Careful readers often do a double-take when reading the Later Seleucid list. Can it be true, a DBA army with 13 elements?
Well, there's good news and there's bad news. Yes indeed, the Later Seleucid list as published is the only DBA army list with a total of 13 elements. The bad news....for those of you looking for a competitive edge...it is an error acknowledged by Phil Barker, co-author of the DBA rules.
What is the correct 12 element list? The word according to Phil is:
| 1x | 3Kn |
| 2x | 4Kn |
| 1x | 2LH |
| 4x | 4Pk |
| 1x | 4Aux (Thureophoroi) |
| 1x | El |
| 1x | 2Ps or 4Wb (Galatians) |
| 1x | SCh or 3Aux or 4Bd (imitation legionaries) |
To which I say, who needs thirteen elements, when you've got Knights, Pike and Elephants, plus the option of Scythed Chariots or imitation legionary Blades for color. Top it off with Galatian Warband allies, rough-terrain Auxilia Thureophoroi and/or the ubiquitous Psiloi/Light Horse combination and you have one of the most varied and flexible armies in DBA.
No matter who you face across the table, you are bound to have at least one favorable match-up (and at least one glaring weakness), so the basic tactic will be to match strength against weakness and to avoid allowing your opponent to do the same to you. With the options provided, you can tailor your army to match up well against the weaknesses of your historical opponents, which includes your fellow Seleucids, the Later Ptolemies, Early Armenians, Galatians, Polybian Romans, Pergamene, Later Macedonian, Bactrian and Indo-Greek, Parthian, and Maccaabean Jewish. They may have the same types of troops in their lists to call upon, but typically not as many or they are otherwise saddled with a higher proportion of vulnerable element types.
Although it will be fun to experiment with different combinations of troops, the Later Seleucid list must ultimately depend on it's powerful one-two punch of Knights and Pikes to get the job done. One obvious challenge is how to use the impetuous Knights effectively in concert with the plodding Pikes. As for the rest, throw your Elephant at the opponent's Knights and other mounted and tinker with the others, but don't let them become isolated or overmatched.
I'll leave more detailed tactical suggestions to players more experienced with gaming the Later Seleucid list. Comments and suggestions on strategems and other resources on-line for the Seleucid fancier are welcome and can be directed to brant@erols.com.
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Last Updated: April 26, 1998
Questions, comments, suggestions welcome. Send them to Chris Brantley, brant@erols.com.