De Bellis Antiquitatis
Twenty Years On
At the time DBA was ideal for those of us with limited time. Of particular interest was the ability to refight Ancient battles. Soon armies in my then local gaming group were being formed to refight the battles of Alexander the Great or those of the Wars of the Roses and the Norman Conquest often using local amendments to handle larger games where required. Soon DBA was followed by it larger brother "De Bellis Multitudinis" (DBM). In time DBM was to become the standard Ancient rule set. In New Zealand support for DBA reduced as players expanded their armies to the larger more developed rule set. From my perspective however I missed the battles between historical opponents which DBA had provided. While of course DBM could be used for such battles the normal situation was for games between non-historical armies often from very different time periods. In 2008 I travelled to Canberra Australia for a Renaissance competition. Next to the Renaissance games a 15mm Big Battle DBA competition with some 20 participants was being run. The games looked impressive with armies, comprising 36 elements aside, deployed on a table 4' wide and 2' deep. The figures were deployed in depth and looked to represent the the dense ancient battlefield I was interested in recreating in miniature. Clearly it was time to purchase a copy of the current version of DBA. So what is included in the current version of DBA? I was struck by the development of the base rules since the version I was familiar with, namely 1.0. Yet while the rules have been expanded and clarified they retained their general simplicity. Of the changes some stand out for me.
The army list section has also been greatly expanded and now comprises some 310 lists many with multiple sub-lists. These lists define various troop options as well as home terrain types, historical opponents and possible allies for those intending to use Big Battle DBA. Big Battle DBA (BBDBA) is interesting in its own right. Larger armies are be formed by combining multiple standard DBA armies with or without allies. These larger armies, typically containing 36 stands, allow larger games which can still be fought to a conclusion in around two hours. The armies are are divided into commands of varying size. An interesting mechanic included is the pre-allocation of high and low PIP dice for regular commands. A feature which is of course now in DBMM. This simple mechanic alone is in my view a wonderful addition. There are however aspects to DBA that I do not like. The army lists require now define a dedicated general's element. I don't believe this is correct given the scale of the game and certainly some armies. For example a Polybian Roman army has the general's element defined as a cavalry stand. Given the these armies typically have cavalry on each wing the general is forced to one wing. Not ideal in my view. Further, in smaller games containing 12 elements I believe that there is too great a variance in PIP scores allowing, in some situations, too much flexibility in movement. However, in general these are minor points and can be overcome by house rules if required. In conclusion if you are looking for a set of rules that allows simple ancient and medieval wargames between historical opponents where time is short standard DBA may well be worth a look. Likewise, if you are wanting to model larger battles, rather than simply games with lots of figures, BBDBA may well be an option you could consider. You may well be surprised, as I was, how far DBA has come in the last twenty years. Return to the Ancients Page |