Spanish and Portuguese Military History,
Wargaming, and other stuff
I recently transferred my Dark Age figures for Hordes of the Things (HOTT) to Big Bases. Magicians, beasts, clerics, hordes, that kind of thing, making Big Base HOTT. This included my Strathclyde Welsh (Northern Cymry) for Britannia 600 AD.
To celebrate the big basing, Chris Harrod and I had a game of Arthurian HOTT. Chris brought along his Picts and we used sabots to give him big bases.
I thought I’d show off my 1815 Argentines. I my thoughts on Using Big Base Liberators Figures of 1817-18 for 1815 I highlighted a few gaps that I needed to fill before I could refight Sipe Sipe. I could use some figures from my 1817-18 Argentineans but I had to get a few more.
If you are interested in the other side, I’ve already posted on my 1815 Royalists.
Big Base DBA (also known as Big Base De Bellis Antiquitatis or BBDBA) allows fast games with a small number of playing pieces and lots of figures. Big Base DBA requires few modifications from the standard DBA rules.
Inspired by Philip Sabin’s Analysis of Ancient Warfare in Lost Battles I’ve drifted further away from normal DBA than you need to, but I’ll explain why as I go along. Mostly it affects basing.
I want to try Napoleon at War (NAW) for Liberators and one of the first questions is … what do I do about my Big Bases? Luckily Phil from Wargaming in the Sun has some useful suggestions for using units based for Lasalle / FoGN with Napoleon at War. I can just add to his analysis to cope with my 2 x 80mm x 40mm basing.
The fifth game in our Fall of Hispania Campaign will occur in 448 AD, 2 game years after the last battle. Chris Harrod rolled Roman and I got Visigoth. Despite misgivings I have chosen Basic Impetus as the rules.
Basic Impetus has army lists but, even after I reformatted them, I don’t like them. So I tweaked the two that we are intending to use. Okay, I only made two small changes to troop types, but those changes stem from mistakes that get me quite het up.
My thoughts on Using Big Base Liberators Figures of 1817-18 for 1815 highlighted a few gaps that I needed to fill before I could refight Sipe Sipe. I could use some figures from my Royalists of 1817 and 1818 but there were a fair few units that didn’t have a direct equivalent. That gave me an excuse to get some more. Okay, it isn’t hard to convince me to get more figures – in this case it just took some fancy uniforms that aren’t seen in other years of the Wars of South American Liberation.
I have rebased my 1818 Royalists on big bases, so I took the opportunity to do a photo shoot including some units I’d not featured before. This is the army that won at the Battle of Cancha Rayada (19 March 1818) and lost to San Martin at the Battle of Maipo (5 April 1818). For those interest in the earlier armies I’ve also got the Royalist army for 1817.
A couple of years ago I put my few Peninsular War figures on big bases. Some French Dragoons and various Spanish new battalions. Now that I’m trying to finish my Albuera project I’m going to supplement these with more figures. Before I do that I have to decide, exactly, how to deal with the company distinctions of the various nations. The French, who gave each company in the battalion, including the fusilier companies, pose particular challenges.
I have rebased my 1817 Royalists on big bases. So I took the opportunity to do a photo shoot including some units I’d not featured before.
This is the army that got smashed at Battle of Chacabuco (12 Feb 1817). I’ve also included the units for the Alternative Chacabuco Scenario in Fletcher (2006).
Chris Harrod and I played my Alternative Tucuman Scenario for Liberators HOTT. Chris played the attacking Royalists trying to reach Tucuman along the main road from the north. I had the Argentine Patriots. Another great little game with victory going to Chris.
Chris Harrod and I played my Tucuman Scenario for Liberators HOTT. I was the attacking Royalists trying to reach Tucuman. Chris had the Argentine Patriots. Nice little game let down my a bit of incompetence on my part. Victory to the Patriots.
The game also saw the christening of my new wargaming table and my new 1815 Liberators armies.
Chris Harrod and I christened my new Hittite army – one of Biblical armies – against New Kingdom Egyptian. It was Big Base DBA. Chris took the Hittites and I was Pharaoh.
Different rule systems assume different ground scales. So I thought I’d show one scenario map, a Liberators scenario by John Fletcher for the Battle of Ica, at different ground scales. And suggest which Wargaming Rules suit each scale.
There are a few reasons why I’ve gone for Volley & Bayonet to use for Peninsular War and specifically my Albuera Project.
