It's Been A Long Time

 ...getting from there to here!

Finally managed to extract a couple of boxes from my loft (thanks to someone else climbing the ladder).

 

The first ones out of the gates are the 'Gauls'.  As far as I'm concerned this means fast warband rather than solid - like the Germans (whose box I cannot find).

So the relevant DBA army lists are:

1.14 a-c    Early Northern Barbarians
2.11          Gallic
2.53          Ancient British


The first list has 9 x 4Bw so I'm swerving that one.  

The other lists give a more standard mix of Wb(F) plus LCh. The Gallics can substitute Cv for Lh and solid Wb for fast.  

I am puzzled by one aspect of the 1.14b army that allows for 2 x 4Bd. Cannot find any reference to such figures. The blurb says some nobles wore bronze armour but of what sort there is no indication.  

Nevertheless I will be transporting this box to Gt. Houghton tomorrow  all things being equal.  Might take another small box or two.

Next on my list is a huge mess of two tins labelled 'Indians' and 'Elephants Plus' but more on that next posting.

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For those who wonder where I have been - I have been wearing a path to various local medical facilities. Had a bad reaction to my Covid jab.  It's not good getting old.  

No DBA gaming to report on but I did manage to visit the club on Monday night and watched a DBMM game. 

A few figures have received a lick of paint as well- mainly Russian Napoleonics and some additional Isles & Highlanders.

Hopefully my health will improve so that normal service can resume asap.

 

 

 

Scots Wha Hae

 

 These are Gripping Beast 25mm SCOTS07 - 

My camera is playing up again now that Fuji have decided to cease supporting FinePix.  I can see my pictures on the viewer but they stubbornly refuse to import.  Will have to buy an external card reader.

 I wouldn't normally consider building 3.78 Scots Isles & Highlanders as I already have Vikings.  Another DBA army with an excess of 4Bd was, therefore, not on the cards.  So how come I have 18 elements waiting to be flocked and photographed?  

It's a question of accumulation.  Ian gave me a load of suitable axemen, Ben supplied some 'Viking' types and my own spares box ran to a few more elements.  What I didn't have I purchased from QRF - Bw & Pk (it took 23 days but at least they are still functioning).

Now I'm thinking about a double DBA army.  For that I need an additional 3 x 4Bd; 2 x 3Bw & 1 x 3Ax (Irish).  The WotR box can supply the last element.  What I am short of is 40mm x 15mm mdf bases (incidentally I highly recommend sandpapering the mdf to improve adhesion).

It is not necessary to differentiate between the 2 commands in DDBA but I'm going to do it anyway.  The painted soldiers are on wider (20mm) bases whereas the new ones will be shallower.  Doubt that it will make any practical difference but time, and experimentation, will tell.

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No wargames for me recently as I have been quite unwell - balance failures.  Discovered that part of the problem was using Cymex (for a cold sore).  Seems that when you are over 65 the medicine is not recommended (contra-indications include dizzyness).  Who would have thought?

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On the painting tray:  (a)  Napoleonic Russian horse and artillery
                                   (b)  Anglo-Saxons
                                   (c)  Oddments - 4 x Italian Xb, 8 x generic medieval Sp,  6 x Celtiberian Bd(F) &                                                             10 x Elvish HotT elements.                    

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Stray Thoughts & Scattered Dreams

 

 Atlas of the Battles of the American Revolution 1775-83 by Bonk & Anderson

 This solid tome was recently on special offer at £20 from Helion.  At that price I could not resist.  Looks like a well crafted book with plenty of maps.

Thought it might be time to get all those 20mm Americans & Brits out of loft!  Then reality stepped in and reminded me of the current ban on climbing chairs & ladders.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) until my balance improves those Airfix armies can slumber on.  

Also occurred to me that I may have some British up there as well!  15mm figures purchased decades ago from a shop in Doncaster.  Of course the model shop no longer exists (now an 'adult' premises).  

Sadly yet another wargames establishment has shut down - Janco Toys at Worsborough.  The owner needs to devote his time to looking after his sick partner.

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Something Dropped Into My Lap

I had run out of ideas for blog posts.  Inspiration was sleeping late (or later than me anyway). Maybe a look through some old box files would help!  Of course the lid of one gave way and spilled its contents all over the place.

Amongst the papers were a few things that had been 'put away for later' ...and later never came.  3 items needed further investigation:

1)  "Suggestions for HotT Naval Elements" [author unknown].  Only 2 pages - eminently sensible and easy to incorporate into HotT.

