my personal dice tower

There are the classics among games that do without random mechanisms, such as Go or chess, but also many board games such as the 18xx series, Diplomacy or the wonderful Civilization, to name just a few. In very many games, a more or less large random or luck mechanism is an inherent part of the game. This may be the distribution of cards or positions at the beginning of the game, the random drawing from a pile or a bag, or the spinning of a spinner, etc.

In my opinion the most popular random mechanism in (war)games is the throwing of dice. It is so widespread that there are numerous tools for it to help us ensure that

- our dice do not roll under the sofa

- the pawns and meeples stay in place and are not knocked over by the dice

- and last but not least ... they prevent intentional or unintentional manipulation of the die roll.

These tools are the dice cup, the dice tray and of course the dice tower. In this blog post, I want to tell you about a small but very practical dice tower that is cheap to buy, easy to assemble and - most importantly - can be personalised very nicely. It is the foldable dice tower by Too Fat Lardies:

This dice tower is suitable for up to about a dozen 16mm D6 dice. When not in use, it can be folded into a small box of 12x8x5cm. As you can see in the picture, there ist the Too Fat Lardies logo edged in on the front of the tower and of the dice tray. 

The TFL Dice Tower is a small and practical tool in its original state. In addition, however, it can also be personalised very easily. 

When assembling the dice tower, you can simply place the front plate of the tower and the front plate of the dice tray with the logo facing inwards. This way you get a neutral dice tower and a free area that you can design yourself. 

See how I designed my own dice tower: On the front I placed a variant of the coat of arms of my hometown by adding a medieval halberdier:

On the back I have painted a 16th century banner bearer of the Canton of Solothurn, based on a painting by M. Jacobson from the book "die Banner der Heimat",1942:

For a friend I painted the dice tower with a modified coat of arms of the canton of Bern:

Maybe with this post I can inspire you to create your own dice tower. I look forward to your comments.

Setup and Scoring Template for Triumph! - Games

Setting up a standard Triumph! game is not a big deal:

1. choose the battlefield topography (based upon the armie's invasion ratings)
2. find out which army has the tactical advantage for this battle (based upon the armie's manoeuvre rating)
3. find out if either army qualifies for a flank march (again based upon the maoeuvre rating)
4. dice for number of terrain pieces. The player with the tactical advantage may modify this number.

You just need the armie's ratings, two D6 and a scrap of paper to take some notes. Just follow the process in the official Triumph! setup guide. To further aid the process I have created a simple template which guides you step by step: Fill in the army ratings, the diced numbers and the resulting attributes for the game:

completely filled in Triumph! template at the end of a game 

The template lets you take note of the names of the players and their armies, the date of the game and the year of the battle should you wish to do so. Additionally, there is a scoring row for each player where you may keep score of your points during the battle.

You may download the template in pdf format if you want to give it a try. The backside of the pdf explains its use step by step. If you like my template or if you have suggestions to improve it, please leave a note in the commentary field below.

a wargaming moment

The stage is set: My Carolingian Frankish are taking on the Avars in a Triumph! game. The frankish knights on my left wing face a group of horse archers, which they plan to drive away easily:

my frankish knights at the bottom of the Picture

The capture and subsequent rescue of mademoiselle Mireille Masséna - a Sharp Practice AAR

In early 1811 the french "army of Portugal" lead by Marshal André Masséna, withdraws from Portugal famished and exhausted. Masséna did not succeed to decisively beat the british-portuguese forces. The letters he writes to his wife and brothers in France are filled with bitterness about the abysmal political and military situation in Spain and Portugal.

André Masséna, Marshal of France

Hussite Army for Triumph! Game

I have been playing and painting/collecting miniature armies for many years now, but not one of all these armies has had a war wagon to fight with. So it was high time to build an army with war wagons - and which army comes to your mind when you think of war wagons? The Hussites of course!

The first days of March 1798 - A Sharp Practice After Action Report

In early spring of 1798 the french "armée d'Helvétie" under the command of general Brune is ready to bring the Swiss Cantons to heel, first of all the city state of Berne. While there are still negotiations going on the diplomatic level, the french army is steadily reinforcing their positions.

