DBMM at Cancon 2012 - Day 3

Day 3, and it was to be a Russell-fest. After being handed a well-padded portion of my anatomy by Aaron and his Khitan, I was facing Zac and his New Kingdom Egyptians for total mastery of Egypt. I invaded, and bad terrain in the centre saw the table essentially split in two. I hadn't looked forward to this game, as I thought it would be a very tough opponent, and with an 'Inert' general, his army would be really big (although very immobile).

When I saw the terrain, I decided to mass in the open ground between the waterway (Nile) and the rough in the centre, go deep and try to overwhelm him with numbers and PIP pressure. Much dancing inhibited by poor pip rolls on a crucial occasion, and I managed to take down one command, with the moral penalty breaking another. A very bloodthirsty game, where weight of numbers locally and the ability to refocus effort using PIPs gave me an advantage. The Turcomans did break, and I lost 40% of the army all up, so an 18-7 and the True Egyptians triumph.

Ayyubids massed behind Turcoman Light Horse.

A view from the Alexandria Lighthouse - the NKE in the distance never got into the game.

Nice looking NKE - DPS I think?

OK,  game 5 out of the way, and despite giving away a lot of points, I can still make an impact in the final standings, provided I do ok in the last game. Greg Russell, who used Ottomans with an Albanian ally. I set up with the Turcomans on my extreme right, CinC in a double line, and behind him my sub. You can see the game at a crucial point below. The sand coloured bases are my Ayyubids outflanking his line behind a difficult going (narrow) river, the Ghulams pushing forward to engage his Janissary Bow, and some of my other cavalry turning back towards my base edge to head off a home run by the Albanian ally.
 

Exciting times.. my base edge is to the right..

Sadly for me, this game was notable (for me) for the number of times an extreme dice split went against me, so I managed to intercept his fast light horse and overlap with my ordinary light horse, only to then get a 1-5 split that cost me that element. Another 1-5 cost me a cavalry that intercepted the Albanians by marching into them, and there were too many 6-1 splits to remember that cost me Ghulam superior cavalry. Even when I hit his elements behind, it did nothing, even at 3-0 and 4-2. Overall, although I kept throwing the Cavalry into the Bow, I never got the dice roll (beat him by one in his bound, or two in my bound) to do any damage.

Overall, very frustrating, and I was really getting stressed when no matter what I did tactically, virtually nothing came off as I simply couldn't roll high enough to beat him. I suspect my loudly expressed disbelief at his combat dice was very unsporting. It didn't help when a little known wrinkle in the rules cost me another superior Ghulam. Eventually the 6's told and the Turcomans broke, causing the sub also to break following his losses in superior Ghulams, and game over.

At this point I had disheartened one command and taken nearly a quarter of his largest command. If I had survived another bound it would have been interesting. I was likely to have broken one command (he had his own superior cavalry exposed with a general able to make a flank attack), and the transferred morale penalty would have disheartened his largest command.

Third place overall, behind Greg & Aaron. I handed the discount voucher to John the organiser. I have too much lead already.

Anyway - 3 days of DBMM is too much for me. Too stressful, too fraught, and I don't have the temperament for it at the moment. I am going to take a break from competitive wargaming for a while, and see if I can't get my head in the right frame of mind to return to the table more relaxed and more capable of coping with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune/dice-rolling.

DBMM at Cancon 2012 - Day 2

Day 2 - Game 3 - late.. arrghhhh! a little bingle (that's Australian for 'Minor Accident') on the road ahead of me caused a traffic delay, and I didn't get there till 20 minutes after due time. Richard Cornwell (Yuan Chinese) was very understanding and we kicked off in plenty of time to get a result.

No photographs again, though Richard took a few with his Canon EOS, so I hope to get some to add later. Again I was defender and there wasn't much terrain to speak of. I deployed to my right with the Turcoman Light Horse, and two blocks of Cavalry behind in the centre. Richard had a lot of Superior Cavalry - and a lot of Superior Light Horse, and quickly redeployed to my left, I counter-moved to create a defensive arc on my left, and tried to move my Light Horse over to counter, but they were allocated a low PIP and a series of ones meant I was very slow to respond.

