Britannia - The Players

BRITANNIA is designed for three to five players, but the publishers state, and the online consensus concurs, that the ideal number is four.

That certainly suits us, by whom I mean myself and my three regular boardgame opponents: security consultant Richard Johnson, serving British forces officer Andy, and 'Reg', often my nemesis in wargames with miniatures.

None of us has played the second edition of Britannia before, although Richard, many years ago, played one game of original Britannia, albeit his memory of it is hazy, to say the least (he cannot recall how it finished or, indeed, if the game was completed at all).

So what follows is a learning experience, and a review, rolled into one, and, as usual, I will write it up as we go along.

The game starts, very reasonably, by placing a snazzy round-marker at the top of the timeline, ie round one (AD 45-60)

Each player is randomly given a colour (blue, green, red or yellow), which determines which nations he will control during the coming 1,000 years.

Andy receives green, which means he will have Caledonians, Danes, Jutes and Welsh; I get yellow (Dubliners, Norwegians, Romans, Romano-British and Scots); Reg has blue (Belgae, Picts, Angles and Normans); Richard red (Brigantes, Irish, Norsemen and Saxons).

My five nations - everyone else has four 

We now place our starting tokens on the map.

That is easy for me as I simply place 16 Roman armies in the English Channel.

Tokens are sturdy and colourful

Andy (green) starts with Caledonian armies in Caithness, the Hebrides and the Orkneys - "as far from your expletive deleted Romans as possible," as he robustly, but accurately, puts it - and Welsh armies in Avalon, Clwyd, Cornwall, Devon, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Hwicce and Powys, making a total of 12 armies.

Reg (blue) has 10 armies of the Belgae, in Downlands, Essex, Kent, Lindsey, the Mercias (North & South), Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex and Wessex, and six Pict armies, in Alban, Dalriada, Dunedin, Mar, Moray and Skye.

Finally, Richard (red) has nine armies of the Brigantes, taking up the final areas on the playing part of the board: Bernicia, Cheshire, Cumbria, Galloway, Lothian, March, the Pennines, Strathclyde and York.

Ready for the off

Another view

Britannia

BACK in November 2024 I walked to a Hobbycraft store south of the Thames in Greenwich.

One of the first things confronting me, after I passed under the river via Greenwich Foot Tunnel, was a branch of Oxfam.

As I noted at the time, it had quite a treasure trove of secondhand books, although I only bought two as my backpack was fairly laden anyway, and the return-journey to my home in central London was about 14 miles.

One of the books I bought was Tim Clarkson's The Men Of The North, to which I later gave an enthusiastic review.

The book inspired me to hunt down a copy of the boardgame Britannia, first published in 1986, and rereleased in a second edition in 2005.

I obtained the latter from Wisconsin-based Noble Knight Games, but only now have I got round to opening the box and preparing to try the game.

As the name and the artwork hint at, the game covers roughly 1,000 years between the Roman and Norman conquests of Britain 

The game (simulation?) is played on a board measuring approx 33x22in (84x56cm), much of which is taken up by a map of what were to become England, Scotland and Wales

There is also a rulebook, errata sheets, 17 'nation' cards, numerous tokens, and various odds and ends.

The total cost, including shipping, was almost exactly 100 dollars, and, as far as I can see from a first look, the only thing obviously missing from what was supposed to be a secondhand, but complete, game is a set of five six-sided combat dice.

Unless the dice have some special feature, their absence will not be a problem.

Moor History

AM visiting Mallorca, where, while walking near the Bay of Santa Ponça, I came across interesting remains from prehistoric and more recent times.

Partially reconstructed charcoal burners' hut, part-way down Sa Morisca (Moors' Mountain), from the days before electricity

Remains of a tower on the summit, the first version of which was apparently built 3,500 years ago

Inside the tower, which, according to archaeologists, probably served as a lookout, a place to ceremonially drink wine, and simply as a way to impress/intimidate other communities

Part of a wall built to protect the settlement in troubled times 2,500 years ago

View from near the summit to the modern town of Magaluf - the area's conquerors included the Romans and, in 1229, James I of Aragon, who, while taking Mallorca from its Muslim rulers, successfully assaulted Sa Morisca with 750 soldiers, including 50 knights

Slingshot 366

The Sep/Oct issue of the journal of the Society of Ancients includes my account of refighting Charles Grant's Battle of the Apocryphal Well

It also has the editor pondering on what the magazine should concentrate on, history or wargaming.

Inevitably, the answer must be both, but, at least from my perspective, the emphasis should be on the latter, as the former can nearly always be found elsewhere.

On another personal note, I was pleased to see coverage of WoFun's plastic flats, used by Steven Neate in place of counters for the boardgame Commands & Colors (I must get round to buying it), much as I have used the Transylvanian firm's figures for refighting battles from Mike Lambo's Battles Of Napoleonic Europe.

In short, it probably will not surprise anyone to learn I found this latest issue of Slingshot to be full of interesting articles, and I read every one from start to finish.

A Tale Of Two Titles

I PLAN to refight the original Battle of Megiddo, ie the one fought at some point in the 15th century BC between Egypt and a rebellious Canaanite coalition.

