Mark's Legends and Legions

Woodrow's Rowdies - Blood Bowl Debut

2012-02-11T22:48:00.001-07:00

Today, I went over to Red Claw Gaming and spent the afternoon with some guys from the Blood Bowl league. They meet on the second Saturday of each month from about 1pm - 5pm, and I've been wanting to give this game a try for years. So, I showed up just after 1pm with my own painted minis and some advance warning. The guys gave me a very warm welcome and Damian bought me a drink. Sean and Dan were finishing up their last tournament, so Damian dedicated the afternoon to teaching me how to play. He was a great game host and walked me through each sequence. He chose a Halfling team for himself, so that I could stand half a chance with my Humans and I gave the game a trial run. It was a great deal of fun and I actually scored my first touchdown, after doing a short pass and running my guy up the middle. Damian graciously ended the game with me winning. After that, Sean and Damian walked me through the process of building a team for the next tournament, explaining skill sets, costs and tactics. The afternoon flew and I'm looking forward to our next game.

I like the game for a few reasons: it allows one to collect different teams, each with unique abilities and without too much cost, they have the ability to improve and gain skills, and the teams are easy to paint. As well, the game requires very little to play and there is a cache of players available. In many respects, it reminds me of some the reasons why I like DBA, but it is a totally different game.

Here are a few shots of Woodrow's Rowdies. Damian used proxies for his Halfling team and some of these proxies were pretty cool models, as seen below.

Arab Conquest vs. Early Imperial Romans - DBA Battle Report

2012-01-29T22:25:00.003-07:00

Tonight, I was determined that I was going to wreck Dave's perfect DBA record for 2012. He has not lost one game this year, and his new Early Imperial Romans are part of that winning streak, having never lost a battle.

In preparation for this, I tried to pick an army that would have a decent chance against the Romans. I finally chose the Arab Conquest army because it has 5 Cavalry, 4 Warband, 2 Bow, and 1 Light Horse, thinking, I can handle good going or bad going terrain at least as good as the Romans. I have about equal odds, but with more mobility. It should be close but I can pull it off.

We had two games this evening. End result: Dave's winning streak continues. A pox on the Romans.

Game 1: II/56 Early Imperial Romans over III/25 Arab Conquest (option b): 4-3

The first game was close. In the beginning I was winning 3-0 and I had his Cavalry pinned against the board edge being attacked by a Light Horse and Cavalry. It looked like curtains. I could feel the excitement welling up in me, or maybe it was the sugar from the sweets, but I had to tell myself, "Mark, calm down. Anything can happen." And it did. Dave Barkered my Light Horse and with a legion of Blades. It was Cavalry vs. Cavalry and I was still winning 3-0. All I needed was to beat him on the die roll. He had no recoil room. This is it, I thought. I rolled. He not only won, but he eliminated me. My heart sank, as I looked around the battlefield and realized that this was going to be the turning point. Now, my Light Horse was stuck between Blades and Cavalry with no room to even flee. He eliminated that. Now, my right flank is down to 1 General Cavalry and 2 Cavalry against 4 legions of Blades, 1 General Cavalry and 1 Cavalry. I quickly try to regroup, but I lose another Cavalry. Now, it is 3-3. I regroup and send my Warbands into the woods after his Auxilia. Dave begins sending his legions into help them. I try and delay his legions by Barkering the road with a Cavalry. Finally, Dave's Artillery shoots and down goes the last Arab Cavalry: 4-3 win for the Romans. The game lasted well over an hour and it was great fun.

Initial setup

My glorious right flank sweeping up a victory, it seems

Notice the conflict on the right

Arabs winning 3-0

After the right flank fizzled. Now 3-3.

Assault with my left

Battlefield at the end. Notice the Romans going down the road toward my Warbands in the woods

Game 2: II/56 Early Imperial Romans over III/25 Arab Conquest (option b): 4-0

The second game was a wipeout. It lasted as long as the first attack. 4 Double-Ranked Warbands with Cavalry attacked Blades. In spite of a 3-2 advantage, the Cavalry recoil. The first Warband is now facing 3 vs 5. They are doubled and I lose two elements. The second Double-Ranked Warband is now double flanked and is 2 vs 5. It is doubled. Game over.

Set up for the second game.

Warbands on the road charged in and were beaten in two rolls. Game over.

From the Roman angle

My Arab Conquest Camp - A mosque, of course

Next up, more DBA battle reports as I go to Calgary to stay with the guru, Don Ray, for a few days and play some DBA. Now, what to bring...

Until then, Salām!

Two More Anglo-Danes Join the Warband

2012-01-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe I should have waited to put more on at once, but nevertheless, I'm picking away at my Saga Warband.

Freshly Painted Anglo-Danes

2012-01-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

I've been really wanting to paint up my warband for the Saga ruleset, but I've been so busy with other projects that this had to take a back-burner. Well, I finally got at them. Eight of huscarls were done in December and eight warriors were done this year.

The warriors were made by Renegade Miniatures. I quite like this brand; easy to paint and the poses are good, even if a little less dynamic than Old Glory or Crusader miniatures. I used Army Painter (Strong) for the shading. This was a departure from my usual habit of using Army Painter (Dark) for shading and I was pleased with the results. I will probably use the strong dip for 28mm miniatures from now on. It seems that on larger scales a light dip looks good, but on smaller scales, like 15mm, the dark dip really works best. I didn't remove the shine. I didn't want to ruin them by spraying in the garage at -20 C and below. Some sprays and paints don't work well in that weather.

Warriors...come out to pla-eh...

I've been experimenting with black lining these days. You can see it clearly on these, around the belts, and straps, on the green and red miniatures in particular. One can see the difference between black lining and the dip by looking at the dip in the folds around the groin area of the green miniature.

Same warriors - different angle

The other eight miniatures below are my huscarls. They are all made by Old Glory. I quite like the wooden shields by Old Glory. They have plenty of detail that really looks sharp when dry brushed brown, on top of black, followed by dip. These huscarls were done with Army Painter (Dark) and sprayed with anti-shine varnish in December before temperatures dropped.

Old Glory Huscarls

Yes, that is a flail he has. The axe broke off, so I modified the miniature.

Huscarls duking it out.

Next up, another 8 Anglo-Dane warriors.

The Harrying of the North - "Hail Caesar" Battle Report

2012-01-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last night at the Edmonton Wargame Group, some of us rallied for another try of Hail Caesar. We used Dave's mini's again and re-fought an imaginary battle that looked a lot like the Battle of Hastings with Anglo-Saxon huscarls on a hill in the center, flanked by fyrd and being attacked by a larger number of Normans. Dave had improved the scenario to give the Normans a fighting chance. It was tremendous fun. Here are some pictures of how the battle unfolded.

Normans

Anglo-Saxon fyrd and cavalry

Anglo-Saxon huscarls and king

Anglo-Saxons attempt to block the left flank by charging Norman milities

Anglo-Saxon fyrd and skirmishers were forced back but dealt out equal damage

Anglo-Saxon cavalry attempting to help the shieldwall stand

In the middle, the Normans advance upon the Anglo-Saxon huscarls

The left flank disintegrates for both sides

On the right flank the Anglo-Saxons attack the Normans

In desperation, the Anglo-Saxons go berserk and enjoy a brief moment of glory

The Anglo-Saxons last stand

In the middle the Anglo-Saxons make a final charge

The match felt quite close. However, there was a looming fear among the Anglo-Saxons that once the Normans got their orders together and quit blundering with dice rolls, that the Anglo-Saxons were in for a serious whupping. In hindsight, the left flank and right flank was equal to the task. The battle was lost when the Anglo-Saxon huscarls charged off the hill and attacked an element of supported crossbowmen. The huscarls, along with their king, were slain. One imagines that the king took a crossbow to the eye. Sound familiar?

How I ended up with Conflict of Heroes

2012-01-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I walked into EWG unsure of what I was going to play that night. Kevin was sitting by himself with a beautiful copy of the game, Conflict of Heroes - Storms of Steel 1943. I said, "Who are you playing with tonight?" Kevin answered, "You!" Surprised, and unsure what to do, I agreed and sat down. Now you must understand, that when I usually see war games with chits, I want to pull off all my clothes and run screaming in the other direction. (That said, I recently started playing Hold the Line but that was only because Bob ran it as a miniature game, first, and I got hooked.) In any case, I had nothing else planned and the map looked beautiful. Besides that, Kevin had painted up some 10mm armor that were mounted on 1" bases. He was using them on top of the marker, so I consoled myself that it could not be all bad. The artwork on the board was super cool. After two games, I was hooked. The games were easy, fast and fun. The possibilities for game play looked endless. Here was a system that I could milk for years.

On the drive home, I began thinking to myself, you really don't have a decent WW2 game in your library. It might be nice to have one, really good one...

Christmas came and went. I did not buy it. Several times I visited the Academy Games website and drooled, but could not force myself to pay that much. Then something happened yesterday. I was driving back from Calgary and stopped into see my friend, Will, who owns, "Compusoft and the Game Store" in Red Deer (a must stop). They had Conflict of Heroes - Awakening the Bear and Price of Honour, which was on sale at $20 off. They also had Battle Cry for $30 off, marked down to $39, and Napoleon: The First 100 days (uses the same mechanic as Hold the Line but with miniatures and preprinted mounted maps of four major battles) marked down from $89 to $59.

After strolling around I walked out with two Vallejo washes for $8. I got in the car and my wife says to me, "What are you doing? You're only getting that? That is not what you want. Go in and get what you want." After a lame resistance, I went back in. Staring at the row of games, I debated in my mind between Battle Cry and Napoleon. The question was, do I buy what I sorta want for less money, or buy what I really want for more money? It seemed that my desire was proportional to the cost. How do retailers always know that? Finally, I picked up Napoleon and went to ring it in. Then she appeared. Yes, my wife had come into the store. I was instantly scared. Why was she here? She walked over and said, "That is not enough. What else did you want?" I walked down and showed her what I was lingering over, and how what I really wanted was Conflict of Heroes, but it just seemed like a lot of money. Next thing I knew, she scooped up both Conflict of Heroes (Awakening the Bear and Price of Honour) and headed for the cash register. I told the cashier we would take them instead. My wife said, "Take it from my account." Driving home, my wife said, "Are there any other expansions? Be sure to get them. You work too hard not to treat yourself". After awhile of playing this, I'll probably pick up the 2nd edition with new maps, along with Storms of Steel. In the meanwhile, I am a bona fide wargamer who plays with chits, and the world is a happier place.

EDBAG - Campaign of Ancients - Round 1

2012-01-10T22:19:00.004-07:00

Tonight we began a new campaign in 1/72 scale at EDBAG. We had six in attendance and everyone had a chance to play continuously. It was great to see Mike again and have him join the campaign. The evening was fun and there was plenty of laughter. That said, Chen-Song had the worst luck that Dave had ever seen and managed to go a whole game without rolling anything higher than a "2". Naturally, this meant defeat. Chen-Song took it like a true Samurai, but thank-fully he didn't try and fall on a sword or anything. Dave had put together a fine board out of Games Workshop's, Mighty Armies, and tweaked the campaign rules to make it easier to cross water and take opponent's lands. By the end of the night, many of the "free lands" had been conquered and now border conflict is ready to begin.

The Kings and their mighty armies:
1) Mike - II/32 Later Carthaginians
2) Dennis - II/5d Later Hoplite Greek - Thessalian
3) Dave - II/12 Alexandrian Imperial
4) Chen-Song - II/37 Parthians
5) Terry - II/3 Classical Indians
6) Mark - I/22b New Kingdom Egyptians

Victories and losses after an evening of battle:
II/12 Imperial Macedonians over II/5d Thessalian Greeks: 4-2
II/12 Imperial Macedonians over II/37 Parthians: 4-0
I/22b New Kingdom Egyptians over II/3 Classical Indians: 4-0
I/22b New Kingdom Egyptians over II/5d Thessalian Greeks: 5-1
II/37 Parthians over II/32 Later Carthaginians: 4-2
II/3 Classical Indians over II/32 Later Carthaginians: 3G-0

Blood Bowl - One Human Team - Done!