Richard managed to knock over a few of my ordinary cavalry but I was also causing losses to his light horse and disheartened (in DBMM - a quarter of a command's fighting strength) one of his smaller commands.  Killing the light horse in front of him, and losing his cavalry flankers to a 5-1 death and a 4-2 recoil then left my CinC exposed and Richard hit him with his general, at a major disadvantage (to me) as I was then double overlapped..  a dice split of 4-1 in Richards favour, my Commander in Chief was gone and his command disheartened.

A furious cavalry and light horse melee continued but my ordinary cavalry were now fighting at a disadvantage (in DBMM, lesser troops in a disheartened command get a -1 to their scores).

All not lost however, as Richard followed up he broke this command (its next PIP or Command dice roll was a '1', and with the general gone I couldn't move anything!). The broken command transmits a morale effect to nearby friendly troops, and this meant my second cavalry command was disheartened..  all along the line, except for the Turcomans, all my lesser troops were now fighting at a disadvantage..oh dear!

And now the dice showed how fickle they were, Richard attacked my two broken superior cavalry with his own superior cavalry..  a 6-1 cost him the first one, and a 5-1 cost him the now overlapped second..   all of a sudden his command was looking shaky with this added to the losses of light horse he had already suffered. In my return move, I rolled high for PIPS (allowing me to manoeuvre) and picked on his small light horse command, two combats at 3-1 in my favour where he could not recoil (so destroyed if beaten), and that command broke.

Richard then shook my hand.. the additional morale effect of the command breaking had taken two more commands over their break point.. game over. Huge losses to me, so a 16-9 in my favour.

Without the broken superior cavalry killing his, it would have been an extended game and the result uncertain (me with one broken, one disheartened and one intact to his two broken, one disheartened and one intact. So you could say the dice were in my favour, but then again, it took a 5-1 to strip my general of his flank protection, and the 4-1 to kill him, so I guess it worked both ways.

Game 4 - Dugald Duncan - Mu-Jung Hsien Pi...

More Kn(F) - plus a Chinese Ally, with a load of LH(F) supports, I was defender and terrain was minimal, a waterway, road and two marshes with a built up area (BUA) on my right.

I deployed the Turcomans in a single element wide screen in the centre, two Arab light horse on the road to inhibit him just marching up there, and the cavalry behind the Turcomen so they could pass through as required.

Dugald placed his chinese ally on my right (lots of Auxilia, skirmishers and some light horse) placed to charge up the road and sweep round behind me.. then two large commands of mixed Knight (Fast) and Light Horse (Fast)

A quick game is a good game so I advanced my light horse to charge reach of his Knights, and extended my cavalry lines to match his extension. In Dugald's turn the Chinese were unreliable so he advanced and tried to extend his lines with his other Light Horse.

One in..  all in..   I threw the light horse into his knights...  a massacre ensued. Dugald stubbornly rolled low, and the superior factors kicked in..  end result, 13 combats and 6 dead knights. No losses to my light horse.  Dugald then rolled low for command pips and wasn't able to repair the damage - he did kill 3 light horse, but in my next bound my cavalry moved up and the holes, overlaps and combats just got worse for him.   Another bound of low PIPS for Dugald, I lost another Turcoman, and then in my bound finished it off. One command broke, which caused the morale on another to break, and his unreliable Chinese changes sides. 25-0 to the Ayyubids.

End of Day 2..  70 points and I am the meat in a Russell sandwich. Greg on 86 points, Aaron on 81, me on 70 and Zac on 66.

DBMM at Cancon 2012 - Day 1

Arrived for Day 1 of DBMM2 at Cancon. As usual, the place is packed. The biggest gathering of wargamers, freaks, geeks and who knows what. This year there seemed to be more women playing, which is a positive sign (especially if we want to rejuvenate the hobby with young boys...).

