DBA re-visited...

Yes - I'm still here, though there has been little wargaming activity that's been blog-worthy lately...

I need to keep reminding myself however, that I don't blog to provide entertainment to others (as if you needed telling that!😏) but mainly to provide a record of what I'm up to; so for the record, not a day goes by without some kind of mental or other activity to do with wargaming (or music, or beer, or boats, or.. or..) but in the case of the little metal men, it's usually when I'm on Claud (Butler - the bike 😀) going to work..

At the moment my thoughts are much exercised by two things (perhaps three)...

One, DG and I have re-opened the annals on previous exploits with DBA. DG and I have been gaming for some considerable time now, but we started off all those years ago playing DBA (v1!) in our lunchtimes at work - we used cardboard counters, large sheets of flip chart paper which we could draw the terrain on with marker pens, and would battle away quite happily for an hour or so in any spare office we could find. I was clearing out a cupboard at work the other week and actually found some of those old flip chart battlefields... Either way, DBA has now moved on to v2.2 (v3 is out next year according to the WRG site) and DG and I suddenly got the urge to have another go as a result of the release of HOTT for free download on the Wargames research Group site (click here for a download) We're now into our second game, and we're using the truly excellent Battle Chronicler [click here] to play the game - this is the current move, I'm playing the Persians..

In the first game I was well and truly boshed - but it had been a long time since I played and the dice Gods were definitely with DG! Suffice to say it's a huge amount of fun and the first thing I do in the morning is go and look for the latest move..

This game is a big battle DBA - we're using the scoring system from HOTT to generate armies of 50AP's each, which works out at about 14 units each... so far it's going OK and I'm making a much better job of it, but fortunes can change like that in DBA!

Two (and I bet you thought I'd forgotten there was a two) - it's autumn, and a wargamers thoughts turn to campaigning... this time DG is going to set one up. Set in the American Civil War we'll have Corps sized armies, and will be manoeuvring to capture/defend a town.. looking forward to it - once again we'll be using Berthier [click here] to do the campaign moves. we'll use Regimental Fire and fury to play out the battles..

Looking forward to the start...

Three - I said there might be three things - I'm in a mini painting funk at the moment purely because of the thought of having to paint the Zouaves that have made their way on to the painting table! These are lovely lovely figures and I really don't want to muck them up... I have decided that the Union regiment are going to be Duryee's.. or more correctly the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry, purely because of this single image... that Troiani [click here] fellow has got a lot to answer for!

 
..though these guys ran them very close..

76th Pennsylvania, Keystone Zouaves

..it's not a serious funk though, I know that as soon as I start I'll rip into it... 😀

...and that's it for now!

7th Virginia finished!

As promised - the 7th Virginia are now finished in all modes - mounted, dismounted, and horse holders... a lot of painting to represent one regiment!

So with further ado - here they are (and as usual - clicking on any picture reveals a pleasingly larger view):

They are a little more irregular than their Union counterparts, I tried to vary the horse colours, and also the grey used in the uniforms, so as to give the impression that they weren't quite as "regimental". I also remembered the plain metal sword scabbards this time... 😏

My reading would indicate that cavalry on cavalry engagements in the American Civil war, Brandy Station aside, were very rare...

..the way that I will try to encourage this on the tabletop is something that Bluebear Jeff alluded to in a post a long time ago - very closed in terrain; there were no open spaces, as there was in Europe, to encourage sweeping cavalry charges...

...and just as a reminder, here they are in dismounted mode - horse-holders to the rear..

Figures are Newline Designs (of course!), 20mm and painted in my usual style - acrylics and inks on a black undercoat (with a white damp-brush for contrast)

Newline Designs October special...

Just a quick update - things are happening but to be honest mostly on the sailing front so it's that particular blog that's getting all the updates at the moment.. I'll be posting soon on the completed Confederate 7th Virginia cavalry though...

I did happen to spot this however - Newline Designs are offering an October special offer, for those of you tempted then the details are as follows:

20mm ACW and Zulu Wars:
20% off all standard and unit packs
(Offer does not include army or bargain packs)

More details here [click here] and here [click here]

That works out 24 infantry for £7.60 - that's 32p each, instead of 40p - fill yer boots say I!

1st Michigan finished!

Pleased to report that the 1st Michigan are now totally complete.. click on any of the following for a pleasingly enlarged view....

That's in all their table-top guises, dismounted [click here - and also for unit history], with their horse-holders [click here] for when in dismounted mode, and now also in this, their mounted mode...

I could rave for hours about how much I like these figures, but I think the best thing about them is that even my "painting savagery" doesn't spoil the lines...

Purposeful I like to think...

I especially like the grey on the end - he worked out quite well in this batch...

Figures are 20mm Newline Designs - painting was done in my usual style (rushed and botched... ) - black spray undercoat, dampbrush all over in white, and then predominantly a succession of inks/washes.

For the horses I used an old bottle of Citadel "Chestnut", the darker one is Vallejo "Smoke" - I didn't use anything for the grey - just a slightly heavier damp brush with the white than the others.... I then washed them all over with a very thin black wash... I went back to do mains/tails/bottoms of the legs/harness in plain black...

Coat tunics are Winsor and Newton Calligraphy ink "Dark Blue" - I like the way it highlights & shades all in one coat when painted on top of the white... I used their "Black" for the previous step... I like these inks so much I may try some of the browns for horse colours... only "downside" is that the inks are water soluble, but I like it, as it means a simple wet paintbrush easily fixes mistakes...! The inks are then fixed at the end with a matt fixative spray..

Dismounted mode - extended skirmish line with horse-holders behind....

The next eight are already under-coated and waiting to be turned in the Confederate 7th Virginia...

Horse holders...

Wow - clearly the trip to the Colours show was more affecting than I thought.. I had an almost overwhelming urge to pick up a paint brush when I got back... these guys were already under-coated so they were the unlucky candidates and drew the short straw!

These will provide the markers for my cavalry regiments when they dismount... these are the horse-holders for the Confederate 7th Virginia Cavalry [click here].



The following are the horse-holders for the Union 1st Michigan Volunteer Cavalry [click here]



..actually I think it's more to do with DG's visit and the sheer pleasure of pushing some lead around!

Figures are 20mm and Newline (I will try some other manufacturers at some point in time, but at the moment I'm wholly enjoying painting these little guys!)

This time I tried a new technique with these horses.. my favourite horses are bays - usually I use a paint to get the reddish brown colour (Vallejo Maron). This time I decided to save time - black undercoat, damp brush white, generous coat of some (very old) chestnut coloured Citadel ink, once that is dry over-brush with a generous coating of (very) dilute black ink, with a final darker black ink for mane and tail and the bottoms of the legs - done! No more than 10 minutes for all four, but I think they look OK... a little dark, but in the flesh they're good.

Next step - and already started - is the mounted versions of the regiments. First off the chocks will be the 1st Michigan.