Steve's Greek Armies

Steve's got two very nice 'standard' sized DBA armies together made up from the Zvedza Greek and Spartan Sets, plus from Hat Thracians and Greek cavalry. He's thinking of buying the Hat Thebans next.

Here's a few pics:

Close up of the Spartans (I think!)

Whole Phalanx

Both armies

I think these are the Athenians (ie. Zveda Greeks)

Steve thought the set included a 'dog', fortunately he spotted in time it was a 'sacrificial lamb'

I was very impressed with these little camps he knocked up. I thought he had found some hessian cloth or something, but apparently the tents are kitchen paper plastered with PVA!

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Second draft of Maps for Peloponnesian Wars

These are my first bash at turning the rough schematics I drafted earlier into something a bit more like a proper campaign map for the Peloponnesian Wars.

Due to the difficulties of squeezing enough detail on to the mainland map for Greece on a large scale map, I've split the schematic into three maps: one for mainland Greece, another larger scale one for the whole of Greece/Aegean, and a third for Sicily.

(Click to enlarge)

I have to confess to the fact that I'm coming to this knowing little about the period, and just about all my knowledge is based on a fast 'skim read' of various Wikipedia articles. Fairly obviously, not much of a substitute for reading Thucycides!

In terms of game play I wanted to get a couple of stages (ie. battles) in between the main states, so that capitals don't fall too easily. I've named some after famous battles of the wars.

We have added Carthage and Thrace into the mix, just to get a bit of variety in terms of armies. Carthage was involved in fighting the Greeks on Sicily 20 years before (at the time of the Persian invasion) and almost immediately after, even though most conflict in Sicily during the Peloponnesian Wars themselves were between Doric/Spartan colonies/allies such as Syracuse and Ionic/Athenian colonies/allies. Thrace is a bit more far fetched, but a 'three-handed' struggle in the north might spice it up a bit.

At the moment we are playing the campaign extremely loosely, just selecting a border 'province' and using that as the name of the battle. We might well fudge things, eg. after a night's gaming the Spartans are already at the gates of Athens, so we might allow the Athenians to counter-attack next session to attempt to evict the Spartans from Attica. And we might throw in a historic twist (eg. Argos persuaded Martinea and Elis to switch sides). And we might expand it to include sea battles.

So for now its just a rough way of 'stringing the battles together' and 'marking the score'.

DBA Towns/Cities (aka BUAs)

Steve asked me what I've got in the way of 'BUAs' for DBA. (I personally hate this particularly piece of DBA jargon - why don't the rule writers call them Towns/Cities? The term 'Built-Up Area or the achronymn BUA, is anachronistic and ugly!). 

Well this was a piece of inspiration for some very cheap terain, that I got when just about to throw away some PC packing. Took me about 10 minutes and I think they have a passing resemblence to a mudbrick town, probably more suitable for chariot period than 'classical'.

I keep meaning to do something a bit better (not difficult!), probably starting with a city wall made from cork tile -probably with somewhere to stand troops on - and moving on to something more mediterranean in the way of a group of buildings to go in it.

Haven't got around to it yet, so it's still these boys for now! At least they stack one inside the other, are light and I'd not cry if something happened to them.

Notes on Peloponnesian War DBA Campaign

These are some very rough notes 'sketching out' a little cut down Peloponnesian War Campaign to put a little 'narrative framework' around a night or too of DBA (& and possibly some naval combat) with Steve's newly painted Greeks, and possibly his newly made cardboard galleys.

Below is a very, very rough schematic for the campaign. Basically 'red/orange/pink' circles are Sparta and its allies/colonies, blue is Athenian allies/colonies. 'Bit part players' are 'Carthage' and 'Thrace. Just below Athens on the map are rivals Corinth (Spartan ally) and Megara (Athenian Ally). The main 'Spartan' city on Sicily is Syracuse.

If we play with just two players, one side takes the Athenians, the other Spartans, although not all battles will be Athenian versus Spartan.

