Friday 1 May 2020

24 DBN bases in 21 days - job done!

Well, I crossed the finishing line yesterday with the completion of the last base of French Dragoons. I now have 2 x 12 point DBN armies ready to go but it certainly won't stop there as I still have a ton of Blue Moon figures and have added to them with my first order from Eureka for AB figures as I needed more command figures and BM are out of stock. Clearly being able to buy individual figure codes rather than packs will prove more cost effective for the small numbers of figures per unit required for DBN, so for example my order includes 4 x Carabiniers - I simply could not resist them - three troopers plus an officer, and a rather wonderful hat waving Marshal Ney. I also have on order 3 British 9lb guns and 3 French 8lb guns as I do find the BM guns a bit chunky and you have to buy them in packs of 6 models at £16.00, the AB guns being £2.70 each. What I have decided is that going forward I want to focus on expanding the 18mm Napoleonics into the Waterloo period to include all of those wonderful allies and of course Prussians, this and the 6mm Marlburian project will keep me occupied for many months ahead.

The 40mm's will have to remain as display figures, although I am currently in negotiations with a guy in the US who would like to purchase them, we shall see where this goes, I could just keep them, but they really do deserve to be used on the tabletop and I no longer have the space for the scale sadly.

OK, so here are the 24 bases (elements) for a basic game of DBN. painted mostly a base each day, sometimes two per day for light cavalry, command bases. As mentioned the bases are slightly bigger at 50mm frontage x 35mm deep than official DBN but I could not fit the figures on the smaller bases and I wanted 10 figures per infantry base. Flags will be the next job. Obviously I will continue to add more figures, starting with more infantry, I have a base of Foot Guards to do, but first I want to finish off the two 'baggage' bases that are required for DBN, one will be the French ambulance with attendant surgeons and wounded soldiers, the other a British artillery ammunition wagon with gunners and a mounted officer gathered around. All are BM and very nice little pieces. The buildings you see are by 'Battlescale' and are 10mm scale but seem to work well with 18mm figures? They were painted about 18 months or so ago, I will use them even though they are not very 'Peninsular' looking!

The French Army consists of:
4 bases of line infantry (Ms)
1 base of (line) Grenadiers
1 base of LI (Voltiguers)
3 bases of Light Cavalry (LC)
1 base of Heavy Cavalry (HC)
1 Foot artillery base (FA)
1 command base.

The British Army consists of:
4 bases of line infantry (Ms)
1 base of light infantry (LI)
1 base of rifles ('jagers' in DBN)
2 bases of Light cavalry (LC)
2 bases of Heavy cavalry (HC)
1 base of foot artillery (FA)
1 command base.

I found the challenge a very useful exercise in self discipline and focus, it certainly helped to get through three weeks of the lockdown period, but more than that it has renewed my enthusiasm for painting 18mm Napoleonics again, and the DBN rules means that I can pick and choose what I want to paint each day without the need to paint large units, something that is really working for me and fits in totally with my new focus on small space wargaming.














22 comments:

  1. very nice work , nothing like AB napoleonics

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    1. Thanks John. I'm looking forward to seeing the AB's in the flesh to to speak, I see so many pictures of them on social media and other blogs.

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  2. Excellent.. the 40's are exquisite, but I really do think you do your best work in these smaller scales... just lovely..

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    1. Cheers Steve and I hope it helps inspire you to do that Napoleon in Egypt DBN project. I was looking at the range yesterday and they are amazing figures with bags of character and the uniforms are just that bit different/special aren't they.

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    1. Thank you sir. Strange old times we are living through Ian, my wife sits knitting, her new found passion, she is now a customer of Great British Yarns! We watch/listen to old detective series together, currently working through Morse and Lewis.It's getting us through the lockdown.

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  4. Done, and well done! XWhat an impressive, and beautiful challenge!

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    1. many thanks Phil, I enjoyed doing it.

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  5. Very nice, as you say, with te hard work done for the core army, you can add / expand at leisure while still getting a game in.

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    1. Cheers Norm, as you say it offers many possibilities for expansion. I have been watching the new 'lockdown' DBN teaching videos that Alex has put up, they are very good and perfect examples of small space gaming.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHMc8-vBiEk

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  6. I wish I had the discipline and focus. Nicely done.

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    1. Many thanks Mark, I did begin to flag at the end but kept going!

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  7. That is scarily fast - I'm just in awe of the rate at which you get stuff done. I'm still watching your Horse, Foot and Guns blog and eagerly awaiting the first clah.

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    1. Cheers Rob, I obviously have plenty of spare time on my hands! Enthusiasm dipped slightly on the 6mm front because I thought I had lost a £48.00 order in the post and so missed my slot to re order from Baccus before they closed the cart again. It turned up 13 days after posting, can't complain and at least I'm back on track again. 1st engagement fought, just need to find time to write it up, that's the bit I'm not so good at.

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  8. The units look great but the wagons are terrific. Love ‘em!

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    1. Thank you my friend, they look even better this morning as I finished them yesterday. I must get a couple of pics up later. Stay safe JBM :)

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  9. Impressive output Lee, the more so for the speed at which you got them done.

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    1. Cheers Millsy, Norm has described me as a painting machine.... I quite like that!

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  10. Brilliant armies and i too love the wagons, very impressed by your excellent standard of painting

    stay safe, cheers Old John

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  11. Fantastic output of quality figures! Can't believe your going to get shot of your 40mm figures though!
    Best Iain

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    1. Hi Iain, I'm still not sure yet re the 40's, especially after seeing your 40 year old Romans!

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