Dave's Painted Armies

DBA Armies

De Bellis Antiquitatis is an incredibly popular historical miniatures wargame written by Phil Barker and published by Wargames Research Group. Its army lists extend from 3000 BC to 1500 AD and can be played in scales from 2mm to 25mm. The game rules are incredibly simple and easy to learn and games seldom take more than an hour to finish. Armies field exactly 12 elements (with most armies having options, so typically painted armies will consist of 12-15 stands of figures.) Rules for triple-sized battles are also included. DBA is single-handedly responsible for my return to painting miniatures. Finding a detailed, fun, and historically engaging miniatures system whose games were of such a short duration and which did not require painting of a huge number of miniatures was key. Though playable in a variety of scales, my armies are all in 15mm. Though not perfect, it is probably the single most playable miniatures rule system I have ever encountered. For players interested in larger sized battles with more complicated rules, WRG also publishes a rules system called DBM (De Bellis Multitudinis) which uses a point system to select army composition and can often involve 50 to 100 elements per side in a single battle.

Imperial Rome 25BC-425AD (Book II/56,64,78)  Army painted circa 2014 Few empires throughout history conjure as vivid an image as that of Imperial Rome. Stretching over four centuries, the exploits of the Roman Senate and the Emperors that follow are well documented and have been adapted many times over for stage and screen. With a fair bit of variety, these figures can be generally used to portray any of the three DBA army lists (Early, Middle, and Late) with nearly all options.

Tuareg 1000AD-1591AD (Book III/69)  Army painted circa 2006 The Tuareg were a notoriously vicious, nomadic peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa. Embracing the harsh desert climate, they were well known raiders, pillagers, bandits and theives along the trade routes of the Sahara. Their name, bestowed upon them by their neighbors, means "Forsaken of God." They were also known as the "Indigo People" because of the staining effect their dark indigo robes had on their skin.

Hellenistic Greek 275BC-146BC (II/31cde)  Army painted circa 2003 The Greek state of Sparta during the late period between the Alexandrian conquests and the adoption of Greece as a Roman province. The figures are exclusively Xyston, and they're the best ancients figures line I've ever worked with. They paint up faster and better than anything else and I've never seen one look bad.

Illyrian 700BC-10AD (Book I/47)  Army painted circa 2003 I have to say, the Illyrian army is probably my least favorite of all the armies I've ever painted. For some reason, nothing ever seemed to come together right on this army (except for the basing, which I was overall generally pleased with.) I leave it for you to decide.

Mongol Conquest 1206AD-1266AD (Book IV/35)  Army painted circa 2003 The Mongols were another army purchased as a pairing of disparate cultures (in this case for a semi-historical pairing against the Teutonic Orders.) They hold the record for the single biggest defeat ever, actually losing 8 elements including the general against Jim Mzik at Cold Wars 2004.

Tupi 1200AD-1601AD (Book IV/29)  Army painted circa 2003 Originally purchased as a counterpart to the Medieval Portuguese (the only real Conquistador matchup in DBA that I can find), I chose to paint up the army for the "Armies of the Americas" tournament at Cold Wars in 2003. Wonder of wonders, they managed to win it for me, though it was a close battle and luck had more than a little to do with it.

Italian Condotta 1320AD-1495AD (Book IV/61)  Army painted circa 2002 The mercenary armies of the Venetian Condottieri during the 14th and 15th centuries. It's a strong, versatile, combined-arms force that has served me very well in tournaments and casual play. It also probably represents the pinnacle of my painting ability.

Post-Mongol Samurai 1300AD-1542AD (Book IV/59a)  Army painted circa 2001 The Samurai armies of the warring Daimyo of feudal Japan. This is probably my second-best painted army to date, composed entirely of Two Dragons Samurai figs obtained from Brookhurst Hobbies in Southern California. Though not a strong tournament competitor, it does reasonably well in Asiatic/Steppes competitions.

Western Frankish or Norman 888AD-1072AD (Book III/51)  Army painted circa 1998 The very first army I ever painted, the Normans were a daunting challenge for a first timer. If it did nothing else, it made me swear off of mounted armies for a very, very long time.

HotT Armies

Hordes of the Things is a fantasy variant based on the DBA/DBM rules system written by Richard Bodley Scott and also published by Wargames Research Group. It is extremely similar to DBA in play style, though it incorporates a point system to vary the size and composition of armies. Though the game includes suggested army lists, players are encouraged to build their own unique fantasy armies with whatever figures they can find. It is this flexibility which is the game's greatest strength. Armies are limited only by the imagination of their painters. Troops mimic DBA strongly, but are in many cases made more "fantastic" and are accompanied by truly amazing additions like Heroes, Dragons, Gods, and Flyers.

The Orcs of the Frostfang Mountains  Army painted circa 2006 This whole army started when I painted the (now Hero) stand to give away as a prize for a tournament. I took one look at the finished product and thought, you know, I absolute MUST do an entire army that looks like this. Comprised primarily of Black Raven Foundry orcs (with some Reaper figs thrown in for good measure), the army certainly qualifies as "blue" if nothing else.

The Winged Kingdom of Aves  Army painted circa 2005 It all started with the Ostriches. Once the penguins entered into the mix, all the rest became clear. This is, by a wide margin, my favorite army project to date. It's exclusively Hordes of the Things, none of these stands could even remotely be appropriate for a historical army. As the King of Aves will tell you, be very careful what you wish for... This army actually takes the prize of having figures from 12 manufacturers, just nosing out the Amazons for largest number of manufacturers in any of my armies.

The Amazons of Northwyld  Army painted circa 2004 What started out as your garden variety fantasy Amazon army ended up a much bigger project than I would ever have expected. A lusty offering of giant women and their winsome warriors. This army ended up with 10 different figure manufacturers in it, just two shy of the record.

The Army of the Holy See  Army painted circa 2002 What if the Papacy of 14th century Italy had God on its side ... Literally? By adding a few fantastic elements to my existing army of Italian Condotta, I was able to quickly create a formidable army for Steve Sattler's "Staff of Power" HOTT campaign. The army has been expanded in recent months to include a few newer, more appropriate troop types, such as the Paladin and the Cleric, but the Condotta remain as its core.

Please send any comments/criticisms/corrections to webmeisterzeke@att.net

This page was last updated on April 26th, 2014 at 11:46 PM