2012-01-09T22:37:00.002-07:00

Christmas time my wife and kids gave me, Blood Bowl, by Games-Workshop. I have been desiring to try this game for about 3 years and have thought about getting it many times. In December, I found a league that meets monthly near my house and I figured it is time to take the plunge. With a steady league that has been meeting for about 2 years now, what is to prevent me? So, after reading about the various teams available I decided that I wanted to try the human team. It seems to be a good starter that is average in everything, but if used correctly, has the potential to put up a good game.

There are twelve humans - 6 linemen, 2 catchers, 2 throwers and 2 blitzers. They were all easy to paint, but the task seemed tedious and took too long; partly because I was painting white paints and trying to shade with ice blue. I also practiced black lining and they all required decals. I used brown ink on all the browns and flesh wash on the red and gold. I avoided using my usual Army Painter dip because of the white paints. In the end, I was pleased with the end result and can't wait to give the game a try. If I enjoy the game, I'll definitely be painting more.

So, here they are...(drum roll)... Woodrow's Rowdies.

Now, on to my Anglo-Danes for Saga.

Minoans vs. Early Imperial Romans - DBA Battle Report

2012-01-07T17:39:00.004-07:00

Dave came over for two games of DBA today. In the first game, the Minoans attacked and the Romans were kind enough to load up the board with woods, which nullified my heavy chariots and pike. The battle consisted primarily of his 2 auxilia and 2 blades fighting my 1 auxilia and 3 psiloi in the woods. It was a terrible day for me and I lost.

II/56 Early Imperial Romans over I/18 Minoans: 5-2

The second game was not much better. The Minoans defending on littoral terrain, I thought it would go better, but Dave's auxilia charged up the field to try and get to the woods that were located on my right flank. I rolled a "1" for pips three times in a row. What are the odds of that???? I could do nothing to stop him setting up in the woods on my flank and then I was completely out of formation. It was a very frustrating game.

II/56 Early Imperial Romans over I/18 Minoans: 4-2

I managed to snap off a couple of shots of the first game, before my camera died.

Up next, I must finish my human Blood Bowl team and take some pictures...

Battle of Montmorency Falls, July 31, 1759 - "Hold the Line" Boardgame

2012-01-04T23:19:00.001-07:00

The Battle of Snowshoes:
Scott came over to try out the French Indian War Expansion for Hold the Line. We started with two games of Battle on Snowshoes March 13, 1758. Both were wins for Roger's Rangers and we each had a turn at winning. This is a great little scenario, where the Rangers get to hide in the woods and tear apart the French that come after them.

The Battle of Montmorency Falls:
After this, we went for the big battle of Montmorency Falls, also found in this expansion. In this scenario, General Wolfe lands a large number of British on the beaches and attempts to attack General Montcalm, who is entrenched on the hills. Scott played Wolfe and I played Montcalm. The British landed elite units and attempted a quick take-over of a single French militia that was hiding behind entrenchments, but the militia managed to hold out and then counter-attack. Each time producing staggering damage on the English. In one particular attack, the French rolled three "6"s, producing 3 hits. The English paid dearly for every inch of ground. After taking out the French militia, the English elites advanced to charge up the hills to attack the French on the right flank. The French fired as the English moved into position and assaulted whenever possible. Over and over the English were worn down before they could launch a full assault. A further attempt by the English to flank the French on the left had little success. Final results: the British lost 6 line infantry units, General Wolfe himself, and did not reach their objectives; the French lost 1 line infantry, 2 militia, and 1 Indian unit.

We finished all three games in about 2.5 hours.

Ideas for Miniaturizing It:
When set it up an Scott saw the ships with everything he said, "This scenario is just begging to be miniaturized." I agree. I counted 17 French units and about the same British - not much more than a DBA army size for each side. If I ever did it, I would do 1 element per hex and use small dice to mark the hits. I couldn't bother doing 4 elements per hex. It is a fun, but not worth all that work. The sailing ships would be super cool, but alas, I am too far behind on other painting projects to even consider it.

Here are three pictures: the game at the beginning, at the end, and my worthy opponent, Scott.

Me bud, Scott! A great sport.

Next up, 15mm DBA with Dave later today. I think he wants to try out his new Early Imperial Romans.

Battle of Hastings - A "Hail Caesar" Battle Report

2012-01-03T22:57:00.004-07:00

Tonight we were in for a real treat at the Edmonton Wargame Group. Dave Coltman ran a six player game of Anglo-Saxon's vs Normans with the rules, Hail Caesar. It was total eye candy. The sheer number of dark age miniatures all painted up and made an impressive sight and the game was a hoot.

The game was easy enough to pick up, with Dave moderating that is. He quickly told us what we needed to roll to inflict casualties or save casualties, how many orders we could make, and how far we could move. It was like having a mini-computer at our disposal. It was excellent. The rest went like clockwork.

The battle went poorly for the Normans. I moved my archers to the middle of our long line and out of nowhere, the Anglo-Saxon cavalry charged right up the middle of the field, rode them down, and managed to get away after a desperate counter-charge. My only consolation here is that the Anglo-Saxons did not have cavalry at the Battle of Hastings. (In fact, the Anglo-Saxons had no cavalry at all during this period). Lucky for the real William. In our game, they only had one, to help even out the game.

Jonathan tried to use William the Conqueror effectively, but he was not co-operationg. William the Conqueror tried to order some men and blundered, causing them to retreat two moves and take a hit marker. It was not the only blunder. Later on he made another blunder with the same unit and sent them moving sideways away from the battle. We joked that he would be better called, William the Blunderer.

My luck never improved with my Norman Milities. I controlled Bishop Odo with my last two units of Milities. Bishop Odo charged the right flank and hit a shield wall. He inflicted great casualties but the Anglo-Saxons held and Bishop Odo was slain. The second unit then fled the field.

Scott controlled the Normans on our right and he managed to inflict some casualties but it was not enough. I had walked away to check out some other games and when I came back they were packing up, so we lost.

The game was great and the eye candy was amazing. Dave was an awesome host. Many thanks, DC!!!

Some pictures...

The Norman line.

Norman commander.

The Anglo-Saxons.

Anglo-Saxons holding the hill.

William the Blunderer.

The Anglo-Saxon commanders.

(Neil, Andy and Terry)

The happy Normans (at the beginning of the game).

(Scott and Jonathan)

The game maestro.

(Dave)

Bishop Odo's fateful charge.

William the Blunderer's centre line

William the Blunderer attempting to rally some men.

Scott's Normans - acting all Normanish and charging.

The Battle of Louisbourg, June 8, 1758 - Boardgame report

2012-01-03T22:25:00.001-07:00

I got the French Indian War Expansion for Hold the Line by Worthington Games for Christmas and Terry came over last night to try it out. We had a great time.

Opening the box, one of the things that caught my attention was the ships. You can do amphibious landings and there are some scenarios to allow for that. There are also rules for Indians and Rangers. They are quite strong in the woods when defending against other units (roll 4 dice instead of 3), but they only have 2 morale points. They have the option of move and fire, or fire and move for two action points, which also allows for some good guerrilla warfare. We played the Battle of Louisbourg (that occurred prior to the siege). In the historical battle the French left their entrenchments to attack the English on the beaches. General Wolfe led a successful bayonet charge that cleared the beaches then unloaded the rest of his men. The siege began and the rest is history. In our scenario, I kept the French in the entrenchments and inflicted casualties on the English while they took the objectives. However, it was not enough for the English and they lost after 17 turns. The French lost one unit, and the English lost five units and failed to meet their objectives. I love the simple game mechanic and it scratches my itch for this historic period, quite nicely I might add. It works well for miniature gaming, as Bob Barnetson has demonstrated on several occasions at the Edmonton Wargame Group. Here are some pictures...

The landing begins.

More English.

The English take the VPs and surround the French.

Final picture at the end of the game.

General Wolfe, himself.

One of my sweethearts turned 14 on New Year's Eve!

1/72 Egyptian DBA Army

2011-12-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

The first 1/72 army I ever painted was this Egyptian Army (Infantry made by Zvezda; chariots by Caesar). It was individually based for WAB. (Looking back, I used to leave more black showing on the miniatures back then, as you can see with the loin cloths. I like the effect and am tempted rethink my painting style. However, the same effect can be achieved with Army Painter - Dark). Recently, I decided to rebase the army for EDBAG's upcoming 1/72 DBA campaign. To my horror, it began to flake. Being a noobie at the time, I had not primed it (or washed it probably). I was tempted to throw it all away, but in the end I decided to go through the work of retouching it. For added protection I applied The Army Painter Dip - Dark. This should seal the paint job nicely and prevent flaking in the future. Lastly, I lightly dusted it with Army Painter Anti-Shine varnish spray. The army is meant to be part of a set, so the terrain matches the 1/72 Hebrews (seen earlier on this blog). Here it is:

1 Warband and 1 Psiloi.

I was really pleased when I stumbled onto this placement. By placing the Nubian drummer in the middle of the warband, and by making the psiloi Nubian, it creates an interesting formation when they rank up.

3 Light Chariot and 1 Light Chariot General.

I placed a chariot runner on the base with Pharoah to help him stand out more and for historical authenticity.

3 Blades.

I had the standard bearer and hero painted so I chose to include it. As well, part of the reasoning is that it allows for a Blade General when using this army in HoTT.

3 Bow

Each element is made up of a different type of Egyptian archer to make it more interesting. My favorite are always the Nubians. It must be because of my days in Africa as a child.

The New Kingdom Egyptians

Now, on to painting my Christmas minis...

Assyrians over Later Hebrews - Battle Report

2011-11-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

Well, my Hebrew army has 8 games straight. One game was using the early Hebrews but almost all of them was the Later Hebrews option C.

Tonight, we had 2 games between the I/51 Assyrians and the Later Hebrews, option "c" using 1/72 scale figures. Dave's Assyrians were made by HaT and my Hebrews were made by Caesar Miniatures with Atlantic Egyptian Chariots with Hebrew drivers. The games were good, especially the first one. Here are the scores:

Assyrians over Later Hebrews: 6G - 5. Wow, it took over an hour! What a nail biter. Later Hebrews had their desired terrain, but could not pull it off. The game ended when my last HCh was forced to recoil into my camp. The general had been dead for about 2-3 turns. It was amazing. Here are some shots from the battle.

Assyrians over Later Hebrews: 4G - 3G. This one did not take long. Dave took out three of my elements, for 3-0 and I was feeling mighty scared. Then my General HCh took out an Aux that was being supported with Ps, bringing it to 3-2. Then our HCh Generals ended up in back to back, with the Assyrian General attack an Aux. The Aux won, then the Assyrian HCh had to recoil into the back of the Hebrew HCh and they both went Kaboom! See below.

Gutsy Hebrews vs. Classical Indians

2011-11-11T10:02:00.001-07:00

Last week, I had my first chance to use my Hebrews. I fought Dave's Classic Indians. It was a couple of great battles. He beat me on my own terrain and then I almost beat him in the open (5-4). It was one of the best games I've had. Here are some snaps of Hebrews taking on Indians on an open battleground:

"Okay, where is the party?"

"You're not so tough! Come and get us, you freaks!"

"Let's try and take out that flank!"

Budda vs. Jehovah?

"Get'em! ...Watchout! Watchout! He's goin' down!"

Boom! Down goes Dumbo!

"Oh crap!"

Indian Cav vs. Hebrew Ps

Indian HCh vs. Aux

(Aux quick-killed in good going)

"Two on two - Tag Team match...stalemate!"

Against the Classical Indians, I learned: Aux against Bow and Aux against Elephants are two good things.

New Stepped Judean Hills for the Hebrews

2011-11-11T09:27:00.001-07:00

I have thought about making stepped hills for a long time. After making numerous sets of hills for DBA over the past five years, I always seem to have a problem: I can't make them shallow enough on all sides to keep the base from sliding. Inevitably, once side is too steep and the static grass makes it worse because the long blades of grass create a slight wiggly surface with almost no grip. I think the answer to this problem is stepped hills with each layer wide enough to allow a stand to sit on it, a gravel base and no grass. This weekend I was motivated to do it because my 1/72 Hebrews are facing off against the evil Assyrians in a classic historical confrontation. I have no proper terrain for 1/72 scale DBA, and I am going to need some large pieces of terrain to have a fighting chance. Kevin has a nice post on making small hills and I used his recommendation and tried cork for the material. It was easy to work with, and does not seem to curl or warp. For paints I used cheap DecoArt's Burnt Umber, Tan, and Light Antique White.

