DBA 3.0 Army Design Tool (*)

I haven't played De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) for decades, but I do own a copy of the latest version.  Who knows I may use it one day.

15 mm Medieval Baggage Tents

One of the things I found during my recent “sort out” was a pair of very old resin tents. They were hidden away in the toolbox containing my Italian Wars army.

They are old models and pre-date the wonderful Baueda range. The sculpting is basic. The castings are a bit rough too. Nonetheless, I fancied painting something different.

So I removed the old groundwork, sanded down the castings to get as smooth a finish as I could and set about turning a sow's ear into a silk purse (if that's possible). Here are the results:

15 mm War of the Roses Commanders - Complete

This is a post showcasing the third, and final, infantry command base for my Tudor army at Bosworth. The base represents Sir Rhys ap Thomas of Dinefawr, his standard-bearer and livery captains using Donnington New Era figures.

I already have a set of three mounted, and two foot commanders based for Art de la Guerre (ADLG) but I felt the need(?) for one more commander on foot. Any excuse to re-use the flags I created.

15 mm Medieval Bretons (Donnington)

Another, if somewhat small, batch of units for my Wars of the Roses army. This time some light infantry:

As with the recent batch of Welsh spear, I painted these because I finally decided to “trim” my War of the Roses army. It's now very much smaller and lots of figures have gone to a new home thanks to eBay and some long-standing contacts.

15 mm Medieval Welsh Spear (Donnington)

These are my first figures specifically based for Art de la Guerre (ADLG). Normally, I would base three figures on a 40 by 20 mm metal base and use two base to form an ADLG unit.

This time I put 6 on a 40 by 40 mm base because, post pandemic, all the metal bashing shops near me have closed, and I'm nearly out of 40 by 20 mm metal bases.

I painted these because I finally decided to “trim” my War of the Roses army. It's now very much smaller and lots of figures have gone to a new home thanks to eBay and some long-standing contacts.

The Arab Conquests

As regular readers will have noticed, I am busy building an Arab Conquest army for Art de la Guerre (ADLG).  However, not all of this project involves a paintbrush.  I've also taken the opportunity to read a few books about the period.  I knew next to nothing when I started.

So here are the four main history books that got me started; complete with brief, one paragraph type, reviews.  Since this post was written, I've found a fifth book, and it is very different to the other four.

They are listed in my recommended reading order.

ADLG: Northern League (Leeds, 20 Mar 2022)

Sunday dawned bright and clear. I was up very early, for me at least, and met with Gareth Jones & Thrasyvoulos Drakoulis for the trip across the Pennines.

By the time we arrived at the Leeds Wargaming Club's excellent new premises (lucky people) I was almost awake and ready for the first game.

The first round of the Northern League had a medieval theme and I was taking my newly finished Muscovite Russian army for their first competition. The initial entrants are listed below but real life considerations meant that things were slightly different on the day:

15 mm Russian Medieval Command (Essex, Mirliton & Roundway)

This post marks the completion of my late medieval (or Muscovite) Russian army. The three commanders below are put together from some left over figures and a pack of musicians.

15 mm Russian Medieval Medium Cavalry (Essex)

The four units are intended as armoured lesser Boyars (Nobles) which are medium cavalry bow in Art de la Guerre (ADLG) hence the unarmoured horses. Sadly many of the Essex miniatures don't have bow cases so I'll just have to use my imagination for those that don't:

In contrast to the heavy cavalry there's more variety in the shields and armour so the units are more interesting.

15 mm Russian Medieval Heavy Cavalry (Essex)

The four units are intended as armoured Boyars which are heavy cavalry bow in Art de la Guerre (ADLG). Sadly many of the Essex miniatures don't have bow cases so I'll just have to use my imagination:

15 mm Russian Medieval Camp For ADLG

No army is complete without a camp so here is my medieval Russian camp. Like many things with this army, details are scare. Therefore I've used a somewhat generic approach:

15 mm Russian Medieval Crossbow (Essex)

It's been a long time since I painted any Eastern European crossbowmen. Many years ago I painted quite a few for my medieval Polish army. So it was nice to paint two Art de la Guerre (ADLG) units for my now completed medieval Russian army:

Russian Medieval Flags

My Russian medieval army is nearly complete.  I've only the basing to do on the final eight elements.  In fairness I've a few odds and sods to do, mainly command elements but these are for a bit of fun painting over Christmas.

No medieval army is complete without an abundance of flags so here are the flags I have used for my heavy & medium cavalry.  These are in addition to the two sets of flags I've placed online already.

15 mm Early Medieval Polish Knights (Essex)

This post features something a little different: rebasing & reworked figures.  Normally I don't do either but since my work on my Wars of the Roses archers in January I've become more open to all sorts of rework.

These two bases (units in Art de la Guerre speak) are intended for my Feudal Russian army.   The ADLG list contains just two units of Polish Knights.  This is handy as I have quite a few spare from the days when I played DBMM and built a Polish/Lithuanian army with all the options.

15 mm Medieval Russian Levy (Fighting15s)

These two bases (units in Art de la Guerre speak) mark the last of the core infantry for the medieval Russian army I'm working on. After this I've only some cavalry to do.

They are from two packs of FE031 Peasants with pole weapons from Ian at Fighting 15s. Ian has re-moulded these excellent, late period, Josef Ochmann sculpts and the detail is incredible. I don't often get the chance to paint eyelids!

15 mm Medieval Russian Archers (Essex)

I continue to make steady progress with my Medieval Russian army for Art de la Guerre (ADLG). This batch provides all the medium and light archers I will ever need for ether the Feudal or Muscovite variant of the army.

The next figures for this army will be some peasant levy followed by some medium cavalry. When they are done I'll have completed my first list.

15 mm Medieval Russian Spear (Essex)

Somehow I've ended up assembling a medieval Russian army for Art de la Guerre (ADLG). I've already done a few generals, some hand-gunners and some light & heavy cavalry. However, these were all really intended for use with my Polish & Litnuanian armies. Now I've decided to do a full army as a spin off.

So far I've used figures from Roundway but for the spear (& archers in progress) I've switched to using mainly Essex with a few Roundway figures, where possible, for extra variety. For those interested I've listed the figure codes below.

First Game Since November 2018

On Sunday, 18 July 2021 I travelled from Warrington to the Wirral to play Art de la Guerre (ADLG) with Gareth Jones. This was to be my first game of ADLG since November 2018 and my first game with the new version released earlier this year.

After a hot & sweaty 30 minute drive I arrived at the Wargame Store, Brimstage. It's in a complex of converted farm buildings very close to junction 10 of the M53:

15 mm War of the Roses Commanders - Redux

This is another post showcasing another set of command bases for my Tudor army at Bosworth. I already have a second set of mounted commanders based for Art de la Guerre (ADLG) but I felt the need(?) for some commanders on foot. Any excuse to re-use the flags I created.

I chose Essex Miniatures for the commanders to be based on 40 by 15 mm bases because I wanted some bases with flags upright but I also wanted to experiment with the "new trend" in ADLG command bases with a 40 mm round base.

Henry Tudor consulting with John De Vere and his retinue commander.

What I Have Painted Recently

I haven't written a post like this for a while but recently I've been having a bit of fun working through some odd packs from my lead pile and even a few new figures. So I ended up with quite a few finished items from different armies and periods.

First up are some Bedouin light horse using RKMA4 from Roundway with a mixture of Roundway & Donnington horses: