TMPWargamerabbit | 18 Mar 2021 9:00 a.m. PST |
Recently posted up a report on the Battle of Dara 530 AD Clash of Empires (COE) game held in my Northridge CA game warren. Late Roman army defended their city of Dara from the invading Sassanid Persians. Full 12'x6' ancient tabletop battlefield using 25/28mm miniatures. Seven players attended including one as umpire to kept the game flow advancing. Battle of Dara 530 AD AAR Link: link
Next warren 28mm COE ancient game set for April 10th, with two Successor armies facing off on the tabletop battlefield. Either the battle of Paraitakene 317 BC or Gabiene 315 BC. Final selection pending. If interested in SoCalifornia, contact me by the blog contact page under "About the Wargamerbbit" menu tab. Other gaming in the Northridge warren: - Twice monthly FOW Ver3.2 group meeting using 15mm or WR's own large 20mm (1/72) collection on tabletop. - Napoleonic 25/28mm gaming typically quarterly for historical battles. - Soon starting up Blood & Plunder in the summer 2021. |
Prince Alberts Revenge | 18 Mar 2021 10:37 a.m. PST |
Very cool. Beautiful setup and very nicely painted figures. There was an old wargaming book that I would check out of the library that had pictures of a refight of Dara. The figures were garishly painted with a nice gloss finish. This brings back memories of that book. |
BillyNM | 18 Mar 2021 2:05 p.m. PST |
That book was David Chandler's The Art of Warfare on Land featuring the Battle of Dara staged with old-school Hinchliffe figures, it was beautiful. There were also photos of staged battles with wargames figures of Waterloo and Gettysburg. Once seen never forgotten. |
Perris0707 | 18 Mar 2021 4:53 p.m. PST |
That book sparked an interest in the Byzantine Empire that has never waned. I now have Byzantine armies in multiple scales and periods. |
Waco Joe | 19 Mar 2021 11:27 a.m. PST |
Same here. After getting Chandler's book I wrote off for a Hinchliffe caralog and the rest is history |
BillyNM | 20 Mar 2021 8:04 a.m. PST |
#Waco, have you reproduced Dara as per the book using Hinchliffe figures? I'd love to see that, it's sort f of fantasy project of mine to do it right down to painting them in that nice shiny, old-school style. |
PaulByzantios | 21 Mar 2021 1:54 p.m. PST |
I have the book as well. It started me in wargaming with Byzantines as I realized for the first time that Byzantine wargaming figures were available. I used many of the Hinchcliffe figures for my 25mm Early Byzantine Army. Decades later I was using it against Ian Dickie's Sassanids at a Historicon, playing the WAB rules. This was the first time I had met Ian (I knew him as the then editor of Wargames Illustrated magazine.). I mentioned that I had seen his Sassanid army somewhere before. He told me that that was the army used for the pictures in the David Chandler book. The Byzantines had been his as well. Interesting time. |
BillyNM | 22 Mar 2021 10:03 a.m. PST |
PaulByzantios – I don't suppose you took any photos of Ian's Byzantines – I'd like to see the paint jobs a bit clearer than in the book. |
DalyDR | 23 Mar 2021 2:45 p.m. PST |
I played against Duncan Macfarlane's Hinchliffe Sassanid army at H'con 2009, the year he divested himself of "Wargames Illustrated" (I think Ian Dickie was/is associated with "Miniature Wargames"). I've got pictures of those Sassanids from our game, but no Byzantines. |
BillyNM | 25 Mar 2021 3:23 a.m. PST |
DalyDR, I'd like to see them just as much as the Byzantines, any chance of some Sassanid photos? Not sure how you post them here though…. |
DalyDR | 25 Mar 2021 5:46 a.m. PST |
Feel a bit like hijacking the thread here, but this is related, so here you go BillyNM:
Those Gripping Beast Sassanids fleeing from Duncan's Arab cavalry in the last image are mine . . . but I won the game!
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BillyNM | 25 Mar 2021 10:12 a.m. PST |
DalyDR, thank you so much for those they're even better than I thought in close up. You should post an entire 'gallery' article showing these off for the history of the thing if nothing else. THANKS! PS love the die in the howdah. |
DalyDR | 25 Mar 2021 1:29 p.m. PST |
Yes, I just looked at the spread on pages 98-99 of that Chandler book (it's on archive.org), and the elephant I posted a picture of above seems to be the same one near the center, right behind the figure marked "11" representing Kavadh I. Those are some veteran miniatures indeed! |
BigRedBat | 26 Mar 2021 4:21 a.m. PST |
That's a super-looking game! |
PHGamer | 26 Mar 2021 5:24 a.m. PST |
That is one awesome display. |