Ignorant Armies Clashing

Some DBA action and pictures to enthrall and entertain for a few mo's.

I had the joy of cracking a few games off with Mark Wall. He's re-located Magna Calgaria, which is Edmontograd's loss (sorry denizens of EDBAG he's one of us now) and truly our gain.

We played two games in which I matched his Later Crusaders (cracking paint job BTW) with my Sicilians and Cilician Armenians. Sicilians and Cilicians...you'd think I do that sort of thing on purpose...

First game saw the indefatigable Cilician Armenians face down the ravenous slobs of the Crusader Kingdoms. I painted the Ar-meanie-ans up for Paul Hannah's last tourney in these parts, Skulls of Tamerlane at FallCon a few years back.

 I love my Cilician list. 1xKnG, 2xKn's, 4xSp, 2xAux, 3xPs. Good mobility and firepower, and a decent record against all comers.

Tonight however was a game changer. I started off quite well, zapping two units of Mark's and proceeding to roll up his flank. Then (see pic below) everything went screwy.

6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6 and 6. 

Those were not mine. Game ended is a slaughter: 6-2.

We go to Brother Anselm, currently held aloft by infinite Angels for the eye-in-the-sky view.

So I hauled out my trusty Sicilians. These guys have a record of mightiness as would be expected of towering German Knights, valiant Muslim Guards and Sicilian cut-throats, 

I out-manouvered and out-feinted Mark. But he sucked me into the situation below in which my Kn General is stuck in double overlap. If I won, I would have killed two of his units, including his General.

Instead:
6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6 and 6.

Suck quarrels Hospitallers!

I know those 8Cb look pretty deadly. They even have a praying monk asking for God's thumbs up. But we know what that will often get ya...carnage, lots of it, with you on the pointy end. Game over.

I know I made these last two battle seem like I'm a tactical mastermind whose wickedly cunning plans are forever foiled by the ineptitude of his underlings whose failures are expressed in a series of 1's and 2's.
THIS IS TRUE
However it does take away from Mark's nice guy 'who me' guile. Oh yes...he has that and a pocket full of luck.

As I've said before, it's not that he gets into these weird situations, it's that he gets out of them.

Please drop into Mark's blog for more pix and a less biased recount. (his camera is better too, nice looking pics.)

So, let's look at a couple of other games...one of which I actually win.

Lykian Marines! Ooo-Rah! Semper Fi! Do or Die!

I've not a had a chance to profile one of my latest armies, the Lykians. Hell, I don't remember the number but it's in Book I near the end. Don't make me go all ENTP all over your pencil-ass neck.

I'll profile them later. Needless to say they were inspired by the same Paul Hannah on a Fanaticus thread. Many years back, back when DBA was COOL, I posted as Spanikopites and people didn't post shit about me on Facebook that was hurtsome and mostly wrong.

I threw down with Evil Neil, who is always trying to get me roleplaying. He's excited to get me to play Call of Cthulhu. I have yet to tell him that I've been playing CoC since Year 0 and summoned the King in Yellow in the boys locker room in Grade 11. Lots of detention that week. 

So brought out his Late Academic Persians, whilst not legit enemies of the brave Lykian freedom fighters, still pretty close as Lykia was a sort of dependency/bitch of the Persians until Alex the Goon 'rescued' them.

This was a fun, quick deadly game. I snarfed his chop-suey chariot of doom with a forlorn hope of psiloi.   

What is Persian for Banzai Charge?

Situation looking good? See below.

'Sir, Persian horse have broken through and over-run our flanks, game over man!'

As you see from the pix, after that my speedy attack swung into full tempo, only to be stymied by the (inevitable) breakthrough of the Persian horseboys on my flank. So aside from a chance to kill his General (who proved his mettle and steamrolled my unit) the rampaging Persians brought this he game to an end.

Neil, I will avenge myself upon you 

and your stylish army!

Next up was Dangerous Don Ray fielding his Ptolemaic Army of Doom. A classic Successor army consisting of a block of Pikes and then one each of every other unit in the rulebook including a few I didn't know existed. 

The following pictures are presented in sequence and without comment. I won by playing mean and dirty. I fought a twitchy, double dealing battle. I grabbed his camp, called his phalangites naughty names and won. I guess I'm too nice and should be EVIL more often.

Sick and wrong! Lykian flower-pot heads put an end to Don's elephant powered weapon of mass destruction.

Pawn sacrifice: some must die so others live. Lykian Aux face a Knight general in the open.

