DBA Clustering - the 'Germans'

 

                                                             GC9 Goth EHC Command

Unable to photograph my new recruits as Storm Babet requires house lights to be on.  Maybe at sometime in the future?

One of the main reasons that Ian and I have accumulated so many DBA armies over the past few years is the phenomenum I shall call 'clustering'.  My first German army was the 2.47e Marcomanni - so a solid base of 4Wb plus Cv.

Even more Wb were sitting on my painting tray so expanding into the rest of 2.47 seemed possible (even likely).  Given that 6 elements of the Wb are actually Visigoths I looked at possible morphs.  

For the later armies I needed Knights rather than Cv. So I put in an order with Alternative Armies (ex-TTG figures).

So that was that huh!  Well....not quite.  I realised that my top-up order wasn't very big so the p&p would be a disproportinate element [another slippery slope].  Then I thought about a Hun army.

List 2.80 (a-d): my stocks can provide the Lh (from my Tatars/Tartars) and the 4Bw. Somehow I added in a Hun command element and an artillery piece to my order. (I severely lack non-Chinese artillery).

Nevertheless I can now field the following (later) DBA forces:

2.65a - Gothic Army at Adrianople 378
2.65b - Tervingi or Early Visigothic 200-407
2.65c - Alaric & successors 408-419
2.66 -  Early Vandal
2.67a - Radagaisus 401-406
2.67b - Other Steppe armies
2.70a - Burgundi 250-534
2.70b - Limigantes 334-359
2.71  - Gepid
2.72a - Quadi 250-406
2.72b - Alamanni 250-506
2.72c - Suevi 250-584
2.72d - Other Early Framkish, Rugian or Turcillingi
2.80a - Attila 433-453
2.80b - Sabir Hunnic 515-558
2.80c - Chionite or Hepthalite Hunnic in Bactria & India [can find a suitable 'eastern' Kn but not the El]
2.80d - Other Hunnic 374-558

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DBA @ Gt.Houghton - Sat 14th October 2023

(a) 2.65c Alaric          v 2.81c British                 4:2 win
(b) 2.80b Sabir Hunnic    v 2.83b Later Visigothic        4:3 win
(c) 2.47e Marcomanni      v 2.64a Western Roman           0:5 loss
(d) 1.24b Later Hittite   v 1.22a New Kingdom Egyptian    4:6 loss*

* using my 20mm plastics v 25mm metals.  A crazy game with a whole picnic of sandwiches.
  On 3:3 for ages then a sudden and spectacular failure on my part.

Chariots - Progress Report 1

 

The 4h, 2c Roman chariot found in the Airfix box has the smallest wheels of any set.  My usual method is to substitute 25mm Egyptian wheels courtesy of Irregular Miniatures but when I did so it didn't look right.  I scouted around in my spares box and found the Atlantic Egyptian chariot wheels that I removed when making that particular army.  This time it looked OK.

So with the chariots painted I had to find some crew.  That was not as straightforward as it should have been.  The infantry had to be shifted around - some re-based as closer or looser order; some moved to grant greater uniformity and yet more decisions to be made.  After doing that I had a rump of figures that included far too many archers.  Luckily my research suggested that the closely allied Syrian chariots may have had bowmen.  Given that I also needed to differentiate between 2c (Lch) & 3c (Hch) I made the 3 crew non-archers.

Once photographed I realised that 'Honest Al' had sold one vehicle with a very dodgy axle (must repair and/or replace) plus the chariot bases are far too thin and need MDF support.  Oh well!  Have to wait for my warbases order to do that.

Next on my list - Early Libyans. The pair of 2h chariots can be made in the same fashion as for the Hittites.  The 4h are a different matter entirely.  Above is the (cropped) PSR pic of the ridiculously Hollywood 'Roman' chariot from Atlantic.  This will need some work.

 

Honest Al's Chariot Emporium (Pt.1)

 

"What can I do for you squire?", asked Honest Al
"I am in need of some replacement chariots.", replied Raschid
"I offer the best prices in all the city."quoth Al,"but there is a small problem when supplying to our neighbours".  
"There is a supplement?", enquired Raschid, already knowing the answer.
"Well...we are not supposed to sell to non-residents", stated Al, "It's the inspectors you see. The odd one can escape their attention but...".  
"And I want more like six", sighed Raschid.
Al just rubbed his hands.

I have plenty of pieces lying about in my 20mm spares box and a need to give most of my 'biblical' armies a mounted arm.  The supply of chariots is pretty limited if you consult the PSR site (when it's active of course.

(a)  Dedicated
     (expensive - 2 to a box on average)

     Caesar (CAEH011) - Assyrian 4h
     Caesar (CAEH012) - Hittite 2h
     Caesar (CAEH015) - Mitanni 2h
     Caesar (CAEH021) - Mycenaean 2h
     Caesar (CAEH024) - Egyptian 2h
     Caesar (CAEH042) - Egyptian Pharoah 2h
     HaT    (HAT8124) - Assyrian 4h
     HaT    (HAT8130) - Sumerian 4h
     

(b)  Incidental  (normally only 1 to a box)

     Airfix   (AIR01734) - Ancient British
     Airfix   (AIR01730) - Roman 2h
     Atlantic (ATL1503)  - Egyptian
     Atlantic (ATL15120) - Greek 4h
     Atlantic (ATL1516)  - Roman 4h
     Zvezda   (ZVE8008)  - Persian 4h

My Egyptian and Trojan armies already have a full mounted army - all converted from Atlantic figures.

No other army could be put into use without raising a new chariot squad. So I have Hittites, Early Libyans, etc languishing in their storage boxes.

I found 8 x Hittite (painted) foot elements plus a lot of loose (unpainted) ones.  This seemed like a good starting point so I checked the DBA army lists.   To do all options would mean 29 elements but I could exclude the 1 x 3h, 3c chariot (as I cannot find any information on it).

Coming Soon - Pt.2 Convertion of 6 x 2h chariots