1. Introduction

DBM 200 is a set of rules modifications for DBM to enable smaller (and shorter) games to be played. The main advantage of this is that it allows a 4-game competition to be held in one day. There is no official set of DBM 200 rules and these ones are based on the original set by Alan Patrick. The reasons for the small changes are to update Alan's rules for DBM version 3.1 and to include some feedback based on postings to the DBM list and our own playtesting. These rules have been found to produce surprisingly good games that capture the majority of the important features of full-sized DBM.

2. DBM 200 Rules Version 1.05

2.1 All armies must be 200 AP or less.

2.2 Unless specified below all rules are identical to DBM version 3.1 and DBM Army Lists 1-4 second edition.

2.3 Army Points are according to DBM lists EXCEPT that the command costs for generals are halved & rounded up (ie a Regular general is +10 AP, an irregular general is +5AP). So for eg an Irr Kn(F) ally general will be 9 + (5/2) = 12AP.

2.4 All maxima and minima in the lists are halved, including allowed generals, and rounded up. So for example, an allowance of Norman LH(O) 0-3 is halved and then rounded up to 0-2. Four elements of baggage are required for a 200AP army, and will count as per normal for demoralisation. There are 4 special cases for army list maxima and minima:

i) In the case of Allies with maxima limits, the total ally size maxima are halved and rounded up.

ii) In the case of lists with compulsory Double Based Elements (DBE's) (eg Byzantines), the halved minima and maxima are rounded up to the closest number of complete DBE's. So for eg, Byzantine DBE Themata 6-14 becomes 4-8.

iii) In the case of lists with a single maxima and minima for a mixture of troop types which must be taken in a fixed proportion (eg Parthian, "Other city dwellers with javelins, bows or slings - Irr Ps half (S) @ 3AP, half (O) @ 2AP *10-30"), the halved maxima and minima round up to the closest whole multiple of the number of troop types (eg for the Parthian example above this is the nearest multiple of 2 ie *6-16).

iv) The maximum for temporary fortifications (TF) specified in the list to protect baggage/camp is multiplied by 0.75 and rounded up. The minimum for TF to protect baggage/camp is simply halved and rounded up as per other minima. For example, many armies normally have 0-12 TF to protect their camp, in DBM200 these armies have 0-9 TF.

2.5 An army must have between 1 and 3 generals. Every army must have a CinC. Normally only one sub-general is allowed. Any other general must be an ally. If either

* there are two mandatory sub-generals in the army list
or
* the original army list allows 3 Sub Generals before halving for DBM 200 and the army fielded has no allies in the list at the chosen date

then:

* if the sub generals are regular you may field one of the Sub-Generals as an ethnic ally general (with the 1/4 of compulsory troops etc) (This is because at 200 AP, 3 regular dice create too much mobility)
* if the sub generals are irregular you may field two sub-generals.

2.6 Any list specific restrictions that mention numbers of elements also half (and round up) the number of elements. For example in the list notes to the Georgian list (Book III, List 70) it states "Other nomads, such as Serirs, Lesghs, Suns and Jikils, can substitute for up to 4 elements of Cuman LH." For a DBM200 Georgian army the other nomads can substitute for up to 2 elements of Cuman LH.

2.7 15mm table size will be 48" x 30". 25mm table size will be 180cm wide by 120cm deep (72" x 48").

2.8 Numbers of Terrain pieces - all references to allowed numbers of feature equivalents terrain pieces are halved (with no rounding). Thus, for example, an invader may place a road and 0 or 1-1.5 feature equivalents of entirely steep hills. Remember that any area feature must still fit entirely within one table sector. Any 1.5 feature equivalent area features that could not be placed within one sector (40cm x 40cm) are illegal.

2.9 Mandatory area terrain features must be 0.5 feature equivalents in size, except that the first mandatory piece selected by the player may be either 0.5 or 1 feature equivalents in size.

2.10 Defenders may only place a maximum of 1 external road with the usual restrictions.

2.11 Area features which are diced for position within a sector half the distances specified from the table edge on a roll of 3, 4 or 5, 6. The maximum number of area features placed by one player of the same feature equivalence and going is reduced from 3 to 2 pieces.

2.12 Rivers have the same allowed widths as in normal DBM. Invader rivers may be placed (where a D3 is a six-sided dice halved and rounded up) between 200p + (50p * D3) and 500p + (100p * D3) of one short table edge.

2.13 Waterways can extend (where a D3 is a six-sided dice halved and rounded up) between 200p and a maximum of 300p + (100p * D3) from one short table edge with no more than half extending more than 400p inward.

