"Dux Bellorum or Dux Britanniarum?" Topic

Poor old me, I'm in a sad state of confusion? At first I thought they were one and the same rule set, but taking the time to read more carefully I find them to be two different rule sets basically covering the same time frame! Is one set proving to better than the other or are both equally good or not so good? Any opinions or comments will be appreciated.

Different scales of games.

Dux Britt is about 50 figs a side tops, each one an individual and had a campaign system from TFL.

Dux Bell is larger scale battles from the Glutter pf Ravens stable.

No reason to not own both.

Other rule sets also exist like Commitas for the period etc.

What he said :)

Whenever I start a new genre or period, I'm interested in doing it at multiple levels. In this case, you'd have what amounts to a skirmish set and a big battle set.

Although 'big battle' is a relative thing in Dark Ages Britain.

Dux Britt is about 50 figs a side tops, each one an individual and had a campaign system from TFL.

That being the case, both games can be played with about the same amount of figures.

Dux Brit appears to be a unit based game. That is also the case with Dux Bel.

The game mechanics are almost certainly going to be different and liking one or the other will be a matter of taste.

I can tell you that Dux Bellorum is a simple game that has a fair amount of depth. You roll a handful of dice. Those that equal or exceed your opponents armor score are hits. Most units can take about 4 hits before being eliminated. Losers of a combat (took more hits than dished out) are forced back. Leader Points can be used to negate hits, add more dice to your attack value or add to a units bravery. Bravery is the score needed on 2 dice to allow the unit to move. So the game revolves around the efficient use of your leader points. There are a couple of reviews already out there on the game and several AARs too. There is even an example of play on the author's blog.

I can't tell you about Dux Brit because I don't own the game.

That being the case, both games can be played with about the same amount of figures.

From what I have heard and read I would have thought 50 figs a side would be somewhat small for Dux Bellorum.

From what I have heard and read I would have thought 50 figs a side would be somewhat small for Dux Bellorum.

Using WRG stands, a larger army would be 10 units. That's at most 40 figures.

Using WRG stands, a larger army would be 10 units. That's at most 40 figures.

So only 4 figures per unit?

I have both sets and it seems that you can have units of any size in Dux Bellorum. One army illustrated has just 28 figures, another seems to have about 100 figures because the base sizes are bigger.

Dux Britanniarum has set army sizes to fit with the campaign system which is integral to the rules. Saxons are 40 figures, Romano-British are 44 figures.

Bellorum is for battles, with a base of figures representing any number of men. Britanniarum is large skirmish where a figure is one man. That being said Britanniarum does group men together in units of six or eight men and you do get to fight both raids and battles with the same force.

Bellorum is an Osprey book with more colour pictures than normal whereas Britanniarum is full colour.

I like both. They seem to me to do different things and both do then well. Britanniarum has the campaign system which seems to have captured lots of people's imagination. I am sure both will be popular.

Base your toys on 1p pieces, buy sabots and play both games.

How do we get our Dux in a row?

So only 4 figures per unit?

Depth is not important. You can base them as you like so long as base width is standardized. All movement is measured in base widths. So you could double rank your figures essentially doubling the number of figures in the army if you like.

Base your toys on 1p pieces, buy sabots and play both games.

Good sound advice.

Sabre6, somebody had to say it. Right?

I'd be VERY interested if some clever someone translates the Dux Brit campaign system into the Westeros setting, employing the prominent houses used in the Game of Thrones boardgame.

I'm impressed with the German game club's translation of Saga into Westeros.

The raids/battles mechanic on an all vs. all map – with an "off map" force vikings/House Greyjoy would be awesome.

For the campaign system, all you need is to have a way of determining levels of victory and loss (allthough the 'retreat' and 'pursuit' cards in Dux Brit are nice to have too) and you're good to go.

You'd also need to tweak the reinforcements system to suit the system you're using.

I'd be VERY interested if some clever someone translates the Dux Brit campaign system into the Westeros setting, employing the prominent houses used in the Game of Thrones boardgame.

There's blog here that seems to have the same idea
bannermen.blogspot.co.uk

@Disaster

See! There's always someone or someones. Thank you! I'll keep an eye on that guy.

"So only 4 figures per unit?"

It's up to you. You could use single DBX bases for a unit or use several of them. Your basic measurement unit is base width, the width of your unit. If you're using one DBX base in 15mm, that would be 40mm. If you're using a pair of cavalry stands or 4 infantry stands double-ranked, that would be 80mm.

There are suggested ways but no one right way. If I have enough figures I'll use 2 – 4 stands per unit. for some armies I might only be able to field a DBA size force.

… or you could use Impetus units, or Hail Caesar units, so long as they have a standard frontage. You may need a large table if you go the HC route though.