Venexia Sea Peoples DBA Army
This is the first post for a long time, for the simple reason that I haven't been painting, or even gaming, much for the past few months, having been in Canada and all.
Here's what I have been working on for the past two weeks. A good friend of mine bought me a DBA Sea Peoples army from Venexia. Having got a DBM sized pile of unpainted Minoan/Mycenaean figures (from Chariot) in 15mm, and some Sea Peoples (Essex) as well, this works out fine as a first step towards building a larger army.
First things first: this is what you get from the Venexia army pack:
There's not quite enough figures for all the options in DBA 2.0. You have enough for 6 x 3Blades, 3 x 2Psiloi, and 3 x 3Auxilia, but since the Psiloi and Auxilia are either/or options in the army list, you still need 3 x 4Blades. However you arrange the figures, you can't quite get enough figures for the 3 x 4Blades. Not a worry for me, since I've got Essex figures as well, which I will paint up to supplement. The Essex figures are also Sherden, which will add some variety to the army: the Venexia figures are Pelest, and since the Sea Peoples were a coalition of various tribes, it would be nice to show visible differences in armour and dress.
Painted up and arrayed, they look like this:
I chose blue as the predominant colour. The nett result is a bit flat. For the subsequent additions to the army, I'll use red and white, to add some variety.
The chariot, which functions as the General unit in DBA, and which can dismount as a 4Blades (there are enough figures for this):
The Psiloi and Auxilia:
I liked the range of weapons supplied for the Auxilia - you can equip them all with spears, or with a mix of swords, including kopeshes (Egyptian sickle swords: the Sea Peoples both fought against, and for the Egyptians as mercenaries, so this is a nice historical touch) and axes. What I didn't like was the fact that you had to glue those tiny swords onto the hands. Any manufacturer that makes you do this in 15mm is just being sadistic. A far better way is to mould the sword and arm together - the extra bit of lead required doesn't really add much to the cost, and the resulting piece is also probably more structurally robust.
The Blades:
These fit nicely into the DBM army list's description of a 'normal' Sea Peoples warrior as carrrying two throwing spears, a shield, and a sword. I chose to mix up the two variants supplied, rather than base them homogenously. In general, for less 'uniform' armies, I try to introduce some randomness into the basing. Only phalanxes and legionaries do well in rigid, uniform poses. These fellows are a bit stiff themselves, and no doubt must be quite jealous of the Auxilia, who get the cool axes to wave around.
All in all, a nice little project to start the painting going again.
Here's what I have been working on for the past two weeks. A good friend of mine bought me a DBA Sea Peoples army from Venexia. Having got a DBM sized pile of unpainted Minoan/Mycenaean figures (from Chariot) in 15mm, and some Sea Peoples (Essex) as well, this works out fine as a first step towards building a larger army.
First things first: this is what you get from the Venexia army pack:
There's not quite enough figures for all the options in DBA 2.0. You have enough for 6 x 3Blades, 3 x 2Psiloi, and 3 x 3Auxilia, but since the Psiloi and Auxilia are either/or options in the army list, you still need 3 x 4Blades. However you arrange the figures, you can't quite get enough figures for the 3 x 4Blades. Not a worry for me, since I've got Essex figures as well, which I will paint up to supplement. The Essex figures are also Sherden, which will add some variety to the army: the Venexia figures are Pelest, and since the Sea Peoples were a coalition of various tribes, it would be nice to show visible differences in armour and dress.
Painted up and arrayed, they look like this:
I chose blue as the predominant colour. The nett result is a bit flat. For the subsequent additions to the army, I'll use red and white, to add some variety.
The chariot, which functions as the General unit in DBA, and which can dismount as a 4Blades (there are enough figures for this):
The Psiloi and Auxilia:
I liked the range of weapons supplied for the Auxilia - you can equip them all with spears, or with a mix of swords, including kopeshes (Egyptian sickle swords: the Sea Peoples both fought against, and for the Egyptians as mercenaries, so this is a nice historical touch) and axes. What I didn't like was the fact that you had to glue those tiny swords onto the hands. Any manufacturer that makes you do this in 15mm is just being sadistic. A far better way is to mould the sword and arm together - the extra bit of lead required doesn't really add much to the cost, and the resulting piece is also probably more structurally robust.
The Blades:
These fit nicely into the DBM army list's description of a 'normal' Sea Peoples warrior as carrrying two throwing spears, a shield, and a sword. I chose to mix up the two variants supplied, rather than base them homogenously. In general, for less 'uniform' armies, I try to introduce some randomness into the basing. Only phalanxes and legionaries do well in rigid, uniform poses. These fellows are a bit stiff themselves, and no doubt must be quite jealous of the Auxilia, who get the cool axes to wave around.
All in all, a nice little project to start the painting going again.
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