bob's Commentary

[Cremorn]

As a DBA player without the benefit of nearby face to face opponents, I thank Bob Beattie for bob's Commentary. Sometimes wordy as the rules themselves, usually inspired in it's clarifications, it was always invaluable as a learning tool. The diagrams! Brilliant!
Having access to a tournament umpire with skills in clear expression and a desire to clarify and web publish was probably what got me over the line as a wargamer. This week I'll be demonstrating DBA to some WH40K players.

The massive task of generating, and maintaining such a document is a really admirable demonstration of the writer's love for his hobby. For us newbies trying to get on the bandwagon, here was somebody holding out both hands to haul us on board, put us behind an army and make us generals :)

The Commentary is currently no longer available on the web. I don't want to wail or lament, or annoy anyone by banging on about it or asking for it back. Still, I had to note it's passing.

The Commentary was a big part of online DBA folklore.

Thanks Bob!

[smaul1]

I wish they would bring it back and my understanding is the author wanted it removed?

if so maybe he could write a better rule book vs being proud of raming as much as he can in as little of a book as possible

me a newbie friend of mine have a hard copy and Im glad we do.

[xeswop]

Originally posted by smaul1:
I wish they would bring it back and my understanding is the author wanted it removed?
snipI guess people have not read what they wrote to really understand what the situation is; why they removed it. The primay author says players need only read the rules carefully to solve most queries.

"Because of the difficulty in getting the primary author to agree to having a set of unified standards for interpreting the game for tournament play, at least, and because of the many disagreements among players over the correctness of the various parts of the Commentary I have maintained, I have removed it.

In keeping with the authors' philosophy, if anyone has a specific question about a rule, I will be happy to give my opinion or attempt to offer an explanation. beattie@umich.edu

Better to contact the main author. Consider his statement:

"Sets of interpretations by competition organizers often cause more problems than they solve, due to poor understanding, careless paraphrasing, or being made a vehicle for ill-judged amendments. Careful re-reading of the rules should solve most queries but you are welcome to phone Phil Barker on 0121-249-1566. or email
pc.barker@blueyonder.co.uk

Further, Phil suggests - In tournaments, the Umpire "can decide if a player's actions or expectations, in a specific instance referred to him, accord to the letter and spirit of the rules, as the umpire understands them. He can also alter an illegal action by the minimum necessary to make it legal. Each decision should be made on individual circumstances and not taken to constitute a precedent."

[Plainsman]

Luckily, I'm smaul's friend who got a hard copy before it went away. Without it, I would have misinterpretted MOST of the rules from the DBA rulebook as they aren't really written in the first place. As smaul said, the rulebook has too much crammed into it.

Several sentences in the rule book actually contain numerous rules, which are hard to pick out. If each rule was given it's own sentence it would be much clearer and easier to interpret and we wouldn't even need to ask the author what he meant.

In all honesty, DBA is an excellent concept and it is simple and I love it! However, the rule book should really be about 50 pages long rather than the dozen or so that it crammed into. (Amazingly enough, Bob's Commentaries were about 50 pages!)

[enrious]

Thankfully there's the Internet Archive, www.waybackmachine.org (http://www.waybackmachine.org)

Bob's Commentaries have proven a godsend for this new DBA player.

[Timurilank]

Thankfully there's the Internet Archive, www.waybackmachine.org (http://www.waybackmachine.org) This is nice, thanks. I found my first websites; much like leafing through an old photo album at mum's on a Sunday afternoon.

cheers,

[Tony Aguilar]

A Million Thank yous for Enrious! Now I can go back and get the DBM Met files off the old soa site!!

[Don Ray]

Bring back Bob's Commentaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

Dear Bob:
I agree with all those who have emailed in asking how can we convince you to put your excellent and invaluable commentaries back on the Fanaticus website where it would be expected to be found and easily accessible. Your commentaries helped me and my fellow DBA'ers in "isolated" Calgary better understand the DBA rules published by Phil, Richard and Sue. Both documents add to each other in terms allowing wargamers to better understand and enjoy DBA. Bob, please reconsider your decision. smile.gif
Best regards,
Don

[Dalekantagonistic]

I second Don's remarks. It could be renamed. I for one didn't find anything truly controversial. It may be Phil's rules but anyone is entitled to write a 'review'.

[<jamesd_iii>]

I vote for a return of the commentaries as well (though I just saved the last copy as my own archive file).

[nick hux]

I agree that the commentary is a very worthwhile resource. I also agree that it might be best to make it clear that it doesn't claim to be infallible ;) .

I have had someone quote the commentary as the "authority", not the rules - sort of, "Yes the rules do say that, but Bob's commentary says...".

I think that the commentaries should (as they do) just try to clarify what the rules state.

Nick

[Shturmovik]

Originally posted by &lt;jamesd_iii&gt;:
I vote for a return of the commentaries as well (though I just saved the last copy as my own archive file). The commentaries can in fact still be found here:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~beattie/dba/bobcmts04.htm

That missing final 'l' makes all the difference...

/Snebjørn