1) First, I cut the cork to make three layers with the base being almost the largest it can be for 15mm (length plus wide < nine 40mm base widths). This makes it a decent size for 1/72 scale and useable for both. Then I glued the pieces together with LePages Premium White Glue.
2) Next, I mixed the Burnt Umber with White Glue and painted the hills.
3) After this, I added the mixed Kitty Litter.
4) Then, I mixed Future Floor Wax with Tan (50/50) and a tiny drop of Burnt Umber, then painted the sand. This creates a nice seal and keeps the sand from flaking off. As well, I went heavy on the Future Floor Wax, so when it dries it leaves a few small crack lines that look like with the Burnt Umber showing through. This creates the illusion that the earth is dry and cracked.
5) After this dried, I wetbrushed it with Tan.
6) Then mixed Tan and Antique White and wetbrushed again.
7) Finally, I drybrushed with just AntiqueWhite.

The Materials:

The Inspiration:

The Final Results (with a lone 1/72 Nubian):

Night Goblin Doom Diver and Saga Warlord

2011-11-04T23:19:00.003-06:00

I finally finished my Doom Diver for my Night Goblin army. With all the projects going it seems that my painting is more scattered than ever. Currently, I am juggling my painting time between Night Goblin siege equipment and Anglo-Danes for Saga.

For my Saga Warlord below, I chose a Reaper Miniature and based him on a 40mm round poker chip. I love the irony given that he is a warrior priest, complete with Bible and mace. The Roman Church had a law that priests and monks were forbidden to shed blood, so they got around that by using blunt force weapons (mace, war hammer, etc.). I think they kind of missed the point ('scuse the pun). In some ways, this miniature is not out of place for Saga, given that priests fought alongside warriors during the Dark Ages (For example, Bishop Odo was William the Conqueror's half-brother, and fought alongside William at Hastings. When William left England he left Bishop Odo in charge). The tonsure has kind of thrown me, in that, the Celtic monks wore a different tonsure, where they grew the hair long on the back, creating a wild look. This is obviously a Roman tonsure. The second question is whether it can be determined if this is a warrior monk or warrior priest. My educated guess is that it must be a warrior priest. Many monastic monks refrained from books for the sake of pride, and the cost was prohibitive, especially given the fact that they had taken a vow of poverty. If they had one, it was held by the community and would not be risked on the battlefield. This must be a wealthy warrior-priest with a clerical tonsure.

New Scratch Built DBA Camp from FallCon

2011-10-31T23:29:00.000-06:00

At FallCon this month, I saw this amazing little camp that was available as a loaner. I inquired about it and Sean told me that Patrick had made it for him from scratch. I asked if he would sell it and Sean gave it to me for only $10. I used it for most of the Convention but on two different occassions, my elbow hooked it and I dragged it off the board and it hit the floor to shatter. The first time I lost three pieces and the second time I lost five different pieces. Talk about frustrated. Each time I super-glued the pieces back together. When I came home, I had a plan to fix it and reinforce it.

So, I began by touching up the white parts that were showing after the breaks. Then I dipped it in the darkest Army Painter, so that the stone accents would be darker and the tough finish would keep everything intact should it fall again. I sprayed it with AP matt finish so that I could lighten it up with dry brushing. Then I re-did the flock because it had been ruined by dipping in the AP. (It could not be removed prior to dipping). After that, I glued metal bases to the bottom of it, to give it some weight and allow it to snap into my magnetic cases. This will keep it from easily sliding off the edge.

The thing I love about this camp is that it can be used by a multiple of armies from the classical era, all the way to the medieval era, and throughout Europe. I imagine that I will use it for most everything in the future. Thank-you, Sean!

For a before and after picture, you can still see the original camp on the top of Sean's blog, I was a Teenage Visigoth.

DBA and HoTT 1/72 Hebrews from Caesar Miniatures

2011-10-29T12:19:00.000-06:00

Caesar Miniatures makes an excellent box of 1/72 Early Hebrews. It contains everything one needs to do a number of armies for De Bellis Antiquitatas or Hordes of the Things. I painted them up and with a two extra chariots from Atlantic Egyptians, and some imagination, I was able to form three armies:

1) I/27 Early Hebrews - all options for both 2.2 and 3.0 - based for DBA 3.0. (Ax (Gen), 2 Wb, 5 Ax, 1 Bw or Ps, 3 Ps)
2) I/34 Later Hebrews (armies A, B, and C) - all options for 2.2 - based for DBA 3.0 (Basically the same as Early Hebrews but includes either 2 LCh, or 2 HCh, and 1 Sp)
3) Hordes of the Things - Hebrews Army - Using any of the above, along with a Magician (Moses) and a Hero (David).

One of the things that sets this excellent box of miniatures a part is the attention to biblical detail. It includes many figures that can easily be used for key figures in biblical history. The box comes with a variety of hand weapons (swords, clubs, and scythes). I drilled out the hands of about 90% of them and added florist wire to put javelins in their hands. I flocked them for hilly terrain in the fall (love the fall). I painted them as a rag-tag army for the most part using many colours.

Here are some photos:

Moses holding the Ten Commandments with Joshua (left) and Caleb (right). Joshua was Moses' second in command and seldom left his side. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones from the generation that left Egypt to enter the Promised Land after 40 years in the wilderness. I based Moses as a Magician for HoTT. Some may argue that he should be a Cleric but I reason that he was able to do all the tricks of Pharoah's best Magicians plus eight more plagues that they could not replicate. He was better than a Magician. If I was to do a Cleric unit later, it would be Moses' brother, who was the High Priest.

Here we have David (Hero) holding Goliath's head (GW Empire head). Beside the rock is Goliath's sword (GW Empire). I included these pieces because of their significance. The Bible says that after David knocked Goliath down with the sling, he took Goliath's sword and cut off Goliath's head because he did not have his own sword. After the battle he put it in his tent. Then he must have donated it to a Temple because years later when David was weaponless and fleeing King Saul, he fled to the town of Nob where Ahimelek the priest, returned it to him. In grisly Halloween fashion, David kept the head, too, and brought it back to Jerusalem with him.

What Early Hebrew would be complete without Samson (Aux Gen)? On this stand, I imagined that we have the three famous Judges who delivered Israel when they were invaded and oppressed. Some scholars believe that the Book of Judges is a list of concurrent events, rather than chronological, as historically assumed. If that is the case, then these three may have been contemporaries in different parts of Israel. Here we have Deborah who came forward to lead when their wasn't a man in Israel willing to do it (left), Samson (middle) sporting the jawbone of an ass with which he killed a thousand Philistines, and Gideon (right) with a horn trumpet with which he defeated a much larger force of Midianites, Amalakites and desert tribes, with a small force of 300 men by attacking them in the middle of the night with horns and torches.

Of course, the woman on the left could be assumed to be Delilah who scarcely ever left Samson's mind...

Here is the only Bow option for the Early Hebrews list. It is included in the draft DBA 3.0 army list. I was happy to see this, as I talked to Don Ray at FallCon and grieved that the Early Hebrews had no bow option in the face of biblical evidence about the tribe Benjamin. I'm glad to see DBA 3.0 is planning to correct this. "Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss." (Judges 20:16). The miniatures are right handed, but what could I do?

The sole spear unit. I threw them in uniforms because they will be part of the Later Hebrews.

Auxiliary

Warband (distinguished from Auxiliary by the shields)

Psiloi

Overall, this box of minis is great to paint. It allows for numerous options and the molds lines are easy to pick out. The poses and garb are fascinating and it includes the great heroes of Hebrew history. A perfect set, if you ask me. In total, I have 19 elements here. I may paint up more someday to do a BBDBA.

You can buy the unpainted box set here!

How To Win At DBA

2011-10-27T09:55:00.005-06:00

After playing hundreds of DBA games and reading even more posts, I've seen and heard quite a bit about winning and losing at this great little game. So, beyond the strategy of rolling "6"s I'd like to pound out some thoughts on it.

There are five ways to help mitigate against lucky rolls and increase your winning odds. Nothing can stop a 6-1 split dice roll, and there will be those games - both for you, and against you, but beyond that, here is what you need:

First, a balanced army. DBA has a rock-paper-scissors quality to it. Every element has it's superior and inferior counterpart. So, an army that is all scissors is going to get bashed apart by a rock army. Therefore a balanced army will include at least 1/3 bad going elements, some mobility, and some hard hitting elements. If all you have is light hitting elements, your army will be...ah...light hitting. Some players have grandiose plans of huge flanking movements with fast moving elements. Usually they lose the pips at the crucial moment and get torn to shreds. Often, they spend so many pips trying to rally their fleeing/recoiling elements that they can never pull off their plans. Avoid Nerf armies.

Second, proper terrain for your army. If you can get that, and be the aggressor - great! Most times you can't. Many players prefer low aggression armies for this reason. However, you can win on an unsuitable battlefield. It will require limiting the engagements to a small number of your elements that can function in that terrain, and keeping the rest out of trouble. Hard to do, but possible.

Third, the right match-ups. Many elements are quick-killed in DBA. Know those combinations. If you can knock out one or two elements on a quick kill it can really rattle your opponent and change the battlefield in your favour. The converse is also true. Avoid bad match ups at all costs.

Fourth, to hit first. If two armies are fairly even in strength, hitting first can really give an advantage because you get to pick where to start the dice rolling. Pick the end where you have an extra element, or the middle if one of you elements has an advantage. If the dice cooperate you can start the enemy recoiling like a line of dominoes. Then exploit the advantages.

Fifth, an army that matches your style. Everyone has a playing style. It is a part of who they are. I am knight style. I love to attack hard, often, and am often impetuous. I take risks for the fun of it. I am also turtle-like and love to watch an enemy smash when it hits my line, like a wave on the Newfoundland shoreline. So, I tend to do best with armies like Later Crusaders or Minoans. Know your style, go with it, and you'll win more often.

Saga - I'm In!

2011-10-05T23:31:00.011-06:00

I had a great game of the new rules from Gripping Beast, last night. Kevin and Dave brought out some extra dice and minis so that Terry and I could join them play with Scott. We played all four factions with 6 points each. The game is incredible. It was so exciting I went home and ordered a copy and some Anglo-Dane dice from GB. I wasn’t going to get into anything new. I promised myself-but I love the fascinating game play with the innovative boards, the simplicity of combat and movement, and the fact that it only requires a few minis. Surprisingly, a large number of club members have bought into it, so finding opponents should not be a problem.

After trying dozens of games over the past six years at the Edmonton Wargame Group, I've learned a few lessons about the miniature gaming hobby. I'm realizing that I can't keep up with every new game that comes out, and I don't have time to paint armies for everything. Unlike some of my good friends, for me painting is only a means to an end. While I enjoy it, the true enjoyment is the game. So, if I am going to enjoy gaming to the max, I am going to need to focus on a few things with my very limited time. In an effort to keep myself from being ADD about gaming and avoiding the "one of(s)" in gaming, I have developed three guidelines to help me pause before buying a new game.

a) Try it first. I have to try it, before painting anything. This can be problematic, but the good ol' boys at EWG have been great to loan armies and host games. Too many times I have jumped into a new game system without knowing much about it, only to find out that it was not much fun and I end up with an half-painted army not worth finishing. I need to avoid chasing the holy grail of gaming and be a little more cautious. There is so much coming out these days, that one would have to be unemployed to keep up. Trying it once, can save a lot of time and money.

b) Think friends. There needs to be people to play with. There have been times when I have sunk time and money into painting minis, or acquiring stuff, only to find that it is not the flavour of the month anymore and people have moved on. Once gone, there is no one else around that plays it, because it is known to few. Other times, I imagined that I would "get people into it". Too much work. That never happens. From now on, I go with the games that seem to have a good following developing, or established.

c) Milk it. The game has to have a realistic potential for longevity. It is hard to know if this will be the case with Saga, or any other new game, but it has to be in the back of my mind. I've never regretted one minute of painting DBA or HOTT armies, as I have come back to them over and over. Those are the kind of games that I want to invest in.

