Pre-Feudal Scots added to gallery

I am slowly getting around to adding pictures to the galleries. So slow in fact, I sold the army I'm featuring in this update.

But for reference and posterity, I've added them before I get distracted again.

Go here to the Book III gallery and scroll down past the E.M.N.A.S. spread.

-TV

drinkin' cheap Sauv Blanc
listening to Run-DMC

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.

DBA at FallCon: Tupi or not Tupi.

Best in Show. Mike's Burgundians clash with Medieval French captained by Mark S.

Friday Knights at FallCon 2012 was played September 28th 2012. 10 participants strove over the Field of Honour and Glory, crossing pike with lance and enduring endless arrows of misfortune.

Have a view at the following tapestries kind pilgrim and attest to valour and the pageantry. 

More French vs Burgundian grudge settling. This is how medieval killfests should look.

Participating:

-Anglo-Normans captained by Don Ray

-Burgundian Ordonnance generaled by Mike J.

-Kommenan Byzantines lead by Strategos Chen-Song Qin.

-Medieval Portuguese of Don Marco

-War of the Roses lead by Eric 'Mr York' Parker (Jr. Winner)

-Sicilians captained by Stephane the-not-quite-Hohenstaufen (Biggest Loss)

-Cilician Armenians championed by Liam the Martyr (Jr. Biggest Loss)

-Late Swiss generaled by David von Parker

-Medieval French avec Markquise Stadel

-Tupi lead by chief Mark W. (Tourney Winner)

It was gratifying that I only needed to lend out two armies, the Sicilian and Cilicians. Do you see a pattern? I had painted up a brae Scots Common army using old Essex figs I've had since Year 0 but for some reason a feisty high aggression army predominated by pikes seemed like a lame choice for a tourney. Geez people...

I also had whipped off a couple light horse to morph my ol' Norse Irish into brand new Medieval Irish. They weren't picked either, but I did get a game in with them. More talk later...look at pix.

Mobile and perfidious, Marco's Medieval Portuguese rally against David's trenchant Later Swiss pike blocks.

Portuguese horse array for a charge.

Chen-Song's sweet blue Byzantines.

More Byzantines in action.

Liam commands his Cilician Armenians to hold against the Stephan's Sicilain onslaught

I enjoyed organizing and reffing this night. Thank you so much to all the participants. Everyone got into the ye ol' courtly theme of bloodlust and played some tense matches. What more can a event runner ask for?

Don's Anglo-Normans advance, glam battle wagon in tow. Swiss seem unimpressed.

Gorgeous armies no? I love the painters that live here in Magna Calgaria (CCF) and in Edmontograd (EDBAG). From Chen-song's subtle rhapsody in the limited palette Kommie Byzantines to Don Ray's flashy day-glo Anglo-Normans we had all approaches to the spectrum.  Made for some good pix.

The pageantry of Mark and Mike's respective French and Burgundians (mmmmm Burgundy...) made my Sicilians feel dowdy in comparison. Well done all.

'We go now to Brother James, currently held aloft by an unconfirmed number of Angels for the eye in sky report... Yes, the Anglo-Normans have cleared the rough and are headed to the Swiss lines, back to you Abelard'

The games were quite brilliant, some gripping contests that only DBA can supply when knights and pikes and blades occupy the table-top.  Brother Markus our scribe has the final tally of the who-won- what-against-whom. And will be reported when Brother Markus makes his report.

Scoring-wise I used a classic rehash of Neldoreth's Visigothic Romance scoring and my own formulations for Samurai Night Fever. Kill the general, take the camp, be a hero and don't die and you will win. It's all designed to encourage a bit of role-playing in the tourney rather than the grimmer math of standard scoring. I added a little funny by penalizing the general who is killed by foot troops rather than in glorious combat with fellow mounted sorts.  Killed by peasants...silly king.

It's the sort of scoring that if you concentrate on standard DBA tactics (find, isolate and kill 4 stands) the winning of the match may not win you the tourney.

Liam the Armenian proved that as he lost his impetuous Knight general in every match, despite making reasonable headway with his truculent spear troops.

Eric of York landed on his feet with only a few previous games of DBA under his belt at took the War of the Roses English to pretty stellar heights. His bravery and chivalry with the WotR clankers have inspired me and Liam (the pre-Teen Visigoth) to make matched sets.   

Stephane captained the Sicilians with a verve and style that lead to some pretty outlandish tactics. (see below)

Audacity: Landing double ranked knights against defending archers. Recoil is a bitch.

Will the Saracen guardsmen cut their way through the Tupi warbands in time to succor the Knights? Yeah, not so much...

So Mark Wall won the tourney with the Tupi. The combined might of Feudal Europe failed against a painted horde of warband and bows. Mark faced valiant foes and was able to use his limited troops to their maximum. Is that not a true portrait of a DBA player?

OK, now I know some of you are gnawing and gnashing about the thematic catastrophe that is a Mesoamerican Army winning an event called Friday Knights. And I sort of agree with you...but it was a Book IV tourney, loosely themed on Ye Olde Merry Plaguey-Wagey Europe. Given that he faced top quality mixed-arms lists and still triumphed gives him his due. I gave him a nice tower camp. And a stern admonishment to buy some plate mail.  

