DBA Guides and Tips

Other Rules

What makes DBA so popular is its quick play, small army format, which is great for gamers who are squeezed for time to get a game in, for use in single-day tournament play, and for those who like to dabble with a variety of historical armies without breaking the bank. Many gamers who start with DBA, however, eventually find themselves looking for a larger, more complex game, with more miniatures on the board and more sophisticated rules. When that time comes, the logical progression from DBA is De Bellis Multitudinus, which uses the same basing conventions and has similar rule mechanisms.

If you're looking for something completely different, however, then you might also wish to consider the following options:

• A Clash of Battles (Jim Davis)
• Alea Iacta Est, "The Die is Cast" (Veni Vidi Vici)
• Ancients Rules - 7th Edition (Wargames Research Group)
• Ancients Rules (6th Edition adaption by Steve Burt)
• Archon -- Ancient Rules (Piquet Game System)
• Ancient Warfare (Terry Gore/SAGA Publishing)
• Armati and Advanced Armati (Arty Conliffe)
• Band of Brothers -- Medieval Rules (Piquet Game System)
• Castle Cracker
(Trollwise)
• Classical Hack, Holy Hack, and Knight Hack (Viverito, Backer, and Kohlbacher)
• Day of Battle Miniature Rules for Feudal Warfare (All About Games Publishing)
• Days of Knights (Chipco)
• DBM24 rules and army lists (DBM with 24 elements by Craig Nichols)
• Fast Play Rules for Ancient/Dark Ages/Medieval Warfare (Newbury)
• Gang Warfare in the Age of Bronze (Trojan Wars)
• Glutter of Ravens: Warfare in the Age of Arthur (Daniel Mersey/Outpost Wargames Services) (Britain 400-700 AD)
• God's Acre (Medieval Rules)
• Historicon (Free Ancient/Medieval rules from Alienstar)
• Man on Man (Diceless rules by R. Bracy)
• Medieval Warfare (Terry Gore/SAGA Publishing)
• Might of Arms (Bob Bryant/Colonade Publishing)
• Rules According to RAL (Ral Partha)
• Shock of Impact
• Tactica and Tactica Medieval (Arty Conliffe)
• Tercio
• Warfare in the Ancient World (Newbury)
• Warhammer Ancient Battles (also see Ancient Battles and Drilled and Stubborn fansites)
• Warrior (Four Horsemen Enterprises)(Successor to W.R.G.7th Ed.)

Skirmish Rules

As an alternative to refighting battles between "massed" armies, you might consider skirmish level wargaming where each figure represents one real person. Here are some popular ancient/medieval skirmish rules:

• Bad Endings (Medieval Skirmish Rules), by Craig Cartmell of the Wrexham and District Wargames Club.
• Dark Ages Skirmish Rules by Steven Burt.
• Skirmish Combat for Ancient Battles (SCAB) by Nicholas Wright (free evaluation copy including gladiator supplement available by email request)
• Pig Wars (Dark Ages Skirmish) by Todd Kershner
• Rencounter (generic skirmish suitable for ancients and medieval) by Ed Allen