Hopefully, these three self-imposed rules will help me find my way through the maze of new miniature games, but Saga has made it past the criteria and I'm glad. Now, where did I stash those unpainted Saxons...?

An Update...Plans for the Fall

2011-08-22T00:15:00.000-06:00

It has been a while since my last post, so I thought I should give an update. I have had a great summer and painted plenty of Night Goblins among other things. I had a super time playing board games, too. I got in about 10 board games. Among my new fascinations are: Hold the Line and War of the Scots. Both are quite interesting.

Recently, my nephew and his sons got into Warhammer 40k. They are begging me to game with them, so I unburied my Sisters of Battle from about 8 years ago, and GW was kind enough to kick out part 1 of a new codex in the White Dwarf this month (part 2 is due this Saturday). That has captured my attention for now.

I have been re-evaluating my commitments for the fall and realizing that a change may be needed. There are some people in my life that I really want to see more often and Woodrow's War Store is very busy, requiring more time. This will mean less time at EWG, though I will still connect when I can. EDBAG will see me regularly, as DBA continues to be my fav. And of course, one cannot miss Fall-Con...

So, it should be a great Fall, and I am excited about focusing on some new prospects.

SBH with Bob from Malaysia

2011-06-24T17:25:00.003-06:00

My friend, Bob Pagee, returned from Malaysia for a month and dropped over today for a BBQ striploin steak and some Song of Blades and Heroes. We played the Roll Out the Barrel scenario and Bob was hooked. I always enjoy how SBH provides such random results and creates such a cool storyline.

In the first game, Bob's had 200 pts of goblins and troll. I had 96 pts, consisting of 3 humans. Bob's troll ran up and threw a barrel at a building. It hit but did not catch fire. His troll was out of command then and spent the next five turns trying to activate. Meanwhile, my three humans attacked. Many times the humans were knocked down but then got up in time to slay another goblin. Then I sent a human to attack the troll. The troll killed the human. Finally, I was down to one female with a warhammer. She achieved a gruesome kill that sent the goblins fleeing. Later, she was surrounded by three goblins but pushed them back and proceeded to kill two of them. Then she ran over to the troll and knocked him down. The next turn she finished him off. She was the last human on the board and she was kicking butt against all odds. It looked like Bob's army was done. My woman warrior charged the last remnant of goblins. She decided to take them out one at a time. The first one was attacked and it killed her! The glorious goblin slayer, after killing so many, finally died near the end of the battle, when victory was assured. The goblins won because no humans were left. It was an awesome game.

Here are some pictures:

A New DBA Player for EDBAG?

2011-06-18T12:21:00.000-06:00

This week was great.

I've introduced a friend to the wonderful world of DBA and he is really enjoying it. Brett is a student of Concordia and the son of one of my best friends - our College Librarian! I had been talking up DBA and miniatures for some time and Brett expressed great interest. Thursday morning I approached him with a wonderful offer he could not refuse:. Join me in my office for lunch. I have 12 cans of Chef-Boy-Ardee, two armies and a battleboard. We cooked up some canned pasta and I taught him how to play. He loved it and he came back for an encore on Friday at lunch. Yes, Chef-Boy-Ardee again, too. Anyway, at this rate, we will probably play 3-4 a week, and gain 10lbs over the summer. Brett hopes to join us for an EDBAG evening soon.

I suggested that the battle was a Crusader raid on African villagers. I played the Africans and Brett played Later Crusaders. Thursday the Africans won (Meroitic Kush over Later Crusaders: 4-1), but Friday the Crusaders came back with huge determination (Later Crusaders over Meroitic Kush: 5-4) .

On a personal note, my wife and kids bought me a budgie for Father's Day. In typical Newfie fashion, I named him "George". He is a beautiful green and yellow, with a blue tail, but today he has diarrhea. I hope he does not die on me.

The highlight of the week though was Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary. They invited all their children's families to the Sawmill on the exact date, for an all expense paid, order-whatever-you-want, meal. There was over 30 of us (including three great-grandchildren) and the waiter got a huge tip. They always like to do things in grand style. There were no speeches, just delicious food and visiting all night. It was wonderful!

HoTT - GW Night Goblins versus GW High Elves

2011-06-13T08:47:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Dave and I played some Hordes of the Things using our GW miniatures. We stuck them onto the required bases for HoTT and were ready to go. I really enjoyed playing HoTT with the GW miniatures. 28-30mm is a great scale for HoTT. It removes the micro-measuring headaches and still allows for a small 3' square battleboard. It felt good to see the effort that was made in painting, receive double duty for more than one game system.

All three games went horribly for the Night Goblins. The first game was the closest where we were fairly even matched. Lots of spears on both sides, and the biggest difference was that the Elves had Riders and a Magician, while the Night Goblins had Behemoths and a Hero. The last game was the worst, where the Night Goblins refused the left with Hordes easily enough, and attacked with a strong right. In spite of that the Elves won that side with primarily a Magician and some Riders. It was horrible. I still have the nightmares.

I guess what I learned was, use the Hero for flanking. Head-on against Spears is not the best way to use him. Second, watch for Magicians in the flanks.

Here are some pictures:

Night Gobins for Hordes of the Things and Warhammer

2011-05-27T10:25:00.003-06:00

With the new rules for Warhammer coming out, I got invited into a few games with some friends. I really enjoyed them and as a result, I now have to eat my hat. It seems that while WF still has a few irritating quirks, it can be quite enjoyable and so, I have joined the ranks of the snotlings. This summer I also made the decision to finally settle down to a few good games and ignore the quest for the holy grail of wargaming that sends me running off on tangents. I am going to ignore the temptations of friends who try to drag me along into new forays of rules, and new painting projects. For the next while, I will camp on DBA (and it derivatives) and Warhammer.

About a month ago, I dug out a box of Night Goblins and Orcs that I accumulated over a number of years. They had been completely abandoned. I tried to sell them several times and finally gave up. My wife tells me to never sell any of my miniatures. (Unlike most wives, mine actually encourages me to paint, play and buy. Yes, that may seem hard to believe, but it is true.) I am glad that I listened to her and quit trying to sell them.

Here is the beginning of my Night Goblin Army. I am painting the army up as two distinct tribes of Night Goblins, because I couldn't decide which colour scheme I liked the most. Each NG was glued to a 20mm x 20mm metal base (Wargames Accessories), so that it would be able to stick onto a magnetic movement tray. In some cases, I glued three NGs to a 20mm x 60mm metal base, so that the army can do double duty in Warhammer or Hordes of the Things. All movement trays were bought from Games Workshop and lined with a magnetic sheet. They are expensive but easy to cut with a utility knife and rigid enough for gaming. All models were dipped in the darkest tone of The Army Painter. The brown Night Goblins were then dull-coated with The Army Painter, while the black ones were not. The black ones were intentionally left with some shine, to portray the reflection of moonlight. (It is assumed they fight at night).


Painted with Dark Flesh hoods and Cynar Blue gowns

I'm not lovin' the muppet with the net.


Based for Hordes of the Things and Warhammer

For Sale: 15mm Essex French Indian War Miniatures!

2011-05-18T20:58:00.003-06:00

SYBR19 Militia (Uniform) Virginia (Regt) etc.

SYBR22 Grenadier Bearskin (60th Foot)

SYBR26 Gages Light Infantry (two poses)

SYBR28 Line Infantry campaign Dress

SYBR29 Command pack: Officer, Std. Bearer, Drummer, campaign dress

SYF24 Canadian Militia Assorted Dress

SYF25 Musketeer Company Franches

SYF30 Command pack: Officer, Std. Bearer, drummer, summer dress

SYF31 Mission Indians (asstd) Two Poses

SYF32 Woods Indians (asstd) with musket

SYF33 Woods Indians (asstd) with spear

15 Iroquois with rifles (asstd) - Brand Unknown.

12 packs. Unused. Unpainted. Unprimed. Each pack contains 8 miniatures and goes for 2.40 GBP retail for a total of $45 CAD + shipping. Asking $35 CAD/USD + $10 Shipping.

Ready for MayDay! Here Come the Later Crusaders!

2011-04-23T21:32:00.002-06:00

After missing my camera for about 3 weeks, I bit the bullet and bought a cheap camera for $129, so I could take some photos of all the stuff I've finished.

Here are some shots of my latest DBA army. I have won the first two games with it: 4-0 and 4-1, so it looks like a ringer. Of course, it could have been my luck that night.

First picture has the two knight elements and the General (Kn) painted as Hospitaliers, and 1 cavalry painted as Knights Templar. The black "cappa clausa" of the knights hospitaliers made them look quite drab, so I attempted to jazz things up with red spears and lots of flags. Flags were by Chris Brantley on Fanaticus and are available for free downloading. The miniatures are Legio Heroica. The crosses are decals by Veni, Vidi, Vici.

The spear elements are all painted as Templars and are in their traditional dress. Again, red spears to spice up the pure whites.

The bow elements are painted up as 2 Templar crossbow elements and 1 peasant bow element.

Here is the whole army poised to fend off an attack from some Seljuks.

Next up, photos of my Night Goblins...

Song of Blades and Heroes: Debrief on Scenario

2011-04-20T07:46:00.001-06:00

Bob and I played "Roll Out The Barrel" last night and it was...er...a...whole lot of fun...('scuse the joke, I just could not resist singing the next line). Anyway, the scenario seemed fairly well matched. Starting points were: 400 for the goblins and 250 for the hummies. Goblins won without too much difficulty. If I was to do it again, I think the ratio needs to be a about 400 to 300 starting points. Probably a good rule of thumb is that in scenarios with a mission like this, the defenders should be at about 75% strength of the attackers. If you go even forces, it becomes a pitched battle and nothing gets done.

There were some humerous results. Near the beginning Bob's troll rolled a barrel into two of my greatswords and killed one instantly. The remaining guard rolled it back at a goblin and did nothing. Later in the game, on four different occassions Bob's goblins threw their barrels at the buildings to set them aflame. However, he rolled "3" or less each time and the barrel hit the building then bounced an enormous distance. One bounced off the board! This generated great laughter, mostly on my part, and he began calling them "rubber barrels", which made me laugh even harder. Bob was a great sport about it.

Anyway, in the end, he found a few barrels that worked and slaughtered almost all the hummies. So, it was all good. The game lasted about 30-40 minutes. I would definitely play that scenario again. I'm totally hooked on this game system and my mind is racing with other scenario ideas.

Song of Blades and Heroes Scenario – “Roll Out The Barrel”

2011-04-16T10:47:00.005-06:00

Played Song of Blades and Heroes yesterday with Dave. We attempted my scenario, "Burn, Baby, Burn" but it was too hard for the goblins. They got slaughtered before they got close to the buildings. I figure that the goblins need to outnumber the hummies in order to have a hope of getting near the buildings, otherwise, it just becomes a pitched battle between equal forces, with the goblins having an extra task of flanking and throwing barrels into buildings. Not going to happen. So, we tossed some ideas around and added a few interesting rules for using barrels. Using barrel the barrel is a blast, so I renamed the scenario. I think it should work well now. I'll try it at the Edmonton Wargame Group on Tuesday.

Song of Blades Scenario – “Roll Out the Barrel” by Mark Wall

Goblins and Trolls vs. Hummies

Introduction:

The goblins are sick of the hummies and their stinking little town. It is time to burn it down. A force of goblins, with two trolls, is going to proceed toward the town and throw barrels of oil at the buildings, hoping that the barrels will break and the buildings will burn. One goblins can throw a barrel at short range, or one troll can throw a barrel at medium range. They have brought three barrels with them and there are three more in the town. The hummies have to save their town by destroying half the goblin force, at which point the goblins will run away. The hummies want to save the oil because it is expensive, so they cannot destroy the barrels.

Goblin Points: 500
Hummies Points: 250

Rolling Barrels
Hummies, goblins and trolls will roll the barrels to their destination. When a barrel has been picked up it is placed in a rolling position on front of the figure. The barrel counts as cover against shooting. As well, the barrel may be rolled into enemies. Roll 1d6 for each number of the combat rating of the figure (e.g. goblin is combat 2, so rolls 2d6) to see how far the barrel rolls. The barrel hits everything in its path and the object takes a hit equal to the combat rating of the figure that pushed it. (Trolls would roll the barrel with strength 4, etc.). A hummie, goblin or troll with a barrel loses control of the barrel, if it gets hit in an attack. Place in a standing up position again.

