Not ANOTHER set of rules!

Yes I have done it again.........

Introducing a new set of rules is always a big risk and I have gambled with DBMM. We have only played the one game last week and my own thoughts were pretty positive, bearing in mind we had an absolute nightmare when we tried to decipher the rules a few Years back.

 On Thursday, Phil spent the evening with a glazed look in his eyes whilst Mark was transfixed with the new shiny playsheet (trying to find the best troop types). I knew what I had led myself into weeks before but have to say that despite the complicated nature of the rules they do seem to play very well so far based on our game last week.

Since then I have been reading the rules trying to understand some of the other parts of the book, it is a pretty badly written set of rules and only because Phil Barker has his own way with words which is a shame.

When Phil and I started off with wargaming we played a lot of field of glory and I have to say that both these rule sets are equally complicated.


I do feel that DBMM is better geared toward command and control over FOG simply because you have to roll pip dice and make a decision based on what you get. In FOG everything moves in your bound.

There are a lot more tactical factors and rear support rules which do add complexity to the game but in the interest of realism and that's really what DBMM is about.

DBA will always give you a faster paced game but at the expense of abstracting for a less detailed gaming experience. DBMM on the other hand sets out to cover all angles and I would say that so far does a pretty good job.

The question we must ask is "Do you accept a compromise in realistic game play and stick with the DBA V3.0 rules or do we embrace DBMM and accept that the games will be a little slower, more complicated but resulting in a "richer" gaming experience"

It's a tough call to make and one which we may well not be ready to make after only two games of DBMM.

Tomorrow is the last bash for the time being and it will be quarter 1 2015 before I look at the rules again so I plan to use the movement rules and spontaneous advance rules tomorrow. We already have some limited experience with the combat rules so it should not be too much to take on board on a Thursday night!