Some years back I posted a review of DBA 2.2 on Mark Severinson's web site of game reviews. It seemed like time to update the review for the latest version, some years after it was released. It seems Mark isn't maintaining the website (Deep Fried Happy Mice) any more, so I thought I'd post the new review here. With no further ado, here it is.
TITLE: DBA (De
Bellus Antiquitatus) 3.0
AUTHORS: Phil
Barker and Sue Laflin-Barker
PUBLISHER:
Wargames Research Group.
PUBLICATION
DATE: 2014, 1990(Version 1.0), 1995(1.1), 2001 (2.0), 2004 (2.2)
This unofficial
group supports DBA and a variety of variants. They are a friendly group and
there’s a lot of information about miniatures and history, worth a look even if
you don’t play DBA.
REVIEWED BY:
Vincent Tsao.
PERIOD COVERED:
Biblical through late Medieval (~1500 AD)
THE BOOK: 142
pages, hard cover. It has a little color on the cover. Most of this is the army
lists. The rules total 14 pages.
SCOPE: Each
side consists of an army of indeterminate size.
ARMY SIZE: each
army has 12 elements (bases). Elements may have anywhere from 2 to 4 figures,
so an army will have 24 – 48 figures. A few armies may have some horde elements
of 6-8 figures each and so might have even more. Armies also often deploy a
thirteenth element of camp followers, which is useful for defending the camp. The
numbers apply to 15mm or larger figures. Players using smaller figures can use
these numbers on smaller bases, though most cram lots of figures onto bases
designed for 15mm figures. Some cram up to 48 or more 6mm figures on bases for
25mm figures. Using Warmaster style basing could see up to 120 10mm figures in
a Hoplite army. The number of figures per base is not counted for the rules and
merely serves as an easy way to recognize the troop type.
BASE UNIT: Each
element is a separate unit. Below are three recently re-based for the 3.0 army lists. They are old 1/72 plastic figures, Gallic warriors (4Wb) and whatever Auxilia came in the Hat Carthaginian box (4Ax).
GAME SCALES:
1. Ground scale: at 15mm scale 40mm = 80 paces. At
25mm scale 60mm = 80 paces.
2. Time scale: about 15 minutes per bound (half
turn).
3. Figure/Base Ratio: varies wildly. A stand may
represent a few hundred, up to 1,500 or more. The armies could stand in for
Dark Age forces of a couple thousand each up to classical battles of 20-30,000
each.
4. Recommended Figure size: 15mm or 25mm, but
other sizes are easily used.
5. Table Size: 24” to 32” square for 15mm, 36” to
48” square for 25mm.
6. Game Length: 15-60 minutes, though an
indecisive player can drag this out. Set up and take down is fast too.
BASING SIZES.
Bases are the de-facto period standard set by Phil Barker’s WRG Ancients rules,
which ran to 7 editions before being bought and converted to the Warrior rules.
15mm and smaller are on 40mm wide bases, with depth varying from 15, 20, 30 or more. 25mm and larger are mounted on 60mm wide bases with depths of 20, 30, 40
and more. The suggested number of figures per stand is 2
for skirmishers (called psiloi) and light horse, 3 for most cavalry and various
types of infantry, 4 for most heavy infantry and some heavy cavalry such as
cataphracts. You are free to ignore these since your figures may not fit on the
bases or you can’t afford that many. Many other rules for this period use these
sizes, so re-basing won’t be necessary to play them.
TURN SEQUENCE: IGO-UGO.
The defender moves first, resolves ranged combat and then close combat. Each side checks to see
if they have broken. Then the attacker does the same. Ranged and close combat
are resolved using basically the same method.
Roles are
determined by a pre-game die roll. Each side rolls a die and adds their army’s
aggression factor. The high scorer attacks. The defender sets up the terrain
from the list allowed their terrain type, with some restrictions decided by die
rolls. The attacker then selects the table edge they wish to use. The defender
deploys first, followed by the attacker. The defender takes the first move.
