A few years ago I went through a phase of collecting and painting fortifications for DBA. I finished an Iberian Fortified Town, a Roman Marching Camp, and half of a Greek Marching Camp. I thought I’d share.
Iberian Wars
The Rising Power of Rome ousted the Carthaginians from Iberia – modern Spain and Portugal – but found the peninsular a tough nut to crack. It took 200 years for the Romans to conquer the native tribes – the Iberians, the Celtiberians and the Lusitanians.
Four Player Big Battle Big Base Triumph in the Punic Wars
We played Big Base Triumph in the Punic Wars – liked the Triumph rules but thought some of the troop types sucked. To really challenge ourselves and test out that impression, we played another, bigger, game with Iberians on the table in force. So “Light foot” for both Scutarii and Caetrati and “Javelin Cavalry” for Roman, Numidian, Carthaginian, big shield Iberians, and small shield Iberians. I felt, somehow, I was about to rub salt in the wounds. Of course this is Punic Wars.
Summary: Romans (Chris, Adam) beat Allied Carthaginian (Jamie) and Iberians (Steven)
DBA 3 – Improving the Simulation – Some Comments
Joe Collins has highlighted a number of problems with DBA 3.0 and suggested ways to address these problems. Collin’s was part of the group that developed DBA 3.0 so he is both a fan and on the inside team. I really like Collin’s attempt to tackle some big problems with DBA. It would be great if more people did this, starting with Phil Barker. Unfortunately, Collin’s particular suggestions mostly leave the problems unsolved. I do like his solution for Bow but even that needs more.
Philip Sabin’s Analysis of Ancient Warfare in Lost Battles
I really like the analyse of Ancient Warfare in Lost Battles by Philip Sabin. So I’ve written up what captured my attention.
Romans versus Iberian – Two Big Base DBA Battle Reports
Chris Harrod and I played two games of Big Base DBA set in the Roman conquest of Iberia. So Polybian Roman with Spanish allies against an Iberian army with Celtiberian mercenaries. In the first game, as the Spanish defender, I fielded my newly painted Built-up-Area (BUA). Quite pretty it is too – but it does pose quite a lot of challenges for both sides. We liked the first game so much we played the game a second time but swapped sides.
Steven’s Ancient Spanish for Big Base DBA
I’ve been rebasing my Rise of Rome armies for Big Base DBA. The first off the re-flocking table are the Ancient Spanish. 14 big bases of Iberian glory.
Did the Carthaginians introduce the oval shield into Spain?
Conventional wargaming wisdom is that Ancient Spanish light infantry carried a small buckler (Caetrata) and heavy infantry carried a large oval shield (Scutum) (see for example Head, 1982). The implication is that this division was always true. There was a similar division in the cavalry although the change to large shields was about the time of Hannibal.
Duncan Head at the 2010 Society of Ancients Battle Day offered some evidence to suggest the Carthaginians introduced the oval shield into their part of Spain – the Iberian part. He suggest this was deliberate Barcid policy to increase the proportion of heavy troops in their armies.
Pity Those Ancient Spanish in DBA – The Army Points Say It All
I’ve always felt the 12 element army size of DBA doesn’t give balanced games. Some folks have come up with points systems to deal with this. I thought I’d tally the points total for a few armies to see how they compare under a couple of the points systems. I’ve focussed on the Macedonian and Punic Wars and not too surprisingly the Ancient Spanish are the poor relatives.
Revised Ancient Spanish DBA Army List
There are a few reasons I don’t like the official II/39 Ancient Spanish 240BC-20BC army list for DBA:
DBA II/39 Ancient Spanish 240BC-20BC
The II/39 Ancient Spanish army list for DBA represents those tribes of Spain and Portugal who fought the Romans and Carthaginians in the period 240BC-20BC, before, during and after the Punic Wars . This post is part of my series on Troop Identities in DBA Army Lists.
DBA II/33 Polybian Roman 275BC-105BC
The Roman army list for DBA during the Macedonian Wars, Punic Wars and Iberian Wars is II/33 Polybian Roman. This looks like a Consular army with two legions and two allied wings (ala). So roughly half of each troop type would be Roman and the other half Latin. This post is part of my series on Troop Identities in DBA Army Lists.
Troop Identities in DBA Army Lists
I play DBA quite a lot and with my current enthusiasm for Big Bases I’m rebasing my ancients and medieval armies for Big Base DBA. To help with that process I wanted to know what nationalities the DBA elements correspond to.
Revised Polybian Roman DBA Army List
For a long time I’ve been disgruntled with how DBx, including DBA, handles the Macedonian and Punic Wars. I don’t like both the way the games play in this period nor the army lists. This post is about the Polybian Roman DBA Army List and how to make it more historical.