2)  D3H2 v2.0.  There were obviously pages missing - no idea where the disc is.  I contacted Thomas J Thomas (one of the authors) who kindly sent me a copy of the latest version (2.1).  This will probably be the last pro tem as he is helping to develop DBA Fantasy.  Have played D3H2 a few times in the past and found them OK.

3)  Hott With A Difference by G.Branco.  Posted to 'theminiaturespage' a few years ago (email address is no longer valid).

An attempt to add some colour/individuality to 'vanilla' HotT.  New army lists have restrictions and troop abilities.  Of course only play-testing will tell.
Now, if my camera & computer will talk to each other I could set up a trial game.......Hmm!

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On the Paint Tray:

Nap Russians - 15mm cavalry & artillery
Ancients - 15mm Anglo-Saxons - slow going and dull,
Fantasy - 20mm Elves - need some extras (about 6 points short) - time to research Elven mythology.

 

 

New Purchases - Pt.2 Light Box

 

 

Emart Foldable LED Light Box - taken using natural light (very sunny).

A pure indulgence.  The assembly instructions were/are not super clear.  After studying the diagrams I made my first attempt.  Two more tries later I got it right (or close enough).  There's still one piece of net that I don't know what to do with.

For the first set of pictures taken with this box see the previous posts (Bedouin & Sea Peoples).  The backdrop colour selected was of a sandy hue (to match the figures) but it turned out pink.  Maybe I had the wrong light setting (3 available). Pleased with how much shadow elimination there is.  Obviously more practice is required. 

For the pic above I used 100% light and a red background.  Have to admit it makes the figures look like something out of a video game.  

     Huns - 1 x Cv(g); 2 x 2Lh; 2 x 4Bw  [When I find my 'Germans' they can share a box/tin]
     Knights - 1 x Serbian (white - for Ottoman army); 1 x Welsh (mixed - manufacturer unknown);          1 x Mixed (for general use)
     Artillery - general piece (stone-thrower)

It was only when I tried to import the pics that I ran into trouble.  Support for 'MyFinePix' has been withdrawn.  Shotwell was not happy on my system either but the 'native' Windows program worked (sort of). Cleared all traces of Shotwell and MyFinePix.  Re-installed Shotwell.  Worked well enough to get the last photo.  What a pallava!

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On order (Essex) - 12 Medieval Polish Knights (for 4.66 Later Polish); 8 Italian Xb (for Golden Horde);
                   8 Generic DA/Early Med Spearmen (always seem to be short of these).
         (Helion) - book on AWI battles.

Still on the painting tray: Russian Napoleonics & Anglo-Saxons.

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DBA @ Gt.Houghton - Saturday 3rd August 2024

1.11a  Akkadian             v 1.10 Melukhkhan    8:3 win   Double DBA - I steamrollered my Pike forward.
1.25b  Early Neo-Assyrian   v 1.23b  Later Vedic Indian   4:1 win   Collision Course - Ian struggled to get his troops on the board.
1.9  Early Syrian           v 1.1b Early Sumerian   6:0 win     standard DBA - this was 'hairy' to start with but then the terrain effects took over.

The last time we played I was wiped out - loosing all 4 battles.  Just goes to show what a game of skill DBA is!

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Still frustrated by the appalling formatting on this blog.  Cannot cleanly exit from the program either.  Seems that I need to look for another host!

New Purchases & Other Miscellany - Pt.1

 

 (A) Purelite LED Desk Magnifying Lamp

This first purchase was a necessity.  My previous, Anglepoise, lamp had served me well for over a decade but the main plastic housing was gradually melting.  The heat shield was inadequate and I felt that a fire was inevitable.  In addition the peg from the main arm was too long for the anchoring base so it scratched my table top.  A replacement was well overdue.

The Purelite has 4 settings providing 10%, 30%, 60% & 100% illumination.  Haven't seriously tried it out yet but it seems robust enough.  Only time will tell.

 (B) Minifigs Z340 - Polish/Russian infantry.  Settings - Full light on light box (see Pt.2) with green background.  Much clearer than last time.

The originals (in various states) were posted on 16.5.22 - halfway down.

This means that I can now field 3.63a and 3.63b Early Polish DBA armies in 15mm.  Later Polish (4.66) requires 4 x 3Kn to complete (have to order some figures).

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On the Paint Tray:

1)  Huns - Cv gen, 2 x Lh, 2 x 4Bw

2)  Celtibereans - kindly given 24 soldiers in a raw state.  After cleaning up I realised that only 7 had swords plus 1 that could become  a Celt.  The other 16 javelin-armed infantry can be returned.

