Randy and others suggested on the dbmlist yahoo group that we should have lists and advice for the following armies:

Romans, Greeks, Spartans, Crusaders, Vikings, Normans, Mongols, Samurai and 100 Years War

To this list I would add "Exotic" because one of the great things about DBM is that it has such an exhausive list of armies and some beginners want to try something different. All of these suggestions (except Vikings) actually map onto multiple DBM army lists. It would probably be best to just concentrate on the most competitive versions for a beginner here.

Romans

Traditionally the 2 78 Late Imperial Roman and 2 83 Patrician Roman armies have been very effective under DBM. Patrician has had its wings clipped under DBM 3.1 and so Late Imperial is probably the best choice now. If you must have a romantic, classical Republican Roman army then DBM list 2 33 Polybian Roman is probably the best of a poor bunch. 2 56 Early Imperial Roman is an army favoured by many beginners, unfortunately it requires very decisive play to have much hope in open competition and is not recommended.

Greeks

2 5 Later Hoplite Greek using the Italiot options have been used effectively in DBM. Requires a lot of covering the entire width of the board (up to your waterway) with Spear and marching straight forward. Maybe OK for new players but not very exciting IMO.

The various Alexandrian and Successor armies are quite interesting and effective in DBM as combined arms armies (I know, I know "Greek" is contentious here, perhaps Hellenistic is better). Some, like the Seleucid list, are probably just traps for the unwary rather than effective armies but the good news is that the figures are extremely morphable and there are a whole bunch of DBM army lists for you to try out with the same core troops but quite different options. Try 2 15 Alexandrian Imperial and 2 12 Alexandrian Macedonian as starting points.

Spartans

Probably the best Spartan army is the 1 52 Early Hoplite Greek one with the chance of hordes of Ps(I) and LH(O) to pad out the army. Huw has  provided a version based on the 2 5 Later Hoplite Greek list.

Crusaders

The best list to look at is the 1098-99 Regular option in the DBM 4 7 Early Crusader list. The other options in Early Crusader are playable but suffer badly from having no sub-generals available and not being able to dismount the Kn(F) like 3 51 West Frankish or Norman or 3 28 Carolingian Frankish. The 4 17 Later Crusader list is only very rarely seen in open competition.

Vikings

From a post to the yahoo dbmlist by Larry Essick:

3 40 Norse Viking and Leidang can be an interesting army if played using the Swedish in Finland Leidang variant. Huscarls provide solid infantry for open spaces and can stand up against most infantry. Being Bd(O) they can fight in 2 ranks against Kn if needed. The Ax(O) gives you plenty of troops to operate in and thru terrain while the Bw(O) provides a good alternative against Wb and Pk (and also against most mounted). A small number of Kn(F) gives you a mobile reserve. The 10 available are more than enough - 3 or 4 are adequate. Bd(F) raiders and Bts(S) give you a bit of useful troops if facing Bw yourself or for exploiting your compulsory WW.

Normans

Hmmm. Used to be good (if not world beaters) under version 3.0 of the rules, not much use now. At least the Kn(F) can dismount when you get a really horrible matchup. Probably the best list option is the "Normans in Sicily 1061AD" part of the 3 51 West Frankish or Norman DBM list.

Mongols

Sorry, 4 35 Mongol Conquest is going to bring you a lot of pain under DBM 3.1 as flanks are hard to come by and collapse more slowly than under previous versions of the rules so your high-maneuverability army probably has no-where to attack effectively within the time limits of a competition game.  I suggest using the related 3 55 Khitan-Liao, 4 14 Jurchen-Chin or 4 48 Yuan Chinese armies as they provide you with some decent heavy infantry support to crack open the opposition (and make them think twice about thinning their lines to neutralise your cavalry advantage).

100 Years War

This army (4 62 100 Years War English) is of a type (western later medieval dismounting Kn/Bd(S)) that are quite effective under DBM 3.1 but they are poor versions since they are inflexible, lack supporting troops or have bad command structures. Better off trying 4 39 Navarrese or 4 68 Medieval Spanish or Portuguese(using the Portugese option) for similar armies that are just beter. Also 4 82 French Ordonnance with Swiss ally is probably OK. This style of army is actually pretty good for beginners (who want to get wins instead of just salvaging draws) as they have tough, hard-hitting troops and they don't have too many light troops which I find many beginners tend to use too aggressively and hence help them lose commands before the tough troops have done much/any fighting.

Exotic

The Chola Empire part of the 2 42 Tamil Indian and Sinhalese list is a good one. Good for beginners too as you just have to push it forward and protect your flanks to give a lot of armies problems.

Samurai

There are two samurai lists in DBM, 3 54 Early Samurai and 4 59 Post-Mongol Samurai. The late list has the advantage of very pretty figures, the early one wins hands down when it comes to DBM playability considerations. One other point to consider is the lack of "morphability" of these figures. A samurai army is a very pretty sight but you will not have many historical opponents (ie opportunities for play in themed competitions) or much ability to re-use any of the figures in another army, an important consideration for your first army. If none of this bothers you then go ahead!

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