A virtual DBA game

Steedo and I got together via the wonders of WhatsApp to try a virtual game. We played via texts effectively rather than video calling. I think this might give a better representation of giving orders and seeing how they are implemented by the people on the ground (in this case me).
All the dice rolling was done by me - important rolls were then send to Steedo!

The battle saw Steedo, with the Dooric Greeks (cause they were on the Door side of the table) consisting of 6 bases of hoplite spears, 2 cavalry, 2 light horse and 2 psiloi ("caveman" as Steedo put it)/ I commanded the Ikearian Greeks (on the Ikea cupboard side of the table), made up of 8 hoplites, 2 light horse and 2 psiloi.

Initial deployment (Steedo's forces on the left).

Opening advance by the Ikearians!

Steedo pushes forward too!

A mounted clash on the flank! I force a recoil on the cavalry, but lose one of my light horse!

A second fight forces my light horse back and Steedo is pushing his psiloi forward to back up the cavalry on the right flank. He is also moving his cavalry on the left flank around the woods there, causing me to break up my battle lines to meet the more mobile threats.

Steedo's right flank cavalry finishing off the last of my light horse, just before my psiloi make a ill judged attack from the woods on Steedo's cavalry over there! 3 nil to Steedo at this point!

A view from the front line so to speak.

A desperate move sees the my hoplites kill off some of Steedo's cavalry in an against the odd ploy!
Steedo sends in his psiloi to counter.

The hoplites line up for a tussle around the broken ground in the centre of the table (I shouldn't have put that there - d'Oh!). The psiloi are in!

The attack is fought off and some of Steedo's psiloi flee! Just in picture on the right.

Then the remaining psiloi go the flank of the hoplites in front of the broken ground .....this could get messy as they turn to face!

Initially repelled - but Steedo's cavalry are making mischief in the rear of my lines near the camp!

In they go again - this time Steedo flanks my hoplites with his across the broken ground! And he might also have killed another of my hoplites on the left of the broken ground.

So a convincing win for Steedo 4 or 5 to 2. I know I made some rules errors, but as I was running both sides this was not really a problem. What I was keen to do was make sure that moves were done quick and get outcome pictures to Steedo as soon as possible. DBA seemed to work for this type of game (it would have been good if Steedo knew the rules a bit better). I might have given some sense of command - "you men over there attack!" .... and forgetting or more likely not being able to see troops (the cavalry my psiloi attacked stayed by the woods - in fact I'm not sure they are in any of the pictures on here). Although all the pictures are from Steedo's side of the table so to speak.

This sort of gaming might work well for WW2 era games as you can't see what is happening in every place - pity I don't have any tanks ..... 

An enjoyable experience which we might have to try again ....

Morts

Keeping myself busy in these strange times.

With work being closed, I am working from home, but I'm not having to commute or get up quite so early.... Which is nice. So with the extra time I am getting so painting done - managed to paint and base 10 cliff mites for Starship Troopers - but I think they could turn up as monsters in a fantasy setting.

I am a bit annoyed with myself as I had taken pictures of the 4 hopper bugs I'd painted to match the 3 I'd already done - but I have deleted them in error so they are just in the big box of bugs?!

Also finished basing the Dwarf cannon - originally painted long ago.

I have also got so other bit and bobs on the go - planning to try a virtual game of DBA tomorrow with the collective which should be interesting.

Morts

Pottering along .......

So my work is shutting down for the virus, but I have to go in a couple of days this week to cover and to make sure work is set. I imagine that I have to be available most of the day to deal with things .... This means I don't get lots of time to do important things such as paint little metal and plastic people and play solo games .... I think I will return to the Warriors of Athena Frostgrave scenarios I started ages ago.
I might try doing the labels on the blog sometime (as the app has stopped working on this very old iPad) .... But then again I might not!
I haven't gotten any further with the plastics started last week, but I have finished off some ancients civilians (useful for something I am sure) and a unit of Polish guard for the Saxon GNW army - got to sort the flag.

Both these need a varnish, as do some plastic warg riders (I now have 12 in total) which I picked up to "finish" off the units for Dragon Rampant (or the GW game in Middle-earth), but I'm not too keen on Dragon Rampant at the moment, so I'll have to think about it some more - I don't really need 3 "Orc" armies -
1. Hobgoblin army (very old 80s figures), used for Kings of War.
2. A HotT (60mm frontage) based Ral Partha Orc army.
3. A Lord of the Rings Orc army ..... Which I am in the process of rebasing from HotT to individual bases.
Quite a lot of duplication there, but .....

Also started to put together some of Conquest Games early medieval archers for the SAGA forces ....

Vikings on the top a Frostgrave barbarian pressed into service and Saxons have 3 Gripping Beast Dark Age archers. The figures are interesting to put together lots of cutting to get them to look "right" (having said that I have found the sprues useful for parts on other projects, such as the LotR men), and now require some green stuff to fill the gaps, make sleeves and necks for the GB heads. This lot won't be particularly historical with helmets and the like, but the should fit with the other parts of the armies.

On other matters I almost ripped the derailleur off my mountain bike AGAIN! It's now quite right so I might need to see if Dan the bike man get have look at it, but I completed 16.5 miles on it. ...
I have managed  to read Tolkien's translation of Beowulf ..... Interesting but heavy going - the sentence structure is tough going for modern English readers (like me, just about). Obviously Old English is a totally different language to modern English, the book contains part in actual Old English. The better half and I looked at some of these (I skipped them while reading the translation) and couldn't make any link ..... I did show one passage to my Danish sister-in-law and she could recognise some words .... The Norman conquest has much to answer for.

Off to bimble for a bit!

Morts

Covid-19 Apocalypse and what do I do?

Europe goes into panic mode (in the UK stores are cleared of toilet roll!) over Covid-19. I actually think that the approach of the U.K. Government seems quite sensible, but what do I actually know about public health emergencies (there weren't any when I did my 4 years in the NHS pen pushers and bean counters over 20 years ago ....). Only time will tell. My work is carrying on and keeping calm, until we are told by the government to stop and run for the hills.

So for my well being I have started to rebase a Dwarf Cannon for Kings of War (still on 2nd edition as I haven't played for ages and more realistically I am too tight to buy more rules ....). I have put together a couple of guards for my Dragon Knights .... For a skirmish/RPG I haven't played or even got yet .....

Also put together the last 4 hopper bugs and ten cliff mites for Starship Troopers - which hasn't been played in years ..... Only have a Brain bug, a Mantis bug and 9 ripper bugs and all the bugs are done!

Mentioning well being earlier does make me think I have to have a proper review of all the metal plastic I have and have a cull (I keep talking to myself about this but the horder in me keeps saying, but you might NEED that in the future .....) of unused and dead end projects and games. Perhaps if the lockdown happens I'll get the time for the spring clean!

Hope all goes well for you and yours ..... The world with Covid-19.

Morts

Dwarf Steam Tank (Steel Behemoth)

So I finished the Steam Tank (Steel Behemoth) for  the Dwarfs late last week. On the whole pretty pleased with it.

Not sure if I should have gone with a more bronze and steel scheme rather than the red/blue colour scheme, which does match up with a couple of the Dwarf units in the rest of the army. Will have to get them one the table for a quick dust up!

Must avoid buying any extra units .... such as flying things, rangers and such like .....

Morts