A photo of me with a Brancaleone t-shirt and a beard with too many white hairs. And a copy of “L’Art de la Guerre”, a rulebook from France that allows you to fight battles ranging from early Antiquity (3000 BC) to the end of the Middle-ages (1500 AD). It reminds something like DBA, isn’t it?

I and Diego were invited to Salini’s house in Arezzo for trying these rules during a Summer Saturday. The goal was to spread something new to revamp tournaments because after 13 years we are a little tired of DBA. And DBA 3.0 is not what we wished to resolve rules cryptology, geometric problems and to have combat results as historical ones. It is just another DBA with its problems, but with more game speed. Moreover this speed is not adding fun and history but delusion. I’m too busy with my things to study and play the new DBA. So, no more tournament for me since the DBA 3.0 was used for tournaments here in Italy.

I played two matches, a large one and a smaller one, to familiarise with rules. I didn’t understand all but I learned some lessons. There are various troop types and different values for what happen. A good thing are the demoralisation counters that add attrition to the play. Movement is simpler and linear than DBA, so you could play it even with a grid creating some modifications in the rules. My only regret is that you use almost a line for your army, but deep is partially simulated with attrition and not-so-free movement. You can consider it as a sort of Field of Glory more easy to manage and big as a standard DBA, or double DBA or triple DBA. It is not a revolutionary rulebook but a solid one where common and present rule concepts are in a better way. And I want to say that it wins for “best clear lay out for rules” category!

Salini is a very lucky man because he has, together with a beautiful family, a large space for his hobby that can host a mini-tournament. It is like a wargaming club, because he has availability of friends that play there. And they adopted these rules for usual gaming and maybe a tournament circuit. Instead, inside my bizarre mind, I’m thinking to melt “To the Strongest!” with “L’Art de la Guerre”, and a touch of Ganesha Games things, as my house rules for ancient times…
You can find the rulebook here: https://www.artdelaguerre.fr

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