Throwing Barrels
Throwing barrels is different than rolling barrels. To throw a barrel: activate the goblin or troll, check to make sure it is in range, and then roll a 4+ on 1d6s. Boom! The building is on its way to destruction. If the barrel missed it bounces off the building. Roll a scatter dice to see which direction the barrel goes and roll 2d6 for distance. Measure from the edge of the building, in the direction of the scatter dice and place the barrel there. Goblins or a troll will need to get it, to use it again.

Victory Conditions:

Hummies: Kill enough goblins so that the goblins are outnumbered by the Hummies (in points)

Goblins: Destroy all three buildings to win.

Kings of War by Mantic Games

2011-03-16T18:47:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, I suggested to my buddy, Dave, that we should try some Kings of War. He seemed open to the idea. Next thing I know, he has adapted the rules for a Roman vs. German scenario with 28mm minis. I was delighted. We played at the EWG with four players and Dave telling us when and what to roll. My impression of the game, from reading the rules, was that it lacked texture. Dave suggested that the game was very "vanilla" but we would try it anyway. I took the hairy guys army and we began. Immediately, I was taken with the simplicity. It was easy to play and within a turn or two, everyone knew the basics. There was very little fiddling with the rules, which I like. Both teams were basically even. What I mean by that, is that there was no huge specialty rules that suddenly appeared out of nowhere to flatten the enemy army, such as appears in Warhammer Fantasy and Warmachine. Such games sometimes frustrate me, because it depends on remembering the minutiae about every enemy in order to win...but I digress. Kings of War is straightforward, but what really makes it shine is the way morale/casualties work. As a base takes casualties, it is added to the dice roll that is required for break tests. This is so simple, yet brilliant. It yields some fascinating results that are indeed plausible. It allows tougher units to stay in the action longer (most of the time) and work the way they should. It is a clever way to track casualties without record keeping.

I am always on the lookout of easy, fun miniature games that allow you to play the game and not the rules. DBA, HoTT and variants are great for this. I have played scores of miniature games and most of them I would never bother to play a second time. Now, I add to my list of all-time favorite rules: Kings of War. This rule set has the potential of becoming another DBA. I can hardly wait to see what the war gaming community does with this rule set, once it starts to catch on.

III/65 Fatimid Egyptians

2011-03-12T15:01:00.001-07:00

EDBAG is planning a DBA campaign of the crusades and so a number of us planned a bulk purchase from Legio Heroica. Barry hired me to paint his Fatimid Egyptians and in return, he bought me an army of Later Crusaders.

I finished the Fatimid Egyptians today. We agreed to paint them up according to the proposed changes for DBA 3.0, meaning that 8Bw would be painted up as 3Bw. I used the Dark Army Painter Dip on the Foot Troops and the Strong Army Painter Dip on the Mounted because they had a lot of light colours. I was pleased with the results. Legio Heroica are among the best 15mm miniatures I've ever painted. They are absolutely beautiful and a joy to paint: no flash, great proportions, good poses - not overly animated, and easily defined detail. It seems I got carried away and painted one-too-many psiloi. At 15 stands, including 7 mounted, it was a time intensive painting commission. With the list, I made one stand to serve the dual purpose of Ax or Wb, seeing as both cannot be played at the same time. The army consists of:
1x3Cv(Gen), 3xCv, 1x2Lh, 3x8Bw, 1x4Ax or 4Bd or 3/5 Wb, 2x3Cv or 3Bw, 1x2Ps.

I/18 Minoan & Early Mycenaeans Make Their Debut in Edmonton

2011-02-12T19:44:00.015-07:00

After playing with Don Ray's army, I/18 Minoan & Early Mycenaean, at Fallcon 2010, I was instantly hooked. I managed to win a tournament with them and received a $20 gift certificate for Sentry Box. It was the first thing that I've won in a long time, so it felt good. The composition of the army made it easy. The army is made up of 4 hard hitting Chariots (that can be either heavy or light), 4 solid Pikes (+7 vs. certain mounted when double ranked), and 4 bad going elements (1 Aux, and 3 Ps). In the end, I went with Museum Miniatures and decided to make them an historical all-nude army.

I have finished the army, and they had their debut on Tuesday, February 8th, with one win and one loss. I played them three more times today and they won twice. Overall, I'm really pleased.

Their record is:

III/62b Early Polish over I/18 Minoan & Early Mycenaean: 4-2

I/18 Minoan & Early Mycenaean over II/40 Numidian or Early Moorish, 5-4G

III/73a Seljuk Turk over I/18 Minoan & Early Mycenaean: 4-0

I/18 Minoan & Early Mycenaean over I/60c Early Achaemenid Persian: 3G-2

I/18 Minoan & Early Mycenaean over I/60c Early Achaemenid Persian: 4-0

Two observations from playing:

a) If DBA is a rock-paper-scissors game then Minoans are rock and Seljuk Turks are paper. Minoans probably won't do well against any light armies, so avoid them like the plague. Light Horse quick kill Heavy Chariots, and Pikes, which is 3/4 of the Minoan army. Light Horse outmaneuver the Heavy Chariots and Pikes get no support of a second rank against the Light Horse. The Turkish Bow shoot holes in the Heavy Chariots (+4 Bw vs. +3 HCh) and Pikes gain no support for the second rank against them either.

b) If you get a chance to place the terrain, as a Minoan, use Woods as your bad going. Forget all other forms of bad going. You need to do all you can to hinder Bows from shooting at you. Make sure your light troops take the Woods and hold it. It will help a lot.

Besides the official army, I painted up two extra Aux, one extra Psiloi, and one stand of Camp Followers. I used transfers from Veni, Vidi, Vici, for the side of the Chariots and the shields of Auxilia. Here are some pictures:

Making Removeable Steep and Gentle Hills

2010-12-30T23:37:00.002-07:00

Today, I decided to make some Steep Hills and Gentle Hills that could go on and off the table during a game of DBA without affecting gameplay.

To get started I took four round 40mm GW plastic bases and glued some pink styrofoam onto them like this:

Then I went to work on shaping them with a foam cutter I bought years ago when I was into railroading (but the same effect could be accomplished with a good utility knife). Then I sanded down the little suckers, painted them with an undercoat, added some flock, and some stones, then dry brush, dry brush, dry brush, and I ended up with this:

The idea is versatility. When I go to the club to game, I don't want to carry a ton of terrain, but neither am I content to go with felt. DBA only allows for two of any kind of terrain in a particular game, so with the elements in the picture above I can cover quite a few options. Add some trees and the options go up significantly.

As well, the nice thing about this is that when an element is moving through that terrain piece you can just lift off those small pieces, or shift them over while you make your move. By making terrain this way you get 3D terrain that looks great, minimum storage issues, easy transportation, and far more options for game play.

DBA: Emperor NoBooBoo Takes a Dive

2010-12-29T23:22:00.004-07:00

I went to Dave's for a couple of rounds of DBA and feeling confident with my Kushites. Dave says, "I'm going to give you a gift tonight and play my Early Achaemenid Persians. I never win with them." Two games later I'm thinking his gifts suck. His Ax were flanking me constantly and threatening my general's elephant. His Bw picked off a Bl and his mounted ran from my Sp. He played it perfectly.

1. I/60 Early Achaemenid Persians over I/58 Meroitic Kush: 5-2
2. I/60 Early Achaemenid Persians over I/58 Meroitic Kush: 4-0

I came across an interesting problem. When Dave was racing his ugly mob of Ax across the left side of the map, I did not know what to do. I had two Sp in bad going there on the end of my line. I thought, if I move forward to meet him, I'll be out of the bad going but outnumbered. If I shimmy the line over, the Sp will not be outnumbered but they will be fighting at -2 (+2 Sp vs +3 Ax). If I move them back out of the BG, then the whole line will be flanked. At turn 1, I realized this and thought, "I'm screwed". The only solution is not to anchor both flanks with BG. With Kushites, one flank must be guarded by the map's edge. It is the only solution. The other edge can be guarded by Bw and refused, if there is BG there. Terrain must be made and laid accordingly.

DBA: Emperor NoBooBoo defeats William the Conqueror and Evil Hittites

2010-12-28T23:57:00.005-07:00

I've really been enjoying my Kushites the past couple of days. A bunch of us from EDBAG gathered for some gaming this evening and things went well for me:

1. I/58 Meroitic Kush over I/24b Hittite Empire: 4-0
2. I/58 Meroitic Kush over III/51 Norman: 4-0

I learned a few things from these encounters because both opponents were heavy on knights. First, Spear get a +1 when double-ranked against Knights. I never realized this before and found it quite helpful in both cases. Second, while the Meroitic Kush army has its weaknesses, it really performs quite well against Knight-heavy armies. The double-ranked Spear can hold their own (+5 Sp vs. +3 Kn, but Sp are quick-killed), the three Bow can be devastating if they combine their firepower (+4 Bw vs. +1 Kn), and the general's Elephant quick-kills Knights (+6 El vs. + 4 Kn, Kn are quick-killed). The biggest weakness is the two Blades (+3 Bl vs. +3 Kn), which are quick-killed by the Knights.

DBA: King Arthur vs. Emperor NoBooBoo

2010-12-28T10:28:00.002-07:00

Bob and I played two games yesterday and each went away with a win.

1. I/58 Meroitic Kush over II/81d Romano Brits: 5-3
2. II/81d Romano Brits over Meroitic Kush: 2G-0

It was the first time I've double ranked my Sp against other Sp. I really liked it. It allows you to hold your own when the rest of the line starts to collapse. In a small area, it is very effective. I'm thinking that a double ranked General Sp would be almost unbeatable with +6! One could use a double rank of Sp for use against other Sp gaining the +6, or if fighting Wb, or mounted, one could use the Ps for support. Perhaps it is time to pull out my Theban army again...

As well, lost the General Elephant to a Psiloi who had support, on a 1-5 roll off. Arrgggghhhh!!! As Scarlet O'Hara would say, "As God is my witness, I will never risk my Gen El against QK elements again!!!"

Here are a few tantalizing pictures of game 1. Game 2 did last long enough to snap off a shot.

Cavemen Finished with The Army Painter

2010-12-28T08:41:00.002-07:00

Recently, I painted these 28mm metal Cavemen and Witch doctor (Reaper Miniatures) for Song of Blades and Heroes. I wanted to see how The Army Painter would work if I simply block-painted the miniatures and dipped them. Light shade is what is suggested for miniatures with a great deal of skin showing, so I went with that. Other than The Army Painter light shade I did no highlighting at all, except on the witch doctor's hair. I applied the Army Painter Anti-Shine Matt Spray to them, to remove the shine. The final result? I am amazed at how the hair turned out. It looks like two tones of paint were used. As well, the fur loin cloths show tremendous shading, as does around the muscles and bindings on weapons. (The flash was too bright and washed out some of the detail, but you get the idea).

(click to expand picture)

Here is a closeup of the witch doctor. I love the way her skirt was shaded by the dip. I am also really impressed by shade on her bracelets, in her fingers and on the wood on her magic stick.

(click to expand picture)

I should mention one more thing. I heard that once miniatures were shaded with Army Painter dip, then they could not be touched up because the paint doesn't stick. When I was doing these I had a problem where too much dip gathered in the back of one of the caveman's legs. I didn't notice it until it dried there. I was hugely disappointed and thought the miniature was ruined. Once I applied the Anti-Shine Matt Varnish and let it dry, it touched up perfectly. No problems at all.

Castle Tower, Church, Buildings and Mosque

2010-12-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been crazy and I've fallen behind in my blogging. Amidst the rush, I was able to pull off a wee bit of painting including these buildings for DBA

The first one is a 15mm medieval tower by JR Miniatures. I painted it and shaded it with The Army Painter. I plan to use it for DBA and Song of Blades. It is mounted on 40mm x 80mm board.