GAME MECHANICS:
the game uses only six-sided dice. One is rolled at the start of a turn to determine
how many pips that side has for the bound. Each pip may be used to move a
single element or a group. Single elements may move in almost any fashion as
long as they don’t exceed movement allowance. Groups are highly restricted.
They may move straight forward or wheel in good going. Anything fancier must be
by single element. First time players often roll a 6 for pips and split the
army into as many groups, threatening the enemy everywhere. Then they roll a 1
next time and discover that only one group can move. It pays to keep the army
massed in a few large groups. Combat will usually break up the formation and
you will need every pip to recover.
Elements may be
moved from 2 base widths (heavy infantry) to 4 (light horse) per turn in clear
terrain (good going). Light horse can make second and third moves in a turn if
they stay beyond a base-width of enemy elements and have enough pips. Psiloi
(skirmishers) can make subsequent moves under certain circumstances, as can
troops on a road. Otherwise most troops are restricted to a single move per
turn.
Troops are
divided into types based on tactical doctrine. There are foot skirmishers
(annoyingly named psiloi after the ancient Greek term), auxilia (medium foot useful
in rough terrain, termed bad going), spears, pikes, blades, warband, bows, war
wagons and artillery. Mounted troops include light horse, cavalry (and light
chariots), knights (and heavy chariots), camel mounted troops, elephants and scythed
chariots. Last is the camp follower
element that is used to guard the camp if one of the 12 elements is not so
used. I may have forgotten one or two types.
Combat is
fought element vs. element with each side rolling a die, adding their factors
and comparing scores. Each troop type has a factor against foot and another
against mounted. There is a small list of tactical factors that may modify your
scores, such as additional enemy elements, being uphill, etc. Doubling your
opponent’s score usually kills the element, beating the score by less usually
pushes it back (if it cannot retreat it is killed). But there are exceptions,
called quick kills by many DBA gamers. For example, warbands quick kill spears,
pikes or blades. Psiloi quick kill elephants. Bows (if longbows or crossbows) quick
kill knights who tied them in close combat, but are quick killed by any
mounted in contact. Knight vs. bow fights tend to be exciting, since the odds of one or the
other dying is high. Sometimes elements flee – do an about face and make a
full move away from the enemy.
The essence of
the game is getting favorable match-ups vs. your opponent. Just as important is
managing your pips. A plan that requires few pips is a good one.
The game is
decided when an army breaks, usually by losing 4 elements. A looted camp counts
as an element lost. If your general’s element is lost that counts as 2 elements. Even if you manage to stay in the game after losing the general, command penalties may ham-string your army. Any action requires an extra pip if your force is out of command.
ARMY
LISTS/SCENARIOS: There are no scenarios in the rules, but the game is played
with the impromptu set up. There are loads of army lists, related to the DBM
army list books. The army lists run from Ancient Sumerians on up to Late
Medieval Burgundians. The lists include many arcane and little known nations.
All these armies are shoe-horned into the troop types available. So Roman
legionaries and Viking Bondi alike are rated as blades.
REVIEWER’S
COMMENTS: The battle rules are extremely concise, fitting in 8 pages. Folks
refer to his writing as Barkerese. While his writing is sometimes difficult to
follow, the rules system is ingenious. It’s worth the initial fuss. DBA set the
bar for fast play rules, though Barker later returned to the dark side with
more complex rules.
PLAYER’S
COMMENTS: The game plays quickly. This is indeed the whole point of the game.
Consider it the fast food of wargames. Sometimes a burger and fries is just
what I want, and sometimes DBA. Most of the games have some period flavor and
often teach tactical lessons. Of course, with the small number of elements and
the opposed die-roll combat system, bad luck gets your knights murdered in open
ground by lesser breeds. I suppose that’s what Maxentius thought happened at Milvian Bridge,
just before he drowned in the Tiber.
I won’t make
the argument that the game is very historical. It is a game, not a simulation.