Anyway, game 1 was versus Michael Stone, running Normans. My Ayyubids are essentially one command of very good Light Horse (LH(S) - Light Horse Superior in DBMM parlance), supported by two commands of 'Askaris' and junior 'Ghulams' (Cv(O) - Cavalry Ordinary) with a smattering of senior Ghulams (Cv(S) - Cavalry Superior). Normans are essentially lots of relatively lightly armoured charging mounted (Kn(F) - Knight Fast) supported by Breton Cavalry. Terrain, (I was attacker) was essentially a large open space between a set of enclosed fields in which Michael put his bowmen and the bad going on the other wing. I didn't waste time, deciding a Light Horse charge followed up by Cavalry was the best option.. Letting Michale hit me with that weight of a punch would be a bad idea...   the pictures tell the tale.

The Ayyubids line up for the charge

Some very poor dice rolling by Michael and 5 Knight down in the first combats

It only got worse from there.

I was lucky enough to be the beneficiary of Michael's bad dice..  once the first line crumbled I was able to exploit and he never recovered - Game 1 - 25-0

Game 2 was against Aaron Russell with Khitan Liao, he, his brother Zac, and their father Greg, have been coming to Canberra and plundering trophies for the last few years, and they play a very hard and skilful game.


No photographs I am afraid...  brief summary?

I made a deployment mistake, and Aaron is to good a player to do that against. His Light Horse poured through the gap. (My miscomprehension of the marching rules really) - very frustrating game. My dancing Ayyubids suffered from a shortage of PIPS, and then he turned on some amazing dice rolling. In two rounds of combats we had 20 combats, in which he rolled 14 x 6, 2 x 1, 1 x 3, a 4 and 2 x 5.  Needless to say when his Kn(F) were attacking my cavalry, just about every 6 was a death for my troops and I went down in a heap. I did manage to cause some casualties, but a very frustrating game. I was grumpy and really furious with myself. Only bright spot was my baggage fighting off about 7 separate attacks by Light Horse.. (go baggage!) 21-4 to Zac, and I felt he deserved the win, (but not by that much).

My mood was NOT helped by the fact every time I tried to go get food at lunchtime, the queue was round the block, (Note to CGS, two food outlets working very slowly for a couple of thousand people with a fixed lunchtime just doesn't cut it. I am now taking food to Cancon, and I will not queue for overpriced coffee, and overpriced slow 'Fast Food' again - I think you just gave a lease of life to my Thermos flask.) I have learned that a Sugar Low in the middle of the afternoon makes me a grumpy boy...

So - End of Day 1 - I expected my Light Horse to beat the Normans with reasonable dice luck, (and so it was). Game 2. My fault, but salt was rubbed into the wounds by Aaron's extraordinary dice.

DBMM at Cancon 2012 - the preparation

So I have been playing DBMM at Cancon 2012. That's the largest wargames championship in Australia. It is held at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) every year, on the long weekend of Australia Day (26 January).

The Cancon pavilions are among the biggest indoor spaces in Australia, and most resemble air-conditioned aircraft hangars. (Yes, the a/c is an absolute necessity in January in Canberra, temperatures are not infrequently 40 degrees Celcius outside.)

I brought along my Ayyubid Egyptians, best known as the army of Salah al Din, (Saladin). I originally bought the Mirliton Miniatures DBA Army pack when they were having a sale (I also got their Pre Mongol Russians, but they are still hiding from the paint brush behind the cardboard wall of their box).

Having painted a DBA sized army, and been really pleased with the results, I tried borrowing the figures for an Ayyubid army for 'Wintercon 2011' and while they weren't that successful, I suspect that was the general's fault.


As usual then, I left everything to the last minute, and was still painting furiously at 2.15am on the Friday that was the first day. I gave up, and showed up - luckily - having put sand on the bases and added a load of banners, no-one really noticed that saddle-cloths and reins weren't finished.  So here goes.

Cancon 2012

So Cancon (the biggest Australian wargames convention) is on again in two weeks time. And I foolishly registered and sent off my army list for an army currently about 57 elements short of being painted...   I always do it.  mainly because I procrastinate so much about my painting, that registering to play with an unpainted army is the best way to force myself to deal with the unpainted lead mountain.

