DBA Special - Sub-Roman British

DBA Book II Sub Roman Army (c) 442-539 (the age of Arthur period)

This is one of those armies everyone thinks about from time to time.

I am very lucky ... when my friend Paul emigrated to Canada, he left me his wargames junk. I sold off the coherent stuff to add into Society Prizes etc. I was left with a Dark Age jumble that said 'King Arthur' to me. In a 'Clive Owen' sort of voice ....The packets of figures had remained unopened for at least a decade.

So this is a classic 'army out of scrap' project. I think it turned out well.

The main figure range is the old Josef Ochmann sculpted 'Metal Magic' Gothic range (now Gladiator Miniatures, sold by Black Hat*). Arthur is an Essex Late Roman on a Chariot horse (what I had), and there is a pack of Peter Pig Germans, a Chariot Cornicen plus a couple of spare Outpost figures.

The Roman standards are chopped off Chariot signifers. Again, 'what I'd got lying around' ...

I took the big gamble of drifting some snow around on the bases (to hint at that 'North of the Wall' nonsense in the Clive Owen film) ... I was a little daunted by this as it seems to me you do a good basing job, then plaster some more PVA on it and add fluff. I was worried that the result might just be a mess. However, I think it is OK. I didn't want to go a for the full 'white out' as I suspect the army will as often as not fight on a normally coloured board ...

There are a few patches of heather to add to the Scottish theme.

General (3Kn)
(the figures either side of the Essex/Chariot general are Gladiator (Asiatic Nomad) Heavy Cavalry with bigger shields and Essex heads)

The Mounted contingent (3Kn Gen, 2 x 3Cv, 2LH)
(again, mostly Black Hat/Gladiator Asiatic nomads)

Scouts: 2LH (the left figure has a Peter Pig body grafted on a Gladiator mounted model)

The Romano British Foot (6 of the 7 stands of 4Sp are depicted as Romano British)

(another view)

Sub Roman Foot - I have made the 7th base of 4Sp from more Roman troops

Skirmishers - 2Ps ... a couple of Gladiator (Frankish) Goths

Barker Marker: a standing stone

Sub-Roman camp: part of a magic stone circle with detachable camp followers

Camp Followers: Nicol Williamson (from the better Arthurian film) with Guinevere and what would seem to be a witch ... A Chariot magician and a Xyston classical lady ...

Snow: nothing was bought for this army ... a friend had a tub of GW 'snow' which looked a bit bland until I added a sprinkling of glitter. After a few experiments, we though it bulked up better if applied to unthinned PVA. The heather is railway shop heather left over from doing my Florentines (it's a viola thing mostly wargamers will not get ...)

The army won all three of its first games, so I have stopped counting.

*NB Ochmann only sculpted some of the Gladiator ranges (before Black Hat acquired them): if you share my aesthetic, you won't like the other ones, so don't assume they all match. E.g. the FE range is Ochmann, the Crusades not.