It varies wildly by period and match-up of enemies. Sometimes it gives a pretty
close simulation of the actual armies and other times can be pretty much a
fantasy game. Rome
vs. Celts works fairly well, as it should. These rules started as extremely
fast-play game of Rome
vs. Celts. The Roman blades have a factor of 5 against the Celtic warband 3,
but are quick-killed by the weaker Celts. It makes for an exciting contest. On
the other hand, heavy infantry banging away at each other often sees groups
shoving back and forth for a long time. You won’t see the rapid collapses recorded
of actual hoplite battles.
Light horse
armies are pretty wimpy. It’s hard to see how the Mongol Conquest army or
Attila’s Huns conquered much of anything. They float like butterflies and sting
like them too. But they are a lot of fun to play. You can drive your opponent
to distraction with the fast moving light horse, just before they put your
lights out. Every now and then the foe gets so confused you win.
The pip system
rewards those who take the initiative. Good players can use a few pips and
force their enemy to use more responding. It is rare to see that staple of many
other rules, both sides’ strong wings swinging around like doors. If you don’t
give attention to a collapsing flank you may lose that much sooner. Leaving
your camp unguarded has a penalty too. Some players remark that low pip rolls
lead you to make the sort of errors you swear never to make.
Some players
prefer the older versions. I really like the newest version, 3.0. Movement
increased about 50%. This means armies close faster than before. In earlier
versions defending players would form up in several columns and re-deploy as
the attacker came forward, seeking the best element to element match-up. It
doesn’t sound like my reading of ancient battles. In 3.0 you may well not have
time to do this. More troop types pursue when beating the enemy. This leads to
a much more chaotic situation, making a less chess-like game. That appeals to
me. Your mileage may vary.
Some folks
remark that DBA looks like a couple of skirmish lines. Well, you rarely have
more than 48 figures on the table per side (and often less) but it does produce
a short and fun game. DBA fans can sample a large number of periods for a small
investment in money and painting time. Losing a game you invested 30 minutes in
hurts a lot less than spending all night losing. You can usually play a bunch
of games in an evening.
There’s a lot
of abstraction. Light horse quick kill knights. It is presumed the knights
charged the evading light horse, pursued too far and were cut down. If that’s
too much abstraction, stay away from these rules. If on the other hand you
rather like the tense balance between factor 4 knights and factor 2 light horse
that results, then DBA is the game for you.
I’ve been gaming
since the mid 60’s. In that time I’ve been in a near-fantasy ancient campaign
that faded away, a two year campaign of the American Revolution and one of
Napoleon’s 1814 campaign. All involved more work than pleasure. I can’t count
the number of DBA campaigns we have played and finished over the years. A
little bit of work provided a lot of fun, mostly snake-pit diplomacy spiced
with short, sharp battles.
Like fast food,
it can leave you wanting something more substantial and formal. Staying in
period means you have to beef up that DBA army, since most other games require
more figures. You probably won’t have to remount the figures since this basing
system is the de-facto standard. And when you lack the time and will to play
that meatier set of rules DBA is always patiently waiting for you to come back
and play. There is a larger version of DBA called Big-battle DBA or BBDBA. It’s
basically three DBA armies per side and gives a slightly more textured,
complicated and longer game. The rules for this are included in the rule book.
It’s OK by me though some swear by it. Based on my reading of the Fanaticus
Forum, even the fanatics are friendly folks. There are people who pore through
the rules looking for ways to exploit the Barkerese, sometimes for tournament
advantage, sometimes for the pleasure of finding a truly arcane interpretation
alone, like Talmudic scholars.
The simple campaign system is in the older rules, unfortunately not in the new edition. Too bad.
I’ve thrown DBA
over a couple times. When I came back after a couple years it didn’t ask me
where I’d been or what other rules were played. It just let me play some fast,
furious and fun games again. It’s rather tasty too. Like a good burger and
fries.
