The De Bellis Societatis Antiquorum ruleset was designed as a "tonic for the jaded" with the goal of providing a fun, fast and challenging game and as an alternative to the WRG series of ancients rules.
The first commercial edition of DBA was published in 1990, with Phil and Sue Barker and Richard Bodley Scott as its authors.
[6] Players use a single six-sided die each, and games are played on a square field, which conventionally (though not necessarily) has sides that are roughly sixteen times the base width being used.
To resolve combat, each player throws one die and adds modifiers for both troop type and battlefield situation (such as being outflanked or up hill).
The game continues in this way until one of the players achieves the win condition - the destruction of 1/3 of the enemy's army.
Some players have found Phil Barker's succinct rule writing style to be difficult to decipher, referring to it as "Barkerese".
The current version involved many players giving the author advice to improve the format and readability.
These systems tend to retain similar basing standards compared with DBA, but strive for an overall clearer presentation of the rules (in clear contrast to the "Barkerese").
Furthermore, each system had existing rules and units changed to achieve different gameplay and simulation goals.
These systems also offer a more streamlined player support, with rules errata, Facebook groups and forums.