Making 6mm Granny Grate Artillery

Small Black beads, cotton swabs cut to size and painted with gunmetal craft paint, granny grate cut into an elongated T. The cotton tips of the swabs removed and can be unwrapped for artillery smoke. Assemble cannon frame and barrels with glue. #7 granny grate and these beads friction fit and do not require glue.  Tip: easier to fit beads to grate before gluing cannon and barrel frame.

Heavy artillery

  Galloper guns (light Artillery) use a shorter granny grate T and the barrels are made with gunmetal #7 granny grate.

Galloper assembly

                                                              Granny Grate crew attached

the Portable Wargame- Ancients on a 6" X 6" playing board... maybe

Both armies fit into a small photo storage container

                                                  Oops the original concept just wasn't going to work

                    So a change to an 8" X 8" playing board looking at Alexander's Macedonians.

                                                      A view of Darius III and his Persians

                 The armies prepare for battle. Alexander's Macedonians closer (on bottom of photo)

Darius has red chip behind chariot, Alexander blue chip behind cavalry

Order of battle from  Developing the Portable Wargame- Ancients  by Bob Cordery.

I adapted them to 12 stands each, 1 less light infantry for Macedonians. 

Macedonians will activate first.

First arrows fired by the Macedonian lights... a miss

The Persians engage with their heavy cavalry focused on those light bowmen.

The blue and red die are the "to hit" die (need 5+), yellow & green die indicate take damage or retreat per the rules for the Portable Wargame. Red pipe cleaners indicate loss of Strength Points (each stand has 2 strength points per optional rules)

Macedonians issue orders first.

Macedonian light infantry that began the battle are destroyed by the Persian cavalry. Losses on both sides as the Persian lose a heavy infantry unit.

Darius III is killed as his chariots are destroyed by the Macedonian Phalangites and both sides lose units of light cavalry on the Macedonian left flank. 

Casulties mount

The Persians fight back inflicting casualties on Alexander's Companions, but Alexander lives

The Persians lose additional heavy infantry as Alexander leads a furious assault on their right flank.

With Darius III dead and most of their heavy infantry destroyed...

Another victory for Alexander the Great, but at significant cost.

I apologize for the quality of the photos, but that is still a work in progress for me. Nevertheless, it was a fun and very portable miniatures game.  

No Paint Armies Primer

   I am a 68 year old gamer. My eyesight, even with magnification, and hand aren't what they used to be. Painting armies is no longer a pleasant part of my gaming hobby (was it ever ? ). I am also retired, which makes me cautious with my finances. But, I remember back to when I started in this hobby, when 54mm figures were imported and conveniently primed with black and white primers. In fact, they were probably used more in that state then when they were finally beautifully painted. "Get them on the table and let's play."  Yes, I have a very nice collection of painted 15mm figures for AWI, ECW, ACW, and DBA/Triumph!, as well as 25mm fantasy armies and smaller scale WW2 and Modern. But, you know, I still want to die with the most toys 8-) I'm retired and a widower, so I have time to expand my hobby interests. Hence, No Paint Armies (NPA). [Remember photos can be enlarged by clicking on them]
 

     I recently found some new Needlepoint plastic mesh in Gunmetal, Silver, Gold and Copper. Still haven't found gray or olive mesh for my No Paint Armies.  How to cut Needlepoint plastic mesh figures.

     No Paint Armies can also be made from repurposed Risk (tm) replacement parts, which can be found inexpensively on Ebay, at Goodwill stores, yard sales, or second hand stores.

 Risk (tm) 2003 replacement parts (above). Blue, Red, White, Green, Yellow/Gold, Dark gray. Tricornes and flags.

Risk (tm)1998 Replacement parts (above). Black, Blue, Red, Gray, Yellow, Green. Shakos and kneeling infantry.

   Quick and easy Napoleonic No Paint Armies. Red (British), Blue (French), White/light Gray (Austrians), Green (Russians), Black/Dark Gray (Prussians), Yellow/Gold (German states).

                   Testing various mounting methods for use with The Portable Wargame rules set.

