DBA projects for 2021

During 2021, me and my pard Michele of @frontlineminiaturist have some projects in mind for DBA 3.0. We want to expand our collections and explore some historical periods we love, in different scales. We plan to buy some armies this year (not all the armies on the lists... at least not yet), but above all we plan to have some good decent games, hopefully. The following are the projects we desire to fulfill at some point for historical ancient/medieval wargaming.

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Magna Graecia

1/72 scale; VII-II century BC; southern-central Italy

Pic from me and Michele when we went to inspect the battlefield in person

This is our first idea: a collection of armies which represents the different peoples of ancient Italy during the centuries of Republican Rome (and maybe at some point earlier). We started thinking about the First Punic War, especially the battles fought between Roman and Greeks in Sicily and peninsular Italy, then we included even the Etruscans and the Latin people, and obviously Gallic tribes in Italy. We still haven't bought the Carthaginians, but we're planning to do it soon. 1/72 scale was our first choice (I had some old miniatures since I was a kid), although during this first year of playing DBA we discovered that we mostly prefer other scales. However, 1/72 minis are very cheap and nice sculpted, so we're keep going (at least until we finish this project).

Armies (the ones we haven't buy yet are marked with *)

I/14c European Iron Age Army

I/30 Dark Age & Geometric Greek

I/33 Villanovan Italian

I/36 Italian Hill Tribes

I/52i Early Hoplite Italiot or Siciliot Army

I/55 Latin, Early Roman, Early Etruscan & Umbrian

I/57 Etruscan League

I/59 Tullian Roman

I/61 Early Carthaginian*

II/5g Later Hoplite Italiot Army

II/5h Later Hoplite Siciliot Army

II/8 Campanian, Apulian, Lucanian & Bruttian

II/9 Syracusan

II/10 Camillan Roman

II/11 Gallic

II/27 Pyrrhic*

II/32 Later Carthaginian*
II/33 Polybian Roman

PS: this idea was our first shot at DBA, so we tried to field most armies we can with least minis, i.e. for Italic people we use the same elements deployed as this or that army.

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The Empire strikes back

15mm scale; IX-XI century; southern Italy

This project expresses our shared passion for Dark Ages, and for Michele this period is also the major part of his professional interest, which focus on the Byzantine Empire. From IX to XI century, the Byzantines tried to strike back in Italy to maintain their territories against the Lombards, and later the Muslims and the Normans. We started thinking to this four armies, but maybe we will expand in the future. 15mm are the standard for DBA: we tried it and we liked it.

Armies (the ones we haven't buy yet are marked with *)

III/21b Italian Lombard
III/33 Early Muslim North Africa & Sicily*
III/52 West Frankish & Norman*
III/53 East Frankish*
III/65 Nikephorian Byzantine

Everyone knows that the Byzantines need to be purple to win

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Shadows of Rome

15mm scale; V century; Britannia

Mostly inspired by Balagan's wonderful ideas, we want to penetrate the mystic land of Arthurian Britannia, to taste the legend which feeds this ancient stories. This is a project we plan for Summer 2021, and we want to buy two armies at a time, one for each player, and paint it in the same amount of time like a competition, beat our heads off on the battlefield and then buy other two armies. We want to reach a combined total of six armies in the future.

The look of someone who wants to see where it goes

Armies (the ones we haven't got yet are marked with *)

II/81a Armies of the Dux Brit, the Com Lit Sax, Britannia Prima, Ambriosus, Riothamus or Arthur*
II/81b Vortigern's Army*

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I century BC

10mm scale; I century BC; Rome

Me thinking about a cool name for this project

The last one is a personal project of mine, because I love 10mm miniatures and Michele like to play with them, but not to paint them (he will change his mind). I haven't thought of a name yet, but this period is probably my favourite of ancient history, a really difficult period for the Roman Republic: civil wars, barbarians, revolts... everything a wargamer loves. Since we started I bought three armies, and I put on the list everything I want to have one day (no rush).

Armies (the ones we haven't buy yet are marked with *)

II/11 Gallic

II/19d Seleucid Army*

II/20c-d Ptolemaic Army*

II/37 Parthian*

II/39a Iberian Army

II/39b Celtiberian Army

II/45c Spartacus' Army in southern Italy*

II/47a Armies of the Cimbri or Teutones*

II/48 Mithridatic*

II/49 Marian Roman (ne servono due per fare le guerre civili!)*

II/51 Late Judaean*

II/53 Ancient British*

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A lot of projects. We're going to be safe for some time with planning, as a matter of fact.