In the morning of the 1st of March First Lieutenant Etienne Moulin-Rouge gets the order to capture and occupy the farm of Adalbert Bonstetten, a wealthy bernese farmer. There are two objectives related to this action: First the farm shall be cleared of all bernese troops and then the farm shall provide provisions for the french army.

the farm of Adalbert Bonstetten

Upgrade DBA Republican Romans for Triumph! Games

This is another blog entry wich bears the subtitle "The pleasures and pains of playing Triumph!". You are asking me what the h*** I am speaking of? Well - the pleasures of playing a Triumph game are quite obvious: It is an excellent easy to learn fast playing yet hard to master ruleset for ancient to medieval historical miniature battles. The (sweet) pain arises from its 658 army list and 26 troop types: Most of my existing 15mm armies made for DBA 2.2 need to be adapted, i.e. I have to rebase existing elements and to add new ones while some others are no longer needed.

In order to make my DBA armies of Polybian and Marian Romans playable for Triumph, I have painted the following new elements:

Wargaming Moment

In einem Triumph!-Spiel liege ich mit meinen vorislamischen arabischen Nomaden gegen die Arabo-Aramäer aus Hatra deutlich zurück. Die Niederlage ist nur noch eine Frage von wenigen Runden. Ich habe jedoch noch eine kleine Chance auf den Sieg, wenn ich in meinem nächsten Zug das gegnerische Lager erobere! Ein Element meiner leichten Söldner-Fusstruppen hat gerade genug Reichweite, um das Lager in extremis engreifen zu können - allerdings ist es für diesen Kampf so positioniert, dass es beim allfälligen Zurückweichen das Spielfeld verlassen muss und als Verlust gilt. Dieser eine Kampf wird nun das gesamte Spiel entscheiden!

siehe auch: Wargaming Moments

In a Triumph! game with my later pre-islamic arab nomad army against Arabo-Aramaean Hatra, defeat is only a matter of a few more rounds. But there is a slim chance to snatch victory from my opponent by capturing his camp! One element of my mercenary light foot is just in range to attack the Hatra camp. Unfortunately their attacking position is such that a possible fall back move makes them meet the edge of the game board and being destroyed. This one close combat will now decide the entire game!

see: Wargaming Moments

Italian Condotta Army for Triumph!

After having played Triumph! for about one year now, I have finally finished my first army in 15mm built upon a Triumph! army list. It is the Later Italian Condotta army of Venice which has quite a number of options. It took me some time to paint them but now that they're finished I am mighty proud and have already won a first battle leading them against a sister army, the Genoese!

Triumph! Setup Template updated

For all the latest Triumph! games I have used my template for the setup phase and I think it comes in very handy. With this small form you can handle the setup phase consisting of determining
- battlefield topography
- tactical advantage and disadvantage
- flank marches
- number of terrain pieces
without referencing the rulebook. In addition you can use the template for keeping track of the points score during the game.

setup template in action

Now I have slightly modified and simplified the terrain pieces part of the template. It is now almost self-explanatory and I have added a step by step instruction on how to use it on its backside. You are free to download my Triumph! setup template V.06. Your comments are welcome; please use the comment box at the bottom of the page.

Bernese Farmhouse of 1789 for Sharp Practice Games

The landscape of northwestern Switzerland at the end of the 18th century

The invasion of the City-State of Berne's territory by the French in early 1798 happened on two different routes: One corps of the "Armée d'Hélvetie" started in the region north of the lake of Geneva called "Vaud" moving north through the town of Fribourg and crossing the river Sense at Neuenegg. Second corps started in the territory of the Bishopric of Basel, moving south through the towns of Biel and then Solothurn, where it crossed the Aare river and then moving south toward Berne (see map). At this time both routes were leading through scarcely built-up or cultivated regions. Large parts of the landscape were wooded or swampy areas.

