there is a start to everything ... even wargaming!

[Kaiphranos]

Good luck - it looks like you are in for a fun time! DBA was one of the first wargames I remember playing with my dad (along with the fantasy version, Hordes of the Things), and it is one I have come back around to in recent years!

[Chariobaude]

thnak you guys for your interest !

it's time to share a new clue about the next battle, which is all about the armies.

I am going to make a foray into a different period compared to my habits (obsessions ? ) , which I find fascinating: the Italy of the High Middle Ages!
It is an incredible moment, which sees armies as different as those of the emerging republican communes, the papacy, Norman or Lombard kinglets, Byzantines imperials and even Muslim looters clash.
as always, this hobby is always an opportunity for me to fill my library with additional books, so here are some books bought to guide me in the future family confrontation!

[Bessiere]

War gaming by remote? Interesting concept but wouldn't that require 2 people having enough figures based similarly to play? That alone took me a year to decide on, what size bases, what depth, how many bases per brigade or regiment, etc. Kind of overwhelming as 1/72 isn't a very popular scale but considering the time element of painting units and expense I feel good about the choice I made. 15mm didn't offer enough detail for my tastes and 28mm is too large and expensive to build multiple Napoleonic armies. Table size was another factor favoring 1/72.

I'm all for the idea and I'm sure you have more practical ideas than I do about that which I would love to hear. Worthy of it's own thread no doubt.

[Bessiere]

Lovely little fort and imagination should fill in any blanks for terrain. The more the better so far as kids are concerned. I have hopes that traditional hobbies such as ours will have a resurgence as the lack of fine motor control requires our involvement in some such activity. Can be done alone or in groups, on your own time and most critically while at home. Movies and video games become boring and unrewarding, as kids look for more we will be there ready to show them a great new hobby.

[Chariobaude]

Lovely little fort and imagination should fill in any blanks for terrain. The more the better so far as kids are concerned. I have hopes that traditional hobbies such as ours will have a resurgence as the lack of fine motor control requires our involvement in some such activity. Can be done alone or in groups, on your own time and most critically while at home. Movies and video games become boring and unrewarding, as kids look for more we will be there ready to show them a great new hobby.

I believe that the future will be between the two: video games that will offer an immersive character that is difficult to achieve by our hobby, and the return of miniatures and wargamming, thanks to the internet which allows us to spread our passion and especially to bring together players like it was impossible before.

at least I hope so!

[RSDean]

I might note, @kaiphranos, that we probably would have tried One Hour Wargames had it been out when you were 6…

[Chariobaude]

It's time to give a hint here... two great commanders will soon face each other: Oddone Frangipane, and Goffredo Panettone.
One really existed, the other didn't.
stay tuned !

[MABO]

It's time to give a hint here... two great commanders will soon face each other: Oddone Frangipane, and Goffredo Panettone.
One really existed, the other didn't.
stay tuned !

I do and look forward to the report!

[Ochoin]

It's time to give a hint here... two great commanders will soon face each other: Oddone Frangipane, and Goffredo Panettone.
One really existed, the other didn't.
stay tuned !

OK which of these two unlikely names is real?

I grow frangipanes in my garden & eat panettone every Pasque. I'm guessing one of these (plant or sweet bread) is named after your historical character.

donald

[Chariobaude]

Well...I'm going to be honest... carried away by the game, I almost completely forgot to take pictures of our first games!
The Pope's army, commanded by Oddone Frangipane, was sent one summer to restore his suzerainty in Garfagnana, disputed by the free municipality of Lucca. after a first engagement which saw the papal troops being beaten by the discipline of the Tuscan army, leaded by goffredo Panettone.

but during the second combat, the revenge of the Church was terrible. By arranging his army in an order of battle as old as Alexander the Great (all his knighthood on the right), he followed a rustic but effective plan, and helped by the god of the dice, smashed my left wing, which was nevertheless made up of spearmen who had my first victory. He jumped for joy!
so obviously we only followed the rules imperfectly, probably overlooked a few elements, but what a pleasure...
the rare photos of this historic event:





I made two pages on my late roman website to show these two new armies. I'm not very satisfied with them yet, but they have the merit of existing! I will do them again on occasion, which will allow me to better tell you about these DBA armies!

link : the communal army of Lucca

link : the papal army

@Donald :I am (pleasantly) surprised by your eating habits, as a compulsive breakfast panettone eater myself!
indeed The word Frangipane derives from the name of a great family of Roman nobility, with a centuries-old military history. Oddone did exist in the High Middle Ages, and it was one of his distant descendants, a general in the service of the King of France Louis XV, who gave his name to the food preparation of marzipan cakes. He used to powder his gloves with almond powder, and his personal cook, when he was asked to prepare a sweet snack out of the blue, thought of it and thus designed what henceforth called with us the Frangipane. It is in particular the basic ingredient of the "galette des rois", a traditional French cake that we eat by the tons at the beginning of the year...

[Kaiphranos]

Seems like fun battles, and the troops look great! Mostly from the HaT El Cid range?

[Chariobaude]

Seems like fun battles, and the troops look great! Mostly from the HaT El Cid range?

Hat el cid obviously (one of the most beautifull range of this manufacture with the late Romans - at least some of them !), all the sets, but many sets from strelets too :
- crusader transports 1 and 2 in order to make camps and carroccio
- medieval crossbowmen
- military order sergeants
- city levies 1 and 2

I used every set from the high medieval period, at least what I could find: many are now untraceable...

[MABO]

You created wonderful DBA armies. I can imagine that it was a pleasure to game with them. I also like the presentation on your website. Do you also want to play with late Roman armies?

[Chariobaude]

You created wonderful DBA armies. I can imagine that it was a pleasure to game with them. I also like the presentation on your website. Do you also want to play with late Roman armies?

Thank you Mabo !
i haven't based my late roman armies,and i won't... I keep those 2000 figs for just the pleasure of "displaying" them ... But my justinian armies will be on the battlefield !
i just made a post on the second army i made : http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25588
the mighty communal militia of lucca !