"Do people play DBM?" Topic

From what I've read on the web, DBM used to be a pretty popular set, but I'd never had the patience to work my way through the barkerese… it seems now that I'm willing to learn, the game is dead, or atleast appears to be dead.

Do any of you still play?
Is it worth learning?

Let me know

Thanks
Austin

It never took off where I am at; I've never seen it played anywhere but at conventions.

Club in Denver used to play a fair bit. More recently they were playing the DBM200 version with smaller armies to enable players to get finished during the session.

For the past two years they had been playtesting DBA 3.

There is talk now of giving DBMM 2.0 a run – the original version hadn't trumped DBM.

Have to say that I am considering DBMM 2.0 as well due to DBMM 100 and 200 offering a bit more variety in army composition and size than DBA.

BBDBA with version 3 is pretty popular though with those looking for larger battles.

In the UK it is played a fair bit, in that you can get a game of it in Dorset.

martin

IIRC it is still quite big at the Derby World Wargame show. There always seems to be a good number of games being played when I'm pottering about anyway: worldwargames.co.uk

Still popular in the West of England I understand.

Elsewhere in the UK it coexists with DBMM, FoG and other popular ancients rules.

In the privacy of people's homes and clubs many games are current and available. If by 'barkerese' you mean the taut language in which WRG rules have always been written then it may not be worth your while.

Phil

There is a group in Ohio that plays so depending on where you are you could join them for DBM, I see your bio says Ohio unless I got that wrong.
As for MM I know of a group up in NJ I think they are that plays apart from that not sure of any others.
The Ohio group comes to Cold Wars and Fall In at Lancaster PA tp play DBM where we have lots of fun.
Send me a quick side pm. and I can put you in touch with the Ohio players, I think it's worth playing but it depends on who plays what in your area mainly.

We had a decent-sized grouo who played it here in St. Louis, but we never made the switch to DBMM and then took up just playing DBA. Not sure we have the patience for 4-hour games anymore; easier just to play Big Battle DBA.

Just noticed this isn't one of those site that does the pm thing on the side, my email is my above nickname at yahoo dot com if you have any questions about the Ohio group.

We have 5 or 6 guys here in Michigan that play DBM. There have been tournaments held at Advance the Colors the past several years. Had around 12 players for it the past few years. That convention is held in Springfield Ohio.

Never have and never will and I have never seen it played anywhere in North Carolina that I have been.

Aynsley683, what part of Ohio is the group from?
aapch45, what part of Ohio are you from?

"… taut language…"

Interesting description Phil.

Big Battle DBA 3.0 strikes just the right balance between complexity and playability for our group, though there are some seasoned DBM players amongst us (myself not included).

"… taut language…"

Interesting description Phil.

This comment always rubs me the wrong way, for some reason. Barker's writing style has always been just fine with me. Maybe it's a generational thing?

MH

Sorry hindsTMP it just slipped out.

For those asking, I'm a student at BGSU, in bowling green ohio.

Thanks
Austin

Just noticed this isn't one of those site that does the pm thing on the side,

Private Messaging is only available to supporting members.

I do not play it much at all anymore , but of all the DBx family, I like DBM v2 the best (not V3 as that just seemed to push me over the edge in rules exceptions). I quite liked DBM100 for a fast game.

My impression is that in the US at least, DBM was supplanted by Field of Glory.

I think FoG bit a chunk out of the DBM community, but many early adopters of FoG were people who never fully embrace DBM in the first place. When FoG started slipping, the players who had used to play DBM never went back, but instead gravitated to other sets--some went to FoG Renaissance, others back to Warrior, or even over to FoW. The rest of us, who played DBM but didn't switch to FoG, moved to DBA or started playing something else.

If your just getting into DBX gaming, I strongly suggested Big Battle DBA3.0. It has most of the better features that DBMM tried to add/fix about DBX gaming but with much simplier (and often better) rules.

As other have pointed out DBM 2.0 was a great game DBM 3.0 not so much. This was the real cause of DBM's stumble not bumbling FOG.

TomT

Will check where the group in Ohio is and get back to you, it might be Pittsburgh but will check. They come across to lancaster twice a year, I haven't been able to get up that way in a while.
Guess I should become a supporting member as I am starting to use this site more.
Yes FOG took a lot of DBM players Ivan but FOG 's numbers have gone down around here, one of the top US FOG teams, the Beltway bandits , has stopped playing it altogether and gone over to ADLG.
Not sure you can say which version of DBM is/was great or even which rule is great as everyone has different tastes.

About 60 competition DBM players in the UK. See jglwargames.com for competition details, results back to 1996 and player rankings.

Nope.

aapch45,
The Ohio guys are in Cleveland not sure how far away that is from bowling green, my american geography isn't that good.
They play in each other's cellars and mini 'cons, hope that helps.

Adding to original query, does anyone know where I can get the original DBM grading factors? DL perhaps?

I am one of the gamers from the Cleveland area who plays DBM. My"sub-group plays 25mm quasi-historical games with two to six players on a side --depending who is available on any given night.

Several players also travel to the cons and play both 15mm and 25mm games

We will be having a minion on April 18 from 9:00 AM until Midnight, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, located at 50 East Bagley Road , Berea , Ohio.
While no game is officially planned as of yet, we always end up having one or two games there.

Dave

Yes, still a few DBMers lurking about. We're the last true holders of the flame…or something like that.

I am surprised that there are this many DBM players in the USA. That is good, as to me, the introduction of the DBX system, was a huge change in ancients gaming. I was playing WRG 7th ed, at the time, but once I tried DBM, I was hooked.

Instead of commanding about 15 to 20 units, DBX gave the feel of commanding an army, with each stand being a unit. Armies were divided into "commands", which most armies had three. You could break an individual command, before, breaking your opponents army and this was a significant change as well.

Whether you play DBM, DBMM, or DBA, you can't really go wrong, just a matter of how much detail you want in a game!

I prefer DBMM, gives a bit more detail and options then the other DBX rules systems, but that's just a personal choice.

We game in New Jersey.

Good Luck

Lou