Monday, February 2, 2015

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.



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