Ayyubid Egyptian - for those who wanted to know. I would post a picture but an image of 57 elements of figures glued to DBMM bases and spray painted black wouldn't be very entertaining.  (Thats about 120 15mm figures ... ooh errrr....)

I also tried something different this time. The Mirliton figures have separate shields so I have tacked these to a separate piece of cardboard and I am going to try painitng these before glueing them on.

My list has been approved so I am going to be a busy boy for the next fortnight.... 

And I still haven't decided a) whether to play DBA on the third day and defend my National Championship and ACT/NSW Magister MIlitum shield..   and b) if I do, what army to take!

Game 6 Ayyubids IV/20 vs Early Russian

At last another Cavalry army, surely I should be able to beat the Early Russians? Stephen Hopkins and I have been playing each other since the early days of DBM, and so we are old foes. The main difference between the two armies is that the Russians have one knight and two spear elements.

This game didn't see much tactical subtlety - big long line of knight, cavalry and light horse (Russian) meets big long line of cavalry with bow supports (Ayyubid) - an early success in shooting - (much helped by Stephen rolling pathetically low for PIPS, and needing to respond to my LH probes) saw me knock over the knight, so now I had six cavalry versus four cavalry and two light horse..  too easy thinks I.  On the other wing my two light horse were successfully distracting a cavalryman and forcing Stephen to spend PIPS to support him with two psiloi. Over the course of the game, the light horse kept falling back before the cavalry who was often at 3-2 or 2-2.

On my right though, it was downhill all the way for me. A 6-1 on my general's wingman opened a gap, which I ran out of PIPS to fill, the cavalry on my right could not kill the light horse facing it, despite several attempts at 3-1 (Stephen stubbornly refused to roll low enough) - finally, we had both picked away till we were three elements down, but I had bow being advanced on by spear, and the future was looking grim..  

As the game had taken some time, we now had a few observers and I decided to please the grandstand, and go for the win by engineering two combats - in one, I would have a 2-2 with no recoil for Stephen, in the other I would have a 3-3 between our two generals with neither of us able to recoil. 

A win in both would win me the game, a win in the general combat would win me the game, a loss in the general combat and a win in the other would tie..   It seemed like the odds were in my favour..  Needless to say I then rolled 1 in the cavalry combat to be doubled at 2-2, and then another 1 cost me my general, and to add insult to injury a further nothing combat between his psiloi and my light horse and another low die roll (1) saw me lose another element...  going from 3 down to 6 with some appalling die-rolling.

Oh well. Someone had to win it, but it seemed like the extreme outliers favoured Stephen. I certainly was frustrated at my inability to beat light horse with equal numbers of cavalry, and the 6-1 in his favour certainly was opportune, but on the whole a very even game. I felt I should have won, but didn't get a breakthough anywhere early enough to finish him off before he could get his heavier foot (spear) into action.

Overall the 3 wins from 6 games probably reflects the Ayyubids inability (on the day) to finish off an opponent who has been outmanoeuvred. In the games vs Scott and Owen, I had several bounds of combat where all I needed to do was roll the same or higher than my opponent, and 8 times out of 10 it didn't come off. Against Stephen, I just needed cavalry to beat light horse, and couldn't.

I could put it down to luck, but that seems unfair to my opponents who are all strong players. I will see them on the field of battle next time.

Game 5 Ayyubids IV/20 vs CACS

Steve Vassallo was running the Kn version of Central Asian City States, with essentially a whole bunch of Kn and Bw. I didn't fancy this one much. Again I was the attacker, but Steve placed three tiny terrain pieces so we essentially got a billiard-table.

Being defender Steve deployed first and elected for a cautious interspersed deployment of basically knights then bow, then knights, then bow, and so on. I was more scared of him massing the knights in block for an all out charge and massing the bow in a very strong defence on another wing, and I thought the slow speed of the knights would mean a swift attack could be done on one part of the line in numbers before supports could come over to assist him.

