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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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(This is a two part posting originally written for magazine publication on DBA’s 20th anniversary. It didn’t get published, so I’ve cunning updated it for the 21st anniversary … and posted a month late. Hey ho.)
In March 1990 – that’s twenty-one years ago, if you’re not feeling old enough already – Wargames Research Group published a small booklet set in a typically unglamorous typeface, with hardly any illustrations, and very definitely no colour photographs. Even the cover had a brown paper bag vibe about it. The rules themselves ran to a handful of pages, and the rest of the spidery text was devoted to a very basic campaign game, some definitions of troop types and their basing requirements, and lots of brief army lists written in a script that any decent code breaker would struggle to decipher. Thus was born one of the most original sets of miniatures rules ever written.
DBA, De Bellis Antiquitatis to those who enjoy a Latin tongue twister, was Philip C. Barker’s newest creation (with the help of Richard Bodley Scott and later Sue Laflin Barker). Phil was the god of the Ancients wargame scene throughout the 1980s, and I’d had previous experience of his rules: his 7th Edition War Games Rules 3000 BC to 1485 AD had nearly put me off gaming for life. I’d purchased them as my first ‘proper’ set of historical rules in 1989 as a kid, and put them down again very quickly; they were too complicated for me to learn easily in isolation from experienced gamers, and playing the game was like wading through treacle. By page 9, my eyes had started to bleed. However, a good review in a magazine can do wonders for one’s enthusiasm, so puffed up by Pete Duckworth’s review of Phil Barker’s newest rules in Wargames Illustrated magazine, I set about purchasing a copy forthwith (postal order – hand written note – second class stamp – envelope – wait several weeks for money to clear and postal service to deliver . . . this was 1990 remember!).
What was it that I’d read in that Wargames Illustrated review that made me want the game? Thinking back, three things spring to mind:
• The rules were supposed to be pretty simple
• You needed very few figures for an army
• Troop types were limited but had their own unique feel
Even today, those three aspects will sell a game to me. And when DBA finally did drop through my letter box, I was hooked. Playing my first few games mostly solo, I quickly built up the armies that interested me the most: Ancient Britons, Late Romans, Sub-Roman Britons, Saxons, Franks, Vikings, Scots-Irish, Goths, Welsh, Feudal English, Scots Common, Khmer, Burmese, and a few more I’ve probably forgotten about. On a student’s budget, that wasn’t bad!
Reading through the rules, I quickly stumbled over the obstacle most often cited by DBA nay-sayers: the language of the rules. Suffice to say that DBA isn’t written in user-friendly language, and the minutiae of the rules frequently doesn’t spring out from the written word. It’s very much a game to learn by playing. For some people, this is too great a burden and they won’t touch the game, but like so many more gamers, I just got on with experimenting with the rules and have been playing enjoyable games with them for almost two decades now. That’s not to say that I’ve always interpreted the rules correctly; even last year, I discovered a bit I'd been playing incorrectly, but the game had never been ruined by my oversight. Perhaps I’m still enthusiastic about DBA because I’ve never had the misfortune to come up against a true rules lawyer who will argue against every action I take. Maybe I’m just lucky in that respect?
DBA was fortunate to emerge at around the same time as the Internet was taking off; it was the first miniatures game I was aware of with an online presence, in the form of the now defunct Ed Allen's Hobby Hovel, a fan site gathering together many resources and tips for players of DBA and a few other chosen games. A little later, the Fanaticus website launched in 1998 (www.fanaticus.org), which is Chris Brantley's fan site dedicated exclusively to DBA. I have happy memories as an early contributor to this website, making me a member of the Fanatici (which is not as dangerous as it sounds!) and helping me to discover the wider DBA community; Chris' enthusiasm worked wonders for getting DBA better known around the world. This website should still be the first port of call for any potential DBA player, containing an eye-opening array of army notes, essays on tactics and interpretations of the rules, galleries of DBA armies owned worldwide, and an active and friendly forum. At the time of writing, Chris hasn't been able to keep the site up to date, but it's still a great place to while away the hours. Fanaticus is also the easiest place to access The Unofficial Guide to DBA: approaching the game from the opposite end of the rule-writing spectrum, the Washington Area DBA Gamers produced a whopping 72 page guide to the game, explaining in wordier, more illustrated detail every aspect of the game. If you want to ensure you're playing the game by the letter of the law, you'll need this document; if you're happy winging it as you play, you'll baulk at the idea of creating a 72 page document from the original cursory booklet. Either way, it's free, and the Washington Gamers hard work must have helped out many gamers of plenty of occasions (www.wadbag.com/DBAGuide).
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