B
ut… What rules will I use? Which is the best? How many figures will I need? Which scale? The aim of this article is to provide a set of guidelines that you can use to answer these questions. Whether you are just beginning in the wargames world or you are one of those “old dogs”, you can compare and con- trast the different game systems mentioned here.Right now, the most popular rules on the market are De Bellis Multitudinis and Warhammer Ancient Battles, which are normally known more by their respective acronyms: DBM and WAB. Now then, these rules must share the small niche in the gamer community with dinosaurs like Ancient Empires and with simple systems –that are astutely compati- ble with DBM- , such as Armati and Tactica (the latter is wi- dely used in the US). New kid on the block Vis Bellica is a game system that has taken ideas from the 70s and 80s, such as orders and simultaneous movement, updated them and incorporated models developed in the 90s, such as the ele- ment system instead of the unit system. I will go into more detail on these systems below.
I have not mentioned other rules that are used less often, that are more difficult to find and that are too period-specific, such as Revenge (created by Emperor Press Ltd.), which is de- dicated to Middle Age Europe, Spear Song, Pig Wars (skirmish system for the VI to the X century Europe), Killer Katanas (feu- dal Japan), etc.
Before I begin, I would like to highlight an innovative phenomenon: the free rules that are being distributed on the Internet. The truth is that there is a bit of everything. You can find anything from adaptations of proven systems (Warmaster ) to completely original systems. I highly re- commend you take a look at The Perfect Captaine web pa- ge that you can access at www.freewar-
gamesrules.com. Not only is this site brimming with free and wonderfully de- signed wargame rules for the Antiquity and Medieval Ages (Hoplomachia, Prin- ces of the East ), but it also has a com- plete game system for the Renaissance (Spanish Fury! ), American Wars and even the Russian Civil War. This is an amazing site and a fine example of pro- fessionalism that some designers of commercial games ought to follow.
De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM)
DBM was published in 1994 by Phil Bar- ker and Richard Boyle Scott for Wargames Research Group (WRG). It was a revolu- tion in the world of wargames with minia- tures. They had already given us a sneak peak a few years before with the original
model De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA), a very simple system to use for gaming battles with few miniatures in a limited area for matches that could be finished in 30 minutes.
The advantages of DBA soon became clear. The time and money invested by gamers to collect an army was minimal. Space was no longer a problem either –a game of DBA could even be played on a small kitchen table. Its quick-play for- mat also makes it a very practical system for tournaments and for gaming campaigns. The only problem was that pla- yers wanted “something more” after playing a few games. DBM was the response to this need. This new system deve- loped combat, movement and command systems that were more elaborate than those used by DBA. It also used more fi- gures than the original, giving gamers the feeling that they were fighting a real battle.
DBM ’ s organisation of forces did away with the traditional unit idea and replaced it with the smaller group tactic ele- ment that could operate independently on the game table. An element consists of a variable number of miniatures placed on a standard-sized base and that share identical characteris- tics. For example, a typical element in a Swiss army from the XV century could be made up of four figures of pikemen –he- avy infantrymen- on one 40x15-mm base. This element would more or less represent a block of 250 soldiers deplo- yed in four ranks.
The rules have not been designed for any scale in parti- cular, so they can be used with miniatures ranging anywhe- re from 6mm to 25mm. The designers have employed steps as the unit of measure. Each step is equal to a specified number of millimetres on the game table which depends on the scale of figures being used. So, for 25mm figures, each 50 steps corresponds to 40 mm on the game table, while for 15 mm figures, each 50 steps equals 25 mm. Since we know that an element of light cavalry moves 250 steps in each tactical movement, we will move it 20 cm if we are using 25 mm miniatures or 12.5 cm if we are using 15 mm figures. It may seem a little mind-boggling at first, but after you play a few times you catch on quickly.
DBM is played alternating turns, that is, first one side carries out its actions, com- bats, etc. and then the other side repeats the same steps.
The best thing about DBM is its con- trol and command system. At the begin- ning of each player’s own turn, the die is thrown for every subordinate general that is present on the game table or in a flanking action. Then the player assigns the points obtained by each throw to
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