De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM) (English: Of the Wars of the Multitude) is a ruleset for table-top miniatures wargames for the period 3000 BC to 1485 AD.
Expanding on the system introduced by DBA, DBM has twenty different types of troops, grouped into three broad categories: Mounted - Knights, Cavalry, Light Horse, Elephants, Camelry, and Expendables; Foot - Pikemen, Spearmen, Blades, Warband, Auxilia, Bowmen, Psiloi, Hordes, War Wagons, Artillery, and Baggage; Naval - Galleys, Ships, and Boats.
Although the game is designed to be used between historical enemies, the level of abstraction, standardized army lists, and points system allow players to pit 5,000 years worth of opponents against each other with fairly believable outcomes in the main.
This system came under early criticism as "superficial and surreal" and as failing to give the player the flavor of what it was like to command an ancient army.
The level of micro management has come under criticism due to the way each individual element can be moved independently rather than being grouped into units.
[4] As well as friendly games, DBM competitions are played worldwide - including a truly global World championship.
Phil Barker had grown increasingly unhappy with the way that those constraints were being used by players to block actions that would in reality have been possible.
[5] While in some areas DBMM is simpler than DBM, the combat system is a good deal more complicated with a large number of modifiers.
Reviewer Mark Ottley described the number of modifiers as "over the top", but then qualified this verdict by adding that, after a short while, the player can learn to ignore most of them except for rare special cases.