De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM) (English: Of the Wars of the Multitude) 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.[1] As its name implies, 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.
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DBM was written by the UK based Wargames Research Group (WRG) team of Phil Barker, Richard Bodley Scott and Sue Laflin Barker. (DBMM is 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 WRG 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 morale, equipment, mounts, and training.
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 (skirmishers - 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, standardized army lists, and points system allow players to pit 5,000 years worth of opponents against each other with fairly believable outcomes in the main.
For command and control, DBM extended the Player Initiative Point (PIP) system of DBA. Each command gets a D6 dice throw of points. The player can move only the number of blocks of units that have been thrown. This came under early criticism as "superficial and surreal" and as failing to give the player the flavor of what it was like to command an ancient army.[2]
The level of micro management has come under criticism due to the way each individual element can be moved independently rather than being grouped into units.[3]
The wording of the rules has also come under criticism and their clarity unfavorably contrasted with other rules.[4]
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 force is more expensive per element, whereas one based more on militia such as the Anglo-Saxons at Hastings is cheaper per element and thus much larger).
The successor to DBM is De Bellis Magistrorum Militum. DBM grew out of DBA and retained its geometric constraints. Phil Barker had grown increasing unhappy with the way that those constraints were being used by players to block actions that would in reality have been possible. Hence he decided on a revision.[5] While in some areas DBMM is simpler than DBM, the combat system is a good deal more complicated with a large number of modifiers. One reviewer described the number of modifiers as "over the top" but then qualified this verdict by adding that after a short while the player can learn to ignore most of them except for rare special cases.[6]
DBMM was first included in the British national competition Britcon in 2007.[7]
Version 2 was written with the help of extensive online discussion in which players participated.[8] One reviewer, who had found the first edition to be both excellent yet frustratingly difficult to play, considered the 2nd edition would do much to remove the frustration[9]
The DBM community is global, a good starting point is author Richard Bodley Scott's webpage http://www.byzant.demon.co.uk/dbm.htm