From HerrRobert - The ballistae cull a fearful toll [History] - 50 points

The library book sale is an annual event, held the first month after the annual opening of the Analogueville Public Library. Librarians silently and swiftly identify august tomes collecting dust and authors no longer in demand by Analogueville patrons and move them to the consignment sale. Warned of the impending fate of From Dura to Ctesiphon, stories of the Roman-Persian wars, a retelling for modern audiences was in order.

Although famous for the quality of their cavalry and (due to scurrilous and vile reputation smirching by the scholars of their enemies) infamy of their infantry, the Sassanid Empire also operated an artillery arm for siege and pitched battle work. Jauntily attired in brightly colored tunics, pants and especially fashionable domed hats, we see examples of three Sassanid ballistae, ready for action at Dura, or attacking any of the numerous fortified Roman cities in the Levant.

My first submission for Challenge XIV is three 15mm Sassanid ballistae and crews. All are from the Sassanid Bolt Shooters And Crew pack in Old Glory's Ancients Sassanid line, now sold by 19th Century Miniatures. 

These are the first 15mm miniatures I have painted in a very long time (almost a decade now), and are mounted on the standard WRG/DBA basing of 40mmx40mm for artillery. 

I tried something new, going for a zenithal prime (Krylon black, followed by Games Workshop Corax White). I'm pleased with the results, the zenithal giving a nice shade to some of the craft paints used for pants and hats. I also was able to get a nice mix of unbleached linen and wool, using either Reaper 09063 Ghost White for the grayish tones, and 09061 Linen White for the cream tones. I'd not been a fan of cream tones for white in the past, but it works well here, I think.

As you can see, my basing style for 15mm troops is much simpler and faster than 25mm, with just painting the base in Americana Mississippi Mud, and then dipping it in a flock mix. It works much better than thinned down white glue, as figures flocked two decades ago will attest. I also put triangular labels on the corners of 15mm bases, which really helps with telling what a given stand is. While artillery is pretty obvious, a lot of other DBA troop types can be very confusing. 

For those who wish to copy them, the labels are really easy to make. I just use a triangle shape in Powerpoint, and 6pt Calibri font. For my SYW troops, I'll use a fancier font. I used to make them in Illustrator, but honestly Powerpoint is a lot simpler now.

Sadly, neither DBA nor the standard Might of Arms list (my favorite Ancients to Medievals wargame rules) for Sassanids allow ballistae, so they may be destined to sit on the shelf and look pretty for a long while. 

Entering the library, I snuck past the collections desk and their pesky fines (what's this wanting their books back, on time, stuff!?) and made a beeline for History. Obviously, the Sassanid Persians are a sadly neglected (and colorful) period of history, but also a major piece of my personal wargaming history. My first forays into DBA twenty years ago (or more) with 2.0/2.2 were with a Sassanid Persian Army, and I've always been a fan of the Sassanids - especially those awesome hats. Sadly, the army has sat half-finished and neglected for a while now, but I am hoping to revive it as part of a general bringing my DBA armies up to 3.0 composition.

So why a full month for nine 15mm figures? Several reasons. COVID hit me hard for Christmas, and then I got seriously stuck on some 25mm Old West figures. They looked an easy paint job, but for some reason they sucked away all my painting mojo. I'd also noticed a hard time seeing the details, both on the ancients and the Old West figures. Missing and then seeing things was a real demoralizer. I'm scheduled for a cataract replacement in February, and hopefully that will make it a lot easier to see. Meanwhile, I'm going to switch gears to something more fun and hopefully that will get the mojo back. 

Add in the obligatory photo complaint, but I think I have figured out why they're so washed out. I also don't have near that many pieces of static grass and flock on my photo background, but the iPhone sees everything (especially mold lines I didn't see and thus didn't file off before priming).

Scoring:

• 9 15mm infantry figures @ 2 points per = 18 points
• 3 15mm artillery pieces @ 4 points per =  12 points
• History section of the Analogueville Public Library = 20 points
  

For a total of 50 points! 25% of my quota!

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First, welcome back to the Challenge, Robert! Sorry to hear about your peepers. I hope the coming month sets you up well. Still, there is nothing to apologize for with these figures as they look terrific. I especially like the arid basework. Well done!

- Curt