This second set of buildings are 6mm. It is out of scale for 15mm DBA, but it seems to work for some reason. I think it looks more like a settlement than a lone building on the battle map. The huts were made for Meroitic Kushite army, but I tend to use the red roofed building behind it because it makes them look more civilized. The church in the background was made for my Christian Nubian army that I have yet to paint. The green roof in the foreground is for my Arab/Muslim armies. They are mounted on 40mm x 60mm metal bases. They have room enough for one 40mm x 20mm element. All but the huts were given to me by Don Ray of the Calgary Camp Followers at Fall-Con, 2010. I was delighted to receive them.

This last building is a mosque by JR Miniatures. It is quite large and sits on a 60mm x 80mm metal base. It can be used for a large camp or BUA. As one can see there is room enough for one 40mm x 20mm element. It was painted bone and then shaded with the light Army Painter shade.

My Norse-Irish Set (III/46)

2010-09-25T15:08:00.002-06:00

This month I finished painting up my Norse Irish for our DBA campaign. The army consists of one Auxilia General, 2 Blades, 4 Psiloi, 5 Auxilia. It is difficult to win with, but it is fast and fun. With aggression rating "1" and Littoral terrain, it does allow for some great terrain options. To build this army I chose the Saxons from the Splintered Light range. The poses are quite dynamic and the details are excellent. I wanted to do something a bit different so I created two bases of Auxilia with Irish wolfhounds and trainers. I am pleased with the effect. The General is a large bare-chested man with a battle-axe over his head. He reminded me of Druss the Legend from David Gemmell's book of the same name. Druss, being one of my favorite characters of all time, had to be included in this army. I also bought their Dark Age A-Frame house to use as my base. The miniatures were painted and then covered with The Army Painter dark tone quickshade. (We are bringing in the entire line of The Army Painter. It is awesome stuff.) The bases are metal ones that we sell on our website and they allow for excellent storage possibilities when placed upon a magnetic sheet. The bases were covered with GW sand and then painted with Scorched Brown mixed with Future Floor Wax. I then used GW Static Grass. The hills were made with mdf covered with styrofoam. Sand was glued on, then painted and drybrushed. Then static grass was applied. The carrying case was bought at Staples. Regular price is $12 during back to school, but I bought it for about $6-$7 during the summer. It is a metal pencil case. I glued a magnetic sheet in the bottom of it, which we also sell. The case has a place for your dice and measuring sticks. It is durable, lockable and presentable, but at $6 each, it is pricey. The "Barker" marker was a gift from Paul Hannah of Seattle, Washington. It is a pile of skulls. I flocked it to match the rest of the set. Last, I purchased some Grip-It. Grip-It is a thin rubber mat that is put under cloths or towels to keep them from sliding around. The GW mat has a slippery nylon underside, so this should keep it solid during game play. Here are my pictures:

Using Psiloi in the Front

2010-09-22T12:08:00.002-06:00

I have always used Psiloi for support and never in the front. However, last night, I did something different. I was playing my Norse Irish army (primarily Auxilia) in battle against Scots Isles (primarily Blades) and seeing a line of Blades advancing against my line, I threw a Psiloi in front. It was purely experimental but as it sat there for a few turns, and I examined it, I thought about the possibilities. With some practice, I think I could use this as an extremely effective strategy. I'd like to try a few games with putting all four of my Psiloi on my front, spaced out, and see what opportunities that may afford in messing up an advancing line. Of course, the attacker may choose to just move as far as the line of Psiloi and sweep them away before moving in, but that would then give the defender the chance to attack first, or gain time to move a unit into flanking position. As well, the Psiloi could be straddled across the attackers line to "barker" more than one attacking unit at a time. Thus, forcing the attacker to wheel his whole line into position for an attack, or to push a few units forward to disperse the Psiloi.

The rules for this game are brilliant. Psiloi actually work as they did historically.

Amazingly this little game continues to hold my interest. I still feel like such a Newbie after playing for three years. Always so much strategy to learn.

The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell

2010-08-25T22:19:00.000-06:00

I have been busy getting ready for our big DBA campaign that starts Sept. 14th, 2010. (You can see more details on our Yahoo Group EDBAG). Recently, I was at Indigo's to have a Starbucks with my daughter and the bargain table caught my eye. There was a book for $5.95 called, A Short History of the Vikings. I carried it around the store for some time while my daughter looked at books and then it occurred to me, maybe Bernard Cornwell has done something from this era. So, I went hunting and found exactly what I wanted. Cornwell has written a book called, The Burning Land. It focuses on the Saxon struggle with the Vikings during the time of an aging King Alfred. (Yes, it is much earlier than our DBA campaign but it provides an exciting backdrop for the history of England). The book is great. It focuses on Uhtred, a Viking Pagan Warlord, who has been a loyal military genius to the Christian King Alfred. Alfred is dying and England is burning. Knowing he is about to die, Alfred wants Uhtred to provide the same level of support for the new heir and save Wessex. Uhtred is planning on going home and retaking his city from his Uncle.

I have not finished it, but it has definitely got me hooked. I highly recommend it, especially if you want to read a good story involving torture, pillaging, burning, warfare, and religious tension. Be warned though, Cornwell likes to take potshots at the Christian religion seemingly whenever possible, and this book is no exception. That may offend some, but if you can recognize that the story is from the point of view of the pagan Uhtred, than that helps.

DBA Marathon Game Day

2010-08-23T19:58:00.000-06:00

Phokians vs. Athenians
Paul Hannah flew up from Seattle this weekend to run in the Edmonton Marathon. So, we offered to get a few guys together for a few games. In keeping with the Marathon theme we played Greeks and Persians (with a few Thracians thrown in). Paul brought some of his own armies and so I asked to use his Phokians (II/5f). I have had all the miniatures to make this army for over a year and never got around to it. This was my chance to try them out and see if I want to finish that project. The Phokians suit my playing style. I quite like fast units and shooting units. This has both. It has Sp (Gen), Sp, 4 Aux, 2 Art, 1 Cav, 1 Ps. I faced off against Paul's Athenians I/52f. The Art were fun but not overly effective. The Ps killed a Lh, The Cav killed a Ps. The Sp(Gen) with Sp support, killed an Athenian Sp that could not retreat, and the Auxilia picked off some Bw. Final score was 4-1 Phokians. These two pictures illustrate the key moments:

Here the Phokians are on the right and they are attacking a line of Athenian Bw and Ps.

Here one can see the Phokian Cv attacking the flank of the Athenian Ps. This caused them to turn. and then the Phokian Sp Gen with support pushed the Athenian Sp and it could not recoil.

Phokians vs. Persians
Feeling confident with them now I took on the Achaemenid Persians (I/60b) painted by yours truly. Paul ate the Phokians for breakfast (4-1). He managed to get his Scy Ch on my flank and he rolled up my army like a magic carpet.

Persians attacking...

Persians crushing Phokians from three sides!

I definitely want to dig out those Phokians and finish them off, but I have a million others to paint first...

Review of Song of Blades and Heroes

2010-07-23T09:53:00.001-06:00

Recently, I purchased some Saxons from Splintered Light Miniatures to create an Irish Norse Army for our upcoming DBA campaign in the Fall. In a discussion with David, the owner, I asked about what the Robin Hood figures on his site could be used for. He suggested, "Song of Blades and Heroes". I thought what on earth is that? After researching it online, and learning that it had been nominated for one of the best miniatures games in 2008, I quickly downloaded the PDF. In the past five days, I've played five games and I love it. It is a keeper. However, some valuable lessons have been learned. When picking a warband, you must, must, must have a leader with a great quality rating. Quality is #1. Think about it, if you can't activate when your turn comes, then it matters little what your combat value is, because you won't be attacking. An old Newfie folksaying comes to mind, "better to have a bird in the hand, than two in the bush". Anyway, that said, I can't find any other flaws with the game. It is much like DBA, which I love to play. Certain ideas have been borrowed, it seems, while other ideas are completely new. For example: Like DBA, each turn you may or may not move your element based on a die roll. Also, combat is resolved the same way; you take your attack value, add the dice roll and try to beat the opponents attack value plus dice roll. A double is a kill. There are no quick-kills unless a unit has been knocked down. There are three things about this game that I find brilliant. First, when someone loses a combat they are either killed, knocked down or forced to recoil. This creates some fun dynamics of figures getting up only to be knocked down again. It creates the look of a slow motion battle Royale. Second, I love the fact that actions can be done in any order, and that the number of actions varies from turn to turn. This creates a great deal of challenge, trying to mitigate bad dice rolls when certain troops are not able to move due to bad dice. Third, I love the way the morale works. It is easy and it successfully scatters the warband. Specifically, the condition of being forced to make a morale check when a figure dies a gruesome death (by being trippled in the combat roll), is a nice twist and adds to the storyline. I think SBH is a game would generate a great battle report, or bedtime story.

Debut of my Meroitic Kush Army (I/58)

2010-07-02T20:41:00.005-06:00

I was looking at this army in Book I for a long time and finally decided to buy it. Feudal Castings was the only place I found that made it, so I placed an order. It took forever to come, but I can't complain. It was cheap - only $20.60 CAD + shipping. The molds are crisp and the poses are stoic but they work well for DBA. I painted the spearmen with a cheetah pattern and the two blade units with a zebra pattern. The Elephant unit was terrible trouble. I must have painted it about four times because I kept screwing up the shading. Anyway, the whole unit is finally done and I'm pleased with the final result. I put dry grass flock on all the units because the army terrain is rated as "dry" and it kind of reminds me of the whole Zulu wars with units hiding in the grass and stuff. I do have one complaint about the army: it did not come with all the options for Generals. The Cavalry unit was missing. Other than that, I am really pleased with the look and feel as it conjures up vague memories of my childhood in Africa. The army consists of Cav, Bw or El (general), 3 Bw, 5 Sp, 2 Bd and 1 Ps.

Today, they had their first three battles against Dave's Sassanids. The first two battles were awesome with the Kushites winning 3G-2 over the Sassanids. Granted, there were some great rolls on my part, but the wind blows both ways and today it was on my back for two games (Dave swears that I'm the luckiest guy he has ever met. You know you are doing something right when Dave starts swearing). In any case, the dice turned against me in game three. I rolled all 1s or 2s for pips, for about four turns in a row. This pretty much stopped all my initiative and deprived me of using my powerhouse Elephant General. I was outmaneuvered and then after a long game, chopped apart (5-1). Overall, it was a great day and the coffee was awesome. They were certainly three intense battles.

Here are some pictures of the battle and my victorious Africans! You can see Dave's evil Sassanids in the background.

The Launch of EDBAG: Edmonton DBA Gamers

2010-06-08T22:47:00.000-06:00

Tonight, we had our first meeting. Five people showed up and we had a great time.

To check it out, you can read more at our Yahoo Group at: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/EDBAG/.

Cheap Treasures for HoTT

2010-06-05T12:52:00.002-06:00

Okay, I'm as cheap as the next guy. I love when I can get something cool for next to nothing. So, one of my favorites stores for finding wargaming materials is Dollarama. Here are a few treasures I found in the toy section and for $1-$2 for a box. Half the stuff in the box is useless, but sometimes you can find a few things that are decent. These were unpainted when I bought them.

This cage was tan yellow soft plastic. It fits over a 28mm figure on a shallow stand, or a 1/72 figure easily.

This dragon is made of the same tan yellow soft plastic. He is great for 1/72 or 28mm HoTT.

This dinosaur was raided from my daughters' toy box, but it was probably bought at Dollarama. They liked the upgrade.

Hordes of the Things in 1/72

2010-05-30T17:51:00.001-06:00

Battle Review
Today I played three games of HoTT with my ol' pal Dave. He used a Persian army with East Indian figures (made by HaT Industrie). It included a large number of shooters, with three behemoths (elephants), and some riders. In his words, it was largely a conventional army. Almost nothing "gimicky". He played it like DBA and won two games in a row. I, on the other hand, love the gimicky. My first game, I had magicians, behemoths, lurkers, blades, shooters, and flyers. I didn't know how anything worked and got creamed. That was my Elven army. Second game, I switched to my Undead army with two magicians, some hordes, riders, knights, and a behemoth. Again, slaugthered. Third game, I brought out my Elves again but changed the make-up. I went with 3 blades, 1 shooter, 2 flyers, 1 behemoth, 1 hero General, 1 sneaker and 1 lurker. Dave said jokingly, "with an army like that you deserve to lose...-just watch! Now that I said that, I'll probably lose." He was right - he lost. I used the two flyers to pick off a loan rider by closing the door on it. I placed a lurker in the woods near his end and tied up one shooter and one rider for most of the game. When the lurker died, I replaced him there again. This ate up some pips for Dave. My blades managed to close with his shooters and this was successful, as well. In the end, it was a great afternoon.

