Introduction
One of the problems when getting to grips with DBMM is that it has a very specific vocabulary with many technical words which have exact meanings in the game but which:
- may appear to the uninitiated to be just normal English usage of those words, or
- are never explicitly defined as being special game terms (instead this must be inferred from usage/context)
This article seeks to provide handy definitions and page references for these terms. Obviously a big advantage of such precise use of language is that the rules themselves are compressed since once the "code" is known these technical words have very specific in-game meanings and a lot of context or limitations on specific rules don't have to be (re-) stated every time a term is used. The disadvantage is that the "code" must be cracked before the rules can really be digested.
B
Bank: (p10) the edge of a waterway, river or lake. Boats can embark or disembark troops onto it.
Beach: (p10, p17, p20, p21, p25, p31, p40) good going edge of at least half the length of a Sea (p20). Naval elements cannot ambush beyond it (p17). Suitable for embarking/disembarking troops onto from the the bow (front) of Boats or both bow and stern (rear) of other naval elements or via impressed shipping (p31). Also includes foreshore or foreshore beech (see below). If naval are shipwrecked on a beech then some carried troops may survive (p40). Protects all Boats and Galleys in contact from being shipwrecked by strong winds (p25). Duing terrain placement it can be partially replaced/superimposed upon by marsh, sand dunes or BUA (p21). Allows naval in contact to be in close combat with land elements (p20). Forms the base of bare, brushy or wooded gentle hills placed as an island or promontory (p20).
Bound: (p3, p29) The name for a player's turn in DBMM, representing a burst of initiative. Time is often measured in (player-) bounds which is a count of your own bounds only (ie ignoring the other player's bounds). On average it represents 10 minutes of time (p3). Movement is regulated by PIPs which are thrown once per own bound (p29). Generally "quick-kill" troops do so only in their own bound (p38-39) and most rear support only counts in the enemy bound (p36). Troops only move in their own bound (except for small outcome moves, p40-42, or conforming to enemy contact). Unlike some systems, troops (who are in a position to do so) shoot and fight in both their own bound and the opposing player's bound. In general the player whose bound it is decides the order of combats, shooting, outcome moves (p26) or anything else in which the order is potentially important but otherwise unspecified.
BUA, Built-Up Area: , an area feature terrain type representing a town or cluster of dwellings
C
Contact: (p) Meaning touching, to touch. Typically used in relation to the movement of troop elements. The main importance of contact in DBMM is that it is required to make your troops fight (engage in close combat) and this also typically requires that the elements/troops "line up" or conform to end in edge to edge and corner to corner contact. The most important form of contact is front edge to front edge contact, which generates a close combat. However if an element is not already in front edge to front edge contact and you move an element to contact it then it will typically turn to face you and end in front edge to front edge contact so that a close combat can be resolved. If you contact an enemy who is already in combat then you contribute to that combat, perhaps by generating a "quick kill" (if you contact their side or rear edge with your front edge) or an overlap (for example if you are in side edge to side edge contact with them). There are restrictions on contacting enemy with your side or rear edge.
