Cat's DBN (A few more for the Brits)

[Cat]

I've played DBN sporadically, but at every convention opportunity, since 2.0 came out.  Our DBA crew is gearing up now to play DBN regularly too.

I have one 15mm Russian army on standard 40mm bases that I've brought to conventions.  For the club, we've agreed to us 15mm figures on 60mm wide bases.  This allows more figures, but also the ability to adjust the number of foot per stand to show troop quality.

For line infantry: 10 = elite, 8 = regular, 7 = militia quality. 

Light infantry in skirmish formation: 8 = elite, 7 = regular, 6 = militia quality.

I'm also using the position of cavalry on the stand to show quality

All horses abreast = elite, half or more forward = regular, more than half back = militia.
 
With 1 horse on a magnet, the quality can be shifted from regular to militia by repositioning that horse.  And that 1 horse can be removed from a stand of Light Cavalry to deploy it as Skirmishing Cavalry.
 
I have a ton of figures to rebase, and decided to start with the small Westphalian army because it has a good variety of troop types for testing out the basing scheme.

At the typical unit size of 1 stand = 1 brigade, this is the entire Westphalian army (with 1 extra line infantry to bring it up to 12 points)!

[Cat]

After a lot of work in the fall of '21, DBN got set aside for numerous other projects in '22.  Back in the works now as the primary project to kick off '23.  Hope to get this on the table before spring rolls around.
 
Not so glamourous, but critical work for bringing this to the club, is getting travel/storage boxes ready.  60mm wide bases don't fit in my standard DBA Plano boxes.
 
Best solution for economy of space storage in my basement was to Plano-fy a stack of 2" deep large flat mailer boxes.  Glued in Cheerio box dividers, and then wide magnetic strips.
 
The heavy steel angle braces make perfect weights for holding everything flat while the glues set.  (The big box hardware store has plain flat braces, but none of those actually lie flat — they're all bowed a little bit, and too heavy a gauge to think about straightening without a forge.)

[vodkafan]

It's a thing often neglected, the means of safe transport. Good work.
I play and enjoy DBA and have been a bit curious about DBN so I look forward to seeing any games you get to do.

[Cat]

I do most of my gaming at the local store and conventions, so safe transport is definitely a key component.
 
Quite looking forward to getting regular games in here now too — very happy that we have a quorum of folks interested from our regular DBA group.
 
Alex Tetso, the author, has a YouTube channel with quite a few great gameplay vids up:
https://www.youtube.com/@DBNwargaming/videos

[vodkafan]

Ah thanks for the link!

[Cat]

Oh, and tactical viewing tip for anyone tuning in to the DBNWargaming channel — these aren't scripted or edited, so as with many gaming vids, I often turn the playback speed up to 1.25 or 1.5.

[Cat]

First box is now operational.  To facilitate sorting out which stand goes where, I've painted national markings on the backs of the bases.  The major powers will be easy with a single colour.  The minor states will need two or three and distinguishing patterns.
 
Shown here from left to right: Westphalia, Naples, and Berg.

[Cat]

The army of the Kingdom of Naples is now fully complete.  This is more than enough stands to field the entire army at the usual DBN scale of 1 stand = 1 brigade.  By borrowing 2 stands from Westphalia, it covers all the line troops at 1 stand = 1 regiment, which will be handy for developing a Tolentino scenario.
 
2 of the stands have the right facing colours to provide a contingent for Lippe, and 3 for Berg.

The bulk of the line troops are militia quality — half conscripts, half convicts, and all eager to desert at the first opportunity.

The Guard troops, line foot artillery, and 7th Line Regiment (Reale Africano) are regular quality.  The 7th had full training and several years experience in the French army before being transferred to Naples; and for black men speaking French with a Caribbean accent desertion isn't a viable option, so they are quite reliable.

The Guard Horse Artillery is downgraded to militia quality though just to reflect that it is understrength compared to standard artillery units.
 
Murat himself commands the army from his tiger-skin draped horse (fun with green putty).

Guard cavalry stands have 1 horse each on a magnet so it can be removed to show when the unit is deployed as Skirmishing Cavalry.

[vtsaogames]

I look forward to seeing your Tolentino sceanrio.

[blacksoilbill]

I quite like the look of the 60mm bases: they give you more room to play around with the positioning of figures, and that creates interesting looking units.

[vodkafan]

That looks really impressive en masse. I agree with blacksoilbill about the 60mm bases.

[Cat]

Thanks folks!
 
My primary goal with the 60mm bases was to allow room for variable numbers of infantry and variable spacing of cavalry to facilitate quickly identifying troop quality, especially during big games.
 
It turns out to have the other visual advantage of giving the whole army a more dynamic look.
 
The bigger bases could also allow for packing more figures in, and that look has its own merits.  But I am quite pleased with the choices here.

[CapnJim]

Quite the lovely wee buggers, I must say! 

[Cat]

Hanoverians and some KGL are done.

This is nearly the entire Hanoverian contingent at 1 stand = 1 battalion, I'll add a few more Landwehr later.

Also finished up the Hussars of the KGL because it is important to easily distinguish them from British cavalry on the gaming table — the German troopers are not as obligate impetuous as their British cousins.  Their mellowness is indicated by chamomile tea flocking (otherwise, we'ld be squinting at the colours of stripes on their trousers to tell them apart from British Hussars!) 

The KGL can deploy as Skirmishing Cavalry, and so one figure on each stand is magnetised to be removed when they take the field in skirmishing mode.

Backs of bases are marked red with yellow stripes for Hanover, blue stripes for KGL.

[CapnJim]

Your figs continue to look good.  Well done!