3) Russians (Nap) -  starting on the horsemen.

4) Artillery piece - thought this was for the Hun army but DBA 2.80 says not.  Never mind it is a pretty generic stone thrower so it can be co-opted when and where required.

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This posting is 2 days late - my camera had been playing me up.  Could find the relevant pictures on the camera memory but importation was impossible.  The battery warning light was on so I high-tailed it to the nearest Argos (Pontefract).  Once charged I tried again to import the pics - nope!  Much fiddling around later I succeeded.  The morale of this story is do not let your batteries get low on your digital camera.

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Next time:  more experiments with the Light Box.

Honest Al's Chariot Emporium - Pt.3 (Sea Peoples)

 

 

Al: My friend Ishmael, "What troubles you?"
Ish: "Those fanatics who tried to kill our glorious leader.  They broke open a nest of scorpions.  The palace guards and tax collectors are everywhere."
Al: "In these trying times caution must be our watchword.  I trust that none of your current enterprises could bring suspicion upon honest merchants such as ourselves."
Ish: "As it happens I was recently obliged to pass on a new contract to a rival trader, in another town."
Al: "And should this commerce ever come to light!"

Pictures taken at the same time as the Bedouins - so background is still pink.  Must make notes on settings in future.
 
A number of conversions here including Airfix Robin Hood into Ps bow.  The 4h chariot should be 3h but nobody makes them in 20mm.  Maybe I will try to scratch-build one sometime in the future!

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DBA - Gt.Houghton - Saturday 6th July 2024

1.58  Meroitic Kushite     v 1.53 Saitic Egyptian        4:3 win - a tough army to start with
4.47  Golden Horde          v 2.58 Alan                        5:0 win - my 2 x Bw did sterling service
4.53  Zapotec                    v 4.63 Aztec                      4:1 loss - once the enemy Bd got into                                                                                            Bw & Ax  I was doomed
1.29b Later Philistine        v 1.22b New Kingdom Egyptian      4:3 loss - first outing for a newly                                                                                                                                  completed (20mm) army
4.29  Tupi                           v 4.29 Tupi                       5:0 loss - a bad set-up on my part
1.46b Kushite Egyptian   v 1.6a Early Bedouin          4:3 win - a weak opponent with too many Ax

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On the paint tray

a) 15mm Russian Napoleonics (for DBN)
b) 15mm Huns - Cv(g), 2 x Lh & 1 x Art
c) 15mm Polish/Russian 5 x solid foot
d) 15mm Gauls - mostly fast foot
e) 15mm Scots Isles & Highlands - my order for Bw, etc has been lost in the ether
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Next blog entry - 20mm Kushites

Honest Al's Chariot Emporium - Pt 2 (Bedouins)

 

 

"Honest Al my friend. What can I do for you?"
"Feisal my compatriot and fellow trader I have a small problem to deal with."
"Always happy to help...at the right price of course."
"A regular customer has ordered yet another chariot...that I can easily supply...but he also wants some camels!"
"Most unusual...and how many are we talking about?"
"Around 20.  Including 2 fast ones."
"Not really my speciality but I may know someone."
"Of course there would be a commission!"
"Such is commerce my friend,  such is commerce."

I had been sorting through my 20mm 'Biblicals' and found a box marked 'Bedouins/Hebrews'.. There were precious few of the latter as most had gone to make 7Hd elements.  So was I going to pick them apart, re-paint and re-base?  Not likely!  The army lists are pretty poor so they are safe where they are.

The Bedouins are another matter.  Only 1 x Lch 2h, 2c required (I'm 'in the groove' with these at the moment).  The infantry I can manage although there is little variety in the available figures.  So what's the stumbling block?  In order to complete the Midianite/Amalekite list I need 17 camels.  

Consulting PSR I came up with:

Caesar   H023     - Bedouin  (2)
Italieri ITA 6010 - Saracens (5 in 2 poses)
Italieri ITA 6124 - Mongol cavalry (3)
Italieri ITA 6126 - Arab Warriors (3)
Linear-A 036      - Persians at Cunaxa (2)

Clearly the best options are from Italieri but these are hard to source.  The Linear-A models are full of character but are only 2 per box.

Riders:
Caesar H023  - Bedouin  (4 - bow armed)
Zvezda 8031  - Carthaginian Numidian Cavalry (7 - jav no sh)

So, after much work, here are my 20mm Bedouins - all 23 elements.

If you are wondering about the pink backgrounds - well that's another story.  Stay tuned!

Next blog entry - Sea Peoples.