Question
One question to be resolved is sneakers: are they affected by a ZOC? Can they be "barkered"? Or can they pass freely through it? The rules say that they can pass through friends and enemies, so we played that it could not be ZOC'd. We'll have to resolve that before next game.

Reflecting
I absolutely LOVE playing with 60mm bases and 1/72 figures. The movement is far less finicky. I've often worried when playing with 40mm bases and short movements that often a millimeter left or right and mess things up. With 60mm bases and the longer movement, there is no fretting over that.

The 1/72 scale is a great scale for this game. With metal bases, the elements have heft and you forget the figures are plastic. A large stronghold is fun, as well. Gone are the tiny camps! Who can resist a large stone tower?

This is definitely a game I will play over and over. I'm completely hooked and thinking about the endless possibilities for 1/72, such as a Hebrew army with David (Paladin), Samson (Behemoth or Hero), and Moses (Magician or Cleric). I'm thinking about a bone dragon I got at the dollar store that could add to my Undead army. It cost me $2 and came with metal cage, which I may place a lonely maiden to be rescued. Also, I'm thinking about Turks or Cossacks to use with my Dracula (made by Caesar Miniatures), for a Transylvanian army.

Pre-Islamic Arabs vs. Celtiberians

2010-05-22T13:29:00.002-06:00

I had an unexpected game of DBA today when Dave dropped over. He used my Ancient Spanish - Celtiberian (II/39b), which I have never used, to fight my Later Pre-Islamic Arabs from the City (II/23b).

We both had an aggression of zero and we tied our first roll. The second roll determined I would be defending. The game unfolded with Dave's Celtiberians attacking aggressively, trying to catch me in the middle of an Oasis. I left the few elements in the Oasis unmoved and attacked with my right, catching some of his Psiloi with my Cavalry and Light Horse. His Warband hit my Blades and quick-killed a unit. Then I picked off his Psiloi on my right with Light Horse and Cavalry. On my left, Dave's Cavalry General continually bounced off my Blades. Closer to the middle Dave's Warband and Psiloi continued to bounce off my 2 Bow in the Oasis. Eventually my Blades and Mounted on the right got the better of his Warband in the open. Again, DBA did not disappoint us by generating predictable results. Several times Dave had the right match-up but he lacked the roll to follow through. I was overly lucky for a few turns and that finished him off.

Final result:
II/23b Later Pre-Islamic Arabs over II/39b Ancient Spanish 5-1.

The Advantage of Choosing When and Where to Attack

2010-05-22T07:26:00.010-06:00

Dave and I fought three battles with some interesting anomalies appearing. As demonstrated in the results:

Sassanids over Arabs 4-0
Arabs over Sassanids 4-0
Sassanids over Arabs 5G-0

First, the Arabs with an aggression of "0" ended up attacking in all three games, even though Sassanids have an aggression of "3". So, I found myself pushing my blades to run down the field at his cavalry and elephant. While I typically enjoy being the aggressor, it did feel strange in this case, and I'm still trying to assess what kind of a disadvantage it put me in.

Second, the games seemed very evenly matched in some ways but the dice were wacky. As one can see from scores, the games seemed to be won by the loser rolling a string of low numbers in a single clash, with at least one game ending in 10 minutes.

Third, one game, I would suggest, was lost with a single roll. I can pinpoint the exact moment when my army collapsed. I was attacking with my Arabs on the right flank with six blades in a row, supported by a psiloi, and then a light horse on the right of that, and my cavalry general beside the light horse. Dave attacked with an elephant matching my light horse (5 vs 2), a knight attacking my cavalry general (4 vs 4), and cavalry attacking my supported blades (3 vs. 4). It looked very good for me, but his elephant won vs. the light horse and everything changed. It was now knight, supported by elephant, on cavalry general (4 vs 3) and he won. Then it was Dave's cavalry supported by elephant on my blade (3 vs 3). Once he pushed back the Blade with Psiloi behind it the two blades on either side lost their support reducing it further to (3 vs 2). I rolled poorly and the whole army folded in one turn.

I think Dave played well by not waiting for my assault to hit him. By charging into the fray, it gave him the choice of where to start rolling. This was the only thing that saved his behind. It was a brilliant move and a well-deserved victory. It was risky: had he lost the elephant to the light horse, the whole melee might have gone to the Arabs. Anyway, that is the advantage of a cavalry army, you can choose when you want to attack. That means you can choose where you want to start rolling off. It is a significant advantage that I never noticed before.

All said, it was a great night. It was a good match-up, but DBA is a game where you can do everything right, but at the critical moment roll a "1", and everything disintegrates. I think it must have been that way in the real ancient battles. A lucky arrow from an unknown archer hits a king disguised as common soldier (King Ahab of Israel), or penetrates an eye (King Harold of the Anglo-Saxons), etc.. I guess that is why I love DBA. You never know what is going to happen.

MayDay DBA Tournament 2010

2010-05-02T14:47:00.014-06:00

Woodrow's War Store hosted their 2nd Annual DBA tournament at MayDay Convention in Edmonton over this past weekend (May 1st, 2010). We had 8 players with the following armies. This was how the they ranked after 3 games:

1. Mark S. (28 pts) - II/64b - Middle Imperial Roman (East)
2. Bruce M. (23 pts) - II/78a - Late Imperial Roman (West)
3. Marco M. (21 pts) - II/74 - Palmyran
4. Mark W. (19 pts) - II/23b - Pre-Islamic Arabs (City)
5. Dave C. (16 pts) - II/52 - Dacians
6. Dennis O. (10 pts) - II/40 - Numidians
7. Don R. (-3 pts) - II/55 Nobades
8. John L. (-8 pts) - II/53 Ancient British

Mark S. won a box of Corvus Belli Ancient Spanish for 1st Prize.

First prize winner Mark S. (seated) is receiving his prize.

That is me presenting the prize and Bruce M. in the background.

Dennis O. in the foreground and Don R. in the background.

Here is my first game in the tournament, against Mark S.. It looked promising but turned out disastrously. I lost 4 elements without destroying 1. Mine are the Pre-Islamic Arabs in the foreground and Mark's are the Middle Imperial Romans in the background.

I lost my 2 Bw on the left and this left me vulnerable to a "roll up the rim to win".

My General got flanked and died an ignoble death.

Dave C.'s Dacians on the left charging Don R.'s Nobades. The long skinny sections of rough terrain caused some problems for the Nobades Cm.

DBA: Thracians vs. Dacians

2010-04-11T23:26:00.001-06:00

I played three games today with my Thracians. The first game was going well. I rolled lots of pips for the first few turns and began a flanking maneouver with my Cav (General) and 2 Lh. However, at a crucial moment a I rolled low on pips and was unable to complete my plan and found myself vulnerable. Dave capitalized on that and won. Good game.

Second game was a head on clash for the most part, but early in the game I attacked his Wb General, which was being supported by another Wb. I attacked with a Aux supported by Ps (+1) and overlapped him on both sides, so it was 3 (Dave) vs. 4 (me). Dave rolled a 2 for a total of 5. I rolled a 6 for a total of 10. His General was gone and his supporting Wb. I had no casualties so it was game over.

Third game was lining up perfectly for me, but when we moved into combat I rolled three successive 1s in a single turn. I lost my General and two other units. It was game over.

I have come to love this Thracian army even though I haven't had great success. I think with some practice they will be wonderful. They are soft enough to deal with the big tough elements (Lh vs. El, Kn), and with the support of Ps, they can take down Wb or hold their own against anything in bad going. The mobility is incredible in both good going and bad. One of the challenges is keeping the General in LOS so that you don't end up paying double pips to move everything. Also, the lack of group movement in bad going can be a real pain and leave you in a bad position. All that said, I think I'll bring them to MayDay as my army.

Strange Aeons

2010-04-06T22:25:00.000-06:00

Recently, I got into this great game by Mike Atkinson (Calgary). I tried at Cal-Con and was instantly hooked. I took some Pegasus buildings, added some Bob Murch figures I had kicking around, and painted up some new figures from Strange Aeons. The boys at the club loved it. We now stock it at Woodrow's War Store. Here are some photos:

The lurking fishman waited for his moment...

DBA: Spartans vs. Hittites

2010-03-15T20:47:00.002-06:00

This battle occurred on March 7th, 2010. The Hittites won. I forgot about these pictures and found them today, so I thought I'd throw on the blog.

DBA: Thracians and Arabs

2010-03-15T19:51:00.001-06:00

Played another three games yesterday. Lost two and won one. The Thracians were doing well for awhile. I had the right terrain and everything but lost in the end after my Auxilia were lured into a fight in the open with Hoplites. The second game was Arabs vs. Sassanids. I deployed with mounted in the middle, with infantry on both wings. However, the mounted charged in, and left the infantry behind. They were then hit from the front and left at the same time. Disaster. The last game worked much better for me. I put all my infantry in the woods, which were in the middle near my camp. I put all my mounted on the right side of the forest and attacked. This worked perfectly. As the battle began to turn into a counter-clockwise motion it pulled Dave's mounted into the range of my Bows and created movement problems for him. It was close, and I rolled a few "1"s for pips, but I eeked out a win. Here was the setup at the beginning of game 3.

Thebans and Arabs - Nice and Neat

2010-03-09T19:11:00.005-07:00

Last night, I met my good friend and DBA nemesis, Dave, for another three games of DBA. He wanted to try playing my Achaemenid Persians, so I played Thebes. I had only tried my Theban army once before, and had good luck with it. In the past 7 games I have only beaten Dave once, so I knew I'd need every advantage I could muster. The Theban army is quite cool with 8 Sp, 2 Ps, and 2 Cav. The Cav gives the much needed mobility to the slow Sp. In both games, the Persians managed to put up a brave offense, but were stymied and suffered a frustrating defeat supported by numerous "1"s during melee. As Dave put it so well, "they have a high aggression rating, but they are defensive army." Indeed, during all my times of playing with that army, I never got the desired terrain. Another problem is that they lack some of the stronger units needed to give that knockout punch. The strongest unit is the Scy Ch and it dies on a tie! Of course, luck was continually against Dave last night and in both games the Scy Ch blew up without accomplishing anything.

In the last game, I took out my Conquest Arabs thinking I should get used to them for the upcoming tournament at MayDay. Dave took out his Sassanid Persians. This is a classic matchup according to DBA rules. The last couple of times they met, the Arabs were beaten. The game proceeded and the Arabs were taking the lead with 3-0, then Dave, throwing caution to the wind and going "suicidal" went crazy. Much to my chagrin it began to work and the score was now 3-2. On the last turn, he turned his General Cav to face my Bw in a gutsy do-or-die move. Neither could retreat. He won the roll. It was now 3-3 and his Elephant (5) attacking my Light Horse (2). He rolled a 2 for a total of 7. I rolled a 6 for a total of 8. Light Horse quick-kill Elephants. The Arabs won and Islam is now being practiced in Iraq today as a result...

It was a fun night for me, winning three in a row, even if part of it was due to Dave's fixation with "1"s. One thing I tried last night was setting up in a symmetrical manner. Typically, I go for the crazy formations, but last night I put the Thebans in a line of 8 Sp, supported by two Ps, and put a Cav on each end. This really worked well for me. I felt safe regardless of whatever unorthodox set up Dave would pull, and with the Cav I was able to respond to possible flanking maneouvers. While playing the Arabs I resisted placing my two Bw across from his mounted and went symmetrical again. I put the 6 mounted in the middle and a column on either side led by a Bw then two Wb. I attacked with both sides and held the middle (mounted) in reserve. It worked well, until Dave went berserker on me, but in the end the dice gods honoured their favoured son.

