|
Post by paddy649 on Apr 28, 2024 15:24:07 GMT
I that case I’m even more impressed that you escaped the “1 throwing curse” of all newly painted armies.
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Apr 28, 2024 12:13:57 GMT
Do you think that others are having to use someone else's army influences the choices made in its make up ? Absolutely! That’s what makes the choice so interesting. You could take an unbeatable army or 12 x Ps; either way you’ll only get 3 wins! The trick is to find something else - and I’ll leave the Martins to tell you what that was!
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Apr 28, 2024 8:48:26 GMT
I get to go to relatively few DBA tournaments but Alton is always a favourite as it is so well run, in such a good location and has an excellent crowd. Also the theme is always well balanced and challenging. No change this year with and against your own Ps & LH heavy army in equal measures.
My initial thoughts was to take the Order of St John who made the grade with 6 Ps but they proved to be too vulnerable to mounted. I also decided against the Tang and went for II/25 Bosphorans with Alan allies. This had 4 knights, a good balance of 4 LH & 2Ps plus 2 Bow to go LH sniping. The Littoral and Aggression 0 was a bonus.
Game 1 was vs Pete Duckworth’s Kommenian Byzantines. This game went well although I lost terrain and so was fighting on a table dominated by 2 hills and a BUA. Pete Deployed this LH on a hill while his light troops took the Hamlet. I managed to advance my bow with LH support into range leaving Pete the decision of either taking a trickle of casualties from shooting or charging into unfavourable combats. His bravery wasn’t rewarded and I won 5-0.
In game 2 I played with the Golden Horde vs John Saunders. I lost terrain and John kept the battlefield open. The Golden Horde was ill suited to fighting the Bosphorans and although I achieved favourable matchups the low factors made dice a dominating factor and as ever when playing John I had to work had for my kills only to get overwhelmed by poor dice rolls; in the end losing 4-3.
In Game 3 I was back with my army vs Mark Priest’s Rum Turks; a nice army with 6LH, 4Cav & 2Bw. This game was ugly; despite winning terrain and dominating the table with a central fort my dice failed to turn up. I was rolling 1s & 2s for PIPs while Mark consistently rolled 4s (enough to manoeuvre efficiency but not too many to get him into trouble.) He charged into combat and my dice utterly deserted me (three 1-6 combat rolls) and I went down to a 3G-0 loss.
In game 4 I was given NeoHittites & Phoenician allies by Richard Pulley. Sorry Richard but this army was a disjointed pile of crap. He chose a very open battlefield and so I resigned myself to getting slaughtered! I could do no more than charge onto his knights and LH in echelon formed while my Ps were getting slaughtered on the beach on the other flank. Fortunately this is when my dice realised it actually had a 6 side giving me a close fought 4-3 win.
Next up I used Bosphorans vs Steve Etheridge’s Arabs, a nice army but unsuited to its terrain which all piled up on one side of the board; which I kindly donated to my opponent. He had nowhere to deploy and only 2 narrow channels to manoeuvre but I blocked these with bow and knights. Utterly boxed in he bravely opted to come out swinging but went down 5-0; richly deserving his “thrower of 1s” award.
In the final game Pete Phipps gave me Byzantines who promptly lost terrain. He put the fort and wood on one side of the battlefield but with 2 blade in the army I had an edge despite being hemmed in by l terrain. Blade vs Bow is an uneven fight even if they occupy a fort and this fell on my first bound. The Waterway and fort’s TZ meant we were now fighting on a very narrow front where I could mass LH vs his knights and get my blade in against his bow. It got messy quickly giving me a 4f-0 win.
So after a poor morning things picked up in the afternoon giving me a 4-2 record and 99 points, enough for 4th place. The Bosphorans wiped their nose at 3-3.
Thanks Martin for an excellent tournament. I really enjoyed the day. Thanks to all who donated prizes - I’ll enjoy reading my book! Well done to Martin, Martin and Mark who occupied the podium positions. I’d love to know how those Skythians managed to win and loose in such perfect measures!
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Apr 28, 2024 8:35:44 GMT
Have you been able to calculate the army stats Martin? Was there a strongest army or did most end up like my Bosphorans with a 3-3 record?
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Apr 14, 2024 20:11:04 GMT
I’ve not joined the 3D printer set because of the space required and smell of the resin compounds. Besides you can get pretty much anything printed by a mate with a 3D printer or on Etsy.
Love those epic Punic wars minis. That is what I meant in my original post. However, although I like the Warlord Epic stuff, especially the Napoleonics, I’m not convinced. 3 reasons: first is that you are totally reliant on the whims of Warlord Games. For example it’s great if you want to do Waterloo but no good if you want to do the more interesting 1813 or Peninsular Campaigns. Also you are dependent on their packaging - how many 95th Rifles do you actually need? Second, is the boutique nature of the offering - will you be able to buy them in 15 years time? Maybe, maybe not! Lastly, it’s the rules. If I wanted to rolls loads of 6s, I’d play Ludo!
