DBA Pacific Armies Conversions WIP (Ming)

[Cat]

Conversion work complete for a double Dong Son Vietnamese, DBA army I/49a, 700-207BCE, using an assortment of Essex Inca and Old Kingdom Egyptian archers.

Not a lot of historical images to reference, so I relied on work from modern Vietnamese artists via image searches and just working with the medium of what I could find for figures that looked like good starting points.
 
Found a decent amount of art to go by, it seems the Dong Son culture is pretty romanticised in Vietnam these days as the time period before Chinese culture started coming in.

[Sakuragi Miniatures]

Thats a lot of dedicated conversion work! I look forward seeing how they come out.

[Cat]

Thanks, there's even a chance they'll get painted this year!
 
I have a great many DBA armies in various stages of completion (and completed), but doing a push now to get a good core of armies for the early Chinese front.  These Vietnamese are third in the painting queue for this project.
 
A pair of Autumn & Spring armies should be finished up shortly after Huzzah Con in May, and there's a pair of Northern Barbarian Border Tribes also pretty well along on their painting to follow that.  Just primed the Dong Son today.

[Cat]

On a roll here doing conversions, just wrapped up the work on a pair of IV/12b Melanesian armies using Essex Nubian Javelins and Archers, and some Old Kingdom Javelins, plus a few odd figures from the stash to add to the campers.

Primarily carving work to reduce the shields down into a variety of Melanesiany shapes and sizes.  The Egyptians also needed a bit of a trim to round off their bob and lift their bangs, plus a bit of putty to give them a wrap around skirt.  A few figures got their spears converted to stone axes.

I suspect that Melanesian shields tend to be a bit more limited in variety of shapes and sizes by tribe and/or locality.  But, without going hunting for a thesis on typology of shields, I opted to go for a pan-Melanesian look and went full National Gallery of New Guinea.  The resulting shield variety helps make up for limited poses.

[HerbertTarkel]

Great work on those conversions; I went on a DBA nostalgia run recently, picking up a copy of the white rules from The Keep. I spent a lot of time on Essex but haven?t picked armies yet. There?s SO MANY!

[Cat]

Thanks!
 
The DBA army checklist is amazing; I'm still working my way through it after all these years.
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Our group has stuck with the white book 2nd edition, well 2.2+ amendments actually.  But we do use armies from any edition.  Some of us still have 1st edition armies and they still work fine.  Some of the 3.0 army lists are good improvements over some that were poor translations from DBM into 2.0 way back when.  Just need to do a back reading on some 3.0 troop designations: 3Pk = old 3Sp, 5Hd = old 5Wb.
 
Also, some of the Essex V.3 army packs are improved figure choices over their V.2.  Essex has added nice new sculpts to a number of their lines over the years, but once they set an army pack they never revisit it and change the contents.  The V.3 packs have benefited from better choices where available now.

[HerbertTarkel]

That?s good to know about the v3 packs having new sculpts potentially. Essex have such an insane amount of choice, it?s a fabulous service to gamers! 

[Cat]

It's also good for late night entertainments, comparing army lists and comparing army packs and enjoying a wee dram.
 
Keeps me out of other history rabbit holes that can lead to later nights...
: P

[Cat]

Melanesians and Dong Son are all based and ready for painting; with luck, sometime later this year.  Since I sprayed them in skin tones, the painting is pretty well under way already.
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All the real detail painting on these will be on the front of the figures, so I just glued them on their bases to start with.
 
Continuing on my conversions roll, an order from Mick Yarrow is in the post for what will become a pair of Polynesian Fijian and/or Tahitian armies.

[Cat]

Ooh, bonus DBA army conversion project done last night with a slide across the Pacific to Mexico!

Yesterday while sorting through the stash of old figures, came across a half dozen packs of Essex plain clothes Aztecs (skimpy skivvies actually) acquired late last century to press into service for Tupi. 

Looking at them more closely now, Chichimeca seemed a better use for them.

Last night after my eyes were done painting for the evening (getting the High Hats gang from The Warriors ready for Havoc convention next weekend), I switched to trimming and modifying the new-found army.  Fixed a cup of hot cocoa and Kahlua for thematic inspiration and went to work.

Warband and bow figures for optional command stands got feathers added.  Converted 9 spears to blowguns and gave them pouches for darts to plump up the ranks of the archers to the needed number.  The whole lot is getting primed now and moving up the in-progress conga line.
 
With the trusty Rustoleum Camouflage Tan spray paint for the base skin tone colour, these will also be mostly painted now too.
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[FifteensAway]

No idea of figure size you are using but TVAG has some really cool 3D printed Polynesian war canoes in 15 mm: https://thevirtualarmchairgeneral.com/511-Send-Gunboat-2.html. No idea if they have similar in larger scale - but maybe.  Might make a nice addition to your collection.

[Cat]

These are indeed 15s.  But the very lovely boats are too big for my needs.  Small boats  up to ~40–50mm max work great for DBA camps.  I got  a pair of very small canoes from Mick Yarrow.  Might pick up a Bloodaxe one at some point too.  Or scratchbuild...

[Cat]

The springtime of lots of DBA army prep continues.  Just a little bit of work was needed to beef up Ming Chinese by Grumpy Miniatures, via Eureka.

Not full-fledged conversions, but the pole weapons were a bit bendy.  Swapped out the long shafts for the standards with brass wire, and opted to just reïnforce the top end of the polearms with a thin sheath of putty for a quicker fix.
 
This will make a fun opponent for Indonesians and Southeast Asian armies that are already in the pipeline.

[Veroo]

“I’m absolutely champing at the bit to see this one hit the painting stage. Your greensculpting is nothing short of top-tier! To say nothing of the sheer originality of the subject itself.

[Cat]

Thanks!
 
The Ming have since been sprayed in various tunic base colours.  I've been busy wrapping up some 28mm Anglo-Saxons for game this Saturday.  After that, I'll be working on DBA armies in rotation around more Test of Honour work for convention games next May.
 
We'll see which army wins the dice roll to get painted first as the Muse strikes.
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