Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Early Imperial Roman Army for DBA in 22mm


DE BELLIS ANTIQUITAS

SIMPLE FAST PLAY ANCIENT WAR-GAME AND CAMPAIGN RULES WITH ARMY LISTS

WAR-GAMES RESEARCH GROUP MARCH 1990


So reads the cover of what is commonly known as DBA.

One of my war-game buddies reintroduced me to DBA this summer utilizing his 6mm collection of Celts, Republican Romans, Sassanid Persians and Late Romans.

We did both games in under 90 minutes. Quickest training games ever! The Republican Romans beat the Celts while the Late Romans just barely beat the Sassanid Persians when their general went down war elephant and all! Sorry no pics.

We had a nice time for sure.

However, we both have large collections of unpainted\painted plastic ancient figures in 1\72nd scale not attached to any rule system. We've been concentrating on other projects including a huge Napoleonic project for Waterloo.

So, after the 6mm DBA games we hit on the brilliant idea of wouldn't be a great to paint up DBA armies for the ancient period in 20mm-23mm reasoning that 60 figures or less for an army is very doable.

Below are pictures of my first DBA army. I had a head start since all the legionnaires, ballista and archers were already painted and needed only a touch up. The auxiliary infantry and cavalry are the additions I made

Legionnaires.
Italeri, Airfix, Revell figures

The command stand features three figures from the Revell set while the one on the right is Airfix as is the base behind.

The usual formation in a DBA game is one stand deep for blades.

6 stands of Legionnaires exceeds the basic list by a little. Foot command/general base to the rear.

Auxila. Figures my HAT and shield transfers by Little Big Man Studios made especially for HAT figs. (I never could paint shield designs.)

Single rank of Auxilia, 3-4 elements allowed on the list. An element is a base with a variable number of figures depending on type.

I like the HAT figures but the spear armed figs were difficult to work with. The pose pictured was the easiest to assemble.

Command Element Mounted. The figures are 20mm New Line Design. Most of my plastic armies are supplemented by metal 20mm figures. New Line are the best I've seen in 20mm or 1\72nd scale.

My choice for a command element.

HAT Auxiliary Cavalry. Nice set. Shield transfers are from Little Big Man Studios. The HAT set is nice featuring figures in scale mail and standards chain mail. 

All the mounted elements



In DBA all light infantry are called psiloi unless they armed formed "bows" like Persians or later Romans. These two archer elements are from the old Airfix set and wear Hamian garb.

One element of artillery is allowed as an option. I believe these are Orion figures-one of the first manufacturers to produce artillery in plastic.

I like them!

12 Elements is the maximum in a basic DBA game. I have enough figures to field the variants but this is what a basic army looks like. I doubled them up to fit them in the picture otherwise one rank is normal for most troop types.

Close up of the Auxiliary Cavalry

These were actually painted almost 20 years ago. I touched them up for DBA. They are Italeri\ESCI figs.

Close up of the HAT Auxila

Early edition of DBA. 


7 comments:

Paul Howes said...


A Good mix of figures.
Indeed a Lovely Sight!
Good to see the oldest painted ones take their stand too.
Terrific amount of base work has paid off, They Look Great! BB

Bruce Roeder said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Phil said...

Beautiful army Bruce, love this impressive artullery and the wonderful units...Great looking command stand !

Bruce Roeder said...

Thank you Phil. Much appreciated

Bruce Roeder said...

Thanks for stopping by and the kind words Paul.

Welnin said...

Very nice and colorful army !

Bruce Roeder said...

Thank you and thanks for stoping by.