DBA ONLINE v1.10 PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Category: Historic Tactics and Strategy
Era: Ancient & Medieval
Produced and published: Wargaming.net
Distribution method: Fully Functional Version can be downloaded from: http://www.dbaol.com
Released: April 18, 2002
Worldwide promotion started: June 7, 2000
Features:

• Strong orientation on Internet play
• Already running and fast-growing international Internet Community with Tournaments, Campaigns and Discussion Forums
• Advanced Opponent Finder allows player to find and challenge desired opponents in seconds
• Non-hex battle geometry
• Replays (records of finished battles which can be sent to friends)
• Historical accuracy
• 220 historical national armies
• State-of-the-art terrain and unit graphics
• 1180 different historical units painted individually.
• Painted camp followers -- images of women, priests, children, cattle and workers, etc. guarding the camps.
• Comprehensive Help and Tutorial system
• Built-in opponent messaging system
• Endless variation for replayability
• Free Hot Seat or solo play
• Free Full Value Internet games with Wargaming.net's staff
• Free Trial Internet games

Wargaming.net is pleased to present DBA Online, a precise computerization of the famous De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) miniature ruleset, to be played with live opponents via the Internet.

I think DBA Online is a major breakthrough in the computer wargame field.

Alberto Barsellini (Argentina)

Wargaming.net has combined the success of the internationally acclaimed DBA system with modern software and Internet technology. DBA is one of the world's most popular miniature wargames, which is published by W.R.G. Since 1990 it has gained thousands of fans all over the world.

Super job on the game system. This may be the best conversion from board/miniatures to computer game I have ever seen!!!

Joe Collins (USA)

DBA Online requires tactical and strategic planning, but at the same time it is fast, fun and easy-to-play. Playing a turn takes 1-5 minutes. Many current users play dozens of Internet games simultaneously. Wargaming.net's original advanced Opponent Finder (Personal Challenge Manager) provides never before seen opportunities to finding opponents of any desired level of skill, frequency of play and level of competition.

"We believe that this combination of time-proven miniature wargaming traditions with the opportunities of Internet play will be appreciated by historical miniature enthusiasts as well as modern computer game fans", said Victor Kisly, Wargaming.net's Executive Director.

This is brilliant - it allows me to play DBA with my many wargamer friends all over the world, that I hardly get to see otherwise. First of all, the game looks great. This is the best miniature game ported to the computer that I've seen.

Paul Suderman (Canada)

The game covers the Ancient and Medieval period from 3000 BC to 1500 AD. Players employ tactical skills to command one of 220 historical armies on the field of battle, from Old Kingdom Egyptian to Wars of the Roses English. (See Armies)

The Troop types available are:
Elephants, Knights, Heavy Chariots, Cavalry, Light Chariots, Light Horse, Scythed Chariots, Camelry, Spears, Pikes, Blades, Auxilia, Bows (with bow, crossbow and longbow), Psiloi (skirmishers), Warband, Artillery, and War Wagons.

Each troop type has certain characteristics, such as movement speed, vulnerability to distant shooting, cavalry or foot attacks, rough terrain combat modifiers, ability to support friendly troops in combat, etc. Players will find that maintaining historically accurate battle lines and tactics will often lead to victory. Still, there is always room for unexpected plans and tricks, such as a desperate charge with a wall of Knights, Light Horse flank raids, Psiloi ambushes, etc. (See Essays on DBA Tactics)

Wargaming.net has developed a revolutionary gaming engine for DBA Online. It is based on real-space geometry so that units can be moved by a single pixel into any desired position and can be rotated by a single degree to face any direction. No artificial hexagonal or squares grids involved. (See Screenshots)

The game's fundamentals are easy to learn. Players easily become accustomed to the interface through playing the game. Necessary information on interface buttons or units readily comes from "pop-up" hints.

DBA Online has been in development for about 2 years. It has come through 10 versions of worldwide beta test during 4 months (more than 400 beta-testers from 28 countries).

Wargaming.net received a great deal of assistance from DBA enthusiasts who loved the idea of playing their favorite game with other wargamers from different countries or across town at the most convenient time for each.

Taking advantage of such an intensive worldwide beta-test, as well as online discussion forum and numerous surveys, Wargaming.net has managed to add hundreds of interface, appearance and game mechanics enhancements to the game since January 2000 when the first Beta was released.

Many thanks for developing a great Internet game. I have been playing Historical Ancients for 20 years and this is the first time I have been able to find opponents easily!

Gary Moriarty (Australia)

Another great thing about DBA Online is International Tournaments and Campaigns.

Wargaming.net exploited the initial Campaign and Tournament orientation of traditional miniature wargaming and enriched it with modern Internet and communication technology. Considering the vast number of players from all over the world, DBA Online provides unprecedented opportunities for many different types of international competitions.

Enthusiastic DBA Online's beta-testers spontaneously organized the first International DBA Online Tournament one month after the release of the first beta-test version to the great surprise of Wargaming.net's development team. In the last 4 months there have been 25 International DBA Online Tournaments and Campaigns.

Contrary to many other computer wargames, DBA Online is focused on accurate historical simulation in ancient & medieval armies' composition, formations, and tactics.

During last 2 years Wargaming.net's intention was to provide detailed color figures for all 220 historical armies (that's more than a thousand different figures!). Wargaming.net's two illustrators have successfully completed this terrific job: 220 armies (1180 figures) have already been painted, including large side-views which can be used as a guide for painting miniatures and for historical study.

DBA Online is great! Fast and easy to use and with good graphics too - a fantastic idea to create this.

Neil Ramsey (New Zealand)

Each of the 220 national armies requires a different style of play to succeed against a given opponent. These battles are played on one of 26 different battlefields, with various types of terrain, including rivers, woods, roads, villages, hills, rocks, sand dunes, waterways, lakes and marshes. Thus the possibilities for game plans and strategies are literally endless.

A big community of active players, growing in number every day, allows new players to find an opponent of any skills and achieve a balance between total fun and tough competition.

With DBA Online, Wargaming.net debuts its series of historical miniature game computerizations.

Popular wargame rules covering other eras and periods will follow Wargaming.net's adaptation process to the computer.

System Requirements:

• PC (Pentium, Pentium II,III, Celeron, AMD K6-2) or Mac with PC emulator
• 32Mb of RAM (64Mb recommended)
• 220 Mb HDD
• 2Mb Video memory
• 800x600 High Color (16bit) display resolution
• Windows 95/98/2000/NT 4.0
• DirectX 3 or higher
• Internet Connection: Direct Connection (for example via Modem) or via Proxy

For more information, please visit:
http://www.dbaol.com

Press accounts available upon request.


Screenshots can be found at:
http://www.dbaol.com/screenshots.htm

Beta-testers' and Players' Testimonials can be found at:
http://www.dbaol.com/testimonials.htm