To decide which battle is fought, make up a simple card deck or random table, such as one below:

1 Athenians decide (anywhere on map)

2 Spartans decide (anywhere on map)

3 Athenians decide (mainland Greece only)

4 Spartans decide (mainland Greece only)

5 Athenians decide (Sicily only)

6 Spartans decide (Sicily only)

7 Thebans attack (roll to see which players control)

8 Carthaginians attack (roll to see which players control)

9 Thracians raid (roll to see which players control)

Basically you draw card/roll dice and depending on the card drawn, that player decides which province they want to attack. In the case of drawing rolling Carthage or Thrace, roll again to see which player will control that army, which then fights their opponent.

Basically if the attacker wins they gain that city/province. If not the defender holds on to it and draw another card.

The campaign is just designed to give a little purpose to each battle.

I haven't put sea routes and sites of possible sea battles yet, as we won't play them on the first outing. When I get the chance I'll refine the schematic, and add names of relevant cities/famous battles to turn some simple 'circles' on the map, into some more memorable 'places'.

Over to you Steve for comment.

Thracian Army

These are a few snaps of my little DBA Thracian army. Figures by Hat. Cavalry (which are actually Hat Thessalians) I thought were finished but aren't. I'm sure we can substitute. I've stuck the two horses for the 'Light Horse' widely spaced on their bases, and have also based a single horse which can be placed in between them to convert them to a 3 fig cavalry base if I need it instead (done similar with my Iberian army for the Punic Wars).

I bought at least a couple of boxes of figs, and this army doesn't even use one, so I have plenty more figs if I wanted to enlarge the army.

DBA Army list is as follows:

Thracian 700BC-46AD

1 x 3 Cavalry (General), 3 x 2 Light Horse or 3 Auxiliaries, 6 x 3 Auxiliaries, 2 x 2 Psiloi

The army can be used over a long time period. 'Thrakes' are actually mentioned as fighting in the Trojan wars, and the Thracian provinces were only eventually tamed by the Romans. Dacians were also neighbours, so I also use them mixed with some bare-chested Celts, if I need to field them.

Hoplite Greek Army

I've made a blog entry on this one mainly for Steve'the Hat's benefit, as he has been painting up some Zvedza Greeks and their new Spartans.

In terms of the state of completion or otherwise of this army all I can say is WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get!

WSYWIYG!

The figures are all Atlantic figures, a very old range-from the '60s I understand-but nicely sculpted nevertheless. The figures have a variety of different helmet times, which once upon a time I knew something about, and some were associated I think with certain armies (eg. Corinithian), but to be honest my memory now is hazy.

As you can see I've replaced the weapons with which they are sculpted with wire long spears. A lot of have come off and need repair (for about the third or fourth time!). There are 21 DBA elements worth. This once completed would enough for a matched pair of standard 12 element DBA armies with psiloi etc., but a bit light for a 'Double-Based' DBA or 'Impetus' army.

There are also two element bases of cavalry and two of light horse painted up. The riders haven't been. I don't have any dedicated 'psiloi' for this army, but shouldn't have any problem finding some from elsewhere (eg. Roman or Carthaginan armies.

Horses painted, riders not...

In addition, I have a couple of dozen mounted on coins (had vaguely thought of some sort of skirmish game based on the Odyessy) and a couple of plastic bags of unpainted or unbased figures. Only three element base are anyway close to completion, and I stopped them because I wasn't happy with the shield design.

...Some of the better painted shields..

In fact, getting them out, I can see I seem to have had a hard time working out what to do with the shields. I have some hand painted, most rather unsatisfactorily. For some I've tried sticking on shield designs printed on paper-which looks better in the photos than real life! And I think this indecision on shields was a major sticking point in moving forward to complete these.

Stuck on paper designs..unfortunately peeling off!

The DBA army book has no less than 9 variant Early Hoplite Greek and also 9 Late Hoplite Greek. There are also other army lists for armies essentially based around Greek hoplites (eg. Syracusian). They have anywhere between 3 elements of 'Spear' ('periperphal states' like Phokian) to 11 elements (Spartan). The early lists typically include around 10 'Spear' elements, the later ones 8, including the general's element, which is normally 'spear'. Virtually all the other elements in the Early lists are either Cavalry or Psiloi. The Later one is more varied.

If Steve thinks he can put them to good use somehow, let me know any I'll move them up the 'paint queue....