Perturbed by psiloi, Ptolemaic pikers pounce.

Set and match Ptolemy. Stay out of Lykia!

Let's get it! Don trembles as the Lykians rush his undefended camp.

Thank-you for reading. 

These where 4 affirming games. 

Happy painting and games!

-TV

Art Corner: Painting tables at the Sentry Box.

Listening to: Bach Cello Suites.

Drinkin' Cheap Aussie Shiraz.

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. page added. Now with 75% more dinosaurs!

Due to overwhelming requests from many readers (thanks to both of them) I have built a page specifically devoted to G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. adventures and figures.

I've organized them under the awesome* universe me and the pre-Teen Visigoth created. We basically asked what conditions need to exist so we can have Englishmen eaten by Carnosaurs?**

We proudly introduce: The Neo-Cretacious Age. 

So is it just an excuse to play with 1/72nd plastic soldiers and dollar-store dinos?

Yes. Yes it is.

-TV

*Awesome in the sense the background material was scribbled on a falafel wrapper. 

** We will ensure that all nationalities and ethnicities are represented and properly maimed and eaten.

Listening: Paul Simon (again). Coffee house needs more music choices...
Drinking: Darjeeling. Baby. 

It's the Obligatory Recap Post! 2012=meh.

I've been pretty busy, but not in the miniature department.

Been keeping an eye on the resurgence of militarism in Bavaria

Actually, I've been spending a lot of time in the mountains. The snow keeps falling and the back country beckons.

What I look like when not hunched over my desk abusing solvents.

I'll give a quick series of thoughts regarding 2012 as I don't have any cool mini pics ready (some more GASLIGHT pics coming. Some in which Englishmen are devoured by Dinosaurs!)

2012

THE GOOD: Getting back into GASLIGHT and doing it with the Pre-TeenVisigoth. It's been a blast.  It's been good to reestablish my love of 20mm/1/72nd plastic guys as well. Been chopping and swapping like Herr Doktor Frankenstein.

THE BAD: Commissions are not for me. Once when my time was less wibbly wobbly, I could devote time to them. Now, things are different. I'll find a new revenue stream.

THE UGLY: Downsizing. You know what I mean. Get rid of stuff. Mad the hard calls.

-TV

Millions of them...

Getting ready to prime the first wave. Doing these guys up as umCijo Regiment. That's an all black shield with white stitches. A somewhat junior impi, but hey, somebody has to lead the charge...

-TV

Listening to: Hobbit Soundtrack. Love that Howard Shore.
Drinking: really stiff Oolong. Whoa...

Music Saturday: Maginot Line-Geoff Berner

Geoff is too much fun and I recommend an evening with him if you dig politically charged punk accordion klezmer tunes. Which I grant to some, may be an acquired taste.

Today, I'm sorting out some figs to eBay and sell and found some WW2 French to market. So 'natch my crusty ol' brain thinks of this song.  It's really a good sing-a-long.

To coffee and untold wealth from eBay!

Remember to point your guns the right way.

-TV

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. : Duel on the Delta

Duel! Wily El Halloum and Stalwart Jemadar Singh at point blank range.

Mystic carvings, oooh.

In this gripping episode, the Brave Sikhs of the 23rd Cuminpore Rifles under the command of Jemadar Garam 'Masala' Singh race across the shifting sands Egypt. Their destination, the Lost Obelisk of Bast-Ket-Baal, resting place of the Ancient, Magical, Arcane and Quite Valuable Jewel of Denial.

But lo, from the treacherous lands of the Nile Delta comes the Pirate Sheik, El Halloum and his bloodthirsty crew of scaliwags. Leaving their hideouts in Cairo (no longer wishing to be The Pirates of the Cairo-Being) they race across the dunes, the lust for treasure in their eyes.

Who will claim this treasure?! Readers, prepare yourself for exciting thrills and thrilling excitement in:

DUEL ON THE DELTA

The Scenario: A quick attempt to revisit G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T.  Which I hadn't played since Dr. General Professor Yu defeated the Hideous Lizardmen of the Tien Shan.  the Pre-teen Visigoth who had only skimmed the rules, took his beloved Sikh Rifles and I dug out some 'Arab' figs I've had for a while and we threw a bunch of stuff on the DBA boards and went at it (which is how it should be). The Arab figures as many of your will recognize as the venerable ESCI/Italeri 'Muslim Warriors' which I am told is now out of print. Bummer. While a nonsensical buffet of miscellaneous 19th-20th century warriors from different lands (Sudan, Afghanistan and other places I'm not quite sure...) they are great for pulpy fun.