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Apr 12, 2024 21:22:56 GMT
So I have loads of DBA armies in 15mm ….BUT…. I can’t help thinking I’ve got it all wrong! Let me explain……
I started playing DBA in 6mm when a friend made all the 2nd Punic War armies. The whole set plus terrain fitted in a toolbox and that’s all we needed. We could play in the club or in the pub… it didn’t matter. Plus the armies looked like armies. Pike blocks were blocks, cavalry swarmed and elephants came in herds.
Then after 7th edn WRG I collected a few 15mm DBA armies….sure the individual figures look better BUT too few. 2 figures don’t look like a cloud of Psloi, 8 figures doesn’t look like a pike block and 3 mounted troops doesn’t look like a charge.
I’ve seen 25mm - 28mm but get agoraphobia at that scale - but I do like the 60mm bases as they are chunky and meaningful.
So now let’s look at 10mm. Big enough so they aren’t armed stubble but small enough to give an impression of mass. On 40mm bases these look good but on 60mm bases even better. Lots of figures and each base representing a mass of troops. Visually stunning but still with the solid DBA rules.
So if I started again I probably go for 10mm be very tempted by 60mm base widths. What does everyone else think?
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Feb 11, 2024 15:40:16 GMT
I finished the I/15 Late Amorites today and included an Edifice I had intended for use for a camp with a Sea Peoples army but once you check the measurements it's a little too large to be a standard camp....but can still be used as an Edifice camp or stand alone terrain piece.The Late Amorites are also an enemy of the Egyptians so the vandalised Edifice can be used to taunt any wanna-be Ramases the Great.😉 The figures are all Essex miniatures and the Edifice is from Hovels miniatures. For photos see fb.... www.facebook.com/share/p/fZBSyV4dN7Y61ae8/or postimg.cc/gallery/6JfCGn17Those look great Haardrada! What’s up next?
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Feb 3, 2024 22:44:38 GMT
Anyone want to take a set of 3 useless and redundant d6s off my hands. One careful owner who was tragically let down by the numbers they decided to roll! Seemed to be working OK when you beat me 4-2, Paddy 😁. Crackin’ game 🙂👍🏼 GG! Could have gone either way! Good, enjoyable tournament as well - Thanks Steve!
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Feb 3, 2024 21:50:26 GMT
Anyone want to take a set of 3 useless and redundant d6s off my hands. One careful owner who was tragically let down by the numbers they decided to roll!
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Feb 2, 2024 22:21:52 GMT
Yes please - count me in.
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Jan 18, 2024 13:40:21 GMT
So I finally took the plunge and ordered some Museum Miniatures Z Sculpt Trojan Wars figures, taking advantage of Dave’s generous 25% off January sale. These figures were to add onto existing ones in preparation for some DBF games.
I was previously reticent on buying Z Sculpts for two reasons: 1. The marketing just shows the 3D print file images which to my eye look like caricatures - so I wasn’t sure what the figures would look like. 2. I was out of synch with Dave’s release schedule. He was releasing ranges I already owned or had just built.
Any way the figures arrived, quickly and correctly, and they are nothing short of stunning! Absolutely beautiful models, well proportioned (heroic rather than true 15mm,) minimal flash, lots of detail and excellent poses. Definitely up to if not exceeding Xyston quality (and that is high praise) but they look less fiddly. Honestly - these are some of the nicest figures I’ve seen!
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Jan 14, 2024 19:33:16 GMT
Don’t know how much Dave at Museum Miniatures has made from his January sale but he says he has already exceeded his PayPal limit and I’ve just contributed some more. Well done Dave - quality models at inflation beating prices. Can’t complain about that!
I just couldn’t resist some Z Sulpt Trojans and Mycenaeans given the 25% reduction. They’ll be quite a decent matched pair.
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Jan 10, 2024 0:09:34 GMT
You can bask in the knowledge that you walk in the footsteps of Pyrrhus of Epirus!
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Jan 9, 2024 13:43:28 GMT
Cypriot and Phonecian Ofds and Sods completed - but the lure of Napoleonics has been too strong in the new year. I’ve got an Italian Division on the painting table. Have you tried DBN yet?/ I was playing my own variant of DBN based on DBA 1.0 decades before DBN came out. However, back then I usually played Empire. DBN is (IMHO) OK but does some things I don’t like. When I do play Napoleonics these days I tend to Age of Eagles or Napoleon’s Battles - so all my bases are incompatible with DBN now.
|
|
|
Post by paddy649 on Jan 9, 2024 13:39:31 GMT
Cypriot and Phoenician Odds and Sods completed - > Are you making the 6 x 4Ax version at all, Paddy? Which figures? (I took 1/35b to the ‘low powered armies’ tournament at Bakewell, where it did pretty well). Yep - I’ve got 4 x 4Ax - all using Chariot Miniatures bought in just before they closed down. However, in hindsight I realise I missed the HCh so will have to use Kyrenean ones until I can find some.
|
|