 

the region between the towns of Biel (french: Bienne) and Solothurn (french: Soleure) in 1780 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UBBasel_Map_1780_Kartenslg_Schw_B_55_evech%C3%A9_de_Bale.tiff)

Template for Setting up a Triumph! game

Setting up a Triumph! game is not a big deal, but for your first few games a scrap of paper and a pencil will come in handy. As an aide memoire and to support the setup phase of the game and for keeping score I have created a small template (half a page of A4).

my Triumph! template

DBA army II/69 Sassanid Persian

Persia – whose core area roughly corresponds to modern Iran – has a lot to offer for us wargamers intrigued by history: As early as 900 BC the Medes have founded the first Persian realm by conquering large areas of the Assyrian kingdom and finally destroying it.

Triumph! Test Game

Triumph! – what is this?

Triumph! is a new ruleset for playing miniature battles from the classical era up to early renaissance, written by WashingtonGrand Company WGC. These are the same guys which have published the 2.2 “plus” amendments to DBA back 2012, when they called themselves “Washington DBA Gamers” WADBAG. I very much like these DBA 2.2 “plus” rules and have been playing them ever since.

Now WGC has published their own set of rules named „Triumph!“. You can get it at Wargames Vault’s in pdf format in a so called “early access edition” for 15$. The authors claim that this early access edition has been playtested thoroughly and is complete and fully playable. Refining the text for clarity, adding diagrams and design notes will be done prior to final publication.

in Arbeit / on the workbench - DBA II/69 Sassanid army update

Das Generals-Element der DBA II/69 Sassaniden ist fertig bemalt, ebenso die vier Kataphrakten und zehn der 21 berittenen Bogenschützen (Kavallerie). Es bleiben noch elf Reiter und zwei leichte Reiter fertig zu stellen.

The painting of the general's element of the DBA II/69 Sassanid army is finished, as are the four cataphracts and 10 of the 21 mounted bowmen (Cavalry). There are 11 bowmen and two light horses remaining.

"Dickhäuter" DBA 2.2+ Sommerturnier in Bern/Schweiz - "Pachyderm" DBA 2.2+ summer tournament in Bern/Switzerland

Menic von Menix Miniatures organisiert in Bern ein "Dickhäuter" DBA-Turnier

 

- Regelsystem : DBA 2.2+ (plus)
- zugelassen sind DBA-Armeen der Listen von 2.2 und 3.0, mit mindestens einem Elefanten
- das Turnier findet in der Altstadt von Bern statt, Samstag oder Sonntag von 09 bis 18 Uhr
- das Datum steht noch nicht fest. Interessierte tragen sich in diese Doodle-Umfrage ein

Menic of Menix Miniatures is Hosting a "Pachyderm" DBA tournament in Bern

- rules system: DBA 2.2+ (plus)
- the tournament is open for DBA armies of the 2.2 and 3.0 lists, containing at least one elephant element
- location: historic centre of the City of Bern
- Saturday or Sunday from 9 to 18h
- the date has not yet been fixed. If you are interested in participating, please fill in this doodle form.

In Arbeit / on the workbench

Die DBA 2.2 Armee der Sassaniden (II/69) umfasst nicht weniger als acht Kavallerie-Elemente inklusive General, ein Element Kataphrakten und ein Element Light Horses. Dies sind total 30 berittene Figuren. Die Pferde (Fell, Mähne, Schweif und Hufe) und alle metallenen Rüstungen von Reiter und Pferd sind bereits fertig bemalt. Aktuell arbeite ich an den Pferdedecken und Zaumzeug.


The DBA 2.2 army of the Sassanids (II/69) compromises as many as eight cavalry elements including the general, one element of cataphracts and one element of light horse. This amounts to a total of 30 mounted figures. At present the horses (fur, mane, tail and hooves) and all the metal armour of horse and horsemen have already been painted. Currently I am working on the horses rugs and harness.

Greek Temple as a Camp Element for Greek-Bactrian DBA Army

A DBA army needs a camp element. For my latest 15mm army - the II/36a Greek Bactrians - I planned to have a temple dedicated to Zeus as their camp. To make it a bit more special than earlier temples I had made for the Early Hoplite Greeks and for the Alexandrian Macedonians it should have a circular form. According to my architecture handbook, circular temples were a special type of greek sacral buildings:

from: dtv-Atlas Baukunst, Band I, 2013

DBA army II/36a Graeco-Bactrian ready for action!

