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So, I was in one of my FLGSs recently, and they have a whole section of 15mm historical figures that are labelled "full DBA armies"

These were the Essex Miniatures range, so included just about everything, but I was particularly entrigued when I saw a small Viking Longboat, Crusaders and such among these model "kits"

So, my big question is, what games are "best" with these sorts of models, as well as what is this "DBA" that these bags are labelled with?

De Bellis Antiquitatis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bellis_Antiquitatis

DBA and the others in the same rules family are an abstract set of rules for fighting ancients through to rennaisence. Horde of Things is another set but for fantasy.

The books have been reprinted but cheap copies of the originals are always poppoing up on Ebay. Not sure but I thought the 1st edition was a free download.

They are not to everyone's taste and can be difficult to pick up straight from the book, but they do play out well and give the right feel to the results. Best of all as you will have seen the model count is relatively low and it is easy enough to put together several armies at a reasonable cost - you can also proxy quickly as the class/elemnt for units are set.

Worth dipping a toe into if you like the period

Definitely check out the Unofficial Guide to DBA:

http://www.wadbag.com/DBAGuidePlus/default.asp

and this site:

http://fanaticus.org/DBA/faq/index.html

Ahh, many thanks.. I may have to look into them more, as the models were small enough that I can do some moderately sized dioramas and the like, even if I don't game with them

The rules and complete army lists can be purchased here. http://wargaming.co/rules/dba2/homepage.htm

15mm is one of the oldest and most popular scales for historical games for Ancients and Mediaeval, Renaissance, Napoleonics and ACW.

The advantages over 28mm are the lower cost, playing in a smaller area, and ease of painting, while still preserving visual characteristics of the real life originals -- styles of hat, for example -- that start to be lost in smaller scales like 6mm.

DBA is a very popular game that has lasted nearly 25 years now and can act as an entry to larger scale Ancients wargaming.

Many figure companies have done standard army packs for the DBA army lists.

I'm waiting for v3.0 of the rules to come out to get into DBA. Apparently there's been an effort to make the language of the rules less confusing.

 infinite_array wrote:
I'm waiting for v3.0 of the rules to come out to get into DBA. Apparently there's been an effort to make the language of the rules less confusing.

That's probably why it's taking so long. If you've read the current rules you'll know what I mean.

The fact that there's a guide for the rules that isn't the rulebook is pretty telling. I like DBA though, I would certainly recommend it if you can get back the "Barkerese." It's a pretty simple game and as wordy as the rules are, it's actually a very tight game system.

Official Guide to DBA + army lists and occasional reference from the rule book = a nearly Barkerese free DBA.

I haven't seen the version of 2.2 edited by John Curry. I have no idea if it's still in Barkerese.

The 2.2 has reprints of version 1, version 2.2 and a few articles, and the full lists. It's in Barkerese, but to be honest I find it readable. The Official Guide is a good help, though.

If you get the WADBAG guide, which is available through Fanaticus.org, you will be fine.

As with any game it can help to play with someone who already knows the rules for your first go.

The plus of DBA is that the rules are cheap and simple enough that you can buy them, play a few games with cardboard counters and you have lost very little money or time if you decide against it.

Another plus is that any troops you do build up will be compatible with most other popular Ancients wargames rules.