Reviving DBA armies - a heady mix of nostalgia and lemsip!

Despite being laid almost completely low by man-flu this week, I managed to stick some grassy finishing touches on to a project that I've been enjoying over the last month or so.

Fairly recently Steve (of Steve's Painting Shed) posted some Facebook pictures of some 15mm Greek DBA armies he'd been renovating. (obviously gorgeous!)

Although I pretty much only ever played DBA solo, (or maybe because I pretty much only ever played solo) I loved it. I played out a couple of mediterranean campaigns, and the first ever wargaming experience my son had (when he was about 3 or 4), was charging elephants into Roman hastatii. 

That was a while ago. Fred's 21 now and the figures have long been consigned to a rather scarily disorganised and uncared for pile of 15mm memories in a box in the loft.

Inspired by Steve's posts, I dug them out and worked out that I could salvage Roman and Carthaginian armies, (all Essex I think), and cobble a strange collection of Donnington Italians into II/8a italian army.

Following his advice, I picked up DBA 3.0, which definitely brings a few changes that I've had to get my head around, both to the rules, but also some small army list changes. I ordered some new MDF bases from warbases... and a few weeks later we have two DBA armies ready to rock! 

Nearly twenty years since they last met!

Polybian Roman II/33

Later Carthaginian II/32a

My old 2x2 board has been given a repaint, and a few bits of felt and stuff will provide the scenery for now, as I add suitably shaped and modelled bits. I've got an old scratch-built BAU which will work as a city but 3.0 brings some new BAU types, so that's something to look at.

Falling back in love with these little armies, no doubt mostly due to a heady mix of nostalgia and lemsip, and looking forward to playing more DBA. (next up, finish the Italians, then plan the next armies)

Death Race at Ruddington Raceway! A Gaslands Game

Recently Scrivs had his first game of Gaslands.. being Scrivs, within the space of a week he'd already got all the gear and built and converted a whole bunch of vehicles! I've got  a few cars and a rudimentary grasp of the game, having played some solo games, and one at the Polly club years ago.. so we met up on Sunday for a 50 cans deathrace!

Geek Villain mat I'd picked up from NorthStar earlier this year

The starting grid

We picked two teams without any Sponsors or perks.. my '99 Specials' consisted of ice cream van, Mr Whippy, and two cars; Firkle and Mazda Mike. Nothing was particularly powerful.. a smattering of MGs, a ram and a smoke dropper brought me up to 50 cans pretty quickly. Scrivs had the Reds with a car and three buggies, one of which sported a harpoon which I was mildly apprehensive of!

I won Pole and decided to stick Mr Whippy on the front row. He was the first out of the gate, 'Greensleeves' on full blast, as he rolled, pushed it and ended up with a slide and a slide, leaving him side on to the pack! Chaos predictably ensued, with shunting and swerving up the first gate, leaving Mr Whippy snuggling a container, one buggy wrecked and another wiped out!

The race started to open out. I'd expected the buggies to zoom up ahead, but somehow Mazda Mike dropped smoke on gate one and got into the lead. he then held on to it, cruising along playing the Eagles and enjoying a cigar. Further down the pack, the minigun buggy was tailing Mr Whippy, somehow managing to miss repeatedly with pretty much all of his shots, until finally deciding to zoom past him.

By Gate 3, it looked like the remaining sliding and skidding Reds were coming on at speed and were going to catch up with the leaders.. Mike panicked, shifting into 5th whilst still on the bend, causing him to spin off the track, leaving Firkle in the lead! The minigun buggy then took out Firkle with a well aimed burst and it looked like he might bomb through for the win.

At  this point though, Mazda Mike showed his true mettle, spitting out his cigar, he threw his vehicle into a reverse hard turn, right into the path of the buggy and fired his handgun.. this took out the buggy which flipped harmlessly over the Mazda.. calmly Mike turned the volume up and turned for the finish line, being the first winner at the Ruddington Raceway!

Good fun! Hopefully we can rope in one or two others for some multiplayer action (Although Tom is likely to refuse to play unless we can find some Sylvanian Families cars apparently?)