Armies Obscura

2008-07-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a crash course in medieval logisitcs!

2008-07-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

The German camp.

2008-07-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

Skirmishing crossbowmen. The smartest of the Crossbowmen. Best keep them in the army so they dont poach the Lords deer!

2008-07-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Crossbowmen. Guys not smart enough to be spear men. 1x4Cb

2008-07-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

Spearmen from the townships. 2x4Sp.

2008-07-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

Spearmen of the Emperors household 2x4Sp

2008-07-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

German foot knights 1x4Bd. These fellows, like their mounted counterparts wear the transitional armour of the late 14th/ early 15th C. This was the first armour that saw steel plated attached to limbs thus allowing for greater mobility and protection than the chain mail of previous centuries. In this time period the "hounskull" bacinet ( helmet) was almost universal through out Western Europe.

2008-07-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

Alternate view of hand weapon 6Kn

2008-07-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

More 6Kn this time with hand weapons

2008-07-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Alternate view of the 6Kn

2008-07-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

6Kn. this element is a tricky one to pin down historically. It could represent the "Ministeriales" a class of serf-knight who were endentured to various Lords or could represent the German practice of riding in a deep wedge. Or both!

2008-07-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

German noble knights. Feudal and alodial the GErman states of the middle ages were a mad conglomeration of minor dutchies, powerful families, church lands, independent merchant towns. All of which owed fealty to the Holy Roman Empire but always held their own interests above any such loyalties.

2008-07-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

Introducing the Duke of Bavaria

2008-07-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

German King/ General/ Holy Roman Emperor and his Ritter complete with HRE banner and Duke of Bavaria

IV/13b MEDIEVAL GERMAN

2008-07-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

HERE IS AN ARRYED SHOT OF A LATE 14TH/ EARLY 15TH C MEDIEVAL GERMAN ARMY

2008-07-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

FInnish woodsmen. deadly forrest stalkers! 2x2Ps

2008-07-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

Finnish tribal levy. 1x7Hd

2008-07-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Finnish tribal auxiliaries. Oddly enough they work out to be 3x3Aux.

2008-07-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Leidang crossbowmen. The crossbow would remain an important part of Scandinavian armies until the mid 16th C.

2008-07-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

These are the Leidang themselves. Works out to 5 x 4Bd.

2008-07-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

An alternate view of the General

2008-07-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here is the Swedish General and knights

2008-07-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a close up of the "Snaka" type boat. These craft were the decendants of the Viking "Knarr" - a trading and cargo vessel. Boats of this type were in use by Leidang armies until the 14th C.

2008-07-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

TO MAKE UP FOR THOSE TERRIBLE RUSSIAN PICS HERE IS A NICE EXAMPLE OF A 13TH CENTURY III/40 LEIDANG WITH A SWEDISH FLAVOUR GREAT OPPONENTS FOR NEVSKI!

2008-07-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Russian Lh

2008-07-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

More of the same

2008-07-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

More out of focus Druzhina

2008-07-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Russian Druzina

2008-07-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Alexander Nevski

Early Russians at long last!

2008-07-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

here it is my take on III/78 Early Russian first up arrayed shot featuring " MIghty Gates of Novgorod" by Patrick Patterson CCF's camp maker extraordinaire

PLEASE IGNORE THESE PHOTOS THEYA RE TERRIBLE OUR CAMERA IS HAVING PROBLEMS WITH ITS AUTO FOCUS FEATURE I APOLOGISE FOR THE POOR IMAGE QUALITY

2008-07-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Gauls arrayed

2008-07-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Great Gallopin Gauls

2008-04-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

Last of the Gallic Wb

2008-04-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Gallic Wb check out Mr. Stripy shirt!

2008-04-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

Gallic Wb and Ps

2008-04-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Gallic Wb and Wb General ( rear rank) I love the pointing guy as good a 15mm figure as I have ever seen

2008-04-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Gallic Heavy Horse #2

2008-04-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

Gallic Heavy Horse #1

2008-04-29T08:31:00.001-07:00

gallic chariot #2 I like the warrior in this one his had was molded perfectly so it sat on the side of the chariot

2008-04-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

Gallic Chariot

2008-04-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Gallic Big Daddy!

Gauls

2008-04-04T21:25:00.001-07:00

here are some pics of my Gallic army by Corvus Belli these are some of my best 15mm brush work to date, I did these as project for sale on Ebay

ARMY SOLD TO BUYER IN U.K.!

2008-02-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

THE BONDI MAKING SWORD LAND AND SPOIL LAND

2008-02-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

VALHALLA AWAITS! AS THE HUSCARLS PREPARE TO MEET THE FOE

2008-02-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

THE MEN THAT IRON COULD NOT BITE

Added another hapless Saxon to the Norsemen's butchers bill a study in positioning the figures on the base in a way that really coveys a sence of movement, in this case unbound fury!