We decided a 'capture the flag' (or the gem) game objective would be an easy go. As it was a learning experience for the P-T.V. we agreed simple was best. He had a serious advantage fielding a modern (in 19thC terms) unit of rifle vs a mixed bag of swordsmen and jezzial shooters. I was OK with that as I was still a little slow in remembering the game.   Both forces entered opposite sides and converged upon the goal with the intention of grabbing the jewel (a hunk of mystic quart I picked up at the now defunct hippy store in the mall) and moving it off to their edge or running off the enemy force.

The pictures are off my iPhone, so not super duper quality. On the dodgier ones I crapped up with sepia effects in order to make the look all period-y. So grab some tea and read on, I'll give the AAR in more detail at the end, though the pictures are pretty self explanatory.

'A scorpion in his desert lair, Johnnie Sikh do beware!

"Have at you villainous thugs! I discharge my revolver at you!

Above, portraits of our leaders;  the Treacherous River Reaver El Halloum and the Fearless Jemadar Garam Singh. Again, a note on names. El Halloum earns his name from our favourite Middle Eastern Cheese. We are so lucky that within walking distance is a hopping little Middle Eastern grocery store that supplies all our cheese pies, hummus makings, goat feta, olives and of course the all wonderful Halloumi cheese. We usually barbeque the stuff. Gorgeous.

OK, back on narrative, the name we figured was 'The Cheese', the 'Big Cheese' as befits a gangster and pirate. Strangely hungry right now, but I'll continue...

'So it comes down to this at last, you and I fighting for the Jewel of Denial'.

'Charge! Our valiant Chieftain fights the foreign dogs unaided!'

'Their rifles will be no match for our fearsome tulwars of death!...'Oh snap.'

'Say, I have a date in Cairo. Later guys!' Ali-Sin-Badly skulkers off.

The Battle as Fought:  I'm pretty sure from the pix you gathered that the Pirates of De-Nile had it handed to them...  and indeed they did. El Halloum was generated with a with super-scuffle rating, so I figured the best option for Team Tulwar was to get in close and mess up the Sikhs. What happened instead was an epic fight between heroes at the base of the Mystic Lost Obelisk of Bast-Ket-Baal .

The detachments slowly made it to the field, the Sikhs being the quicker of the two and arriving at better position.

Alas, El Halloum failed his 5th or so save and  fell before the doughty Jemadar Singh,  vanquished by a solid right cross.  The Pirate horde arrived in place though, in place right in front of the 23rd's sights just in time to receive a volley that devastated their ranks. Only Ali-Sin-Badly, Halloum's Number 2 survived and promptly fled from the field, pleading a pressing engagement.

The Pre-Teen Visigoth was thrilled with his victory. He deployed carefully and with forethought, getting there firstest with the mostest. His was the victory, for now...

Now, El Halloum has been captured and the Jewel of Denial is firmly in the hands of Her Majesty's Empire. Amused? We were. Ali-Sin-Badly however has escaped to warn the Godfather of the Nile Pirates of the outcome of the engagement.

This Godfather, rich, powerful and ruthless from his control of the exotic cardamon, cinnamon and fennel markets. Indeed he is known by his moniker- Pasha Spice.

Stay tuned for Part II: 

The Guns of Ali-Sin-Badly

-or-

Pasha Spice World

General and Majors: XTC. 11/11/12

Minifig Strip Egyptians: WIP

I made a trade a few years back (hi Paul!) and scored these sweet little vintage Minifigs. They were 'strip' era and required a wee bit of file and knife action to get rolling.

The simplicity and dignity of these guys are totally brilliant.

Egyptian Archers: Old School Minifigs

They will compose a DBA I/2b Early Egyptian army. The post-Hyksos list. Most of the figs I'm using are New Kingdom (19th-20th Dynasty) so I've obscured the pertinent details with the most useful tool in the miniaturists power: the paintbrush. The rest of the details I'm not sweating.

View from the back.

I painted headcloth thingy as hair, which was more the fashion of the period.  I'm all over lying awake at night worrying if my minis have the wrong funny hat. No more.

-TV

Drinking: Big Rock Black Amber Ale. It's fall baby and my beer is black like my soul.
Listening to: Viv Albertine's new solo project. Punk Nana is angry, bitter and gorgeous.