Nashcon is Near

Memorial Day weekend is almost here, and for those of us around Nashville that means just one thing, Nashcon! I'm organizing the DBA events this year, giving Ed Dillon a much needed and well deserved break. We have several events scheduled: Friday afternoon there will be an introduction to DBN game in 25mm which I will host, later that evening Paul Potter will run a Lords of Tamerlane campaign game with all figures provided, Saturday afternoon will be a DBA clinic and open gaming session with fabulous prizes (see below), and Saturday evening will be the 15mm DBA open tournament with more fabulous prizes.

Archers for a DBA 25mm Saxon army provided by Iron wind metals. The army has 1 command stand, 2 blade stands and 8 or 9 stands of spear and 1 stand of psiloi.

The command stand figures. The army is made from Ral Partha historicals which were sculpted by Tom Meier and released back in the late 70's and early 80's.

A sample of the huscarle figures. Obviously the figures need to be trimmed and the axes straightened, but this is one of my all time favorite figures.

The Fyrdmen. Most of these are in the pose with the spear, but a few swordsmen are also included to give them that levied look.

Other prizes for the Campaign and open tournament are provided by Wargames. They have generously provided four core twelve element armies for the DBA events which will be given away Friday and Saturday night. Sorry no photos of them, but there were just too many to try. The armies are: Bosporan, Later Hungarian, Tuetonic, and Parthian. I'll see ya'll at Nashcon.

Sarmations nearing completion

The Sarmation army is oh so close to completion. All I need to do is add the basing sand and then flock them and off they will go to the auction block. They have turned out quite nice, and frankly, I'm not sure I can part with them before trying a game or two. Nashcon starts this Friday, which gives me plenty of time to get the basing done, but not much time to sneak in a game. Thanks to Al Gaiser for the figures. These are Donnington miniatures, and though older sculpts, actually painted up very well. Even with their huge lances, they fit very well on the bases and should have a commanding presence on the battlefield.

All options later Sarmation army for DBA. 12 knights, 1 light horse and 2 psiloi. I have opted for very heavily armored cavalry here which seems to be the case for later Sarmations. Though I doubt all the cavalry would have been armored, apparently the majority would have ridden armored horses, so I think this is a pretty good representation of the force.

The Sarmations drying on their bases. Once the glue is thoroughly dry I'll work on detailing the bases, then the mighty thunder of horses will be heard on the battlefield, I hope. Working on this army has really whetted my apetite to get my own figures painted which I will get to keep. I'll be using a different painting style so It will make for an interesting comparison. I hope the extra effort will be worth it because these will be hard to beat.

25mm Polish and French

Just finished these recently so I thought I'd post a few pictures. They are mounted for DBN using the optional double basing method. I love painting 25mm Napoleonics as there is just so much more "meat" to them.

This is an element of Front Rank figures painted as the 7th Polish (Duchy of Warsaw) infantry that served in Spain and Russia. Polish uniforms are notoriously hard to pin down and I have read many different theories on how this particular unit was uniformed. In the end I decided to rely heavily on Haythornthwaites' work, in which he states that they retained their national uniform in spain, unlike the other Polish regiments, and were not uniformed in French style.

I have been wanting to paint a unit of white coated French for literally 25 years and have finally done so. I had some old minifigs lying around that needed to be repainted, so they form the back line of the element, while the front line are all Essex miniatures.

Sarmations coming along

The Sarmations have been coming along nicely. I have broken them into two groups, one to sell at Nashcon, and the other for my own use. I will be using two different painting styles so it will be interesting to see how each army comes out.

These are the later Sarmations for sale at Nashcon. If ever there was an army designed for drybrushing it is these. I decided to do a black undercoat and drybrush the armor. I will then go back and do the detail work. The Sarmations used a variety of armor: horn, laquered red leather, bronze and iron, which should make them very colorful.

These are for my own army and will comprise enough figures for an early or later Sarmation force. I have primed these white and they will get a base coat of color and then an all over wash to pick out the detail. A little more work than just drybrushing, but hopefully worth it.

