Fortification-103 Iberian Fortified Town - Full - Wall - Banner

Three DBA Fortifications for Big Bases

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A few years ago I went through a phase of collecting and painting fortifications for DBA. I finished an Iberian Fortified Town, a Roman Marching Camp, and half of a Greek Marching Camp. I thought I’d share.

Iberian Fortified Town

I got two FOG2 – 15mm Generic Fortified Camp 120×80 from the Baueda: HOPPIDUS range. Called a “camp” it seems to server perfectly well as a fortified town. Two means I have the option of a fully enclosed Built Up Area in DBA.

Fortification-101 Iberian Fortified Town - Full - Gate
Fortification-101 Iberian Fortified Town – Full – Gate

Fortification-102 Iberian Fortified Town - Full - Top
Fortification-102 Iberian Fortified Town – Full – Top
Fortification-103 Iberian Fortified Town - Full - Wall
Fortification-103 Iberian Fortified Town – Full – Wall
Fortification-104 Iberian Fortified Town - Full - Angled
Fortification-104 Iberian Fortified Town – Full – Angled
Fortification-105 Iberian Fortified Town - Half - Gate
Fortification-105 Iberian Fortified Town – Half – Gate
Fortification-106 Iberian Fortified Town - Back
Fortification-106 Iberian Fortified Town – Back
Fortification-107 Iberian Fortified Town - Half - Garrisoned
Fortification-107 Iberian Fortified Town – Half – Garrisoned

Roman Marching Camp

I got two FOG3 – 15mm Roman Marching Camp 120x80mm from the Baueda: HOPPIDUS range. Two means I have the option of a fully enclosed camp.

Judging from the Baueda photos, these camps can be assembled with the gentle slope on the inside or the outside. I put the gentle slope on the inside as I thought this made sense, with the defenders higher than any attackers. It also means the walls are at the edge of the fortification feature.

Fortification-108 Roman Marching Camp - Full - Gate
Fortification-108 Roman Marching Camp – Full – Gate
Fortification-109 Roman Marching Camp - Full - Top
Fortification-109 Roman Marching Camp – Full – Top
Fortification-110 Roman Marching Camp - Full - Wall
Fortification-110 Roman Marching Camp – Full – Wall
Fortification-111 Roman Marching Camp - Half - Garrisoned
Fortification-111 Roman Marching Camp – Half – Garrisoned
Fortification-112 Roman Marching Camp - Half - Garrisoned
Fortification-112 Roman Marching Camp – Half – Garrisoned
Fortification-113 Roman Marching Camp - Half - Gate
Fortification-113 Roman Marching Camp – Half – Gate

Greek Marching Camp

Most people don’t realise the Greeks were using marching camps before the Romans. We know they existed but we don’t know much about what they looked like. I’ve assumed a simple palisade.

I got mine from Museum Miniatures: Camps and Forts:
PA06 Palisade, Gate section
PA05 Palisade, corner section
PA04 Palisade, straight section

Then I assembled them in the configuration I needed. So far I’ve only finished half of the final camp. That is enough for DBA when deployed on the table edge. But unlike the fortifications above, I cannot use this feature in the middle of the table.

Fortification-114 Greek Marching Camp - Half - Garrisoned
Fortification-114 Greek Marching Camp – Half – Garrisoned
Fortification-115 Greek Marching Camp - Half - Top
Fortification-115 Greek Marching Camp – Half – Top
Fortification-116 Greek Marching Camp - Half - Gate
Fortification-116 Greek Marching Camp – Half – Gate
Fortification-117 Greek Marching Camp - Half - Back
Fortification-117 Greek Marching Camp – Half – Back

8 thoughts on “Three DBA Fortifications for Big Bases”

  1. These look excellent, especially the Iberian one – lovely colours on the brickwork.
    Have been playing a few games of DBA 1.1 myself recently and am now looking at rebasing a couple armies to big bases. All the more so as I am all but pantsed in every game of DBM I bring my feudal knight army out to play with.

    Reply

    • Thanks Julian. I like the brown tones of Mediterranean stone and tried to capture it.

      I’m glad I went to big bases, although I admit that it took a while. Years because I have quite a few figures.

      Then recently I decided to rebase my already rebased Big Base DBA Mounted stands. They were on 80mm x 60mm and I moved them all to match the infantry on 80mm to 40mm (except for chariots which don’t fit). I think they look much better now. But DBx purists will be outraged.

      Reply

  2. I made my own from a range of materials, a Celtic ring style (from a circular ceramic ring designed to sit on a lightbulb with essential oil) topped with rocks, simple palisade from cocktail sticks and a Roman marching camp.
    I’m glad to see the Baueda one matches my own idea of a temporary structure. Mine was influenced by re-inactors so has a shallow ditch and rampart topped with pilum muralis (carved from matches) – the sort of thing that was built at the end of a march and levelled next day. I actually got a lot of grief (including from an archaeologist) about it being “wrong” with people indicating it should be like the permanent structure with huge rampart and wooden fortifications.
    I pointed out the time this would take was inconsistent and that the footprint that would remain, would leave traces even today, so there would be chains of such huge forts every 20 miles….
    They maintained that the Romans built such huge forts at the end of every march…..
    Neil

    Reply

    • Clearly you know some silly people (including an archaeologist). The foot print of a roman camp was probably the same as a roman fort, but the construction materials, and time taken, differed.

      Reply

  3. I have made scratch-built DBA camps in the past. Now it dawns on me: make a back and it can function as a Built Up Area. Amazing how this has evaded me all these years.

    Reply

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