Also some left unpainted or based in bags...

Finally here's a pic of the whole lot in a 'phalanx', which gives some idea of how impressive a 'Double based DBA army' (which would be twice the size) would look.

Old and Middle Kingdom Egyptian Armies

Conscript militia

One of my 'early' purchases when I started mail ordering plastic figures from Hannants many years ago, were the Atlantic Egyptian sets, Infantry and Chariots. I love these figures which are full of character, especially the infantry. Both sets I understand date back to the '60s. For a long time they sat in their trays without historic opponents to fight, and indeed before I'd discovered either DBA rules and army lists, or the WAB 'Chariot Wars' book.

I'd intended to use them as a core for all my Egyptian armies, but they've ended up being completely displaced in the New Kingdom armies by the excellent Caesar Miniatures figures, and consigned to the 'Old & Middle Egyptian' armies. Even there they have been partly displaced by Caesar figures, which produce much better archers, which being dressed simply in kilts are 'good' for the early period. Archers are under-represented in the Atlantic set, and sculpted in a somewhat awkward pose.

What you get in the Atlantic infantry set is a range of warriors, some bear-headed with kilts and spears (which appears to be based on a wonderful wooden sculpture preserved in the Cairo museum, which I've been lucky enough to see myself), some bare-headed with clubs and sickle swords, and several poses with the characteristic Egyptian head-dress, armed with both spears and axes.

"Spearmen of the Residence & Menfat"

The DBA v2.0 army lists give two period variants for 'Old and Middle Kingdom' Egyptians.

3000-1640BC 1x4 Blades or Litter (General), 5x4 Bow, 2x3 Blade, 1x3Blade or 3 Bow, 1x7 Horde, 2x2 Psiloi

1639-1543BC 1x Light Chariot (Gen), 4x4 Bow, 3x3 Blades, 1x3 Blades or 3 Bow, 1x7 Horde, 2x2 Psiloi

To quote the DBM army book: "Although generals were usually bowmen...their bodyguards were axemen with large shields." Four burly bodyguards waiting for a Pharoah figure to complete the element.

The heavy infantry are described in the DBM army list (from which the DBA v2.0 list is derived) as being 'spearmen of the residence and menfat' shock troops, and the Hordes as conscripts. In terms of deploying the Atlantic figures, I assign the figures with a headcloth as 'menfat', and the spearmen as conscripts. A standard DBA army doesn't employ many spearmen (just 7 figs within the' horde' element), but as I have plenty of figs to fill a 'double-based' army that at least uses 28.

Atlantic archers are not the greatest pose...

...Caesar Miniatures are much better

Chariots only appear in the later period...

There were a lot of 'unification' and civil wars in this period, so you can usefully employ two armies of these troops. Historic opponents include Nubians (who being half-naked tribesmen) are the same figures as you use throughout, and similarly the Libyans, and desert nomads to the east drawn from the Midianite Arab Caesar Miniatures set. The DBA Enemies list also includes Early Syrian and Later Amorite, but I'm not sure how far Early Egyptians ranged that far. Finally there are the Hyksos, for whom I've created an army with a separate write-up.

A 'baggage element' that happened to be in the same box when I took this snaps

This is the basic 'Impetus' army list for the 'Old and Middle Kingdom Egyptians. it basically just allows infantry, 9 formed units and two skirmishers.

OLD AND MEDIUM KINGDOM EGYPTIANS (VDT=23/12)

Nr	Type	M	VBU	I	VD	Notes
3	FP(*)	5	4	2	3
2	FL	8	3	1	2	javelin
2	T	6	3	0	2	short bow A
2	T	8	3	0	2	short bow B
1	S	8	2	0	1	javelin
1	S	8	2	0	1	short bow B

FP is the Impetus abbreviation for Heavy Foot (the rule writers are Italians the 'P' is for 'Pesante' ie. heavy). FL is light foot (in DBA terms generally 'Auxiliaries'). 'T' means missile troops and 'S' Skirmishers. An (*) means this can include a general element. Other abbrevations are: M= Movement; VBU= Basic Unit Value; I= Impetus Bonus, VD= Demoralization Value; VDT= Total Demoralization Value