Here are the light horse archers converted from lancers.

More lancers converted to javelin armed shielded cavalry. This was a much easier conversion and the figures look great.

from a different angle

Progress Report

I'll start with an update on my 1806 Prussian project for DBN. I have just finished three elements for the light infantry and jagers, as well as some nice terrain pieces to represent towns and fortifications.

Coming

and going

For the terrain pieces I decided to go with 1/300th scale buildings, which are large enough to almost accomodate 15mm figures, but small enough to fit on the base sizes required. The buildings, and walls are from Hovels, and the hedges are just piecesof flocked foam.

I love the flower gardens around the house for a little bit of added color.

The jagers

detached schutzen (sharp shooters) from a light infantry regiment

The light infantry. This photo makes them look like they are huge compared to the building, but it is really just an effect of the camera angle and of course the fact that the figures are on a relatively thick base.

Sarmation army from Donnington miniatures

I recently received a huge bag of Donnington Sarmations and quickly set about organising them into the figures necessary to make early and later DBA Sarmation armies. Upon further reading I discovered that early Sarmatians were most likely shielded javelin cavalry or horse archers similar to Skythians. All of the Donnington figures I received were armed with the two handed Kontos (big lance), so were really clearly designed for later Sarmations. Not to be deterred however, a little creativity and voila, early Sarmations as well. The figures themselves are actually quite nice. The facial features are a bit crude, but the poses themselves are quite dynamic, and I think the figures will paint up beautifully. The left arms, where there was an undercut in the mold, often require substantial trimming, but fortunately this is in an area that will not be readily visible, nor where there was any substantial detail. The fingers are not really sculpted on the hands, but as the sarmation lancers appear to have worn heavy gloves, this actually works quite well and will make attaching the lances quite easy.

Here is what I have mounted for painting so far. I just need a dozen or so more javelin and horse archers and then they will be ready for paint.

The heavy knights or cataphracts. I'll probably shorten the lances on these figures so they are not sticking out in front of the stand.

I modified these medium cavalry to be horse archers. The metal is nice and soft, so bending the arms into a more appropriate position for an archer was not a problem. The bows are made from floral wire which has been bent to an appropriate shape.

These are the ones I'm most proud of. I have modelled them after an illustration from the WRG book on ancient armies. I have used figures from the heavy cavalry and mounted them on the unarmored horses. The right arm is in the perfect position for holding a javelin. I have bent the left arm up and out and then mounted homemade shields on them.

Same figures from a different angle

The shields were actually very easy to make. I took a standard hole puncher and attacked a very thin (probably no thicker than heavy bond paper) sheet of brass. The circles that are removed have a nice tapered edge from where the whole punch pushed them out which is perfect for shields. When glued to an arm for support, they appear to be plenty strong and won't bend too easily.

Mayans are Ready for the Jungle

The Mayans are now ready for the March 22nd tournament at Wargames, but as to how they will fare.... 8 Aux, 2 Blade, 1 Bow, and 1 psiloi... I sure hope I get to be the defender and set terrain, otherwise I'm hosed. I just spoke to Baxter at Wargames, and he tells me the winner will come away with an Essex Alexandrian Macedonian army, A sweet prize! As two of our local ringers will be unable to make it, and I will be playing a real powerhouse Mayan army, the chances are excellent for a novice or occasional player to take home the prize.

Essex Aztecs masquerading as Mayan auxilia.

Porters trudging through the homeland. The tree is from Lifelike, as is the brush and high grasses. The rocks are made from a plaster impregnated paper product called Sculptamold.

The whole gang

A bad a## auxilia unit with the central warrior standing on the highground made from more sculptamold paper mache. I'm worried people will mistake this for the general's element, but I'll just have to make an extra effort to point out the real general.

Here he is. The stand on the left with the conch shell trumpeter is the general's element. Hopefully the giant headdress will make that clear.

Psiloi hiding in the rocks and bushes

The only unit that a knight army needs to fear - sigh.

More red body paint and stripy guys.