Second Element of Gallic Warband

 So, over the weekends and on snow days (of which there have been quite a few lately) I've painted up some more figures. Here's my second element of Gallic warband (3Wb).

This guy with his red and black striped pants reminds me of a character from the Asterix comics. In fact, it's nearly impossible to paint these figures without thinking of Asterix.

Without meaning to, I made this guy into a Christmas elf. He's got green pants and a red tunic, and a green and red shield. Face palm.

Note the blood on the front guy's left flank. Got a little nick from a sword, or something. Also note the blood on his spear. Blood always makes figures that much more epic.

First Element of Dwarf DBA Army

So, as I mentioned in another post, I am making not one but two DBA wargames. The first is for regular ancient armies (my first two will be II/11 Gallic army and II/49 Marian Roman army) and the second will be created using the helpful army lists provided by David Kuijt, on his page Tolkein in DBA 2.0. As the title implies, this was created specifically for the Lord of the Rings franchise gaming, but can easily be converted to general fantasy, which is what I'm doing. These army lists are handy in a few ways: they provide a vastly less expensive alternative to Games Workshop's beautiful but pricey LotR and Hobbit wargames; they use the same rules as regular DBA, and thus those familiar with DBA may begin playing immediately without learning new rules; and all the armies required can be purchased relatively cheaply in 1/72 scale from manufacturers Caesar and Orion.
Of course, there already is a fantasy version of DBA out there, called HoTT, or Hordes of The Things. However, there are two drawbacks about HoTT, for me, at least: you have to buy a whole other rulebook, which at the time of writing can only be purchased from Amazon.co.uk; and it uses too much magic for my taste. I am of the same mind as David Kuijt when he says: "I use DBA instead of its fantasy variant, HOTT, because I prefer the element types of DBA and a more Tolkeinesque environment where magic is rare, subtle, and not a form of artillery." Of course, if you do like a little more magic in your fantasy, you can always modify the standard DBA rules slightly to allow room for magic, but the War of the Ring army lists are a great place to start. 
Thus I embark on an epic new quest: fantasy gaming - not to be confused with LotR gaming. While the difference may be marginal between my version of fantasy and LotR, I chose to go the general fantasy route because it gives more freedom as to the types of armies you can create. For instance, Caesar is coming out with some new fantasy sets that include Lizard-Men and Rat-Men, which are not found in LotR. As has been noted on my "Fantasy Wargame Shopping List" post, there are quite a few nice fantasy sets in 1/72 scale to choose from, and all can be used with Kuijt's fantasy DBA army lists. You have a choice from elves, dwarves, various human armies, goblins, orcs, wargs, and more.
Anyway, finally cutting to the chase: my first element of Dwarvish blade. The figures are from the Light Alliance Dwarves Set #1.

The runes on the flag were taken from Tolkein's dwarvish rune alphabet, found in the appendix of the Return of the King. Yes, I am a Tolkein nerd.

My Hobbylinc Order Arrives

I placed a relatively large order to Hobbbylinc.com for a bunch of new miniatures for my various wargames that are in some form or other of progress. For my first DBA army, Italeri Gauls.

For a fantasy DBA wargame that I am going  to work on simultaneously (yes, this is in all probability more than I can chew) - Orion Light Alliance Dwarves Set #1.

For my ongoing World War III wargame, Caesar Modern British Army.

Unfortunately, the set does not come with many figures to begin with, and three of them are the relatively useless jumping-over-the-wall pose, in the center.

Most of the figures were gray, but some came in a light brown color.

This guy is completely baffling. He is not one of the poses listed on PSR, and looks like a mistake of some kind. His left arm is a rounded stump, and I have no idea what he's holding in the other one. In another modern set I got from Caesar, the Modern US Elite Force, one of the figures was a Navy SEAL from the Modern Special Forces Worldwide set. It seems to be a Caesar trademark to insert a random figure into each box! In the case of the Navy SEAL, he was a nice addition, but this guy is 100% useless. He doesn't even look like a casualty, otherwise I would use him as a wounded soldier. 

And lastly, Imex Confederate Infantry. These guys are for an American Civil War diorama that I have been commissioned to make for a middle school classroom. All expenses paid. The diorama is going to be for the battle of Hazel Grove. I'll post on the details of this project as soon as I can. 

So, if anyone is keeping track, I am juggling no less than four projects: an ancient DBA wargame, a fantasy DBA wargame, a World War III wargame, and a Civil War diorama. Chances are, knowing myself as I do, I will end up immersing myself in another project of some sort before I complete any of the current ones. Oh, well. I don't have a deadline of any kind, so I'll just keep plugging away.