DBA - Making "Rough" and "Oasis" Elements

2010-02-04T19:30:00.004-07:00

When it comes to DBA I am always thinking about portability. So, for my new Arab army I only made five dunes of various sizes. Then I made pieces that could be placed on the dunes, converting them into "rough" or "oasis" pieces. In each case, I only made three pieces and based them on 40 x 30mm metal bases. This way they fit symmetrically in the box with my army, and I have every option covered. Another nice thing about this is that you can move the oasis pieces or rough pieces around when moving your elements through the terrain.

The rough pieces were made out of different sized rocks, then covered with sand from GW, painted to match the dunes, and touched up with little tufts of grass. The oasis pieces were made out of plastic plants that I bought from Dollarama. I clipped a few little branches off them and hot-glued them onto the 40x30mm base. Then I covered them with sand, painted to match the dunes and added grassy tufts.

Rough Terrain

Oasis Terrain

DBA: Arabs Debut

2010-01-31T23:37:00.032-07:00

Three games: Arabs slaughtered Sassanids in the first battle but paid for it in the next two games. Even though I lost twice, I was not displeased. The Arabs are my new favorite army. I need to learn how they work together, but I think they have amazing potential with 4 Wb, 2 Bw, 5 Cv, and 1 Lh. Half the army is great in Bad Going and half is great in Good Going. Mobility is awesome and the Bw provide serious offensive against mounted. Wb quick kill most formed troops, and Cv are not quick killed by anything. A very resilient army indeed, with some serious killing power. Here are some pictures. Arabs are red and white, Sassanids are blue.

Game 1: Dave rolled terribly and the line melted before being picked off.

Game 2: This picture shows Arabs from the front. In the end, I couldn't hold my right flank.

Game 3: I got myself in some terrible situations all over the place. It was disastrous.

DBA - New Dunes and "Rough"

2010-01-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

I wonder what is the best way to model "rough". The rulebook says precious little about what "rough" should look like. I am creating new terrain for my Arab army and their compulsory feature is "rough". I have created 5 dunes from mdf and then sanded them. I glued GW sand onto them and then painted them a base coat of Citadel Foundation Tausept/Ochre and then dry brushed with Citadel Foundation Iyanden Darksun. Finally, I dry brushed with Vallejo Iraqi Sand. I am thinking that I can declare them to be "rough" by adding removeable base of small rocks. I can say they are "oasis" by adding a base of palm trees, or leave them as is, and call them "dunes".

Here are some pictures.

DBA - Too Timid with My Light Horse

2010-01-15T14:48:00.001-07:00

In my last game where I played the Thracians, I tried to use the Auxilia in the frontal assault on the Spear and then use the Light Horse to flank. The flanking almost never worked for various reasons. As I have thought about it since, I've come to the conclusion this is a huge mistake. I should have charged the Light Horse on a frontal assault vs. the Spear.

Here is the reason why...

LH are +2
Sp are +4, but are quick killed by Light Horse

Therefore, the LH will quick kill the Sp on a dice roll of 4, 5, 6, providing that the Sp rolls a 1, 2, or 3 respectively. The worst result is that the LH must flee. This is better odds than charging a Psiloi +2 with a Warband +3, for instance. (Something I would never hesitate to do). In that case, my Wb would have double the Ps to kill it. The Wb could kill it with a 3, 4, 5, 6, but the Ps would have to roll a 1, or 2 for that to happen. Also, things can go very wrong. The Ps could roll a 6, and the Wb could roll a 1, meaning that the Wb was doubled and destroyed.

Conclusion: I have been too timid with my LH vs. Sp. From now on, I will charge boldly into Sp. (Of course, it is helpful to have an Auxilia on either side so they are not overlapped).

DBA: Thracians vs. Asiatic Greeks

2010-01-13T22:40:00.003-07:00

I couldn't wait another week, so I called my friend Dave and invited him over for another round of DBA. He brought his Greeks. Feeling like a change from using the Persian army I dug out my Thracians. We played two lengthy games. In the first one, my Thracians ended up attacking. They are not good in the open ground with all the Light Horse, Auxilia and Psiloi against Spear. The game was dodgy and in the end I couldn't win. 4-3 for the Greeks.

The second game, went more my way with the Thracians on home turf. I loaded the board with steep hills and forest then picked off 4 units. It was the first win for the Thracians since I painted them. So, I was glad.

Basic Impetus - Next Battle on Jan. 19th, 2010: Hebrews vs. Assyrians

2010-01-12T00:09:00.001-07:00

Next week this time I have a shot at beating Dave's (virtually) undefeated Assyrians. I have lost against them several times with my Egyptian army last year. I came close to beating him once with the Hebrews. The Hebrews are an interesting army because of their fast movement being Light Infantry (8 inches), and their ability to throw Javelins (5 inches) in the same turn without penalty. Dave will doubtless form a firing line and attempt to mow down my army before I can get close. I am going to have to maximize using the terrain as a shield. The other problem is that stupid Heavy Chariot that the Assyrians will have. It is like a tank with a huge impetus. I'm not sure what I'll do about that one.

DBA - Achaemenid Persians vs. Asiatic Greeks - Redeemed!

2010-01-10T23:54:00.005-07:00

I began my gaming session by leaving my DBA book at home. That is my excuse, okay? There it is...I've said it. So, we began our usual gaming session. First game, is close but the Persians pull off a win 4 to 3. Second game, Persians slaughter the "1" rolling Greeks. They must have rolled ten "1"s. So, good friend Dave is ready to quit playing and go to bed. I mean he is royally ticked off. I'm thinking I better grab my things and run to the car as fast as I can, but he decides on one more. We get half way through and he says, "How many elements do you have on the board anyway?" (You are allowed 12). We counted up and I had 14!!!!! There was a gale of laughter. I laughed till I nearly snapped a rib off. Once the laughter calmed down I tried to convince him we were playing "historical DBA". Dave took it in very good humour.

So, we looked at our watches, decided "who cares what the wives think" and went for one more game! This did not go well for the Persians. Everything went wrong. I put my Bow on a steep hill that was not attacked, and they were out of commission for the whole game. In the end, the Greeks were redeemed from their previous losses and are now considered a worthy army to own. Tonight was their first victory. "Long live King Leonidas!", Dave is chanting now in his sleep.

These guys were way out of the action for most of the game. It cost too many pips to bring them in.
Lesson: Don't set up in bad going unless you KNOW that the enemy is coming that way.

This was fun but not very effective. The Scythed Chariot went to the left and charged the Greek Cavalry making it flee. The Camelry went straight in with odds 1 to 4 against it, and managed to live another day with by recoiling.

This was scary. Near the end of the game, my Persian General got surrounded by Greek Hoplites, but managed to force them back for another round.

One of the winning moves for the evil Greeks. My Persian Auxilia are surrounded by Spear. Odds were 4-2 for the Greeks and no retreat for the Persians allowed. They died courageously.

I must show this from one of the earlier games. I got 6 pips on my first turn and ran my Psiloi up into the forest and barkered his Spear. You can see it near the top of the photo. (Also, notice the dice tower to the left that I blogged about earlier. As you can see, I added blue felt to the inside and sprayed it with Satin Varnish to prevent greasy fingerprints.)

He then turned to face his Spear toward my Psiloi, and it blocked the Spear behind from moving forward. While the effects were not huge (because the Greeks were rolling "1"s for pips anyway), it did prove to me an effective strategy that may be useful someday. The nice thing about it is, the Spear had -2 for bad going and so the Psiloi could beat it then. Also, Psiloi are almost impossible to beat because they flee in most cases. The Psiloi actually killed the Spear eventually in this game.

Anyway, Greek's won against the Persians, 4-1. We'll have to forget the Persian victories as they unfairly outnumbered the Greeks.

Check out Dave's version of what happened on Dave's Gaming Place blog: http://davesgamingplace.blogspot.com/

DBA - Achaemenid Persians vs. Asiatic Greeks - Redemption?

2010-01-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight I must go and apply the Persian boot to the Greek neck once again. Funny thing is, after reading several articles on Bow elements and other units in the Persian army, I am more intimidated than ever. Those Greek Spear have +4. One article I read on Fanaticus pointed out that a +2 element can double a +3 element, but nothing can double a +4 element except another +4 element (or higher). That means, I have to do a great deal of combined tactics to get him down where he can be beaten. On top of that, none of my units quick kill Spear except the Scythed Chariot (which loses on a draw).

I'll have to use lots of terrain again. Steep hills work best for my Bow so I get the +1 for height on top of his -2 for bad going. I'll let you know how it goes.

Making a Dice Tower for a $1.25

2010-01-04T21:34:00.001-07:00

After playing a few games of DBA, my friend Dave suggested that it might be nice to have a dice tower. I began thinking about making a tower, mainly for rolling a single dice at a time (but not exclusively). One that wouldn't send it slinging across the battlefield. It had to be able to fit large dice and small dice. I also wanted something that was small and easily ported around.

I began with a little wooden chest, that you can buy from Dollarama for $1.25 CAD. I drilled a hole in the top with my drill, pulled off the door and cut a rectangular hole at the base of it with my scroll saw. Then I cut two pieces of mdf to go inside the tower, glued them and used tape to hold them in position. The whole project hardly took any time at all. Now, the question is varnish, paint, or leave it plain.

DBA - Making Hills

2010-01-03T22:41:00.001-07:00

I made the hills for DBA by cutting an oval piece of mdf, then I glued the paper version of GW flock that comes in the large roll. Then I trimmed the flock off the edges, whittled them down with a knife and painted them with Vallejo's Stone Grey, followed by brown ink. To put a crest in the hill, I cut a piece of thin florist wire, painted it stone grey and then super glued onto the flock.

DBA - Persians vs. Greeks Battle 2

2010-01-03T22:23:00.003-07:00

In this battle the Persians were on the defensive and quickly set up two steep hills and a road going through one of them. The idea was to get as many bows as possible to the top of one of the hills. My thinking was that bows +2 vs. foot, +1 on a hill, would be +3 vs. Greek Spears +4 (-2 for bad going), thus gaining 3-2 odds for the Persians. It worked well.

These guys worked miracles.

The Persian right wing won the day.

The end result: Persian - 3 kills + 1 General; Greeks - 1 (+1 Scythed Chariot).

DBA - Persians vs. Greeks Battle 1

2010-01-03T22:06:00.002-07:00

My friend, Dave, and I played two games of DBA today. In both games, I used the Early Achaemenid Persians (I/60b) and he used the Asiatic Greeks (I/52g).

The first game began with the Greeks on the defensive. They plotted a Littoral landing with 4 elements near the Persian edge of the board.

The Persians attempted to use the forest to their advantage and squash the small Greek contingent before reinforcements arrives. However, the Greeks brought down the Persian War Wagon almost immediately and the Persians were on the defense.The Persians followed with some accurate shooting - taking out a Greek Spear element. Then the Persians then took the defensive in the woods and began attacking from their left side.

In the end, the Greek General advanced behind Persian lines. A Persian Bow turned around and shot him from the flank position gaining a quick kill. The Greek General died an inglorious death and the rest of the Greeks ran away. Final score: Persians-3 kills plus a General, Greeks-3 kills.

As for the Persians, I was quite surprised that they managed to pull this one off. I constantly felt like an outgunned guerrilla. Bows turned out to be surprisingly resilient in bad terrain. I have to remember that they shoot every turn, and not just during my bound. By keeping at it, one can usually score a kill.

Basic Impetus - Fighting Assyrians

2010-01-02T16:21:00.003-07:00

After months of fighting the Assyrians, I think there is only one way to win. Pile as much terrain as possible between the center of the board and the Assyrian edge. The Assyrian player will try to remove as much as possible because they have an army where all but one base can shoot. Then, charge everything in, as fast as possible: skirmishers first, followed by infantry (cannon fodder), and at last the best units. I have yet to try it, but I've tried almost everything else.

DBA - Facing Asiatic Greeks

2010-01-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I will face Dave's Greeks over a cup of hot joe and be wondering what I can do with 5 Bows and War Wagon along with the rest of my Achaemenid Persians. It will be a tough. Most of my units are +2 against his +4, but I have a plan. We will see if it works.

DBA - Conquest Arabs must get finished

2010-01-02T15:48:00.002-07:00

I have 4 warbands, 2 bows, and 1 psiloi done. I have 5 Cavalry and 1 Light Horse to finish. The goal is to have these done by January 5th, 2010. We shall see. Here is what I finished so far.