De Bellis Multitudinis

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De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM) (trans Of the Wars of the Multitude) is probably the most played set of rules for the hobby of ancient and medieval wargaming today^{[citation needed]}, for the period 3000 BC to 1485 AD. DBM is at the more strategic end of the tabletop figure gaming genre, as its name implies (De Bellis Multitudinis = Of the Wars of the Multitude) it is aimed primarily at simulating large battles. The rules allow armies to be chosen from published Army Lists (in 4 books, with about 250 different army lists in total - but many more once all the in-list variants are taken into account) using a points system to select roughly equal armies if required.

1 History
2 Game Details
3 Community
4 External links

[edit] History

DBM was written by the UK based Wargames Research Group (WRG) team of Phil Barker, Richard Bodley Scott and Sue Laflin Barker. It evolved from the simpler DBA ruleset in the early 1990s. The DBx series now also includes Hordes of the Things or HOTT (a fantasy version), DBR (a Renaissance version), and DBMM (Phil Barker's intended successor to DBM).

DBM evolved from the earlier De Bellis Antiquitatis rule set, adapted to play larger games with more figures, comparable in size to games played using the then popular 7th Edition Ancient rules.

DBM expanded on DBA's definition troop types by function - defining troops as bladesmen rather than Roman legionaries for example - by adding grades for each. Grades such as Superior, Ordinary and Inferior troops are designed to reflect relative efficiency compared to contemporary opponents, and reflect emorale, equipment and training.

This approach, coupled with a fairly simple game system, produced a fast playing but subtle^{[citation needed]} game that is easy to pick up but much harder to master, and mirrors ancient warfare a lot more closely than most rulesets that have gone before.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Game Details

The armies are usually played in 15mm or 25mm scale, though 6mm and 54mm are used. Ground scale is in paces, and the number of inches to a pace varies according to the figure scale - 1" to 50 paces in 15mm, 40mm to 50 paces in 25mm. The frontage width of the element base is standardised for all troop types, the depth and number of troop models on it varies by formation type (light infantry - or psiloi in DBM terminology - have 2 men per base, cavalry 3, heavy infantry 4 etc)

Troop scale is not stated specifically, but as a the range of troops in an element ranges from 128 to 256, and the number of figures from 2 to 4, an assumed scale of c 1 : 60 is not way off the mark. Elephants, Chariots, Artillery and Shipping are 1 model per element, representing varying numbers of that type - for example 16 elephants or 25 chariots.

Although the game is designed to be used between historical enemies the level of abstraction, standardised army lists, and points system allows players to pit 5,000 years worth of opponents against each other with fairly believable outcomes in the main. This ability to match wildly disparate armies has always been a major part of the allure of ancient and medieval wargaming to some players, much to the horror of those gamers who believe that only historical battles (or at least much smaller spans of history) can be accurately simulated.

[edit] Community

As well as friendly games, DBM competitions are played worldwide - including a truly global World championship. Competition games are typically played from 200 to 500 points, club games are typically 350 to 400 points. A 400 point army is typically an army of between about 50 and 80 elements, or about 150 - 250 figures in total (a high quality, mainly mounted army like a Mongol is more expensive per element, a mainly militia type such as Anglo Saxons at Hastings is cheaper per element and thus much larger).