It can probably truly lay claim to be the first battle in history where there is enough evidence to reconstruct a convincing outline of what happened, why it happened, and how it happened.

All our evidence comes from inscriptions ordered by the victor, Pharoah Thutmose III, and to understand them I have bought two books, both called The Battle Of Megiddo.

 

A contrast in size, but an even bigger contrast in quality

The larger book has a completely inappropriate cover, but otherwise is a reasonably faithful reproduction by Leopold Classic Library of Harold Nelson's 1913 dissertation for his doctorate from Chicago University, written after visits to the battlefield and surrounding lands in 1909 and 1912.

I write "reasonably faithful" as, although the book includes photographs, admittedly of varying quality, it omits Nelson's maps

Fortunately, informative maps, based on Nelson's work, can be found online, and are a handy aid while reading the book, which makes for a gripping account.

Jack Whittaker's book, on the other hand, which came out this year, has not a single illustration between the covers, contains no index or bibliography, and makes no attempt at estimating the numbers involved in the battle, or how they may have lined up.

Instead we are 'treated' - hardly the right word - to endless cliches, waffle and repetition, so much so that I gave up in disgust when he moved on the from the battle to the subsequent siege of the city of Megiddo.

If I had only bought the second book, I would have learnt no more about the battle than I already knew before I began reading, but Nelson's book is, thankfully, altogether a different story, and very much a pleasure.

Latest Chariots

10mm from Tenth Legion (formerly Magister Militum) - painted as Mitanni, but could equaly be Syrian, Canaanite, etc

Land Ahoy!

THE North-West Passage By Land is one of those wonderful books where my only regret when reading it was that it eventually ended.

Fortunately there were some 400 pages before that happened, and I enjoyed every one of them.

The first edition, published in June 1865, was quickly followed by two more editions before the year was out.

Its subtitle, although clumsy (a sign of the times), summarises the book well: Being The Narrative Of An Expedition From The Atlantic To The Pacific, Undertaken With The View Of Exploring A Route Across The Continent To British Columbia Through British Territory, By One Of The Northern Passes In The Rocky Mountains.

This is a 2021 reprint by Alpha Editions, which specialises in making available out-of-print books that would slip under most potential readers' radar 

The authors are the eldest son of an earl, William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam (Viscount Wilton), and medical student Walter Cheadle, who teamed up to cross North America in 1862.

Their exciting adventures, and the skilful way they present them, have inspired me to book a two-week walking holiday in the Canadian Rockies next year, which will include going to some of the places visited in the book, which contains exactly the mix of travel and history that I find so fascinating.

Summing Up Hunters' Ridge

ANOTHER incredibly exciting battle, and a real nailbiting finish.

For two turns running, the AI needed a roll of anything but 4 or 6 to advance a unit of falxmen onto the ridge, and so win the battle.

But both times, the die landed as a 4, meaning I survived, and so now lead the AI 4-0.

However, after rereading the rules, I have just realised I should not have allowed my commander (and his entourage) to make a charge-attack in turn XI - such attacks are only available to cavalry.

Clearly, this made a difference to the details of the battle, but did it change the outcome?

I suspect my mounted troops would have been able to hold the ridge against the sole Dacian unit concerned ... but I cannot be sure.

It is unfortunate when rule mistakes are made, but at least I can say they are honest mistakes, and sometimes they benefit the AI - after all, there was the scenario not so long ago when I started with one less unit than I should have had!

Hunters' Ridge - Turn XII

Nothing changed in the attack phase last turn, and suddenly I am just a turn from victory, provided I can stop any Dacians ascending the ridge 

The start-of-turn-event die is a 6, which gives me another ballista attack. Again, it cannot be used against the meleeing cavalry or the falxmen in trees, so I have to shoot at the left-flank warriors, but I roll 6, one short of the minimum needed.

Three Dacian archer units advance, but the forward unit on the Dacian left is happy where it is as it has my commander in its sights.

There is no point in moving my cavalry, but I move my commander off the ridge, so he cannot be shot at.

The Dacian cavalry by the pond enter it, and have to immediately halt (mounted troops always stop on entering a water or tree hex).

My forward Praetorians remain where they are. There is no point in moving them as the outcome of the battle depends on whether the forward falxmen on the Dacian right clamber onto the ridge (note that the Dacian cavalry, even if it should execute a successful attack in the attack phase, would not then ascend the ridge as Dacian cavalry never advance in such circumstances).

So it all comes down to the falxmen at the foot of the ridge. A die is rolled, and it lands as a 4, which, as last turn, only allows diagonal movement, which is not possible for the unit, so, against incredible odds, or so it seems to me, I have won.

Hunters' Ridge - Turn XI: Attack Phase

The forward archers on the Dacian left have a shot at my commander

They need 9+, and there is a +1 modifier for being on lower ground. The dice total 5.

The right-flank Dacian cavalry attack the Praetorians straight ahead, needing 8+. There are +1 modifiers for being on lower ground and for attacking from rocky ground. The dice total 7.

My middle Praetorians counterattack, needing 8+, but with -1s for being on higher ground and for having comrades in contact with the same enemy unit. However, I roll 4.

My rearward Praetorians similarly attack the same cavalry, but with a +1 for attacking from rocky ground. I roll 5.