DBA: 10 Years
After and Beyond

DBA On the Internet

by Bob Beattie

Besides providing rules for so many tournaments, grist for so many articles, and influence for so many commercial ventures, DBA also provided the hobby with the first truly computerized miniatures game in the form of DBA On-Line programmed by Wargaming.Net in Belrus. DBA might well be the first game to produce an impact on the internet. The first on-line discussion group I became aware of in the early-90’s was The Electronic Hoplite. Much of the discussion there was devoted to DBA. DBM, the more complex version of DBA, was released about that time and it gained many on-line followers. Ed Allen in California set up one of the first hobby listservs for DBA and DBM.

In early 1998, Chris Brantley of Maryland set up one of the first game-fan web sites with the DBA Resource Page (http://fanaticus.org), which has evolved into an on-line community for DBA players known as “Fanaticus.” As of January, 2002, Fanaticus averages around 500 visitors a day, and includes the following features:

    Forum: 375 registered users with nearly 1300 topics and over 19,000 posts, including a special Forum for gamers of DBA On-Line.
    De Bellis Bazaar: Suppliers to DBA Gamers
    De Bellis Bookstore: A place to find your historical and uniform references
    DBA Quizlet: Opinion poll on DBA-related topics
    Promoting DBA: Helping Grow the Hobby
    Newbies Guide: Introductory essays on DBA and ancient/medieval wargaming”
    Rules Conundrums: Situations not resolved by the DBA rules
    Themes: Topical resources for the DBA Gamer
    Armies: Notes on the DBA Army lists and variants
    Rules Variants: Various unofficial house rules and rules extensions;
    Period Variants: Adapting DBA for alternative historical and fantasy settings
    Campaigns: Scenarios for DBA campaigns
    Battles: Scenarios for DBA games
    Pictures: A DBA photo album with commentary
    Historical Resources: Links to references for the historically minded
    Gamers/Links: Ancient/Medieval Wargaming on the Web

The links section has about 80 links to people’s sites devoted to DBA and some to DBM and a couple of others for other rules.

Time for a Change?

De Bellis Antiquitatis has had quite an impact on all facets of the gaming life. Yet, it still suffers from some tricky language. I have often said that I can teach some one to play in 15 minutes but no one can read the rules and play correctly. Perhaps that is an overstatement. How have so many people around the world, even with English as their second language, been able to play? I suspect many came from the “Edition Number” rules, while others had tutors who grew up on those earlier rules. The wide interest in the rules and the vast tournament schedules served to spread correct interpretations. Phil has always been happy to respond to questions, by mail and at events.

Some issues were solved with the 1.1 release. When a flanked element turns to face, for example, was not clear in the original edition. Nevertheless, even recently, players with a long history of the game were asking questions about basic rules. One player was not sure that that bows shot at each other with a single die roll per player while another did not think Spears could move from behind a similar element to stand alongside that front one because there was not enough distance to slide sideways and then move ahead. He had not considered that element corners can move from point to point along a diagonal.

As the stocks of 1.1 were depleted, the publishers wanted to get a fresh edition rather than publish the older one. Phil wanted, at least, to add complete terrain rules, to institute some rules changes to keep DBA in line with DBM, and to make the army lists for the two games the same. So what happened?

More DBA: 10 Years

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