Tupi gone wild. Well done Mark!

I did get a game in whilst reffing and coaching the junior players (well done Eric and Liam!) After Mark dispatched another opponent I fielded my newly morphed Medieval Irish (light horse option) and showed Mr Tupi pants how we roll in Donegal. OK, yeah I sliced up a warband and bow army with Auxilia and Light Horse. What a champ eh? With a record like mine, you need all the wins you can get.

I'll follow up with pix and thoughts of the Alberta Open, FallCon and tourneys as such.

Check out Mark W's bloggo for another look at the games.

-TV 

When Bithynians Attack!

 Thanks to the Pre-Teen Visigoth in making this poster.

 

Well, here they are finally. The Bithynians. DBA Book II Army 6. I painted this army back in 2004, yet only have gotten around to posting them now. Not sure why so slow, mostly I am easily distracted and forget about what I really need to do sometimes. So for those of you who feel you are wasting your time looking at stuff painted a long time ago, move on. I think somebody has painted some Romans somewhere...Still here? Awesome. Let's talk Bithynia.

My Bithynians.  I love them, but by Sabazios they're a sorry lot when it comes to battle. On paper they're a challenge, 1 x Cavalry General, 1 x Light Horse, 2 x Psiloi, 8 x Auxilia and the option of 1 x warband in place of one of the Auxilia. An arable army with low aggression, the Bithynians can set a reasonably messy board to confound some of their historical opponents, but nowhere as nasty as a hilly army could. Fighting in the open these guys must rely on speed and maneuver lacking any 'killer' elements short of the one warband. The warband in my experience moves slowly and often like so many Scythed chariots, expends itself in futile rampage against the enemy pikes.

Enemies? First off the Persians both Early and Later. Alex and his Macedonian Goon Squad, Antigonos grasping for his share of planet plus wacky, paranoid ol' Lysimachus as well. Other Asia Minor B-Stringers like the Kappadokinas, Galatians and Pergamenes. Last but not least, those over-rated militarists from Lakedaemonia, the Spartans. Pretty sweet list of opponents. One of the reasons I picked these guys in the first place. Lots of legit, popular and interesting enemies.

Notable Bithynian Accomplishments in History.

1. Hired has-been Hannibal, suggests throwing snakes in enemy boats, actually works.

2. Scythed chariots used successfully...on them!

3. Pestered big-head Xenophon and the rest of the 10 000.

4. King dies, gives Kingdom to Rome in 74 BCE.

5.Never completely conquered by the Persians or the Macedonians.

6. Invited the Galatians into Asia Minor.

7. Ran away from Mithridiates, repeatedly.

Mighty Spanikopites and bodyguard.

Have rhomphia, will fight.

I used Minifigs 'New' Alexandrian line. Not so new anymore and very 'True 15' in scale. They look like children next to Xyston and other latter day giants. The sculpting is very simple, spare, almost zen and requires the painter to relish the flat surface and give some brush love. It remains a favourite line of mine.

The Galatian Warband were some big wacky ol' Falcon US figures I've had since the days of 1.0.

Given the Bithyians were a Thracian sub-set you could use the traditional Thracian Hill Folk costume for an earlier look. Those fox skin boots never go out of style (or maybe they should). I went with the 'Hellenistic Thracian' look. Mostly cause I like it, it's an established (via steles and such) Bithynian 'look' and the figures were right in my hands at the time. Which is one of the Teenage Visigoth's rules for happy wargaming, use what you've got, rather than dreaming about what you could have.

The arrayed auxilia.

As per the DBM lists, El Barko states that the rhomphia was not used by the Bithynians. Which may be correct, but it is such a freaking cool thing, why would you not include it? The DBM lists say lots of shit. Very little of which I pay attention to and suggest all good-hearted DBA players do the same.

Hairy and scary naked men, Galatian Mercenaries.

Size comparison. Puny wee Bithynians (Minifigs) next to mighty Galatians (Falcon US)

Light Horse, my game winner. That is when I do win with these guys.

The joy of a limited pallette.

In the interest of speed and a unified look I kept the palette limited and variation between figure at zero. I wanted the look of a unified army that would be different. Would I do the same again? I'm not sure.

The most effective part of the army, the camp followers.

I've played over 30 matches with these guys. I'm pretty sure their record it 5-25 or something like that. I've been hammered by Republican Rome, Alexander, The Persians, Mithradiates, endless hoplites and those lousy Kappadokians.

Now before you write me a well meaning missive suggesting I need to play auxilia armies different than other sorts of forces, thanks, but don't bother. I am the auxilia king in our parts. Flying columns, offset deployment, jerky toe-holding tactics...you name it I do it and I win.

I've been figuring out ways for auxilia armies to win since 1.0 back when my beloved Welsh were mostly all Ax.  My Scots-Irish are terrors of their times. My Early Samurai have a record well better than they should.
 I could go on...

I win with Ax, just never with the Bithynians.

What's up Bithynia? Is it me? I love you guys. I made a special camp with an angry rock throwing woman for you. Why do you always fold in the clinch?

I'm willing to work on this relationship. 

-tv