Historical Opponents?

The last of the DBMM Army List inconsistencies from Book III (2007 edition)

III/60 Medieval Vietnamese (939-1527 AD) allows Tribal Allies (2 x 3Wb and a Ps) ...but DBA does not.
(Worth adding to DBA?)

III/62 Sung Chinese (960-1279 AD) allows She Allies (Cv + 3Wb + 3Bw/Ps, after 1250 AD) ...but DBA does not.
(Worth adding these allies to III/62b?)

III/63 Early Polish (960-1335 AD) allows IV/13 Medieval Germans (in 1147-1230 AD) as allies ...but DBA does not.
(Worth adding IV/13b allies to III/63a & b?)

III/71 Georgians (1008-1683 AD) and the IV/6 Syrians (1092-1286 AD) are mutual enemies ...but not in DBA.
(Worth having III/71b & c as mutual enemies with IV/6a & b & c in DBA?)

III/76 Konstantine Byzantines (1042-1073 AD) allows the III/21 Lombards (in 1042-1050) as allies ...but DBA does not.
(Worth adding III/21b as allies to III/76 in DBA?)

That’s all of Book III covered. No prizes for guessing which book is next...

And so it goes on...DBMM Army List inconsistencies from Book IV (2016 edition)

IV/21 Anglo-Irish (1172-1515 AD) lists III/78 Scots Isles (1050-1493 AD) as an enemy...but III/78 doesn’t mention IV/21.
IV/21 Anglo-Irish (1172-1515 AD) lists IV/23a & b Feudal English (1181-1322 AD) as an enemy...but IV/23 doesn’t mention IV/21.
IV/21 Anglo-Irish (1172-1515 AD) has themselves as an enemy ...but not in DBA.
(This is a tricky one...should IV/21, III/78, and IV/23 be mutual enemies with IV/21abc? Or did they not fight each other?
With an aggression of 1, “few combats will be outside the island of Ireland”, just as the DBMM dialogue says.
My instincts say add them all to DBA - but I could be wrong)

IV/23 Feudal English (1181-1322 AD) allows III/35b Navarrese Spanish (in 1194-1196 AD) as allies ...but DBA does not.
IV/23 Feudal English (1181-1322 AD) allows III/46 Norse Irish (in 1245 AD) as allies ...but DBA does not.
(Along with the IV/21 Anglo-Irish above, worth adding these to DBA?)

IV/25 Later Bulgars (1186-1395 AD) allows III/80 Cumen (in 1188-1200 & 1204-1270 AD) as allies ...but DBA does not.
IV/25 Later Bulgars (1186-1395 AD) allows IV/22 Serbians (in 1196 AD) as allies ...but DBA does not.
IV/25 Later Bulgars (1186-1395 AD) allows III/68 Hungarians (in 1213-1236 AD) as allies ...but DBA does not.
(Worth adding?)

IV/26 Lusignan Cypriots (1192-1489 AD) are mutual enemies with IV/13b Medieval Germans (1151-1439 AD) ...but not in DBA.
(Already mentioned in a previous post. I’ve found more information about this:-
“The War of the Lombards (1228–1243) was a civil war in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus between
the ‘Lombards’ (also called the imperialists), the representatives of the Emperor Frederick II, largely from Lombardy, and
the native aristocracy, led first by the Ibelins and then by the Montforts. The war was provoked by Frederick's attempt to
control the regency for his young son, Conrad II of Jerusalem. Frederick and Conrad represented the Hohenstaufen dynasty.”
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Lombards )

Now comes a difficult one: IV/27
DBA has IV/27 Estonians (1200-1227 AD)...but DBMM has IV/27 Estonians and Finnish (1187-1346 AD).
The enemies and allies are the same, except that the DBMM Finns have IV/44 Post -Mongol Russians (1246-1533 AD)
and IV/54 Medieval Scandinavians (1280-1523 AD) as enemies, even though neither of these mentions IV/27.

The DBMM dialogue for IV/27 says:-
“Finns were less keen on fighting in the open and preferred ambushes and raids to pitched battles.They were divided into
the three large tribal confederations of Finland Proper (in the south-west and islands), Tavastia (around the inland lakes of
Hame), and Karelia (around Lakes Ladoga and Saimaa), led by local kings, but never achieved a centralized state.”
DBMM has the Finnish warriors as 3Ax, otherwise the army is the same as the Estonians.
(See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland#Prehistory and also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Finnish_wars )

Conclusion:-
It looks like the DBMM entry for IV/27 was intended to be split into IV/27a Estonians and IV/27b Finns in DBA,
but this was never done, and the Finns have been forgotten.
We have the opportunity of restoring them...

Phil Barker has taken great efforts and much study to put dates to when allies can and can’t be used.
And we would be fools to simply ignore all this useful historical information that he has provided us with.
So I intend to go through all four DBMM Army List Books (again!) so that all the dates of allies can be
added to the new updated “Army List Corrections” booklet in green.

That way, depending upon how authentic and realistic looking you want your DBA armies to be,
players can either use or ignore these green ally dates as they see fit.

They could also be used in the following simple “House Rule”:-
　　* After picking armies, but before army composition is secretly decided, both players roll a die.
　　* The highest roll decides in what year, inside both army's time-lines, the battle will take place.
　　* Each player must use at least one* of the allies that corresponds to that date, unless:-
　　           If you roll an odd number, you cannot use or be forced to use an ally.           
                 If the die rolls are the same, then no allies can be used by either player.
　　* Now dice as normal for aggression to see who is the invader and defender.
(And for those of you that dislike the idea of being denied or forced to use an ally, there is one thing you could do...
...get a higher die roll!   )


*Later Clarification:-
  Allies are usually listed as “X or Y or Z”, meaning you can only have one of them at a time.
  But sometimes they are worded as “X and/or Y”, meaning you can have one, the other, or
  both together if you want. When it says "X and Y", you have no choice, and must take both.

The "no ally if you roll odd" is necessary because some armies have allies that span their entire
time-line, and they would always be forced to have that ally no matter what the year chosen.

Some number crunching:-
The odds of you choosing your ally       =   9 chances out of 36 (or 25%)
The odds of being forced to use an ally =   6 chances out of 36 (or 17%)
The odds that you won't have an ally    = 21 chances out of 36 (or 58%)
And it's the same for your opponent.