My Late Imperial Roman East army. Started in 2007 for DBA 2.2, then updated for DBA 3.0 (never played) and finalized for Triumph. This build is for a campaign, and I plan to finish up some final stands to complete all options. Ultimately will be expanded to Grand Triumph! w/Roman Armenian ally for Historicon next year.
Roman Armenians will be on the table next!
I’ve been working to complete Roman Armenians and Sassanids as belligerents in a solo campaign against my Late Imperial East Romans. I’ve reworked the old DBA campaign rules from version 2.0 and need to playtest before organizing a campaign for my gaming group.
I’m getting some old content out recently as I’ve gotten a fire under my butt for symmetrical warfare after playing lots of skirmish games the past year. Sadly, I wasn’t able to play Triumph! at Historicon 2026 due to my Konflikt ‘47 tournament running long, and playing in a Bolt Action tournament the day before that. I had planned to play in the Wednesday night tournament, but ended up not making it out to the convention until Thursday night. I’ll be prioritizing Triumph! games for Fall In this year. So below are some pics from Cold Wars 2026. I played in the Biblical Theme and Camel Army themes this year; not doing great in either, but had boat loads of fun regardless. I also played in my first and last Saga tournament. Which was fun, but not what I’m looking for in a historical game. If we’re going to line up like a rank and flank game, I’d rather play Triumph rather than a skirmish game. To each his own!
Below I’ve posted a couple pics from Saga, where I took Levantine Crusaders for a spin. Went 1-2 for the day.
I volunteered to run demos of Triumph! at our local convention this past December (I forgot this post in my drafts). The response to Triumph was great with a fair number of people expressing interest in the rules and lured also by the low investment in miniatures and small space needed to play the game.
If you’re local to Philadelphia come join me for Triumph! demo games on December 6th from 12-3pm.
In the last week I rebased my Marian Romans and got my minis from Eureka to replace missing legionaries and create a mule pack camp. I’ll post pics as soon as that’s all done. On the skirmish front, I finished my 500pt retinue for Barons’ War and got in a learning game—great fun!
We start a campaign in January using The Barons’ War, Pillage, and I’m hoping Triumph to resolve campaign battles. Will be posting here when that starts.
I’ll be hosting demos of Triumph! on December 6th at a local mini-convention as well as a Pillage scenario later in the day.
That’s it for now. Have a great holiday!
Not much new on the hobby front other than to report that I’ve been rebasing my very first DBA army which was also the army I took to my very first tournament in 2007 (and won the tournament).
In the pic above you’ll see my original army. All nice and gloss varnished. It’s all AB Miniatures with the exception of Essex psiloi. The AB figures are large-more like 18mm and I had difficulty basing them. In fact, they were based in a checker pattern so I could fit them on the 40mm x 15mm base. It never occurred to me to cut the puddle bases down to be able to fit them in a line on the base.
18 years later it dawned on me to cut the puddle bases down. Very happy with the results and I’ve got some fresh AB figs to replace the spear stands I’ve been running in the army to make up for two lost elements. I think it will be fun to paint some of these up again after a couple decades.
The stands have all been textured and just await some fresh paint and static grass. I’ll post pics when they are complete. I’ll be using them to run Triumph! demos at a very small con at a local store in December. The other army I’ll be using for that is Thracian Lowland Tribes. Another army I have a lot of history with and are getting some new stands to update them for Triumph!
I decided to attend the Fall In convention this year after an absence of nearly 15 years. Originally scheduled for some games of Pillage, the organizer had to drop out and it left me with an open schedule. In my stroll through all the games set up, I happened upon the Washington Grand Company and their tables for the Triumph! Set of rules.
I go back quite a bit with the guys from WGC and it was great to see old friends and players and the new folks as well.
On Friday I got in a demo game and later that evening I was graciously given a loaner army (Medieval German Princes) to play in the Baltic Powers tournament (army lists restricted to that particular conflict region).
I didn’t take detailed pics as I was getting to grips with the Triumph! Rules.
I ended up placing 4th overall in the themed tournament and had a blast playing 15mm rank and flank again. Having played DBA for years, I feel the Triumph! Rules not only fix issues from that game-set, but also provide a more historic simulation with better combat factors, more sensible troop behavior, and other things like battle cards you can purchase with your available points that add more historical flourishes.
On Saturday I brought out my Early Imperial Roman East army after a minor rebasing of my catafracts. I played in the 15mm Open Tournament and placed somewhere in the bottom third of players with a 1-4 record. My opponents were gracious and essentially treated my games a learning games offering advice throughout. What a blast!
This convention really reminded me of how much fun it is to game with great people and how playing a simple ruleset with deep nuance can provide so many hours of entertainment. I managed to grab some extra rule books, playing mats (thanks, DK!), and a couple movement gauges (thanks, Rod!) to bring back to my local gaming group to demo.
I also managed to pick up some great scenery for Pillage and Barons’ War, in addition to some Gripping Beast Late Romans to build for Saga.
I leave you with a couple pics of some impressive tables and boards I saw at the con.
Until next week!
The Triumph! Gamer