D
Deployment, deploy: (p3, p10, p11, p22) This is both the act of placing elements on the table and a special 5-phase part of setting up a battle (p18, p22). If playing with 25mm figures on a 1.8mx1.2m (6'x4') board then all deployment distances are halved (p3). During deployment a maximum of 2 stratagems are selected from those previously purchased and included in your OOB (p15, p22). Several stratagems are used during deployment either to influence it or other aspects of the game, these are Unusual Troops, Scouting, Changing Deployment, Concealed Command, Exaggerated Troops, Delaying Battle, Hidden Obstacles, False Reinforcements, Guides, Flank Attack, Disguised Troops and Ambush. Troops specified in an OOB as embarked on naval can deploy on land only if there is no water-based access to the table (p10) and in this case the naval do not deploy but their ME still count towards their commands (p41). If it is allowed by their official army list then Knights, Cavalry or Light Horse can deploy dismounted (p10). In this case they are usually deployed with horse-holder bases behind them so that they can re-mount if desired during the game (p10). Mounted infantry who are not mounted on camels can deploy in the flank sectors normally reserved for light troops and cavalry (p10, p22). Artillery can only shoot out of PF if deployed and remain in a PF tower (p11). TF must be in your deployment area unless around a BUA (p11). Regular CnCs write down their PIP allocation plan at the end of deployment i.e. after they have seen the enemy deployment (p14). See p22 for the main Initial Deployment rules. The total of both player's deployment dice is the time of day deployment completes (p23), counting from mid-night of the day before the battle e.g. a total of 7 on the dice means the battle begins at 7am. The climate and season is then cross-referenced to find the time of sunrise/sunset and the duration of dawn (the period before sunrise) and dusk (the period after sunset) on the tables on p23. If deployment ends between dusk and dawn then there is potential for a night attack (p23) in Summer, Spring or Autumn. The difference of the deployment dice is the weather score (p24) and is cross-referenced with the Climate and Season to find the weather (p24), if any. The side who deployed first normally takes the first bound (p26). DBMM100 has a simplified set of deployment rules (p44). DBMM200 has the deployment distances from the centre or board edges halved (p44).
Drift, drifting:(p26, p27, p33) This only applies to naval on Sea terrain features in strong winds and, unless Shps(X), within 80p of a downwind (lee) shore. It is not a form of movement. Instead it basically means that such troops must be moved or halted to avoid being destroyed by shipwreck.
E
Element:(p3, ) A body of troops. The smallest unit of maneuver in the game. Typically elements form temporary groups for movement or halting as it requires less PIPs than moving (or halting) them individually. Elements (rather than groups) in front edge to front edge contact resolve combats individually but other elements may support or influence the combat by overlapping or also front edge contacting the enemy or supporting a friend from a rear rank.
Embarked, embark: (p10) Land troops that are aboard naval elements are embarked on them. To embark is to move aboard and is only allowed in specific situations where the naval element is in contact with land (p10).
Enemy bound: (p3 ) The other player's turn. See also Bound.
F
Flank march, flank marching: (p22, p23, p26) A whole command can be assigned at deployment to attempt an off-board flank march which then only appears on the enemy half of the designated table edge the bound after its command PIP dice rolls a 6 (or perhaps lower in some circumstances, see p. Flank marches are suspended between dusk and dawn (p23). Flank marching regular commands use a different coloured PIP dice (p26) and do not take part in any regular dice allocation scheme.
Foreshore, foreshore beech :(p10, p20) This is a name for a designated part of a BUA that touches a Sea and is suitable for embarking/disembarking troops onto from the the bow (front) of Boats or both bow and stern (rear) of other naval elements or via impressed shipping. Protects all Boats and Galleys in contact from being shipwrecked by strong winds (p25).
I
Impressed shipping: (p10, p23, p33, p42) This is a special form of flank march allowed across a Waterway or Sea covering one flank of the board. It is risky though and elements may become Spent during the "march" (p31).
Initial deployment: see Deployment, deploy above.
M
March, marching, march movement: (p3, p10, p26, p28, p29, p32, p34, p35, p36) This is a form of voluntary movement that generally only takes place far away from the enemy, with these moves starting more than 400p away from enemy groups (but see p28 for details). It allows troops to move their move distance (p29) multiple times in one bound. Mounted infantry use cavalry or camelry move distances when marching (p10). It has nothing to do with flank marching. The other main form of on-table movement is called Tactical Movement. In some special circumstances marching into contact with enemy is allowed but it is then penalised in combat. If a tactical move would affect a march move then it must be made first (p26). Troops who march cannot shoot (p34). The first march move along a road, by a group fronted by 2 ranks of Pike or by naval in good going (p27) takes no PIPs. March moves after the 2nd if irregular or 3rd if regular or that will contact enemy cost more PIPs (p27), Otherwise additional PIPs apply as per tactical moves for command difficulty, difficult evolutions, etc. All march moves except the last one must be full length (p28). There is a special move distance for marching along a road (p29). Troops cannot interpenetrate friends who are marching along the same road (p32). Unlike those contacted by a tactical move, troops contacted on the rear by marchers are allowed to turn to face the marchers (p35). Troops that march into contact cannot receive rear support in that bound (p36).
