De Bellis Antiquitatis or DBA is a fast play set of rules for the hobby of historical miniature wargaming

Miniature wargaming

Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...

, particularly ancient and medieval wargaming in the period 3000 BC to 1485 AD. These rules allow entire armies to be represented by less than 50 figures. The rules also include a campaign system and over 200 army lists. DBA is produced by the Wargames Research Group

Wargames Research Group

The Wargames Research Group ' is a British publisher of rules and reference material for miniature wargaming. Founded in 1969 they were the premier publisher of tabletop rules during the seventies and eighties, publishing rules for periods ranging from ancient times to modern armoured warfare, and...

 and was the first game in the DBx series, which now includes De Bellis Multitudinis

DBM De Bellis Multitudinis

De Bellis Multitudinis is a ruleset for table-top miniatures wargames for the period 3000 BC to 1485 AD. It is the big battle development of De Bellis Antiquitatis. As its name implies, it is aimed primarily at simulating large battles...

 (DBM, a more complex version of DBA), De Bellis Magistrorum Militum (DBMM, a successor or alternative to DBM), Hordes of the Things

Hordes of the Things (game)

Hordes of the Things is a fantasy miniature wargame, published by Wargames Research Group. A generic fantasy game, it can represent armies from a wide variety of settings...

 (a fantasy version), and De Bellis Renationis (DBR, a Renaissance

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...

 version). An online video game titled DBA Online was also created.

Scale and Basing

Scale: Each army is composed of 12 elements (stands), with several figures fixed upon each one. The number of men represented by an element varies according to the size of the army simulated and the number of figures that it has, but at a nominal ground it would be more or less 250 for each figure. Ground scale is 1" = 100 paces for 15 mm figures or smaller, 40 mm = 100 paces for 25/28 mm figures. One turn represents 15 minutes. Can be used with 25/28 mm, 15 mm, 6 mm, or 2 mm figures.

Basing: The width of the base depends upon the scale of figures being used; the depth depends upon both figure scale and type. The number of figures per base also depends upon the figure's type. For instance, an element of 15 mm swordsmen is composed of 4 figures mounted on a 40 mm (frontage) x 15 mm (depth) base; a 15 mm elephant is mounted alone on a 40 mm x 40 mm base.

History of the Game

DBA traces its origin back to a two-page experimental set of rules by Phil Barker

Phil Barker

Phil Barker is one of the major figures in the development of the modern hobby of tabletop wargaming, particularly that of ancient warfare, and is a co-founder of the Wargames Research Group.In the 1960s he was a methods engineer at British Leyland...

 dubbed De Bellis Societatis Antiquorum that was demonstrated at the Society of Ancients

Society of Ancients

The Society of Ancients is an international, non-profit organization based in the UK that aims to promote interest in Ancient & Medieval history and wargaming, covering the periods from 3000BC to 1500AD.-The Society:...

(after whom these experimental rules were named) conferences for 1988 and 1989. Many rulesets at that time (including Phil Barker's WRG series of ancients rules) had added greater and greater detail regarding weapons and armor, movement and orders. Many gamers perceived that this increased complexity came at a cost in playability. The De Bellis Societatis Antiquorum ruleset was designed as a "tonic for the jaded" with the goal of providing a fun, fast and challenging game and as an alternative to the WRG series of ancients rules. The first commercial edition of DBA was published in 1990, with Phil and Sue Barker and Richard Bodley Scott as its authors. The game has continued to evolve over the years; the most recent version was published in January 2004.

• DBA 1.0, 1990
• DBA 1.1, March 1995
• DBA 1.2, 1998 (Issued as a set of amendments)
• DBA 1.22, 1999 (Issued as a set of amendments)
• DBA 2.0, February 2001
• DBA 2.1, 2003 (Issued as a set of amendments)
• DBA 2.2, January 2004

Gameplay

Play begins with both players deploying an army. To resolve combat, dice are rolled, and modifiers are added to the rolls to determine the outcome.

External links

• Fanaticus Online community of DBA players
• DBA Online An online version of the game
• DBA on Yahoo! Groups
• La Armada Online community of DBA players (Spanish)
• Unofficial Guide to DBA
• Society of Ancients