Saturday, 29 March 2008

DBA 1500-1900 31b Dutch

Here's our Dutch Army that we have just finished off. Inspiration due to Wargames Illustrated 242, Dutch Thirty Years War Army Article & free downladable flags. To be honest the troops, 15mm, are whats leftover from other Armies & a few extra figures from EBay. A touch up with the paint job & a coat of miracle dip to bring out figure detail.

Very heavy on the Shot, it will be interesting to see how they perform on the battlefield.

31b Dutch, 1590-1660.
Enemies = 20 Spanish, 1560-1609, 32a French 1600-1640, 32b French, 1640-1660,
33 Spanish 1609-1660, 36 New Model Army 1644-1660, 42a Imperial 1606-1648,
42b German/Danish, 1618-1648.

2x4Pi, 1x2LH or 2Ps or 4Sh or 3Dr, 2x4Pk, 5x4Sh, 1x4Pk or 4Sh, 1xArt.

The Dutchies lined up for battle


Dutch Foot. 2 Elements of Pike & a massive 6 of Shot. Dutch, English & Scots mercenaries.


The Dandy Dutch General


Dutch Horsemen. Light Horse, Pistols & finally Dragoons.


Pistols up close, Cuirassiers & Harquebusiers.


Light Horse & Dragoons


Artillery

Sunday, 23 March 2008

DBA Samurai vs Samurai

WWWWAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhh!!!!!!!!! Samurai Time!

The second game Jack & I had the other night, this time two mighty Samurai Armies.
We used the DBA 1500-1900 Extension List for this one, as it had more Cavalry options.
All the minis had flags from the brill Warflag site, one side would be the Takeda & the other the Uesugi.

83 Japanese, 1543-1615.
2x3Cv/4Bd, 2x3Cv/4Bd/4Lb, 4x4Sh or 4Aux, 2x4Sh or 2x3Bd , 2x4Aux or 4Lb.

A bit more terrain than normal, we set up a hill, two forests & two rice paddies. Jack was the attacker & his die roll gave him the paddy field side. This led him to 'umm & aarr' a bit over where his troops would be placed.

My troops on the left, Jacks on the right.


Foot troops on the hill with the Samurai Lord in the middle, Cavalry on the flank.


Jacks Samurai Cavalry would match up against mine, his General taking the lead


Samurai Camps



Jack plunged for a 'mass' of warriors & moved them quickly at the start through the gap in the rice fields.


View from behind my lines


Jack sees an opening & sends a Cavalry element off on its own.


My left flank, Cavalry clash coming up. I send a sneaky Ashigaru Auxilia around the flank.


I've got elements in support, advantage to Dad.


Ashigaru hang back on my right flank to counter his Cavalry.


The lines take shape, Jack spends an eternity getting his ready.


Lance, sword & bow in action as the Samurai on horseback clash...


He's still tweaking his battle line.......zzzzzz


Out from the woods a lone Ashigaru charges & out flanks the Samurai.
But he's not needed, good dice & I double Jacks score, wipe one Samurai Cavalry!


I'm winning, I'll play Jacks game & match his line.


Jack senses the danger, he backs up the Cavalry.


Are we ready yet....... CHARGE!!!!


He tries to send his Cavalry around the flank again....
Jack is obsessed with capturing enemy camps!


I send out a Ashigaru Auxilia to ZOC his Cavalry.


The Main lines Charge home!


He's running out of Battlefield!


Another Samurai cavalry goes down, EASY EASY EASY!!!


This is the longest Charge in history........


At last, we start the main scrap, but I'm getting too confident.


The most cowardly Samurai Lord ever......


Oh dear the dice rolls turn, Jack wins a few combats.


The 'Dice Gods' shine down & abandon Jack in his hour of need. I win through at the end!


HA HA!! The view from Jacks Samurai Lord!!!


Great fight, the Samurai do look very impressive. Jack wants another fight, but we'll have to leave his revenge for a later date. We don't agree on were it all went wrong, I thought Jack took too long setting up & he didn't use his Auxilia very well. However we do agree that we'll have a BBDBA Samurai clash in the near future!!

Tuesday, 18 March 2008

DBA IV/59(b) Post Mongol Samurai

Here's our DBA Samurai Army. We initially bought a small army from EBay & then just
kept adding bits onto it. These fellas have back banners from the brilliant Warflag site
http://www.warflag.com/flags/sam/samurait.shtml

Mind you, if there's one job that is completely soul destroying, then it's attaching loads of
back banners zzzzzzz... We had a Samurai battle the other week & it looked pretty good.
Battle report to follow shortly.

DBA IV/59(b) Post Mongol Samurai 1300-1542AD
1x3Cv or 4Bd(Gen), 1x3Cv, 5x4Bd, 1x3Sp, 4x5Wb or 4x7Hd or 4x3Sp

Samurai Army




The Samurai Lord, Cavalry or Blade General


Cavalry


Samurai Warriors on foot, Blade elements


Ashigaru, Spear element


More Ashigaru, Spear option. Peasants as the Warband/Horde options.


Up close & nasty to those revolting peasants


Samurai Bamboo Camp, guarded by Ashigaru Spear element

Thursday, 13 March 2008

How's it going MrF?

Oh dear, the paints have been out again after a few months on the sidelines. The last time we had this 'urge' (you ALL know what its like...) saw us building hordes of AWI Armies, mostly due to Giles Allisons BRILLIANT Tarletons Quarter Blog http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/

I've been trawling around the blogs & websites lately. Quite frankly the paint jobs out there are getting better & better, so in total envy we're back into 'Building Army' mode. We don't have any fancy set up, all the kit is in trays or boxes & the dining table is the base. So along with some good EBay purchases & plain lead, the armies are coming along nicely.

What's in the pipeline? Wargames Illustrated have just ran a great series on the 30YW, so along with a free download of flags http://www.wargamesillustrated.net/reader.asp, we've got a Dutch Army. I do fancy a 30YW French Army, complete with D'Artagnons Musketeers, so that's on the go. French Huguenots are not far behind, to go with our existing English Elizabethans. We've also finished some elements to complete our AWI Armies.

Oh and thanks to the fantastic Phils War Cabinet http://www.warcabinet.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/army_showcase%20%20italian%20wars.htm we're just finishing off an Italian Wars Imperial Army with loads of those 'hairy germans in pyjamas', Landsknects. Just need some Artillery for them, I do like Vexillia Ltds Landsknect Artillery & will be buying some when funds allow. http://www.vexillia.ltd.uk/venexia/images/scangi41a.jpg

The 'Tools of Creation'....


Dutch Cuirassiers & Dragoons, Huguenots, AWI Cavalry & Infantry


Finished elements & stuff ready for Basing


Now I'm going to have a rant. I was looking through the 'creations' the other day & have you ever had that 'I just don't like the look of them...' urge? Well it was our Sassanid Persians & I'm not happy with our current banners. Yes I know LBM do a flag sheet, but it's for 28mm. (I once spent an eternity at a Games Show Stand measuring up the LBM flagsheet against one of our Sassanid figures. After much 'oooing & aaarring', I still wasn't happy, as it would of meant cutting down the lovely flags. So I left, buying a paintbrush in guilt at taking up so much of the nice traders time..).

I've also seen the free Persian flags on Fanticus, but I've used them elsewhere. I've trawled round Google, looking for Sassanid designs, but found very little. SO... if anyone out there has some cool designs & wouldn't mind sharing them, then please please please leave a comment on our blog with a link or something.

I'm due to start a 7 day shift pattern at work, so new posts may be thin on the ground.
Cheers MrF