N
Naval, naval elements: a collective term for the troop types Boats, Galleys and Ships.
Naval drift, naval drifting: see Drift, drifting above.
O
OOB, Order of Battle: (p) The list of troops, TF, strategems etc picked from an army list (or designed for a specific scenario) and allocated into commands with pre-calculated total MEs and losses required to disenhearten, break and shatter each command.
P
PIP, PIPs: (p29). Player Initiative Point(s). These are the currency of command and control or initiative in the game. They are used to move or halt troops and to trigger some special command actions such as prompting an unreliable ally to have a chance of making them reliable. They are not required to cause troops to fight or shoot.
Q
Quay,"quay, pier or jetty" : (p10, p25) This is a name for a designated part of a BUA that touches a Sea and is suitable for embarking/disembarking troops onto from any side or edge or via impressed shipping. Hence it is more flexible than a foreshore. Protects all naval in contact from being shipwrecked by strong winds (p25).
R
Routing, routs, routers: (p10, p11, p26, p28, p30, p31, p32, p34, p41) This is a special form of spontaneous move performed in own bound by elements of a broken command that have not had PIPs spent on them to hold them (p31) or whose front edge is not in close combat (p41). Rout moves take place after all other moves (p26). Routers are elements that have performed at least one route move. It is double the distance of a flee move and towards their base edge or edge of arrival if flank-marched (p41) . Once an element has routed it cannot be held. Dismounted elements that would rout who still have horse-holder bases automatically re-mount before routing (p10, p41), even if in edge contact with enemy (p28) when dismounting is normally not allowed. Routers automatically lose any portable obstacles (PO) they had (p11). Moving directly towards the closest routing element is a valid move for elements making a spontaneous advance (p30). They can also make a double move to contact routers (p30). Routing elements can make special interpretations of friends (p32). When routers pass through broken friends, the friends follow behind them in rout (p30, p41). Enemy can ignore the TZ's of routing elements (p32). Routers making a rout move can also ignore enemy TZs (p32). Routers cannot shoot (p34), make tactical moves (p41) or turn to face enemy who contact them (p41).
S
Shipwreck, shipwrecked: (p27, p34, p43) This is a special form of destruction of naval elements that only happens in strong winds on Sea terrain features. The naval element itself is always destroyed but if the lee (downwind) shore is a beech then some transported elements may not be destroyed, see p43 for details.
Stratagem, stratagems:(p15-17) These are optional capabilities for armies or commanders drawn from the works of ancient authors and bought with AP. They allow unusual circumstances in historical battles to be simulated and may be split into three broad categories: those that only a brilliant general can use (Changing Deployment, Flank Attack) those that can only be used if they appear in the appropriate official army list for your army (False Reinforcements, Disguised Troops, Hidden Obstacles, Unusual Troops) and those that can be picked by any army (Scouting, Guides, Betrayal, Exaggerating Army Size, Delaying Battle, Concealed Command, Feigned Flight, Ambush) . In addition Inert generals are severely restricted in what strategems they can use (Feigned Flight, Delaying Battle and Unusual Troops - but only with Scythed chariots). A maximum of 5 strategems can be included in an OOB and a maximum of 2 used in any one battle (p15), picked at stage 1 of deployment (p22). Some stratagems take effect in stages 3, 4, and 5 of deployment (p22). Stratagems are not used in standard DBMM100 games (p44).
W
Waders: (p20, p40, p42) Land elements who are in a river.They may be in combat with naval in the river. If they turn to face boats that contact them, their recoil is blocked by the river (p40). They pursue after close combat (p42).
quay, pier or jetty
Scouting
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