DBA is an excellent beginners set of Miniature wargame rules. The benefits of starting with these rules are manyfold.

Good for Newbies
The small number of miniatures required allows a cheap start, as opposed to the huge number of figures you need to buy to build a Napoleonic Army.

The Rules are very well written and short, a perfect combination for the beginner.

The rules come with a large number of army lists, meaning the newbie does not have to spend a lot of time researching. Additionally many Mini manufacturers produce Army packs specifically tailored to the Army lists listed in the rules.

Armies
Each army is made up of 12 elements or bases, each of which holds a few miniatures.

Each element/base is catorgoried into one of few broad strokes. As the rules say, these catorgories represent the overall behavoiur of the troop type rather than the individual effect of the weapons they carried. For instance, Knights are horse mounted shock troops, wether carrying sword or lance. Psiloi are light skirmishers, wether armed with sling of short bow.

The Army lists are not what I would call balanced, the armies are based on historical research but this is mitigated by the rules requirement for 12 elements in each army.

A player rolls a die each turn, and this dictates how many of his elements may be moved that turn. Combat occurs when elements are within shooting range, or in base to base contact. Combat is very simple, both sides roll a die add/subtract modifiers based on terrain and opponent type and iff any friendly elements are assisting. The combat outcomes are cleverly constructed to allow elements move back a step, flee in panic or even be destroyed.

A Game plays quickly, my games often last only 30 mins as I'm fairly familiar with them.

I really enjoy the rules thier simplicity and speed make it a game you can play anywhere.

I've even played this game using my 2mm minis on a coach.

Good review. Hated DBA, loved DBM. Go figure. My friend and I came up with a hybrid/variant for Napeolonics and American Revolution allowing firing, and it is my new favorite miniatures game. We allowed flank marches and ambushes as well. The game is just so much more "fun" to me now, and the time decreases with numerous units shooting. I always got the feel that I would spend 20 minutes manouvering, there would be a weird roll on the flank and it would fall apart so quick. The crucial flank element doesn't seem as important and there's more areas of conflict now.
Wade