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 .....

Renaissance Commanders

Renaissance Commanders

Russian Traditional - Ottoman Turk - Free Cossacks

After acquiring some round MDF bases at Triples I have been painting up 'assistants' to bulk out the command bases for my DBA-RRR armies.  As far as I can remember these are all Zvezda figures.

The Cossack flag-bearer is a conversion - the flag and right arm come from a mounted Cossack.

Next to come off the production line are Swedish & French Thirty Years War commanders.

A Dour Affair

A Dour Affair

This Monday's scrap was a bit of a non-event.  Ayyubid Egyptian v Late Crusader (DBM) was never going to be that stirring.

Skillful use of CvS and LhS by my subordinate bottled up 2/3 of the enemy troops.  I attacked down the right wing slaughtering Sp(I).  Unfortunately it wasn't enough to break the command - I needed 2 more elements and couldn't reach them.  Still it did mean that a block of Knights now couldn't risk a fight.

Not surprisingly a 5:5 draw.


On another note I recently ordered 3 boxes of plastics from www.modelhobbies.co.uk
                                     Caesar H028 Aztec Warriors
                                     Caesar H025 Conquistadores
                                     Mars 72041 Imperial Heavy Cavalry (Thirty Years War)

I'm now trying to work out what I can field for "DBA in the New World" or DBA-RRR..  Hopefully the Conquistadores can be added to some Revell figures to make up either a Spanish or Portuguese Colonial army.  The Aztec figures will supply native allies.

Still need some more Maya and Inca figures so its either a 60 mile round trip to Halifax or flexing the plastic.  Weighing up the cost of petrol versus postage I think I will rely on model hobbies' good service again.

 

Tamil Indian

Tamil Indian v Early Imperial Roman

Another Monday night DBM scrap - somehow the Romans found themselves in India (no compasses maybe!).  We went down 4:6 to the invaders.  They managed to break one of our small commands before time was called.  The Romans were one point off loosing two commands (half a point each - then the army break point would have been reached).

Of small note - the enemy cataphracts (Kn(X)) actually managed to catch an isolated Wb(F) and kill him.  Still an awful lot of points [(5 x 11) + (1 x 21)] to achieve very little.  Should we all be calling for a reduction in cost of this troop type?

Again my major contribution was to throw a number of ones during vital melees.  6 elements lost in one round but still the command was hanging on.

My movement dice throws have definitely improved. However this has not been enough to get me out of the 'handicap section' of our club.  Should somebody be getting too cocky, with too many wins, either Tim or myself  are allocated to them as 'assistants'.

Isn't it  good to be valued!

Back From Triples

Back from Triples

I wonder how many other bloggers have used this title today?

It was a brilliantly sunny day so I headed for the inside of a hanger deck!  Or at least that's what the venue feels like - well not as echoing perhaps.  Still there were plenty of traders but I didn't spend too much:

24 - BAB15 Hillmen (Magister Militum) - destined for my Lydian army
2 - PIG 1 Flaming Pigs & Handlers (Bauda - carried by MM) - wanted these ever since I saw them on the
     Bauda website)
2 - packs round MDF bases (Bring & Buy) - for Renaissance & Colonial generals
1 - 360 "The Thracians" 700 bc - ad 46 (Osprey) - for research purposes

Not exactly a big haul.

Talked to a few traders including a chap who used to run Asgard Miniatures in Nottingham.  He started the shop, near the canal, in the late 70s.  I must have visited it (from nearby Derby) in 82 or 83.  He was a young man then - and so was I.

Looked in on the competitions - mainly FOG but two tables were using Impetus.  They were quite keen on talking to observers and trying to recruit them.  As I really don't like FOG or DBMM (and have recently gone off Armati) I am looking for another system.

Trouble is Impetus is yet another set of rules that 'hooks' its customers with a reasonably priced base set then piles on the agony.  So far 5  "Impetus Extra" magazines have been issued - at around £17 each.  Yes they are full of useful stuff like army lists, errata and even some scenarios but also padded out with peripheral colour photographs.  I might play a few (free) 'Basic Impetus' games just to see if I like the flavour .... and wait for Impetus v2 to come out.