December PAWS Competition

I have to say Saturday was a lot of fun. I even got to Portsmouth in time to have a pint with a couple of the locals before going to the centre for the competition.

There were 16 entries for the DBA competition, organised into 2 groups of 8. Each player played 4 games against others in their group, with the two group winners plus the next two best scores going through to the semi finals.

My first game was a bit of a blur. My lack of experience showed mightily and I was crushed in very short order. I lost 2 elements plus my camp, and inflicted none. No photos, it was all over too quickly ...

By my second game I was back into the swing a bit

more. The photo below shows the table just after

what proved to be the decisive moment. My 3

elements on the far left have just killed their 3

opponents who they caught coming out of bad

going. I only lost one element in total. 5-0 to me.

My third game was against a Tupi army - all

warband and bows. I went for a risky oblique

attack which eventually all hinged on my blade

holding off his warband for three or four attacks until

I got onto the flank of his general. I only killed 2

elements, but I lost none and since one of his was

his general I won. Another 5-0 to me.

My fourth game was against more Hwaiians, and here my home terrain almost did for me. With the coast to my back my opponant landed 4 elements behind the right hand end of my line. Several turns of nail-biting action ensued while I turned part of my army to face him. Poor pip throws and a failure to move his general a bit closer eventually did for him however. This picture shows the table at the end of the game. He's finally got his army across the table, but my 4 elements are chasing the last of his landing force (out of shot) while my pike and general kill a couple of skirmishers to seal the win.

With 3 wins I had 15 points, but I qualified in 4th place because I killed a general more than the guy in 5th. My scoresheet - of which I'm quite proud ...

My semi final went wrong, and I was chewed up on bad going I put in place. The final position is shownon the right.

I don't seem to have any photos of my 3rd/4th place game, but I did win it to come a very creditable 3rd in my first DBA competition ever ! I also got given one of the local club dice with a 'Paw' on the 6 spot, so many thanks lads  I'm looking forward to more comps in 2011 and I will be back to Pompey for the next one.

S-no Problem !

Well, PAWS is only two days away now. The armies are finished, I've sorted out the one big piece of terrain I need and I'm all set to go.

This morning - we've finally got snow on the ground here.

Hopefully it will be all gone by Saturday ...

Essex Christmas Offer

I've been planning to buy some more DBA armies and get myself a FOG-sized Medieval army for a couple of weeks. Christmas is coming and I have eleven days off and usually get myself a new army to paint as a self-given Christmas present.

I was just looking at the Essex Website late last night when I saw their latest special offer - 3 for 2 on DBA armies. Whoopey !

I plan to get 9 in total - 3 batches of 3 - and then a nice medieval starter army. I just need to sell the 5 DBA armies I have on sale before Christmas

Savage Islanders




  

Next up is the Hawaiian army - intended primarily for the PAWS competition.

This army is a bit more complex with 7 x Blade, 3 x Psiloi and 2 x Pike but is apparently a better army than the Tupi.



This is the command element

Finally, here is the camp element for both the Tupi and the Hawaiians.

Lurking in the bshes is the CF element for the Hawaiians

Barbarians and Savages

Because I was planning to go to Warfare I slowed up on the painting stakes this month, but then I had a bit of luck buying some secondhand figures. This nice set of Gauls was too good to pass up. Anyway, nowadays it's not often you see an army where all the infantry are Nekkid !!!

Otherwise getting an army sorted out for the PAWS competition took priority. Since I have no idea what makes a good DBA competition army I decided to get two armies and then choose which one to use nearer the time. I have had many good dealings with East Riding Miniatures, so I ordered enough Hawaiians and Tupi to do the job plus a Camp Follower element for each army.

6 x Warband and 6 x Bow make this an easy looking army and it was certainly easy to paint - all feathers and body paint !! The general element has a grisly souvenir of their last encounter with Europeans !



Warfare 2010

Went to Warfare today. I like this show, it's a big mix of competition games, outstanding demos and lost of traders. My day was much busier than usual, and by turn, busy, fun, profitable, frantic and  tiring.

Staines Wargamers took the Charge of the Light Brigade participation game for it's last outing this year. I've got a large car which can easily transport 5 adults plus a large game so I was driver for the day and so was out of the door before 8.00 to pick up the other guys. The CoLB game is always fun and with several of us there we can keep it going all day while taking turns to go round the actual show.

Just before lunch I came across a trader who was selling painted figures for a friend at knock-down prices. I picked up about 200 Gauls (including 5 chariots and 12 cavalry) plus about 900 FOG points of Imperial Romans. Tim picked up the accompanying Republican Romans before his eye went wonky. There were several others there as well and all were seriously underpriced. The Gauls will probably end up on Ebay as DBA lots, but the Romans I think I will keep. I did walk round the competitions, but since I hadn't brought a camera I didn't take any pictures.

Soon after this good fortune, the main crisis of the day struck when Tim's replacement lens went out of position. After a couple of frantic phone calls I ended up taking him straight to Guildford hospital for a consultation with an eye spcialist. Reading to Guildford and back took almost two and a half hours and by the time I got back I was knackered.

