Big Battle D.B.A.

   Nick and some of the guys at C.O.G.S. invited me over to join in on a four player game of De Bellis Antiquitatis last night. It was Late Persians vs Greeks in 15mm... We played a scaled up version (Big Battle) of D.B.A. on a double sized board with the equivalent of 3 standard D.B.A. armies per side.  The Big Battle rules introduce the demoralisation rule, which was a very interesting addition. Nick and I were the Greeks. It was close, but in the end the Persians won.

De Bellis Antiquitatis at C.O.G.S.

After enjoying my initial experience of having a go at playing "De Bellis Antiquitatis" (DBA) with 6mm miniatures at the "Joy of Six" wargames show a few weeks ago, I ordered the rule book, and printed out a set of paper tokens to try and get my head around the rules. The rules aren't very long, but the text is quite dense.. and a bit hard to fathom. Still enthusiastic however, I made contact with the DBA players at the Chesterfield Open Games Society via their Facebook group and asked if I could get in on a few games with them.

Nick and Simon from C.O.G.S. were keen to play and teach, and they roped in another chap (didn't catch his name) as a fourth person, so we had two games going on at once. It is much easier to learn by playing with someone patient who is already familiar with a game than trying to figure it all out from scratch from a book.  I ended up playing 3 games altogether and had a great time.

 

We played with Simon and Nick's miniatures and scenery, 15mm rather than 6mm this time (They use the same sized bases - just less miniatures per base)..

 

Game 1 - Swiss Army vs French Ordonnance Army (around 1500 AD)

Swiss pikemen anticipate a charge from the French cavalry

Game 2 - Marian Romans vs Revolting Sicilian Slaves (around 100 BC)

I was the Romans... It didn't go well for me!

The game going on next to me... Samurai vs...?? - all Nick's beautifully painted miniatures.

Game 3 - Romans vs Sicilians again - a much closer game this time...
 but Simon's Sicilians were triumphant in the end..

I am going to work on a couple of armies... Romans for sure, as they have so many enemies! - and Ancient Britons I think to start with. I think I will go with 6mm for my first two armies, as the miniatures are pretty cheap...

Thanks again to Nick and Simon for teaching, and letting me play with their stuff!