| Nick B | 28 Dec 2014 11:21 a.m. PST |
I am looking for a ruleset to introduce my son (age 11) to ancients wargaming. I play Impetus but believe that with a teacher (i.e. me!) DBA is simpler to pick up than Basic Impetus. I used to play a lot of DBM so am familiar with the rule concepts. Firstly would you agree DBA is the easier to teach to youngsters? If so can the new rules be played using Impetus basing? Many thanks Nick |
| John the OFM | 28 Dec 2014 11:42 a.m. PST |
You would be surprised (or not) at the level of complexity enthusiastic kids can handle. They are particularly good at finding the rules that favor THEM. I played DBA/X a few times many years ago, and found them easy but sometimes with weird counter intuitive results. However, kids might like that. What I am basically saying is teach him what YOU like. He might pick up the enthusiasm. |
| vtsaogames | 28 Dec 2014 12:03 p.m. PST |
DBA 3.0 gives all ranges and distances in base widths. 40mm wide bases should play on a table 24" square up to 32". 60mm wide bases should be on a table 36" to 48" square. If you have your figures on 80mm wide bases, go for 48" square, etc. So yes, you can play with Impetus bases (or any bases) provided you have the table space. I've played both DBA and Impetus and really can't say which is easier to teach. DBA sometimes see 6/1 results such as skirmishing infantry wiping out knights. Impetus will see strange things when one side that seems to be getting trashed rolls 1's for cohesion tests and the other sides rolls 6's. Dice will do that. |
| yorkie o1 | 28 Dec 2014 3:05 p.m. PST |
My son was introduced to gaming via DBA, but basic impetus was just as easy to teach to him. Both games we use a 48" x 48" table with no problems. The DBA armies on 80mm frontage look far better too! Steve |
| Who asked this joker | 28 Dec 2014 4:01 p.m. PST |
No reason it shouldn't work right out of the box. As already stated, movement is in base widths. So 1 unit of movement would be the width (not to be confused with depth!) of an impetus base. It would be a really nice looking game too! |
| platypus01au | 28 Dec 2014 10:51 p.m. PST |
I've always thought you _could_ play DBA with double width bases if you wanted to be inventive with counters. Say you use your 80mm wide bases and treat them as being two elements side by side. Treat the Impetus element as a single element for movement, but a BW is 40 mm and they are treated as two elements side by side for combat. In combat, if one element is recoiled, put a counter on and the other element gets a -1 in combat. If it is destroyed put two counters and it is -2. Fight the second element in the stand with the -1 or -2. Spear or bow elements can't get side supports if they have a counter. I have yet to determine if you can remove the counter. I suggest that if an element recoils or destroys opponents a counter is removed. But if one element in the stand is destroyed, then one counter is sticky and can never be removed. The stand is removed if both elements are destroyed. Don't bother to track which element is destroyed, just treat them as two elements at all times, and each counter gives -1 for both elements. Be worth trying anyway. Cheers,
JohnG |
| 1ngram | 29 Dec 2014 3:33 a.m. PST |
Why not just play Basic Impetus with them? Its free, downloadable from the Net, with plenty of army lists available there as well and there is none of the faffing around with multiple moves and commanders that you find in the biog set of rules. Just add rules for evasion and Bob's Your Uncle. |
| Nick B | 29 Dec 2014 3:36 a.m. PST |
Thanks for your thoughts guys. |
| Yesthatphil | 29 Dec 2014 6:47 a.m. PST |
By the way, you can also play Basic Impetus with DBA bases … it works both ways (I'm not aware of any ancients rules which are rendered unplayable just because of how the figures are based) …  Phil |
| Who asked this joker | 29 Dec 2014 7:07 a.m. PST |
I'm not aware of any ancients rules which are rendered unplayable just because of how the figures are based Single figure basing games (ie WAB etc) are renered complicated by multiple bases. Skirmish games require single bases. Other than that, I agree with you. |
| Yesthatphil | 29 Dec 2014 8:52 a.m. PST |
Accepted … I didn't mean to include pure, large scale 1:1 skirmish-type games (although I am sure you could do it) … FWIW I have played a number of WAB games using casualty markers and they work fine … My own BI games have been with a mix of 2 DBx bases and custom based 80mm frontages … and 80mm is the frontage (BW) I have used for 54mm DBA (indeed I have some 15mm BI and some 54mm DBA figures based on pre-cut MDF bases from the same pack so it would be a surprise if they weren't interchangeable) … Phil |
| lkmjbc3 | 29 Dec 2014 8:58 a.m. PST |
Real men do Big Battle DBA with 25mm Impetus bases using 15mm scale figures! I can dream can't I? Joe Collins |
returns to Flintloque to paint an Ogre.