So I decided I would (again) mass the mounted on my right one wing and hold back with the foot troops - after swaps, Steve ended up with about 5 Kn vs  my 6 cavalry and 2 LH, which I sent forward in a deep formation. Steve didn't bottle it, and in true knightly tradition charged forward to meet me. In a huge melee, Steve didn't kill enough before his Kn were sucked forward into multiple double overlaps and finally finished off by the LH/Cv combo.

This was an ideal game for the Ayyubids, being able to mass numbers and engage before an oppoennt could effectively redeploy. Dice were fairly even with me perhaps having a slight advantage in combat.

Game 4 Ayyubids IV/20 vs Trojans

At least I think this was game 4...   Things were getting Hazy..   anyway - Scott (Trailape) is a top bloke to play against, hard but fair, and up for a laugh. As was customary by now.. the Waterway went down.. (groan). His army was a mix of Spear and Chariot cavalry led by Hector, looking splendid in his red chariot and shining armour.

Hector on my right, this wasn't the final deployment.

This wasn't the final deployment, with Hector switching to the centre and a Blade element (more of him later) moving to support two chariots on my right.

See those blokes with the bald heads second from the left in the front rank?  Grrrrrrr.... 

I decided to mass my cavalry on my right and overwhelm the two cavalry in front of me then turn the line. Scott decided the best form of defence was attack and as I threw the column foward beside the waterway, he charged me with his two cavalry chariots - I had bow turning behind the column, and suddenly realised that the two Bw elements turning behind couldn't be pushed back and could cost me dearly!  Luckily for me, the dice gods smiled on me, (oh.. how were they to turn!) and I threw off the first assault at 2-3, then moved out to get my own overlap and got a 4-1 to take out one of his chariots.

By now I had elements pouring into the space on my right, behind and flanking the spear and blade that were left there as the second Trojan chariot succumbed. On my left I kept Hector and his other Chariot amused with Auxilia and Bw in a wood, supporting my remaining cavalry and LH that were facing off his Sp line in the centre.

I had some extraordinary luck holding the Spear off (in one bound I had 5 combats and rolled 4 x 6 and a 2..  unfortunately the two was against that pesky Blade.. and the sixes weren't enough to do damage to supported spear). I was lucky not fleeing & sticking too much, as that would allow the Spear to contact me front and flank, but in the meantime, victory was turning to disaster on my right. I managed to kill the Sp with Cv in front and side at 3-3, but the remaining Blade (remember him?) was beating off all attacks..  and then to add insult to injury, got a 6-1 to kill a cavalry in front of him.

I took a chance at a flank attack on his main spear line, which didn't come off at 3-3, and in return lost the cavalry attempting it. by this stage I was now two elements down,  Scott was three down, and all I needed to do was kill this last Blade element, which was now completely isolated and surrounded by LH and Cv. For several bounds this went on, either sticking or throwing me back, I threw a bow in behind a spear hoping to recoil it into the bowmen with my cavalry, another fail... and lost the bow..  By now it was 3 elements each.

I shot at his charioteers at 4-3.. several times, another fail, and still I couldn't kill the axemen as Hector drove his red chariot the width of the field to crash into the rear of my horsemen attacking the axemen, who again threw their opponents back, to die beneath the hooves of Hector's chariot horses.  Game over, and I had gone down.

A fun game, but one in which the dice played a disproportionate part. I was lucky to get away with surviving the first chariot charge, but after that the combat dice were not in my favour. Where I didn't need high dice, I was getting them as in the centre vs his spear, and yet time and again, needing to roll 3 or higher to get that last element I just couldn't do it. Scott's Blades should be rewarded with dancing boys, gold ornaments and some clothes.  But yet again, I was left thinking that my troops didn't have enough punch to finish an enemy off when I felt he should have been on the ropes.

Game 3 Ayyubids IV/20 vs Early Hoplite Greek

Game three and Mark Baker and his Early Hoplite Greek. A stunning looking army, and what was also lovely was that Mark had commssioned some beautiful terrain pieces that really made the board look stunning. A beautiful Vineyard for the camp, small tree groves and a suitably rocky waterway (yes.. Waterway no. 3), curse those DBA 2.2 Terrain rules!

