mapuche	4.84	Khurasan, Lurkio
Mayan	3.22	Gladiator(a)
Mixtec	4.53	Gladiator(a)
Moche		Lurkio	Not in Meshwesh
Mound Builder	4.10	Eureka(2)
Pueblo Cultures	3.41
Tallanes	4.71
Tarascan	4.19
Tlaxcalan*	4.19	Gladiator(a)	Toltec city-state
Tlingit	4.11	Eureka(3)
Toltec	3.59
Toltec-Chichimec	4.19
Tupi	4.29	Gladiator(b), Khurasan
Zapotec	4.53	Gladiator(a)
Zuachila	4.53

---------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the links:

https://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-medieval-aztec

(1) https://www.eurekaminuk.com/collections/amazonian-indians

(2) https://www.eurekaminuk.com/collections/mound-builder-north-american-indians(3) https://www.eurekaminuk.com/collections/tlingit-north-american-indians

(a) https://fighting15s.com/product-category/gladiator-miniatures/aztecs-and-enemies/?v=79cba1185463

(b) https://fighting15s.com/product-category/gladiator-miniatures/tupi/?v=79cba1185463

http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/

https://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/historicalindex.html

http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=130

http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/images/chimu/CHBG02_gen.jpg

https://www.magistermilitum.com/fgim52-aztec-temple.html

http://www.spanglefish.com/mickyarrowminiatures/index.asp?pageid=192885

https://tinsoldieruk.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=413_186_195&zenid=d181d23f098f33a6a4224d83ed9eaea4

----------------------------------------------

Notes:

 Magister Militum has a 15mm Aztec Temple (FGIM52)

Minifigs & Naismith used to produce ranges of suitable figures but they are no longer available (trawling Ebay might help though).

Breaking Up the Ottomans - Part 3

 

Minifigs 150Xc - Sipahis of the Porte

Whilst struggling to identify my 'Ottomans' I checked "Armies of the Middle Ages, volume 2" by Ian Heath.  On page 114, item 23, the following paragraph is more than relevant:

".....virtually identical armour was worn throughout all the Iranian lands during this period, and ....could....equally well be Ilkhanids, Jalayrids, Black Sheep or White Sheep Turks or Timurids."

[Mr Barker would be proud of this one sentence paragraph.]

Whilst not giving me complete carte blanche It does provide some room for manoeuvre.  

The relevant DBA lists are:
 
4.42 - Islamic Persian
4.46 - Ilkhanid
4.67 - Jalayrid
4.75 - Timurid
4.77 - Black or White Sheep Turkomans

The Jalayrid list requires 7 x Mongol horse archers and the Ilkhanid 9. Both would be better considered as Mongol morphs.  

A compound list for 4.42 & 4.75 could be:

1 x Cv(g); 8 x Cv; 1 x Cv (Georgian nobles)
3 x Lh (Turkoman); 1 x Lh (horse archer)
1 x 4Bw (Sabadar); 2 x 3Bw (Persian or Afghan); 2 x Ps bow (Persian or Afghan)
1 x 3Ax (hillmen); 1 x 3Pk (Afghan spearmen); 1 x 7Hd
1 x El (Timurid)

Museum - Arab citizen cavalry

In my 'Arab horse' tin there were 6 cavalry figures (as pictured above) that had been given to me as possible 'chinese'.  Indeed they served as such until more suitable models were found.  At that point they were sent to pad out my Arab cavalry.  Now they will be added to my Islamic Persian DBA force.

Closer inspection of the (Ottoman) box also revealed a few more Museum Persian Cv plus 3 Georgian Cv.

So, what about the Turkomans?  Well, that's a story for the next posting.