Big Battle DBA has become a favorite of many players at NASAMW Conventions, as participation has consistently risen since the original release of Big Battle rules in DBA 2.0. Running Big Battle DBA tournaments efficiently and effectively is more difficult than regular DBA, and puts more pressures on tournament organizers. For a successful BBDBA tournament, it is important that the majority of games be resolved in a timely manner. Therefore, Bob Beattie, NASAMW Umpire for DBA, appointed a committee consisting of David Schlanger (chair), Mike Demana, Roland Fricke and Dave Zecchini to recommend changes. These are all experienced DBA Big Battle players. They consulted with other players and have suggested the following changes for tournament play. These changes have been approved by the DBA Umpire and will be used in NASAMW sanctioned tournaments during 2004. At the end of the year they will be evaluated.

The NASAMW Special Tournament Rules Text takes the best of both DBA 2.0 and the amended DBA 2.1 rules for battlefield size, deployment, and victory conditions in an effort to allow for balanced and timely game play in the tournament environment. These alterations to the Big Battle DBA rules are not intended as a criticism of the normal rules of Big Battle DBA, which is an excellent game in its own right. These Tournament Rules are solely for the purposes of running efficient and timely tournaments using Big Battle DBA at NASAMW conventions.

The deployment changes revert to the BBDBA 2.0 deployment language with the addition of the 1,200 paces restriction from 2.1. The remaining changes in the 2.1 deployment rules have been found to unbalance the game for tournament play by favoring high aggression combined arms forces, and slow down tournaments by consistently placing the defender in a conservative, reactionary posture. They also encouraged extreme terrain choices that could severely slow play. Also, we have eliminated the 0-2 element exchange for the defender because of the advantage of placement of the last defender command.

The victory condition changes are a compromise between BBDBA 2.0 and 2.1 that closely follows the model of the regular DBA victory conditions. There had been significant resistance to the C-in-C command breaking or the C-in-C element death always resulting in a loss of battle as in BBDBA 2.0. However, under 2.1 the C-in-C death never resulting in loss of battle caused game length problems and odd instances where all three commands could be broken and the battle not "officially" lost. The NASAMW special tournament text solves these problems, while keeping as close as possible to the original vision of DBA.

The battlefield size increase from 48 inches to 60 inches has been tested at the last two major NASAMW conventions and is the preferred board size by most NASAMW Big Battle DBA players.

Finally, the NASAMW Big Battle DBA Scoring System is presented. This scoring system was implemented to help differentiate between finished and unfinished games. It allows a tournament organizer to quickly and easily assign point value for battles. The system was designed to encourage quick and attentive play. In order for the system to function properly all games should be played out until victory conditions have been reached, or official time has been called.

NASAMW BIG BATTLE SPECIAL TOURNAMENT RULES TEXT

BATTLEFIELD SIZE AND TERRAIN: The width of the battlefield size is increased to 60 inches.

DEPLOYMENT: The defender places the terrain and the invader chooses which long side will be his base edge, the defender taking the opposite edge. The defender deploys 2 commands including that of his C-in-C, then the invader deploys all his commands, then the defender deploys his remaining command. Each element not in a BUA or camp must be within 1,200 paces of its command's general. [The defender may not exchange 0-2 element pairs of its elements.]

WINNING AND LOSING: An army whose cumulative total of lost elements at the end of any bound other than Scythed Chariots, camp followers or denizens is at least half its original troop elements and has also lost more such elements in that bound than the enemy, or an army whose C-in-C's command is demoralized and has lost more elements than the opponent, has lost the battle.

NASAMW BIG BATTLE DBA SCORING SYSTEM

Victory Conditions Met

Winner: 100 points minus Loser points total.

Loser: 2 points for each enemy element killed or fled off map.
1 point for each enemy element demoralized.
4 point for taken and occupied camp serving one command.
8 points for taken and occupied camp serving two commands.
12 points for taken and occupied camp serving three commands.

Victory Conditions NOT Met

Each player/team:
2 points for each enemy element killed or fled off map.
1 point for each enemy element demoralized.
4 point for taken and occupied camp serving one command.
8 points for taken and occupied camp serving two commands.
12 points for taken and occupied camp serving three commands.

Point ranges

Winners (51-100 points)
All others (0-49 points)
Maximum point total for non-winner is 49 points.

Pg. 7 - Roads

"Most Roads were simply convenient tracks by which people were in the habit of moving. Few were paved, so they can be depicted as pale brown tracks less than an element width wide."

NASAMW Clarification: Roads must be less than an element width wide, but they do not need to be depicted as pale brown.

".so they can be depicted as pale brown tracks less than an element width wide, troops moving astride rather than on them."

NASAMW Clarification: An element must be astride a road to qualify for road movement. This means the front edge of the element moving on the road must be centered on the road and perpendicular to it.

Pg. 8 - Deployment

"The defender can now exchange the positions of 0-2 pairs of its deployed elements. "

NASAMW Clarification: The process of exchanging the pairs is sequential. Pick a pair, exchange positions. Pick a second pair, exchange positions. An element may be exchanged twice (i.e., one or both elements from the first pair may also be part of the second pair).