From EdwardG: The final Challenge Dash - 28mm Sub-Roman British DBA Army, some Chambers and the Little Emperor (571pts)

 Hi all,

So near to the end! And yet time still for a last entry! It has been a blast and an honour to be painting among such talented a group as this. I am thoroughly looking forwards to the next Challenge already! 

My two main theme armies of this challenge have been my 6mm Napoleonics, of which I have often posted, and my 28mm Sub-Roman British DBA Army. I have been keeping the DBA army in the background, as I was hoping to have painted it all. Sadly in the end, it seems I have fallen 6 mounted Cavalry short. But I hope you will not judge my efforts too harshly for this failure!

The figures are 98% metal, with the majority coming from the excellent Footsore range. There are some EOE Orbis figures in there as well, and 2 plastic conversions.

The DBA army is painted to take part in a weekend mini-tournement that has been held annually here in Hamburg for the past 4yrs. It is a brilliant weekend, which brings together the majority of the DBA players here is Germany (sadly only about 20!). For this weekend, the normal DBA basing has been deepened, so we can fit more figures and give a better diorama feel to the bases. This is wonderful for the photos, but sadly means more painting! In past years I have taken armies with lots of light troops = fewer figures to paint. But this year, being the token Brit at the event, I felt I needed to represent the Sceptered Isle (blame Shakespeare, not me!), with the army of Arthur. 

It is based on the DBA army number II/81a, with as many of the options painted up as possible to go with it. I used a mixture of Vallejo and Citadel paints along with some washes in places. I have to admit, it is the more 28mm figures I have ever painted in one go (and there are still 6 to do!). But I enjoyed it and I think my techniques improved over the period, but I mixed up the painting batches on the bases to be sure it wasn't obvious!

I had planned to paint the army around the Bernard Cornwall Series of books. But I realised this was actually going to be more difficult than I thought as I couldn't find my copies for reference (but they remain some of my favorite of his books!). So I decided to branch off and try my luck free styling. I did bring in some inspiration from the books, so you will find some references sprinkled here and there. I will let the the great Snowlord. decide my punishment. 

For some obscure reason I decided to hand paint the shields and banners. After some truly shocking starts, I decided to go with reasonably simple geometrical patterns, that I drew on before hand using an ink pen. I based the shields roughly on the artwork that is out there, but not exclusively. After all, this is representing an army that has been separated from Rome for 50-80yrs. Not part of the establishment. For the banners, I have to admit, I did cheat a little. I printed out the outlines, having sketched them up on the computer, and then painted in the designs. I am quite happy with the outcome and have to admit, I am tempted to do it for future 15mm projects as well (though not 6mm, it is just too small!).   

As part of the entry, I realised I could run through another 3 rooms of the Chambers of Challenge! So without further ado, I present my first minis, for the Armoury.

The Armoury: Paint a figure, a vignette or unit which is armoured - plate, steel, iron, ceramic, chain-mail - the choice is yours.

 

The miniatures are Late Roman Cataphracts, which play as 4Kn in DBA. They have the punching power of normal knights, but slightly less of the suicidal tendency. All four are Footsore miniatures, and wonderful to paint. I based the commander of the stand on the character of Sagramoor from the Bernard Cornwall books.

The Gallery of Ancestors: Paint a figure, unit or model with an ancestral theme - an ancestor of yours, or a connection to your own family’s history, or maybe just the ancestors of the last unit you painted. Revel in a glorious past… even if it’s an imagined ancestry for your tabletop heroes!

Next up, and as my entry for the Gallery of Ancestors, is the big man himself. Arthur, Dux of Britain, and his companion knights. I will not go into the misty mythos of the the Arthur legend. But it is safe to say that we now think someone like him could have lived, and fought the Saxon invasions in the 5t76th centuries. As with a lot of history that has been rehashed and retold of the centuries, it is likely the Arthur we know of today is an amalgamation of several real people who contributed to noteworthy events.

