Well it's been a wee while but I am back into some sort of groove, most of my hobby time has been basing some SYW stuff that I have got from TJ, these are non Minden figures a mixture of Black Hussar, Foundry and some Front Rank French and British, most have been based but some needed finishing off so that has taken most of what little free time I have had, but that has now changed!
I finished work on Friday for a break of nine days free from the grind and with the gardening all but done of the year I really should get some painting done and indeed I have!
I needed something to reignite my painting funk and fancied getting away from the late 17th, 18th or 19th centuries that are my usual, so what did I go for? Well sorting out some books for putting on my wargame library shelfs I found a copy of the first DBA rule set, now I haven;t dabbled with DBA since far too many years to even try to remember so thought that this may be the little project needed to get me back into some serious hobby time.
First purchase was a gaming mat, 2 x 2 grassy fields for playing it on, decent deal of ebay, paid and duly arrived, happy with it, so that's one thing ticked off the list. Now I haven't thought about DBA or figures for playing the game so after looking about a bit online I decided I wanted an old school vibe for this project and after a bit of browsing I went for Toy Soldier's ready assembled DBA packs, these range in price from £19 to £42 depending on whatever army and how exotic it is. They are seriously old style 15mm figures, chunky and look the part for me, so I picked 4 armies to get me going, Numidian, Hoplite, Macedonian and Successor, order placed and within the week package delivered, super service from TS and really happy with the packs.
First day of my break so out with my painting table and out with the DBA packs, now I haven't painted anything in 15mm in donkeys years and was a bit worried after years of dedicated 28mm figures but these little guys are quite chunky and actually rather easier to paint than I had thought, first on the table were the Numidians, I thought these might be the easiest, tunics, basic equipment and right enough they were a good choice, so for a couple of hours I managed to paint the first elements of this army, a couple of light infantry stands of 4 figures each, light armed figures with javelins and small shield, very little flash and once primed they painted up very easily and are pretty much done other than some highlighting, vanishing and basing, tomorrows job!
To finish off, this has been something different for me and has recharged the creative batteries, hopefully pictures to follow once they are done. On anther ancient topic, reading the excellent Palouse Wargaming Journal blog, I really enjoyed seeing Jon's biblical projects, some great work, it made me go and purchase a Hittite and an Egyptian army packs from Newline Designs for a future retirement project, thanks for the inspiration Jon, I think!!!
Well until next time folks....
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Enjoy your productive break, Donnie! I look forward to watching your Biblical armies take shape. Plenty more Biblicals remain in my Lead Pile to paint. I just need to return to them after other painting distractions release their hold.
ReplyDeleteThey are a bit down the queue at the moment Jon but who knows??
DeleteI haven't played DBA in years. A great way to get into ancients
ReplyDeleteThat was the thought process Neil, I don;t really do ancients but this is a nice easy way to get into it.
DeleteDBA is a great way to enter/reenter ancient gaming.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly, nice way to get some stuff on the table pretty quickly which is a real bonus for me!!
DeleteNice to hear from you Donnie, and with another new project underway! My only venture into Ancients has been the 10mm EIR and enemies I got last year - I enjoyed painting them, because, despite the fact the Cromarty Forge 3d prints had amazing detail, they are just quicker to do than 28mm equivalents!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I have found with the 15mm, takes me a good while to get a unit of 28mm to where I am happy with them but the 15mm's painted up pretty quickly and happy enough with them. Always had a hankering to get into ancients, chariots, elephants what's not too like!
ReplyDeleteGlad you’re still out there banging away at it. I seem to take just as long painting 15s as 28s if I’m honest, so somethings out of whack somewhere, lol. Never tried DBA so I’ll be watching your progress with interest.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I thought they might be too fiddly but I painted and based 8 skirmish figures in about the same time it would have taken me to prime and maybe block some colours in on the same in 28mm so I was pretty pleased with my effort.
DeleteGood to hear you are back in the wargaming groove with your DBA armies.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Peter, it was nice to get back into doing some painting, fingers crossed it carries on!!
DeleteMakes sense that you've finished with the garden now and another two projects! My ancients have rather stalled and I haven't even got the Celtic Victrix army out of the box yet and I got that a year ago, I did look at the Newline army deals and have some of their 28mm figures and they're rather nice I think?
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
The projects keep on ramping up but that's going to be it for a while I think, plenty to keep me occupied for the foreseeable, just a matter of keeping the butterfly under control! The Newline figures are pretty decent and worth getting.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear your back with brush inhand, Donnie.
ReplyDeleteHad a good couple of hours on Sunday, prepping and priming some Minden Austrians on Sunday and very enjoyable it was too Ray! Now the gardening season is well and truly over painting will take top priority, I hope!!
DeleteDonnie - any progress is good. Out of interest, which version of DBA are you using? I used to play it a lot, it was easy to build up armies quickly, but I haven't played in years. Inevitably, there is a desire for bigger games. One way around this, is to increase base size to Impetus size (roughly 4x DBA bases) which gives more figures.
ReplyDeleteSteven on his Balagan blog does this, well worth a look.
Neil
Hi Neil, I have the original rules but will probably update to one of the newer versions. I will give Steven a look on this, I browse his blog quite often as he has so much good stuff on it, certainly sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe various versions have certainly increased in complexity! It's a jump from the original to V3 purple hardback.
DeleteThere are "unofficial" guides to DBA - WADbag -out there from the USA- supposedly in "plain English". Another good site is:
https://ancientwargaming.wordpress.com/an-introduction-to-dba/
Neil
Thanks for that Neil, will check them out, I think I will probably stick with the original to start with and take it from there.
DeleteGood to hear you have your mojo back, mine has returned since Partizan.
ReplyDeleteNothing like knocking out an army for DBA, I remember painting a Roman army in 4 days for a tournament in the 90s.
All the best
Cheers
Matt
My mojo tends to disappear during the summer as my other main hobby is gardening and it does take a bit of my time, weather permitting up here!! I would imagine Partizan would certainly get the juices flowing again, there seemed to be o many good games on show there.
Delete