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.
Punic Wars
The Rising Power of Rome fought three bitter wars with Carthage over the western Mediterranean – the Punic Wars. Rome triumphed and Carthage was destroyed. The wars were First Punic War (264 to 241 BC), Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC), Third Punic War (149 to 146 BC). Between the first two of these Carthage also fought the Mercenary War (240–238 BC).
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.
Big Base Triumph in the Punic Wars
Despite the fact I play DBA a lot, I’m always on the look out for a better game system for the Ancients period, including the Punic Wars. So when the guys said they’d be willing to try out Triumph I leapt at the chance.
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.
Wargaming the Battle of Zama
I’m interested in refighting the Battle of Zama. This is quite a popular focus for historical scenarios so I thought I’d have a look at what other people have done before collating my own thoughts. By chance, Zama was the theme of the Society of Ancients Battle Day in 2010. Not surprisingly the Battle Day, and Zama, got a lot of coverage in the Slingshot, the society journal, over the next few months. I’ve used those accounts to explore some key questions about how to refight the battle.
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.
Roman versus Carthaginian Big Base DBA
Andrew Coleby and I had a go at Big Base DBA. Andrew took Carthaginians and I took Polybian Roman. Andrew won – those pesky Gauls cut through my Legionnaires (again). Aside from being a good game it also proved the concept of Big Base DBA, i.e. big bases with lots of figures, big table, but using standard DBA.
Revised Pyrrhic DBA Army List
The official DBA II/27 Pyrrhic 300BC-272BC army list for DBA is okay but:
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/32 Later Carthaginian 275BC-146BC
The Later Carthaginian army fought the Romans in the of the Punic Wars. Represented by DBA army list II/32 Later Carthaginian 275BC-146BC. This post is part of my series on Troop Identities in DBA Army Lists.