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Post by cyrusorc on Jun 10, 2022 13:52:21 GMT
Has anyone played Battle Array and how does it compare to DBA?
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Post by jdesmond on Jun 13, 2022 1:31:41 GMT
Well, designer sez in Q&A on the 'Geek that 'twill be available thru the Geekmarket, but no word I can find on game's page of how to get, or how much. One person in England's offering it for trade ... Stealth marketing
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Post by cyrusorc on Jun 13, 2022 8:47:22 GMT
It's available on BGG for £8, you have to click on GeekMarketClassic to make the sale appear :
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Post by dumarest on Jun 29, 2022 10:35:43 GMT
Battle Array has a bit more depth and detail than DBA so is unlikely to appeal to the average DBA player but it has several original ideas that might be of interest to DBA modders and table toppers in general. In DBA a player's options are more or less limited to moving units and deciding the order of attacks but in BA a player must decide whether to attack, shoot, move, rally, evade, pursue, charge, disengage, harry, return to play and so on. DBA's one size fits all core concept, a knight is a knight regardless, is dispensed with in BA and a unit is rated for its quality, weapon, armour, regular/irregular status, movement and weight, which allows the Hypaspists/Mongols to be much better represented than as a demeaning AX/LH. Apart from speeding up play, the grid does away with the micro-measuring hell of DBA and all the legal/illegal contact and geometric ploys nonsense. Skirmishers actually skirmish and evade. Line infantry stand their ground rather than recoiling. Shock units charge. Light troops are what AX should be. Chariots and cavalry are different. Both players can place terrain. Like HOTT, an army is selected with points. A game can't end just because of 4 extreme die rolls. Without book-keeping, BA manages to factor in unit cohesion, time, fatigue and dwindling ammunition. The 'red zone' ratchets up the tension. Oh, and it goes without saying that the rules are better written.
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Post by Simon on Jun 30, 2022 11:55:24 GMT
Thanks for the overview and they sound interesting. Do you have a view on how long a typical game lasts and hiow many bases are needed in a typical army?
Many rules have more detail than DBA but this does not necessarily mean they have more depth. I find DBA a surprisingly subtle and deep - which is probably why I win so rarely!
I am a fan of grid-based miniature games and these worked particularly well for playing over Zoom or similar during COVID lockdowns and beyond. Having said that, I am not sure it is fair to say that DBAv3 involves "micro-measuring hell!" anymore that most ruler based games.
Cheers
Simon
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Post by dumarest on Jul 6, 2022 8:18:37 GMT
It depends on the number of points being used. 100-120 points makes for a DBA type game of around a dozen units and takes about the same amount of time to play. However, due to the victory conditions the shortest DBA game is quicker than the shortest BA game.
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