DBM can be considered a blend of DBA and 7th edition. From DBA, it gets its basic troop classification, command and combat systems. From 7th, it gets its table and army sizes (hence its title), which translates as "For the wars of multitudes"), its ground and troop scales, its varying battlefield conditions and deployments and a points value system to make cross-period competition games practical.

This last may raise a howl of annoyance in certain quarters, but recognises that it is not always practical for the owner of a traditional large wargames armies to restrict himself to opponents with armies that historically fought his own. There was veiled criticism in Slingshot of my multi-player demo game at last year's Society of Ancients Conference for my choice of "Barbarian Conspiracy" opponents for my 25mm Late Romans. This was simply because none of my Pictish, Saxon and Irish armies were big enough on their own for a four player a side game. My only other armies in 25mm are Seleucids, Vikings and Japanese.

We originally intended that DBA and 7th should continue in parallel. This is still true in that we will support 7th as long as a large enough number of gamers still want to play it. However, we gradually come round to the idea that a big battle derivative of DBA was desirable, if only to provide an easy progression for beginners from DBA to bigger games. We had also been struck by the superiority of DBA to 7th in two particular ways.

One was that DBA games looked more realistic because of the need to keep elements in line. The other was that things could be seen to happen. This was not because the games were shorter, but because moves and combat decisions were constantly being made throughout the game. By contrast, watching 7th edition games after the initial bounds is a little like watching grass grow, and watching earlier editions more like Waiting for Godot.

Our testers' reactions suggest that DBM will largely replace 7th and 6th. One early indication of this was when the Australian group that was helping with army lists for 7th stopped work after testing an early version of DBM, on the grounds that their labour would be wasted!

Troop classification is an extended version of that in DBA. Some extra classes are added, but the main thrust is to sub-divide existing classes in finer grades, currently called Superior (S), Ordinary (O), Inferior (I), Fast (F) and Exception (X). For example, Templars are Kn (S), cataphrects are Kn (I) , Goths or Normans ere Kn (F), Janissaries and Indian or English longbows are Bw (S), dummy elephants are El (X) and mobile towers are WWg (X). The effect of the differences is to decrease or increase brittleness. (S) add +1 to a winning score if shooting and to a losing score at all times. (I) deduct -1 from losing score if in close combat or shot at while shooting. (F) deduct -1 from a losing score if in close combat during an enemy bound or shot at.

There are no units as such, or at least, they have no effect on play. An element represents, not a unit, but the smallest possible independent sub-unit. Several elements may have the same shield pattern, one of them include officer and standard and be moved together as a convenient sized group, but they all fight independently and can each move separately ir required. Since elements sto removed separately, there is a degree or casualty removal. Because the ground scale is that of 7th, rear ranks are more common. Loss or an element causes the lose of elements behind it.

We also reintroduce regular and irregular, which reflects the ease of control. Regular commands all have PIP dice of the same colour. All are thrown by the C in-C, who then allocates them to commands. Allied and irregular commands have a different die colour and throw their own. A command is regular if its general's troop type in regular. Irregulars other then light troops use extra PIPs when not moving straight ahead or along a road.

Some troops, mostly irregular, are also classed as "impetuous". When in eight of enemy, it costs 1 PIP to move them straight forward, but 2 PIPs to make them halt, otherwise they move as single elements straight to the nearest enemy element. In practise, an irregular army is only marginally under control. Even for regulars, the PIP dicing system restricts the player much more than an order writing system ever did. Players have always been expert in evading their own orders.

When a command has lost a critical number of elements, it becomes demoralised, It continues to dice for PIPs but can use only 1 of these to advance. Any others can be used to halt elements or groups. Any elements not either advancing, in close combat or halted then flee individually. Other commands continue fighting. There is no counting up of army points values to establish victory, which is achieved when the enemy have all fled the field.

The simplicity of the combat rules has meant that we can be unusually lavish with space while keeping our usual modest price. This has been used to improve layout and provide a generous quantity of diagrams, but you will not be ripped off with expensive boxes, extra modules, or padding such as big margins or colour photos. There will be a separate army list book with more armies than before, and additionally specifying an aggression factor to help decide which is defending its homeland, its home climate, and both forbidden and compulsory terrain types.