First Gallic Warband Element

Here's my first warband element for my Gallic army (II/11). The army list is as follows:
 1x3/4Wb or LCh (Gen), 2x LCh or 3Cv, 8x3Wb, 1x2Ps. With the Italeri set I just got, I have enough figures to make all the warband elements, the warband/general element, and the psiloi element. Plus quite a few guys left over for some extra warbands, if I feel like doing BBDBA. (Here are two links to the lowdown on BBDBA, if you're unfamiliar with it. BBDA Strategy Basics and Big Battle DBA.)
 For a 3Wb element, the base is 30mm deep. I guess the smaller number of figures and the deeper bases are supposed to simulate the loose order of Gallic warbands. My bases are cut from 1/8 inch plywood bought from a local craft store. This is a good basing material - of course, everybody has their favorite basing method, but thin plywood works well. It's heavy enough to provide a firm, steady base, and its also cheap - for a 12"x12" sheet, I only paid about $3. Also, it won't warp or chip.
The bases were finished quite simply, but I like the effect: I painted the base in dark tan, then brushed it with a wash of glue, water, and black paint. When this was dry, I drybrushed it in buff to bring out the details, then flocked it with two types of Woodland Scenics flock; light green static grass, then clumps of darker green flock.

One problem with the Italeri set: there are  only two types of shields, and these two patterns get really boring. So for this guy's yellow shield, I painted over the raised pattern until it was obscured, then painted on my own pattern. 

One down, seven more to go.

Stuff for my Gallic DBA army

So my first DBA army is going to be II/11 Gallic Army 400-50BC. I already ordered the Italeri figures and am waiting for them to come so I can start painting them up. Of course, the Italeri set, while well-sculpted and life-like, contains only warband figures, so I will have to get at least another one or two sets to complete the army. I still need either chariots or cavalry, or both, as well as psiloi and camp followers. These sets: HaT Gallic Chariot, Italeri Celtic Cavalry, and HaT Gallic Command will more than complete my army - except for the psiloi. But it seems a trifle on the ridiculous side to buy a whole set just to get 2 figures!
So, anyway, for a DBA army you need a few things: either a camp, BUA (built-up area) or both, as well as a moving stick, wheel stick, and ZOC (zone of control) marker, which are all optional but helpful.

This is my BUA, the idea taken from the the Fanaticus resource page here. By the way, Fanaticus  is the best site for getting inspiration for DBA armies, terrain, and other pieces. Their galleries are full of great ideas and projects.
I made this BUA out of three pieces of cardboard glued together and sealed with filler. The stone wall was made from porous styrofoam stuff, also sealed with filler, and stuck full of toothpick halves. To make the palisade fences look like real logs, I carved the top of each toothpick and stuck the point end into the styrofoam. The huts were made from a towel paper roll. The thatch effect was made by covering the roofs with filler and using a toothpick to create lines in it.

 This is my ZOC marker. It was made from three pieces of Styrofoam glued onto two layers of cardboard. It was given a dark wash and then drybrushed to create the stony effect. I used a combination of static grass and flock on the base.

Zvezda French Infantry of the Hundred Years' War 8053

I bought these five guys from my brother, just to paint up and put on display. They're the first knights I've done, and I was relatively pleased with the result, except that I think I put too much black in the shadow wash.

This is one of my favorites. It's a very simple pose, but well executed. The guy's almost even got a look of concentration on his face as he draws back the bow.

I want this guy on my side.

Some more Zvezda Greeks

Here's my latest two batches of Zvezda Greek infantry.

All ten of 'em. Assorted psiloi, spearmen, and swordsmen.

This guy looks pretty good with his white-on-red shield, I think.

This guy is easily my favorite. You can tell from the lamda symbol on his shield that he is Spartan, and that automatically makes him awesome. Also, the pose is really cool and his muscle cuirass helps with overall coolness, as well.

Assorted Terrain and a few Modern Russians

I've not had time to do much in the way of modelling or painting lately, but I've started to work on some stuff these past few days. I made some new terrain, some of which I can use for my DBA armies once they're ready.

And a marsh.

I've also been painting some miniatures. As always, I've added to my armies for my World War III wargame (which is coming along slowly but surely).

DBA... Enter at your own peril!

