Basing schemes for smaller armies

As my 'Dip' experiment turns into a project, thoughts naturally turn to how many of the little metal blighters I need, and how I'm going to base them.

As background, a couple of years ago I ordered the DBA 2.2 rules and took advantage of a generous offer from Essex miniatures who were doing a 3 for 2 sale of their DBA 15mm armies. I decided I'd like to get into a Dark Ages / 1066 campaign, and so picked up 6 armies, adding a couple more, specifically Crusaders and Syrians.

Unfortunately, I've since found that I don't like small armies - and DBA armies are small! - but nor do I like the period enough to mortgage the house so that I can paint up armies to the size I do for my ancient fetishes fixations.

My problem therefore is twofold: I don't want to play DBA; nor do I want to build massive armies for what is (for me) a period of only secondary interest.

The first thought I had was to base them up on x4 bases (ie, 80mm x 30mm) for infantry, and x2 bases for cavalry (also 80 x 30), but I think that DBA armies spread out on bases of that size are going to look rather forlorn.

Instead, I think I might use the 28mm DBA scheme (60mm x 20 / 60mm x 40mm). This should allow me to get away with 8-10 15mm infantry or 4-5 15mm horse per base without the lines looking too sparse. The downside is that my basing won't be compatible with that of anyone else, but as I am going to provide all the armies anyway, I don't see that being a major problem in the foreseeable future.

The plan as far as rules go is to use Dux Bellorum (modified as needed), which means that I'll require somewhere between 7 and 10 units for each army. I may have to buy in a couple of extra packs of figures here or there, but first impressions are that the armies I have when mounted on 28mm DBx bases should just about hit the spot.

Now, with that sorted I can get back to painting!

A dip test

I've been getting a little frustrated with my failure to make much of an indentation in the lead mountain, so I thought I would try something different from my usual painting method to see if I like the results. Yes, the dip.

I have a mass of Essex late Dark Age / early medieval 15mm DBA armies picked up in a 3 for 2 sale some years ago, and they seem like good candidates for a block paint and dip approach. Not to mention that with Dux Bellorum on the shelf it seems criminal not to try to get them tableworthy.

So here we are then. Block paint dullish colours.

Add acrylic stain. Used as-is, and applied with a wet brush.

And voila.

Hmm. Not spectacular, but probably comparable to other more expensive products. With a highlight here and there and a coat of matt varnish these might look OK.

Phil Sabin's 'Phalanx' game available for free download

Phil Sabin has recently revised his Society of Ancients game 'Phalanx' and made it available for download from the files section of the Lost Battles yahoo group. An enterprising member has since made up a VASSAL module for the game so that it can be played live over the internet, by email, or solitaire on your computer.

The game itself is diceless and relatively simple, using only 1 page of rules. Two armies of equal size - 10 units and a baggage piece each - and strength face off across a hex board (a Commands & Colors: Ancients board does nicely), with a neat method of combat resolution (3 attacking units will rout a hoplite unit, 2 a peltast or cavalry unit, 1 the baggage unit, 4 the commander and his guard).

The object of the game is to rout four units and there is a simple victory point system so that players can play a series of games to determine an overall victor.

If you are interested, follow the link above to see more.

Note that the game can be played as a board game or with miniatures.

Phalanx game board, taken from the VASSAL module by Slava.

Sample deployment, again from the VASSAL module.

A work interlude

It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks here but things are settling down now for a short spell so I hope to be able to get some painting done.

The rushed state of affairs was brought about by my having been asked, about two months ago, to do a 'teach the teachers' seminar on behalf of the local Board of Education. Its purpose was to give Japanese elementary school teachers a few tools to make them a little more confident teaching English, either in their own classes or in a team-teaching environment with a native English speaker.

As Japan will be increasing its focus on English language learning at elementary school level over the next couple of years, there is a bit of a push on to get teachers up to speed.

Anyway, the seminar seemed to go over quite well, which was pleasing. There were a couple of areas I could have improved on, but on the whole it was worth the time and effort.

And now that it's done, I might just have a short window of time to catch up on some painting (if the motivation holds!) before I need to start preparing for the next thing I have to do!

The Mighty Endeavour

 Allied forces land in Normandy... (Game is MMP's 'The Mighty Endeavor')

Quick update...

Things have been quiet in blog land lately thanks to work. Although the home has not been entirely devoid of gaming and related activities, finding the time to write them up has been beyond me.

Here though is a quick selection of recent activities.

W1815 - A couple of friends came over the other week for a crack at W1815, the new Waterloo game. They seemed to enjoy it and while Wellington won both games, he was a good deal more successful in one than the other.

Munda, with Strategos II.

Well, that's about all that I've got time and energy for at the moment. Cheerio!

First foray into 1/700 plastic

I have a secret shame. The last few months I've been amassing boxes of 1/700 aircraft and buildings. I don't really know why, but every time I see a kit in a local hobby shot I've felt compelled to purchase it. I suppose I have vague notions of using them for some kind of WWII or Moderns air-warfare game, but it's all very hazy indeed.

Anyway, I opened up the the box of 1/700 buildings and decided to make them up as a tester.

It is a Pit-Road Skywave kit, and for about US$7 you get a total of nine buildings. They are very small but superbly detailed.

The thing is, how do you paint the blighters? Do you undercoat and risk covering up the detail, or just paint straight on and risk poor coverage? Any thoughts?