I've been busy on more AB figures this week. I've completed my last Russian Infantry battalion and a unit of Uhlans of the Guard. I've ordered the figure to complete my artillery and also make both my Hussars and Uhlan"big" regiments(6 stands- 18 figures per regiment) so they should arrive sometime next week.
They still need the bases finished. I'm experimenting with a new system of highlighting. I'm trying to use much bolder contrasts. It doesn't look that good up close but gives a nice effect when looking at the figures from a reasonable "gaming" distance.
I painted a battalion of Poles last night and rebased another. Tonight I've abut 16 figures to finish off another battalion and two other battalions to rebase and they are about done (or at least all I have). I will need to get another battalion (or possibly 3 more for when I attack) and another regiment of Lancers and my Duchy of Warsaw force should be game ready.
DBA
I managed a game of DBA on Wednesday evening. I quickly finished off a few Spanish Scutari (Old Glory) to act as the warband and auxillia- I really do struggle to paint any 15mm ancients these days, they really don't appeal at all anymore. I really must complete my Carthaginians and get a Repubican Roman army done for 28mm.
Anyway, I had a game vs Tim- who is the leader on our club ladder. He took some sort of Egyptian army with 6x pikes, an elephant and some knights. The game started well enough with me running down a light horse (I was trying 2x light horse, only 1x elephant) with my Carthaginians, and also a psiloi. his second Psiloi refused to die in about 6 turns of combat and somehow survived and held up my flank. Eventually his knight general closed on my elephant- which charged him in the flank but due to piss poor die rolling I lost and recoiled, squashing two of my own spear elements!
We each lost another element and then he finished off a warband to snatch victory! Foiled again.
Deployment
The Carthaginians move forward- I finished this board abut 20 minutes before heading to the club, the PVA and sand was still a bit wet :)
On the far right is the psiloi that refused to die!
Oh Oh- Dumbo has just recoiled off the enemy general and is about to be prodded back by the pike- oh if only I could roll above a 2! As you can see had the general recoiled it was good night nurse!
The result of the pikes hitting home- Dumbo has killed 2 of my own spear! The psiloi has finally died but the enemy elephant, even though being double overlapped and shaving had the door closed a couple fo times refused to lose a battle and then I lost a warband to lost the game- so close yet so far! at psiloi (Top of right) refuses to die and thus helps thwart my win.
Doubles Game
We then had a double game of Early Imperial Romans v Carthaginians. I would like to tell of a glorious victory to the Carthaginians but we got crushed. My co-commander Impetus Lewis (one of our high school players) managed to lose his general about turn 2 and his flank melted away. I managed to break Tim's force opposite me (revenge) but did a charge too far the turn after breaking his force (I should have just let him melt off the board and face Stephen's force but no, I went for maximum damage) and lost a warband to also break and thus throw away the game (oops)
Thoughts on DBA Basing
I really don't like the look of DBA. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the games and the chess like way it plays but 3-4 figures on a single 15mm/20mm/30mm wide base just doesn't look right as representative of a battlegroup/warband to me. The game does look better in doubles as you start to get more of a mass effect but even so, visually it just lacks something to my mind, which may be why I've headed to Impetus and my own big basing for 28mm- the units just simply look better. My friend Ian has solved the problem with basing all his 15mm figures on double depth bases with 2 ranks-two of those side by side starts to get the right mass or feel for us.
I came away from the games the other night feeling a bit "meh" actually. We seemed to be focusing more on the geometry of the games, ZoCs etc than on tactics- I think I need a bit of a break and play something with a bit more tactical feel for a while so will probably get in a few games of Basic Impetus or even test out my 28mm version of Warmaster Ancients.
Craig
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