    The 1998 Risk (tm) figures are approximately 10 mm and the 2003 figures are approximately 15 mm, while the Needlepoint mesh armies are approximately 6 mm. Both sets of Risk (tm) figures contain 40 infantry, 12 cavalry, and 8 artillery figures per color.

     Cost comparison: A Needlepoint mesh army costs under $1.00, and the best I've done so far for a Risk (tm) replacement army is $1.34 with free shipping (but on average around $2.00).

                   Risk(tm) is a trademark of Hasbro. I remember who paid me royalties  8-) 

No Paint Armies take the table for the first time

Tonight's Battle of Gaugamela/Arbela will be using my needlepoint mesh No Paint Armies and using the Triumph! rules set played on an old canvas battlefield. Enjoy the photos. Remember, photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.  Battle report to follow in the next few days. 

                                             Alexander                                      Darius III

                                         Macedonian Sarissa Phalanx and supporting Auxiliary

No Paint 6mm Plastic Mesh armies for DBA or Triumph!

Yes, I said no painting needed. My experimental work continues on making DBA/Triumph! armies with different colored needlepoint plastic mesh.  Any additional color will be done with Sharpies, and that will be limited to helmets and shield decoration (Easy peasy). The armies pictured here are Alexander's Macedonians (purple and blue) and Darius III's Persians (red and black). The sarissa troops are made with black craft wire and shields are made from different colored card stock. Cavalry are made with black, brown and white (for Darius's chariot) plastic mesh. The main figures are made with different colored #7 needlepoint plastic mesh, which is 6mm scale. 

   Yesterdays check of the Essex site indicates complete 15mm DBA armies cost $105 without shipping and still needing to be painted. I estimate one of these armies cost $1.05 and an hour slicing plastic mesh and gluing. I will be using some pre painted balsa bases 8-)

Home made gaming Miniatures for years to come 8-)

                                                       "Man up and go to the Craft store"

Battle of Issus DBA 3.0 on 8 1/2" X 11" board

Wednesday nights game was the Battle of Issus using modified (movement distances halved due to scale) DBA 3.0 rules  and played on a piece of paper ( 8 1/2" X 11" board) using Plastic Mesh armies.

Initial deployment. Top of the screen are the Persians. Cavalry and Light Horse on their right wing, the Scythed Chariots, Spears flanking the Persian leader Darius III with his chariots, and Psiloi on the Persian left flank.  The Macedonians on the bottom of the picture have Parmenion's cavalry on it's left flank. The sarissa Pikes (phalanx) are deployed in the center. Alexander and the Companions are on their normal right flank with Auxilia to their left.

                                       A look at the Plastic mesh Macedonian sarissa troops

                                                                 The Macedonians advance.

                                Alexander attacks the Persian Psiloi across the Penarus River.

Having destroyed the first Psiloi element Alexander turns to battle the last Persian Psiloi. The Persian spears and Macedonian Pike prepare to engage. Darius III does not rush into the Macedonian trap in the center but waits to face Alexander.

            The Cavalries engage on the left side of the photo. Darius prepares to face Alexander.

Mixed results with the cavalry battle, but the Persians turn the tide when their Spears defeat some of the Macedonian Pikes in bloody fighting in the center. 

Darius and Alexander face off and the Macedonians finally get themselves better organized with rear support against the Persian Spears.

Darius recoils, his supporting Psiloi are finally eliminated and the Macedonian Sarissa prove their power when properly organized.

As with history, in a very close battle, Alexander defeats Darius III and prepares to chase him across the Middle East.

Frank has been my gaming opponent for over 45 years. I have asked him to play some strange games and playtest many of my crazy gaming ideas. Playing DBA on a "piece of paper" board has to rank right up there. However, it did work and was a great deal of fun. I'm not sure I'm ready to try a miniatures battle on a 4X6 index card, but who knows.

I spent some time looking at the pricing of both 6mm & 15mm DBA armies, this week. Continuing to use Plastic Mesh at under a $1.00/army is a very attractive way to go. Please look back through this blog for details on making your own Plastic Mesh armies for DBA play.  How to ... Needlepoint Mesh Armies