Essentially the EHG are all Spear with 1 element of Cavalry and 1 element of Auxilia (Thracians). And Mark had little option but to extend his line and try to deny me room.

First we dance this way and force Mark to respond

I did the dancing Ayyubid trick, meanwhile eyeing off the two vulnerable parts of his army (the cav and Auxilia.. )

The Cavalry and Auxilia get isolated.

 Once I had forced him to respond, I was able to switch elements back, and Mark unluckily lost his cavalry to a bad die roll, and very rapidly the situation deteriorated for him with two split spear wings, and my cavalry free to pour through the centre. he tooks some risks to retrieve the situation which didn't come off, and it was soon game over.

With a relatively decent open area to play in, the Ayyubids did what I wanted to do with them. I was lucky in the early combat, but Mark simply did not have the mobility to respond to multiple mobile threats, and I had the PIPs to exploit when necessary. This was how I had hoped the Ayyubids would work.

Game 2 Ayyubids IV/20 vs Medieval Scandinavian

Blade gone, and the Bw about to disappear

Owen was using his Medieval Scandinavian, which the pictures will show were 10mm figures - largely undercoated black, and very difficult to distinguish visually. As he has had them for 2 years or so, I reckon it is about time he splashed some paint on them. Especially as I had basically painted the Ayyubids in 10 days.

Be that as it may, he is a very careful competitor - makes few mistakes and knows the rules very well. He also has no compunction about exploiting the rules as written. Accordingly, when I was attacker, he laid the standard waterway, and a BUA, knowing I had nothing that could take it (Auxilia being my most powerful foot element). And when I deployed away from it, he then did a defender swap to put artillery in the BUA.

I saw he had deployed with a weakness on his left, with his line broken up and only a couple of Bowmen and a Blade to cover his flank, so I immediately piled 4 cavalry and 2 LH through the narrow gap between a marsh and the Waterway, and got stuck into his isolated elements. Meanwhile I had to use PIPS to redeploy away from the Artillery in the BUA, virtually leaving me with a narrow strip of about 4 inches wide to play in.

My assault on his Bw/Bd combo supported by his Kn general was initially successful, I was able to go in vs his Bw at 3-3 (with overlaps) and rapidly took two elements, and a flanking LH ensured his Bd was gone. 

General in trouble...

Ayyubid Psiloi arrive to support

By now his General was in serious trouble, having pushed forward and in danger of being hit both flanks and rear for a 3-2 shot. What I had forgotten though, was that DBA 2.2 allows a breakoff even by the slower element (I have been playing too many other sets of rules). And he was able to break off his General and pull three more bow across from his left (he had been moving them slowly and gradually to support, having had a series of 5 and 6 for PIPS every bound), and they immediately shot down a Psiloi and two Cavalry to add to the LH I had lost to the other Bowmen in the initial assault. Game Over. I had gone from a position of being 3-1 elements up, with his General isolated and hard-flanked, and just been outrolled across the board.

I commented to Owen afterwards that to my recollection, he had not rolled a single 1 during the game, his PIPS had been exceptional, and that in the final few rounds his combat dice seemed to be all 5 & 6's. 

Not a happy game for me, it showed the worst cheesey excesses of 2.2 terrain and deployment rules. I don’t like slow-moving troops being able to break off, and my dice didn’t do me any favours. Or more accurately, Owen's dice did him a lot of favours.

Shows the area between the 5" Artillery range from the BUA and the Waterway

Game 1 Ayyubids IV/20 vs Anglo-Norman

I always end up playing Jason in DBA comps, he is a very good player and makes few mistakes. The Anglo-Normans are also a very powerful army, I wasn't looking forward to this one. As usual I forgot to take pictures, but his Anglo-Normans are also beautifully painted, so it makes for a very visually appealing game.