Ostern war dieses Jahr nicht so tolles Wetter bei uns - dies gab mir die Gelegenheit die II/36a Graeco-Bactrische DBA-Armee fertig zu stellen. Es ist für mich immer ein tolles Gefühl, eine Armee abschliessen zu können, und das Beste folgt dann ja erst noch - das erste Spiel mit den neuen Figuren!
Weather was not too nice these Easter days, so I had time to finish my II/36a Graeceo-Bactrian DBA army. As always it was a fantastic moment to see the army in its entirety, and the best thing is still to come - the first game with these new figures!


Nun aber der Reihe nach: Die Armee besteht vollständig aus Figuren von Xyston Miniatures und ist ein Gemisch aus Truppen verschiedenster Herkunft:
The army is completely made of Xyston Minatures' miniatures and depicts troops of many different ethnic origins:

v.l.n.r. Plänkler aus Kreta, indische Bogenschützen, seleukidische Hilfstruppen
left to right: Cretan Psiloi, Indian Bows, Seleucid Auxilia

griechische Pikenträger (Schild-Decals von Little Big Men Studios)
Greek Pikes (shield decals by Little Big Men Studios)

v.l.n.r. persische, griechische und seleukidische schwere Reiterei
left to right: Persian, Greek and Seleucid heavy cavalry

persische leichte Reiterei
Persian light cavalry

indischer Elefant mit griechischer Besatzung
Indian elephant with greek crew

meine II/36a Graeco-Baktrische Armee...
my II/36a Graeco-Bactrian army...

... in Panoramaansicht fotografiert
.. in a panoramic photography

Die Greaco-Baktrier verehren Zeus den Donnerer als Gottheit und tragen darum einen Donnerkeil als Zeichen. Entsprechend werden sie als Lager einen schönen kreisförmigen Zeus-Tempel erhalten, der aber noch in Arbeit ist. Ich werde das fertige Lager und seine Entstehung später hier posten.
The Graeco-Bactrians worship Zeus the Thunderer as their deity and thus bear a thunderbolt as a sign. This is why they will get a circular temple dedicated to Zeus as their camp element (I am still working on it and a post about its development and final result is about to appear here).


Und übrigens: "Nach den Spiel ist vor dem Spiel" soll Sepp Herberger gesagt haben. Für mich gilt sinngemäss "nach der Armee ist vor der Armee", Ich nehme mir als nächstes die II/69 Sassaniden von Lurkio Miniatures vor:
And - as you all know - working on miniature armies never really comes to an end. My II/69 Lurkio Miniatures' Sassanid Persians lie within reach:

Dazu besitze ich auch schon das passende Lager, nämlich ein wunderschönes Modell des Grabmals des persischen Grosskönigs Kyros II. Dieses Modell - und noch weitere tolle Lagerelemente gibts bei Menix Miniatures zu kaufen!
I have already got a really beautiful camp for the Sassanids: It is a model of the tomb of Cyrus II the Persian Great-king. This model and more gorgeous camp elements are made and sold by Menix Miniatures!

DBA-RRR Big Battle Marignano 1515

The Battle of Marignano (today "Melegnano") was of vital importance for Swiss history and it is counted to be one of the crucial battles of the Italian Wars. On September 13 and 14 of the year 1515 the forces of the french king François I were facing the troops of the Swiss confederation who were defending the duchy of Milan. The Swiss had pledged to protect the Duke M.Sforza of Milan who was also allied with the Pope and with the Emperor Maximilian I. (...)

In the afternoon of September 13 a group of mercenaries, goaded by the swiss Cardinal M.Schiner, rushed towards Marignano. The swiss vanguard, an elite troop of about one thousand arquebusiers, made contact with the French at 17 p.m. but did not succeed to take the french artillery. 
At dawn of September 14 the swiss pike squares attacked again, but the french artillery wrought carnage among them. The Swiss had to retreat and started a new attack which was almost successful, but just in time a 12'000 man contingent of the Republic of Venice had arrived to reinforce the french army. In the end, the Swiss retreated towards Milan.