I enter Arthur for the Gallery for two reasons. I am a quarter Welsh, who as we all know are the true inheritors of the Roman British State, so in that respect I feel Arthur is the common mythologic ancestor for the principality. And secondly, that quarter of my Welsh heritage is actually quite long. My Great-Grandfather (the Welsh one), decided to trace the family tree back as far as he could. The family tree he ended up drawing needs to be displayed on the back of a door it is so long. And actually quite comprehensive. There is only one minor leap of faith, in the fifteenth century. The tree takes us back to someone in the same area, with the same 'name' (names are tricky that far back), as the brother of Dafydd Gam (Davy Gam of Shakespeare Henry V fame). By making the leap that he is the same person and so jumping into the Gam family tree, which links the family back to the royal family of Brycheiniog. This was a kingdom founded in the wake of the end of Roman Britain, and could well have supplied a knight for Arthur's round table.

As a short detour from the Challenge Chambers, I submit the remainder of the DBA army. It consists of:

- 1 Light Horse element (Lh) - these chaps are plastic kit bashes. They have GB late Roman heads on Conquest games Norman bodies and horses. The cloaks are made of green stuff to hide the messy join of head and neck. The shields are a mix of Footsore and plastic Gallic. I took inspiration for the shield design from the internet. But I doubt it is too realistic. 

- 8 Spear elements (Two of which can also be Blades). These are all a mixture of Footsore and EOE Orbis figures. Apparently I was lucky with my customer service experience of EOE Orbis, as the figures arrived in a reasonable time. The elements with the Chi-Rho and religious icon banners, are there to be used as Blade elements if required and so stand out. As I said above and similar to the mounted banners, I printed the outlines and just coloured them in. All spears are cut down brush bristles with shaped heads, a great trick I found out about from the wonderful mini community. All elements have 8 miniatures per base and are mounted on 60mmx50mm which is in line with the local DBA basing standard. 

- 2 Solid Auxiliary elements and 1 Pisoli (archers). These are from the same manufacturer as above. They offer a slight variation to the standard Spear element and give the army a little bit more rough going fighting capability. The shields are based on some real examples of what we know was a late roman shield. In my mind, these chaps are the ones who are keeping the memory of Roma and the Auxilia Palatina alive! 

Now it is back to the Chambers. And my final one, The Guardroom!

The Guardroom: This chamber-challenge is to paint some donut-munching, soundly-sleeping, or professionally competent guards.  Bonus points for painting things they might be guarding, as well.

In the closing days of the last month, I was digging through my lead pile and came across a very old packet of Foundry late romans. These sculpts do not hold up very well compared to the much more animated Footsore range. It is funny how far the hobby has come. However, I did want to paint up these chaps and include them in the Challenge. I realised that I needed some elements of baggage guards for DBA. There is an allowance for elements to guard the camp space, that I painted earlier in the Challenge. I wanted them to fit in (ish) with my other elements, so I used some of the spare shields that I had painted up and didn't need on some of the elements.  

Annoyingly, having painted and prepared everything for the entry, I realised on Thursday that my points total would be a very odd number. So I worked out I needed to paint 6 points worth to make it to a nice round number. That is when I realised I had the minis for a Napoleon command stand. This will be used in my 100days campaign and was going to be my entry for the Ork pit, Napoleon being the Ogre of Europe and all that. But I don't want to be too greedy. 

So the final points total! 

 I calculate that I have the following points:

9 x 28mm Mounted = 90pts

83 x 28mm Infantry = 415pts

3 x Chambers of Challenge = 60pts

6 x 6mm Mounted = 6pts 

Total = 571pts

Which by my reckoning gives me a grand total of 629pts + 571pts = 1200pts!!

Thank you all again for the inspiration and the encouragement and the hard work of the Minions and Curt to get this whole ball dancing and us all rolling for 3mths! 

TTFN, and see you all for the final summary photos in a few days! 

Best,
Ed