Dameon | 26 Apr 2015 6:14 p.m. PST |
Look for US retailers. With the release of DBA 3.0 I finally took the plunge, but now I need an army (*ahem* or several). I am looking for retailers in the US who sell DBA armies. I don't want to have to buy just a mish-mash of models as I really don't feel confident in my knowledge of the various ancient forces to be able to pick out the correct figures I'd need to cobble together an army. I usually do WWII, so I am out of my era of expertise and I am not even sure what retailers to start with, so I would appreciate assistance. |
Bobgnar | 26 Apr 2015 7:36 p.m. PST |
Old Glory is about the only US manufacturer of war game figure, but they are not making army sets. Also their packs have way too many figures. As a newbie, you might best go to the DBA Yahoo site or the fan site, Fanatics and ask this questions. On the latter lots of painted armies come up for sale too. painted armies come up on eBay too. Note that it will be difficult for companies to make ready made armies for DBA now because the lists now have many more options than in the past. Yahoo link Fanaticus link |
Kmfisher | 26 Apr 2015 8:18 p.m. PST |
I buy Essex army packs through Noble Knight Games. As far as I know they are still 2.2 armies, but might be a good start. link |
elsyrsyn | 26 Apr 2015 9:00 p.m. PST |
I'll throw in my usual pitch for 6mm ancients, which I think is even more relevant for low stand count games like DBA. Even on 15mm stands, with massed 6mm a DBA army looks much more like an army to me (60mm frontages are even better). My personal preference is for Baccus minis, which are easy to order direct from the UK, or from Scale Creep in the US. Doug |
timurilank | 26 Apr 2015 11:08 p.m. PST |
You can purchase the 2.2 DBA army packs for a start as in general the newer list offer more options. A few single packs are all you need to take care of those options. I am painting a Norse Irish (III/46) for a client who would like to use this for DBA 3.0. The Baueda army pack was ordered plus three single packs to make up the basic army and options totalling 22 elements. As a bonus, the Baueda army pack includes a camp, tent and denizens. If you know which armies you would like to collect, then pose your questions (which packs to order) as Bobgnar suggested at either the Yahoo group or Fanaticus. I can be found mostly at Fanaticus. Good luck, |
MajorB | 27 Apr 2015 2:03 a.m. PST |
Note that it will be difficult for companies to make ready made armies for DBA now because the lists now have many more options than in the past. Why would that make it difficult? Most gamers will want to purchase a complete army with all the options. |
Who asked this joker | 27 Apr 2015 4:39 a.m. PST |
Old Glory does have fewer figures per bag these days but still many at 24 figures per bag and perhaps 9 cavalry. Too many as Bobgnar points out. However, you can sometimes manage to get 2 armies out of your purchase and use up most of your figures. So most armies have around 40-50 figures. Many armies have similar looking light infantry. Light infantry are mounted 2 per stand (psiloi). So it is possible to get 12 stand of psiloi out of a single bag. That could be enough for 3-6 armies! Heavy infantry fair better. You can usually get 6-8 stands out of a single bag. Heavy infantry armies are ideal for this or perhaps 2 medieval armies. maybe some sort of hellenistic army or hoplite army. You get the idea. It is a little more art than science so you will have to pay attention to content and figure out what you want. A little planning and you can build up your DBA collection without too much fuss using Old Glory figures. |
Extra Crispy | 27 Apr 2015 6:07 a.m. PST |
You will find many retailers and manufacturers (myself included) are happy to help you with this. For example, let's say you want to buy a Macedonian Successor army. If you e-mail me I'll suggest the very nice 15mm Black Hat range I sell. And I can then tell you what you'd need to buy to build it. Usually I'll even make a single-item you can order so you don't have to go through and order the individual packs. Mark "Extra Crispy" Severin ScaleCreep.com |
Tarantella | 27 Apr 2015 6:30 a.m. PST |
Essex Miniatures now have 3.0 armies available on their website. (I'm glad I didn't have to type all that lot in) link |
lkmjbc3 | 27 Apr 2015 11:33 a.m. PST |
And Mark is great to deal with to boot! There are only two manufacturers with prebagged DBA 3 armies out now… Essex and … one other I can't remember… help me out guys… Neither have distribution for these in the US yet (though that will change in the next few months). I recommend Scale Creep… of course Mark just mailed a large order to me Friday- so I am happily biased! Joe Collins |
Dameon | 27 Apr 2015 6:19 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the help guys! I am looking over the option's you've presented. |
Father Grigori | 28 Apr 2015 3:10 a.m. PST |
You might want to check out UK retailers too. If – and only if – they are VAT registered, then you'll get a deduction on the price. Usually it's enough to cover most of the postage costs. As an example, I never buy figures in the UK now, but get them sent to Japan. It's crazy, but I pay less than if I get them sent to my family address in the UK. Something you might want to check out. |
skinkmasterreturns | 28 Apr 2015 7:00 a.m. PST |
I hope I'm reading you right Joe,in thinking it will be much easier to procure Essex here in the States,once again? |
mwindsorfw | 28 Apr 2015 9:17 a.m. PST |
Does anyone in the US sell the rule book? |
skinkmasterreturns | 28 Apr 2015 9:19 a.m. PST |
Try On Military Matters for the book. |
Thomas Thomas | 28 Apr 2015 10:03 a.m. PST |
If you want a 28mm army, one box of Perry Brothers English HYW plastic figures will just about make an army. It only has dismounted men at arms so if you want a mounted option you'll need to add a few "metal" figures from their Agincourt to Orleans line. You can do War of the Roses entirely in plastic by getting both the "foot" box and the "mounted" box for that period. (Add the Merc box and you can do almost any late medieval army – Burgundy, French even Swiss Confederacy). TomT |
Bob Runnicles | 29 Apr 2015 10:56 a.m. PST |
On Military Matters, FRP Games and Noble Knight all carry the rulebook here in the USA. |
Bob Runnicles | 29 Apr 2015 11:09 a.m. PST |
"Why would that make it difficult? Most gamers will want to purchase a complete army with all the options." Difficult in the sense that it will need many more figures than previously to account for all the options now in the lists, and thus be somewhat more expensive than it was before for an army that in play will still only have twelve elements maybe? |
lkmjbc3 | 29 Apr 2015 1:32 p.m. PST |
Skinkmaster: Fingers crossed for good luck on this! Joe Collins |
Yesthatphil | 30 Apr 2015 2:21 a.m. PST |
Most gamers will want to purchase a complete army with all the options. I'm not sure this is true, even for 2.2 (although it is certainly the easy way to shop) … however all options could be interpreted as including potential allies (which is none, for some armies, and and absolute shed load of options for others, making the all options army almost unintelligible to the newcomer*) I think for V3 you need to know what you want .. pick a nice pair of historically matched opponents and paint them to match ! Phil Ancients on the Move … DBA thread *or I guess so until I see it composed coherently … |