..And Then Two Came Along At Once (part 1)

I know ...doesn't post anything for ages then...

Painted at last - as 'generic' Carolingian medium cavalry.  These early Sarmatians have languished in my spares tin for decades.  On their first outing (as Croats would you believe) they did OK. 

The Dark Ages has never had much appeal for me - row upon row of Irr Sp(O) and, even worse, Irr Sp(I).  The thought of having to paint so much crud leaves me cold. 

Still......after having to re-base my Celts from Wb(F) to Wb(O) recently I looked again at the Book 3 army lists.   There is a need for Irr Wb(O).  I wonder if some judicious painting might provide sufficient disguises!


Round Up - for Saturday 15th September see part 2


Monday 24th September 2018 - WDW

"Sink One & Sea" - ACW Ironclads
Villers-Bretoneux 1870 (FPW) - "1871" rules
Bolt Action - WW2 Germans v Americans
DBM - Samurai v Tuaregs - mutual destruction with  both armies breaking in the same bound.


Monday 1st October 2108 - WDW

DBMM - Marian Roman v Han Chinese
Villepion 1870 (Franco-Prussian War) - "1871" rules
DBM - Carolingian v Avar.  After both sides failed to get a waterway the terrain favoured us (steep hills on the flanks).  As C-in-C I threw the opening dice - two of our commands got a one - sigh!

"Jim the Barbarian", true to form, charged forward on the Avar's left flank but came a cropper against some Ps(S).  Only 4 elements lost though.

It was the Avar centre that collapsed with some unlucky dice (and uncharacteristically good ones for me).  Half the Avar army gone by 20.30 hrs and only one element on our side (my command of course).

WWg(X)

WG41 - Indian rathamassaula
https://www.museumminiatures.co.uk/classical/indian.html?p=2

As some of you may know DBMM v2.0 army lists have made a number of alterations.  One of which is the downgrading of Chinese warwagons from O to X.  There has been some discussion on the DBA Fanaticus forum.

OK, so this means a new battlefield role - no more shooting platforms to block off a flank.  WWg(X) are hand-pushed carts - they can make contact and are not easily beaten by elephants.  Don't know quite what to do with them at the moment.

Another problem is a lack of suitable models.  I'm still searching. 

Whilst at Vapnartak I was talking to the (always helpful) proprietor of Museum Miniatures and he suggested the Indian rathamasaula as a starting point.  So where do I go from here?

. 

Two of these illustrations suggest a single, central wheel but I suspect that this is more artistic convention than reality.  They are also considerably larger (9 crew !!!).

The final two are of more conventional carts (3 crew).

 In order to get from the Indian to the Chinese I need to change the crew (more oriental looking) and the wheels (spoked).  After that it's down to scratch-building.  It's likely that the screens were paper anyway.

Weekly Roundup

 Not a lot as there was no Monday meeting.

Some Napoleon in Egypt additions from the "1866 and all that" website:

28th Regiment of Foot (British)
British in Egypt Project Kicks Off
Generals and Emigres (British)
More British in Egypt 

A New Year

Tuesday 2nd January 2018

A new edition of "Wargamers Notes" is out:

 

CONTENTS:
Basing Points to Ponder
Eureka Stockade - Part 2
Configurable Ship Models - ‘multi ship’
Simplicity and Brevity in Wargame Design – 
A Statistical Third
Quick Tips - Memories and History on eBay
Suggestions on How to Add Value to Your  Hobby Experience
Hannut May 1940 - a Rapid Fire Game
Winter War Basing

I really like this on-line magazine with it's eclectic mix of articles. Contact:  wargamersnotebook@gmail.com


WEEKLY ROUND-UP

In future I will be putting all non date-specific items here.


(a)  3 more DBA v3.0 videos from Tony Aguilar & Co:

Middle Imperial Roman East vs. Palmyran DBA 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OvM4Gja7xc&feature=youtu.be

Early Imperial Roman vs. Nabatean DBA 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbzX51jUD9U&feature=youtu.be

Tibetans vs. Umayyad DBA 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1G2SPrukvE&feature=youtu.be

(b)  "Napoleon's Overseas Army" by Rene Chartrand & Francis Back
     [Osprey 211 reprint]

I purchased this, thin, book as a supplement to my Napoleon in Egypt project (the other Osprey book has yet to arrive).  It looks promising as an introduction to other theatres of war for my languishing plastics.


(c)  Much (on-line) discussion on changes to DBMM army lists with their second additions.  Books 1 & 4 seem most affected.  Obviously WRG will not provide errata / update sheets as they want to force people to buy 4 more expensive books.  If I ever get around to purchasing them myself I will post updates to the WDW site.


(d)  Read the last two articles in Slingshot 315 - both re-fights of Arsuf.  "DBA & HotT" was ok whilst "Sword & Spear" was more interesting (in spite of me knowing nothing about these rules).  Overall I would give this issue 6/10.

Converting DBMM lists to DBM

 A friend recently requested a copy of my 'breakdown' of a DBMM army list.  He said "Why don''t you put it on your blog?"  Well....I don't think that the actual 'breakdown' would be a problem but using an example text might be!   So here goes and let's hope no lawyers are sharpening their pencils.

Stage 1:  Mark up the DBMM army list 

This is a 'fictionalised' version of the real list.  It sticks to the correct time references but deliberate mistakes have been made. No copyright infringement is intended - this page is reproduced only as an example to show my methods.  You will need a copy of DBM Army lists Book 1 to make complete sense of the 'breakdown'.

The scribbles - (a)  Mark each paragraph with a code letter (A-H in this case)
                         (b)  Delete lines that do not apply to DBM (eg brilliant generals and strategems)
                         (c)  Correct any army point values (for DBM v3.2)
                      
The highlights - (a)  Allies
                           (b)  Clauses - usually in the bottom 'blurb'


Stage 2:  Produce a spreadsheet

In this case the resultant 'breakdown' need only be temporal.

As you can see some of the conditions are repeated - hence the ticks & crosses.  So rather than 12 separate lists there are only really 8.

Other lists can be much more complicated but I thought that I would start with an easy one (this is the folk dance  method).


Stage 3:  Look at the Allies

Some may be worth having and some not. Also consider any restrictive clauses.


Step 4:  Produce Army Lists

This is not always a matter of cramming in as many possibilities as you can - some may have very little value (like C, E or G above).


A Further Aid

The Wakefield & District Wargamers website has a link on this page:

 http://wdwgamers.weebly.com/ancients--medieval.html

to help you convert DBMM to DBM - terrain and troop type equivalents.


Hope you find this entry helpful!

The Dwarves Are Back

Monday 25th January 2016

"Game of Thrones" boardgame with 5 players.
"Square Bashing" - 1915 - French v Germans

DBMM - Han Chinese v Later Achaemenid Persians - Tim struggled to get his Persian flank march to arrive but when it finally did the day was his (but only a 'marginal' victory to celebrate).

DBM - the 'usual suspects' fighting Chinese Northern Dynasties v Later Carthaginian.  Andy and Chris faced each other on our left flank with Chris carrying out some quite impessive manoeuvring.  On the right my Lh(S) fell upon Al's outnumbered cavalry and psiloi.  In the centre my Kn(F) came out to face Al's Ax and Sp.  I lost my centre general but carried the field breaking the enemy.  A 6:4 win to us.  Another hard battle!

Thursday 28th January 2016

Still no decent light - grey and miserable - for a marginally SAD person this is not good.  Anyway.....I did what I could to photograph the Dwarves (see previous post for box).

The thicker background lines are 10mm, 20mm & 30mm in height.  Each set has 4 of these figures.

Again 4 of each of these per box.