2008-02-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Viking general

recently I have been thinking up ways to make a boring infantry general interesting, and what better way to that than to add a few corpses! Doing this really adds a scense of drama to an element and makes it into a small vignette and is a great use for your extra figures in this case a rather unfortunate Saxon fyrdman

2008-02-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

Overseeing the resupply of the Viking beachhead, and to keep an eye on the outgoing Danegeld!

2008-02-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

Close up of the ship camp.

2008-02-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

ODIN GUIDE OUR SHIPS

OUR AXES, SPEARS AND SWORDS

GUIDE US THROUGH THE STORMS THAT WHIP

AND IN BRUTAL WAR...

"IN SEARCH OF VIKINGS" - AMON AMARTH

Oh yes! this has to be my favorite arrayed shot EVER! Dad did an amazing job of capturing the drama of a Vking army storming the shore in search of plunder and conquest! Waht is remarkable about this picture is how the water part of the water way piece seemlessly blends into the grey background thus enhancing the feel of a dark and gloomy North Sea day and the doom that the darkenss heralds!

Essex Army pack

2008-02-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

gotta love that cow! I NEED MORE COWBELL!!!..... que Blue Oyster Cult.....

the cow started life as a vanilla minifigs beastie but Patrick added some greenstuff and bent the horns down to give it that charactersitic highland cattle look. Anyone know what these kind of cattle are called???

2008-02-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Dont that just Broch your world?????

close up with Patrick's fabulous camp. This is the prototype for a set that is being cast and sold all over the world! I believe Paul Hannah has the first production set

2008-02-18T18:56:00.000-08:00

Woad you have Pict a fight with these guys???

6x3Sp

2008-02-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

ard arsed archers ala acrid alkalai alitteration!

2008-02-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

Pictish Lh riding through the marshes of Scotland!

these are two of my favorite elements in my entire collection of DBA armies I love the dynamics of the heads turning in response to the leader giving direction with his spear, as if to resopnd to some unseen threat, or unprotected camp!

2008-02-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

BOG DADDY! aka 3Cv ( Gen)

some of you may remember this marsh piece from waaay back in the day

haters be told I know its -2 and certain death but it LOOOKS MUTHAF&*KIN COOL!

2008-02-18T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well back with another fantastic army for your viewing pleasure this time its II/68a Pictish from Essex here they are arrayed in front of a wonderful Broch camp built by our very own Patrick Patterson. Patrick also made a lovely highland cow as a denizen of this lonely outpost.

Pictures as always are by my dad Laurence Johnson and are some his best 15mm work to date! yay dad!

2008-01-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

Well there ya go Im famous! Got my visage on the front page of Fanaticus! Although the name of the event was DBA -20 it was only -9 so it wasnt to bad at all but the snow just made it perfect.

MEGA THANKS TO MY DAD FOR THE PICS!

2008-01-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

this is me blowin snow off the Estonian general the snow was fallin so heavily tha tby the time the games were done our armies and boards had a wonderful coating of snow that blended in seamlessly with the bases when we went back in we had to blow the elements off of our elements!

suprisingly no damage was done to the paint jobs of the minis!

2008-01-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

The CCF gather to watch the decisive last turns of Mamoth Mayhem

2008-01-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Paul's HOTT Nazi Penguins up to no good Will the Antarctic be safe??? Where was GWAR???

2008-01-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

this is me deploying my Estonians

2008-01-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

here is some of the Mamoth Mayhem action!

2008-01-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

hereis Don Ray and Sean Devitt ( aka Spanikopites to fanatici) engagin in some "Mamoth Mayhem" the late neolithic will never be the same!

2008-01-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

Well... Grandmaster Bill comanding Paul's Teutonic Knights disintegrated the Estonian line in one turn!

BTW that snow is REAL!

2008-01-20T11:50:00.000-08:00

Here is CCFer Bill Seaney lookin cold! Bill and I played a game of Teutonic Order v.s. Estonians and well .....

2008-01-20T11:46:00.000-08:00

here is a pic of the action! All pics were taken by my dad Laurence Johnson who really went above and beyond wiht his excellent documentation of this historic event!

2008-01-20T11:42:00.000-08:00

here are some pics of the CCF DBA-20 outdoor event held on Jan 19 2008 in the back parking lot of the Sentry Box first up is Paul Hanna from Seattle with umbrella!

Rus army

2007-11-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of my new Rus army Camp made by Patrick Pattersona nd photos courtesy of Laurence Johnson aka DAD!

here ar

This is it!

2007-11-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

Well I think i have done quite well for myself considering that 6 months ago I didnt even know what a Blog was.

The focus of this lil corner of cyber space shall be to share my passion for the hobby of DBA, THE Ancients wargame. DBA is probably the one rule set I have remained a fan of for well over 10 years I mean jsut the sheer volume of armies to choose from is incredible and the rules are simple yet elegant and do retain a feel for how an ancient or medieval battle would play itself out. What I really enjoy about it is the group I play with The Calgary Camp Followers, who are hands down the best group of people I have ever gamed with. This Blog will contain many of our exploits!

So welcome and enjoy!