I had already started some work on a pair of Napoleonic Pocket Armies using the Epic scale figures from Warlord Games. The idea being that each army would start off with 6 bases per side and grow to around 12 bases per side, to keep a compact game on the table to work with my own rules.

The units were based as either single bases (cavalry and artillery) or pairs (infantry). It was hopefully to be a quick, cost effective and self contained project.

I had barely got going when I came across the DBN rules ( De Bellis Napoleonicis) by Alex Testo. These have a heritage in DBA style rules, although one notable difference is that there is attritional combat, with hits being registered on units.

The rules use single bases to represent a unit, these being at the higher organisational level with infantry being brigades (2000 to 2500 men), cavalry being brigades (1200 to 1500 mounts) and artillery typically being corps or army reserve with a base representing around 18 guns.

With the project so early in its infancy, it was a good time to rebase for DBN games.

Already having two napoleonic forces in 28mm fully painted, I thought I would get these to the table first, to help get a grip on the rules.

All these units are based with 80mm frontages, but are different depths. DBN is designed to work with depths that are closer together than mine, but it didn't seem to matter much.

For the first game, each side got a basic 12 point army. I managed to write up an AAR and some observational notes and post them to the Warriors & Battlefields Blog. Here is the link, please return when ready.

LINK

https://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2026/09/first-battle-with-dbn.html

I have settled on a basing style that works with the Epic and would also work with some other systems, though don't hang your hat on this, it is not the basing that DBN recommends, but I think it will work for me and it gives me the visual that I want.

All the units do have the consistency of a common frontage, this being 55mm. Although Warlord Games supply infantry bases that are 60mm wide, I have never liked the way that the 55mm infantry strip sits on them. The resulting gaps at each end mean that, when put side by side in line, those gaps between the bases are noticeable, so I have gone with 55mm.

Now it is more likely the various depths that will annoy the DBN system. I want infantry in 3 ranks (not the British), so that needs a 35mm base. The artillery will be based in pairs and need a 40mm depth. Because everything else now has a mass, just a line of single cavalry will look a bit thin, so they have been ranked in two lines, which looks good, but needs 60mm of depth! So now each unit type is based to a different depth - oh dear!