DBA with a Twist!

The first round of the Magister Militum per Capitoline Territorialis circuit, DBA with a Twist! will be held at the Austrian Australian Club at Mawson, in Canberra, on Sunday, 4 May 2014.

The circuit is made up of a number of DBA competitions, fought in Canberra, throughout the year, where points are amassed by gamers who compete in each round of the circuit, for the annual award of Magister Militum at the following year’s Cancon.

Each year, DBA with a Twist! is run with a different rule modification to the those  published in DBA 2.2 rules.  This year the command distance is restricted to 600 paces, so that if an element/group is further away from its army’s general, an additional PIP must be paid to permit movement of the element/group.

In every DBA competition I enter I like to play with a different army.  It certainly increases the level of difficulty for me, as it means I can be fielding an army, comprised of unfamiliar troop types.  This proved to be a disadvantage on several occasions at the last two Cancons, but I'm always up for a challenge!

So why field a new army? Simple, I have so many unpainted DBA armies, if I don’t do a new one each time, I’ll never get them all painted!

After careful consideration, and with some assistance from Greg, an excellent DBA gamer, I have decided to run Mound Builder Americans (DBA Bk IV/10).

This is definitely not an open competition army, but given the command restriction I feel it might have an improved chance.  Additionally, as Greg observed, running a litter general would be cool!

The army comprises of a litter bearing the general, one element of Honoured men (ie Blades), four elements of bow armed Honoured men, and two elements of skirmishers or psiloi, as these elements are referred to in DBA.  Finally, there are four elements of stinkards or warband comprising five models per element.  The requisite camp element depicts two warriors engaged in playing chunkey, a popular game with Native American tribes.

I am using 15mm scale figures, sculpted by Alan Marsh and supplied by Nic from Eureka Miniatures.  

The figures accurately show the use of atl-atl spear throwers and stone edged clubs wheeled by the warriors. The ‘Great Sun’ is depicted being carried on a litter.  A shaman is depicted carrying a severed head whilst wearing a long cloaks.  These Indians are believed to have taken the heads of their enemies as trophies, even though they were regarded as being less aggressive to neighbouring tribes.

Stage one of the army's construction: the figures are cleaned prior to being affixed to their bases.  There was minimal flash and mould lines evident.  I have replaced the cast on litter supports with others made of florist wire.  The warband figures armed with spears will have the upper portion of the spears replaced by wire.

Stage two: will see the army undercoated in black and then a coat of Vallejo ‘light brown’ applied to all exposed flesh.  Clothing, primarily loincloths will be painted in various shades of ochre for the ordinary troops.  The nobles will be depicted wearing red cloth with shell trim.  The colour red is believed to have been sacred to these Indians, as it is the colour of cedar wood, which is unique, in that the tree's leaves remain green all year round.

The Mound Builders were a tribe of Meso Americans, who flourished between the seventh and thirteen centuries AD in the Mississipian valley region of North America.  Their ‘empire’ stretched as far north as present day Canada and as far south as present day Texas.  The Indians constructed large mounds for burials and perhaps other ritualistic purposes.  It is believed ditches and palisades surrounded these mounds.

On the basis of this supposition I am using a mound with palisade as the army's camp.

The largest known mound is Monk’s Mound, or the Great Sun mound, located at Cahokia in present day Illinois.  It is estimated that at its peak, Cahokia was home to more people than contemporary London. 

The mound is one hundred feet tall and covers an area of 16 acres.  It is but one of the mounds which remain in the area.  Given the dimensions of the mound and that the construction was completed by people carrying baskets filled with soil and the available workforce it has been estimated that the mound would have taken three hundred years to complete.

Prior to European invasion, these Indians died out.  The specific reason for the cause of their extinction is unknown, however the most likely cause was a combination of diseases associated with dense habituation, the use of permanent sites and poor sanitation.

Though the Indians lacked a known written language, it is believed that they were essentially a passive race, engaging in internal warfare only to gain arable land and water resources.

Historically, the army’s enemies were the Dog People and Pueblo Culture (DBA Bk III/41) and Eastern Forest Americans (DBA Bk IV/9).  I have both armies.  The former lies in the bowels of Mt Neverpaint whilst the latter is painted but awaiting the application of flock and tufts to its bases.  Another enemy were the Aztecs (DBA IV/63).  I don’t have suitable figures for this army as yet, so it will have to wait until next year at the earliest before it will join the collection.