DBA - only took a year...

So I finally put some figures on the board and had my first DBA v3.0 game last night, having purchased the rules a year and a half ago. This saw the Carthaginians invading Italy (for a change).

The two armies deployed

 The Romans had a Built Up Area (BUA), and garrisoned this with some Italian allies. Some rough woods were on their right flank. They deployed with the blades in depth on the right, the cavalry in the centre and the spears and auxilia close up to the BUA. The BUA anchored the flank nicely and gave the Romans a nice compact line.
On reflection I probably deployed the Carthaginians poorly. I loved using Light Horse around open flanks in DBA 2.1 and I wanted to see if the cavalry could do the same in 3.0. Given the Roman deployment I didn't really get the chance to find out.
I drew up the warband opposite the blades looking for an autokill, and the elephant opposite the Roman cavalry to hopefully squash the general.

Almost time to crash... errr... clash

 The two sides closed very quickly. It wasn't long before the battlelines were pinning each other.

The Carthaginian line breaks

 First blood went to the Cathaginians, who killed a Legionary blade with their Warband. I looked to see if that auto-killed the element behind it, but couldn't find anything that said that it does, which validated the idea of having the blades deployed in depth. The Warband pursued into combat with the survivors, but didn't break through. In return, the Legionaries to the side of the Warband scythed through some hapless Spanish Psiloi. The Roman general kept bouncing the elephant back.

The end

The breaking of the Psiloi turned out to be the decisive move. After a bit more back and forth the blades that had broken through were able to 'close the door' on the Warband and killed both elements. On the Roman left the Triarii took out an African spear unit and that was game over. 
As you can see in the last photo, the Numidian Light Horse did manage to turn the Italian allies, but by and large the Carthaginian cavalry had very little impact on this battle.

I'm still not 100% about what I'm doing - I can't believe it has been about 5 years since I last played DBA and I'm not sure I've quite picked up the nuances of the new rules. For instance, I know that the rear corner of an element can 'interpenetrate' another element when it is wheeling. As far as I can see, this does not have to be only friendly elements, but I wasn't sure. So I didn't let my Romans close the door on the Warband until the Spanish Auxilia had pursued their opposing Psiloi and cleared a space. I'd be interested to know, if anybody can tell me, if the blades could have made the wheel even though they were starting in side edge contact with the Spanish. (Edit: I found a thread on Fanaticus today that confirmed that yes, the move was legal if starting in side edge contact.)
I'll have to have another game soon and see if I can get back into the flow of things again.

Nate

Woodland Indians, Vikings, a geriatric hillbilly woman and Oliver Cromwell walk into a bar...

And they all say ouch.
Seriously, how was I supposed to end that title? It refers of course, to the latest batch of painting for Geoff. Without further ado, here is the parade:

These are some of the Blue Moon Woodland Indians.

And their three friends.

Gripping Beast berserkers. I'd be crazy too, if I lived that close to the North pole and wandered around shirtless.

'So ya'll want my guns sonny? Come and get 'em!'

The Seventeenth Century's answer to the Cromwell tank...

I have marking to do and reports to write, so it is unlikely that I'll be posting anything much in the coming fortnight - but you never know! The next item on the painting tray will be Japanese tanks for Craig.

Nate

Samurais and Supers

I finished off another ten figures for Geoff today - some North Star Ronin figures. This was a mix of figures from the Bandit Buntai and Koryu Buntai sets. They are really very nice figures to paint.

Four Koryu Buntai figures

And from the back where the patterning is a bit more obvious. Not sure if the holes in their butt-cheeks are meant to be for sword scabbards?

Some bandits runing amok

The other three bandits from the group

I think I have my recipe for Japanese flesh down pat now. Base coat of Chocolate brown, mid coat of US tan earth, followed by a mix of tanned earth and flat flesh. Then a wash with a fleshtone wash. What do you think?

I also finished off the Protectorate - my second Superhero team.

The gang all together - Aura, Nuclein, Hoplite and Stormchild

Here's the three members who haven't been featured yet, along with their super powers.

Hoplite. He needs a shield design, but not too sure what it will be yet. Power armour.

Aura. She is a conversion of the DC Ice Heroclix figure. Force fields.

Stormchild. A straight-forward repaint of Mary Marvel. Lightning and stuff.

I haven't really thought much about their origin etc. They must be a fairly tight-knit group to go in for the whole uniform colour look. I've toyed with the idea of them being employed by the European Union - would explain the colours and uniform - and having them be from France, Austria, Greece and Germany (a blond with blitz powers - why not make her German?). This would leave the door open for expansion to include some other nationalities. I'm not even sure who the leader is. Maybe Stormchild - it would be nice to have a woman in charge. Powers are also ill-defined at the moment. I'll come up with something for Clobberin' Time, run them against some villains and see where we go from there.

The next Super gang will definitely have to be some bad guys and gals!

I have a ton of marking to do this weekend and it looks like it will run into next week (why do Year 13s feel the need to use every page in their exam booklets... sigh), but I'm determined to finish the last dozen figures for Geoff this week. They should be complete by next weekend.

Nate

My Wargaming Week 11

Managed to get a dozen figures painted for Geoff this week. These are Mutton Chop Early War British. Really nice figures, with quite fine detail:

 Geoff bought the AK Interactive British WWI Uniform triad and sent it through for me to try. I have to say that I'm really pleased with the resulting colour. I felt that the final highlight colour was too stark a contrast with the other shads, being too tan for my liking, so I ended up mixing it with the base shade. It has neat that some of the definition is lost, but I think it looks more realistic.

I e-mailed Geoff and admitted that I was too scared to try and paint eyes on these figures, but then I plucked up the courage and did so this morning. They are barely noticeable, but they are there!

I also managed to get a couple of Heroclix repaints in. Below are Nuclein and Compost:

Wham! Take that Compost!

And here's are the 20+ year old design sketch of Compost:

He's built out of a combo of Man-Thing and Swamp-Thing:

Man-Thing with Swamp-Thing's head - incredibly easy conversion for one of my favourite baddies! The Prince of Putrescence was actually born at about the same time as Nuclein, who has here been made out of Ace from the Royal Flush Gang:

I knew what he would be as soon as I spotted the model!

My first ever drawing of Nuclein. If the pose looks vaguely familiar it is because it was copied off Todd MacFarlane's picture of the Hulk from the Handbook to the Marvel Universe update '88. No-one drew the Hulk as good as MacFarlane, before or since. You may disagree, but I'm entitled to my opinion because it's right.

This week I have some Samurai to paint for Geoff, and then I think I'll do the last dozen figures that he sent through. Then Craig's Japanese tanks. At the same time I am going to try and squeeze in a few more heroes and villains. Although Nuclein was originally designed a s a member of Delta Wave, he is actually going to be part of the Protectorate with Hoplite, Stormchild and, yes, a new Aura!

Nate