I was attacker, and Jason laid down a waterway to narrow the table, (the first of four games where this was the case) then he deployed a line of supported spear and Kn across the width of the table, with the cheesey shooting War Wagon on his extreme right. I decided to mask his line for the most part and try to pull his general forward into double overlaps.

Early moves saw me throw LH forward towards his WWG, and Jason was forced to use a lot of PIPS to turn his war wagon lengthways to cover his open flank, and advance the rest of his line. I threw cavalry into the front of his general and his wingman, and got a lucky kill on the wingman at 3-3, his general won the combat, (but not by enough to kill) and advanced..

Jason had to spend PIPS shoring up his line, and having pulled back my LH, I used my PIPS to put a LH into the front of his general with double overlaps.. I lost the first one I tried this with, but the second one finally killed his general and it was all over.

The manoeuvrability of the cavalry offered little advantage, but Jason was really hampered by low PIPS and having to manoeuvre to cover the threat of my LH.

Sorry - no pics of this one.

Landwaster Done

Landwaster X done & dusted, and a disappointing 3 wins from 6 games. Lessons Learned:

1. If you take a cavalry army, people will lay down a waterway every time. Some people will even put down a BUA and waterway so you only have one choice of board edge.
2. You can beat knights with cavalry, but only by mobbing them repeatedly, and they will fight off almost every attempt to kill them at evens or better when hard flanked (as will Bd).
3. Playing with miniatures is a visual experience, and it is time some people painted their army.
4. I hate 2.2 terrain rules.
5. Cv can't beat LH - or to be more precise, my Cav can't beat Stephen Hopkins' LH.
6. It doesn't matter what you roll, ort he advantages you engineer as long as your opponent keeps rolling 5 & 6's.
7. If you take 12 x 50/50 shots, don't be surprised if only one comes off.
8. PIP starvation is death to a cavalry army.

I enjoyed playing with the Ayyubids, but I think I will enjoy them more when 3 is released, terrain becomes more random, and 30" boards are legalised... 

Pics to follow...

Ayyubids Finished

Finished up the Ayyubids..  a quick lacquer spray tomorrow and that's it. I should really be getting more decorative and painting on patterns and dots, and stuff...  but I have bene doing a couple of hours at least a night and I am over it..  besides which, these will form part of a whole DBMM army, and I have another 21 Cavalry elements and about 30 Light Horse elements to paint, so I want them all to be sort of consistent. Basing is the excellent Baccus Basing Kit - with some GW dry/dead grass. All up, I am pretty happy with them.

Ayyubids.. still WIP

I thought I would make myself feel better by getting the Ayyubids photographed. They are by no means complete, but much further along. There are horse harnesses and leather to complete, plus some further decorative effects but I am pretty happy with the results so far. As always I need to work on my photography, but at least I am now reasonably confident they will be finished in time for Landwaster on Sunday.

DBA Redux

David Lawrence has been a fantastic asset to players of DBA in Canberra and the surrounds. He runs a number of competitions which are always well attended, and has been running Landwaster since 2002. So David being a proactive organiser, started harassing me about what army I will use on Nov 20.

I have cast around, have lots of options - but decided it was a good chance to force myself to finish painting the Ayyubids:

Ayyubid Egyptian, IV/20

1x 3Cv (Gen), 5x 3Cv, 2x 2LH, 1x 3Ax or 3Wb or 7Hd, 2x 4Bw or 2Ps, 1x 2LH or 2Ps 

Not a very competitive army, but should look pretty. The Mirliton minis are nice.


Quick - to the painting cave...

Ayyubids - Part 1

Last year I played at the national DBMM championships at Cancon using an almost all Cavalry list based on the Ayyubid Egyptian list in DBMM Book 4. Despite all evidence to the contrary, like my lowly finish, I reckon there is a half decent list in there trying to get out. So I invested some money in the Mirliton Miniatures Ayyubids. A bit fiddly with half people, separate shield/lances and the like, but very nice figures with lovely animation and variety.

Undercoated - some base colours

Here is the first bit of the WIP for the DBA scale army, which I am using as the testbed for the final army. 

A few more colours..