I've been researching a lot into the world of DBA, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to try it out. It looks relatively inexpensive - beyond miniatures, all you really need is the rulebook, which is only about $20 at the time of writing.
I like downloading wargame rules off the internet and customizing them, as well as making my own rules from scratch, because there's just such a huge ammount of great ideas out there, waiting to be used. But DBA is tried and true, and something with such a huge following can't be a complete dud, can it?
This will be my first officially sanctioned wargame, and it'll be cool. There's a lot of resources out there for new DBA gamers, and I've included a lot of them that I found helpful on my page "Wargame Rules."
If you've never heard of DBA, it's just a fast-play, relatively simple rule system for Ancient and Medieval gaming. There are also versions for fantasy (HoTT) and the Rennaissance (DBR) as well as a version for larger battles (DBMM). The DBA system is compatible with hundreds of ancient and medieval armies for both the 15mm and 25mm scale. (A list of armies can be found here). Figures are based together on 'elements,' and each active army has 12 elements. The types of figures and number of figures you can place on an element, as well as the dimensions of the element, are specified in the rulebook or unofficial guide.
DBA was created in 1989, and since has become a pretty big deal. A lot of people play it, the rules are simple and fast-paced, it's relatively inexpensive, pretty much any ancient or medieval army will do, and the game itself looks good on the table. All these are reasons why I'm going to join the DBA community.
My first army will be Italeri Gauls. I'll need to get some cavalry and chariots at some point, but these guys will get me started.

Fantasy Wargame Shopping Checklist

I've been contemplating starting a fantasy wargame for some time now. It's just one of those ideas that stews on the back burner until either it starts burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan or you finally remember it and do something with it. There are a lot of really cool 1/72 fantasy figures out there, and they're a heck of a lot cheaper than models from an official wargame, such as Warhammer. It would be really cool to get a few armies, paint them up, and let them do battle with swords and sorcery.
So here's my Fantasy Wargame Shopping Checklist. It contains all the available (relatively) cheap 1/72 fantasy armies out there, as well as some historical armies that I think would work with the fantasy theme. Of course, these latter are chosen purely based on my opinion, and you can get whatever historical armies you think will go well with your fantasy world. Or, for the even more imaginative, you can customize your armies even further - for instance, headswapping Greek helmets onto your elves. Sounds cool to me. Use your imagination. It is, after all, fantasy. No rules.
Anyway, this is just a list of all the available fantasy armies, compiled here for your convenience. For anyone looking to create a fantasy world/wargame, pick and choose to your heart's content.
Also, provided here is a link to Plastic Soldier Review's review of the Caesar line of fantasy products. Normally PSR only reviews historical sets, so this is special.  PSR Caesar Fantasy Review.
BTW, the Light and Dark Alliance sets are manufactured by Orion.

Good armies (fantasy):
Light Alliance Elves Set #1 (40 figures) - 72004
Light Alliance Dwarves Set #1 (44 figures) - 72007
Light Alliance Dwarves Set #2 (44 figures) - 72008
Caesar Fantasy Heroic Adventurers (15+ random figures) - 104
Caesar Fantasy Dwarves(35) - 101
Caesar Fantasy Elves (37) - 102

Good armies (historical):Zvezda Vikings (41 figures) - 8046
Caesar Philistine Warriors (42 figures) - 46
Caesar Celt Warriors (36 figures - 64
Caesar European Foot Soldiers and Archers (34 figures) - 88
Caesar Dismounted Crusaders (34 figures) -86
HaT El Cid Spanish Infantry (96 figures) - 8176

Evil armies (fantasy):
Caesar Orc Warriors (35 figures) - 106
Caesar Goblin Warriors (35 figures) - 105
Dark Alliance Orcs Set #1 (45 figures) - 72001
Dark Alliance Orcs Set #1 (50 figures) - 72002
Dark Alliance Orcs Set #3 (40 figures) - 72003
Dark Alliance Light Warg Orcs (12 mounted figures) - 72009
Dark Alliance Heavy Warg Orcs (12 mounted figures) - 72010
Dark Alliance Light Warriors of the Dead (40 figures) - 72011
Dark Alliance Heavy Warriors of the Dead (40 figures) - 72012
Dark Alliance Light Warriors of the Dead Cavalry (10 mounted, 2 foot figures) - 72013
Dark Alliance Heavy Warriors of the Dead Cavalry (10 mounted, 2 foot figures) - 72014
Dark Alliance Half-Orcs Set #1 Pikemen (32 figures) - 72015
Dark Alliance Half-Orcs Set #2 Infantry (44 figures) - 72016
Dark Alliance Half-Orcs Set #3 (40 figures) - 72017
Dark Alliance Warg Half-Orcs (12 mounted figuers) - 72018
Dark Alliance Wargs (30 unmounted wargs) - 72019

Evil armies (historical):
Zvezda War Elephants III-I BC (2 elephants and 7 figures) - 8011
Zvezda Scythian Cavalry (18  mounted figures) - 8069
Zvezda Persian Infantry (42 figures) - 8006