As usual the game was well received and some groups of players had a lot of fun with it. For next year we have a new game in development but it's still a secret at the moment ...

Anderida 2010

As weekends go that was fun but tiring. Tim and I took part in the Anderida competition at the same venue in Farnborough as the 1 Day competition in September.

This was Fog doubles event (850 points) and for armies out of the 'Swifter Than Eagles' book only. We took Hittite empire with an impresive 20 heavy and 4 light chariots excluding generals. Despite this we lost all 4 games, although quite how we managed to lose the last one is a bit of a mystery.

Despite this, we had a good weekend, and won the 'Gallant Losers' trophy. We both agreed that doubles comps are more laid back and are planning to go to some more next year.

Giving in to the Dark Side ....

It's decided. I'm going to try to play some games of DBA and enter a couple of competitions.

The first one will probably be PAWS in December, although this is a themed competition and it's limited to the armies of the Americas and Polynesia.

Aztecs, Tupi, Mayans, Hawaiians etc. I've never even looked at these as armies before, and now I have to get an army and a camp together.

Saxons and Normans - 2010

Last weekend was my final re-enactment event for this year. Every October we get to re-enact the battle of Hastings on the site of the original event in 1066.

This year I only went down for the day, but there were still about 500 warriors on the field plus about a dozen cavalry. The Living History area was huge with over 160 structures and that means there were probably another 200 non combatants as well.

Now we all go into hibernation for the winter.

Busy month - New Kingdom Egyptians, Gauls and Hebrews

This month I managed to get three DBA armies finished. First, the Gauls. Three chariots, two cavalry, nine warband and a single psiloi make up this lot. I enjoyed paining these guys and will do some more.

Next was a New Kingdom Egyptian army complete with a Sea Peoples warband element

Finally a Hebrew army.

I confess all this painting DBA armies and reading the rulebook has me wondering about playing some games ...

One Sunday In Farnborough

Spent last Sunday playing FOG in a one-day comp in Farnborough.

The whole day was themed and all of the 650 point figures (25mm figures) were provided by the hosts. The day consisted of three games. I played first as Chinese vs Mongols, then Indians vs Macedonians and finally Sea Peoples vs New kingdom Egyptians.

In the first one, not really having any idea how eitehr army 'works' I was out manuvered fairly easily. The second one was mor of a slog as I hammered my opponents left flank. Close but in the end I lost. The third one felt more familiar considering I'm painting a Sea Peoples army myself, and have played against NKE's a couple times at the club. It was close, but I managed to force a win. This meant I didn't finish bottom !

A good fun day and if they run it again I plan to attend.

Back in the swing

After a refreshing break, I managed two armies this month, Selucids and Vikings.

The Selucids were a gift from someone at my club who bought them 10 years ago in a BaB but didn't know whet they were or what he could do with them. I worked out they were an old DBA V1 Selucid army, so I bought a scythed chariot and did them up for V2.2.

The Vikings were an Ebay lot - like most of my figures. I did them up nice and they went quite well too.

Busy Month

May and June were a bit busy in real life, so I only got one army sold, some Hittites. July on the other hand was much more productive.

I got rid of a SYW Swedish army in one lot. Representing just ust about the largest force Sweden could have fielded at the time, and all based for Koenig Krieg. I was't certain about this, but now it's gone it's gone. I also sold DBA Neo-Hittites, Sea Peoples and more Hittites, and again all of these were from surplus figures.

I also found out about the Essex 3 for 2 offer in July, so I bought a total of 9 DBA armies from them for future painting. I'm so much into the routine now that I managed to sell the first of these, the Gauls, yesterday on Ebay.

That's my lot for a few weeks though, I'm off on holiday at the weekend.

A Summary of May

May was a busy month so no time for blogging.

The first BH was spent at Corfe Castle a-Vikinging. The usual great time was had and we'll certainly be going back again if it's on next year.

The Late May BH weekend four of us did the 'Viking Road Trip' to the Viking festival at Jork near Hamburg. A fantastic time was had by us all. Much beer was consumed and I got to meet some old friends. The organisers gave us a proper 'fort' to fight over and I did something I've never done before in almost 30 years of re-enactment ...

I have played around with singl;e spear for many years and am reckoned to be a dab hand, but most UK folk now know me and the sad tired fat old man act doesn't work so well any more. In Germany however, I'm not so well known. To say I strode across the battlefield would be a bit over doing it, but I was last man standing from a 60 warrior 'circle' in which no-one has any allies. I was a happy bunny for many hours.

All this re-enacting meant that I didn't do anything serious in teh way of painting, but the next few weeks should see that change.

Successful Start

Well, I managed it. Three DBA armies painted from scratch, based on MDF and sold on Ebay.

Sub-Roiman British, Byzantine plus extras and Greek/Syracuse - again with extras.

In at the deep end

Like many people I've decided to scale back my unpainted lead and try to keep what I spend on gaming under control.

I've decided to paint and sell some of my bare lead mountain in the form of  DBA armies.