Britannia - Round I

Map with armies deployed - at the bottom I have already started sorting my 16 invading Roman armies into distinct stacks, but am not committed to playing them in this way

The very first thing to do at the start of each round is to consult the timeline.

Colourful artwork shows the Romans receive 16 units, which start in the English Channel, and constitute a major invasion, indicated by the shield and crossed weapons

It also shows the Belgae receive an extra army this round, and a leader, Boudicca - more on these developments later.

But the game starts with the Romans, as they go first in each round (until all legions are withdrawn at the start of round six), and make all their actions, before the next nation has its turn, and so on.

The first thing for me to do is to consult the Romans' card to see what victory points are available to me this round

The first item is six victory points if I can force Reg's Belgae to submit this turn (how that happens, and why they would want to submit anyway, I will come to later).

Looking further down, I see I also gain six victory points if I kill Boudicca this round (unlikely, I would have thought, as she is not even on the board yet - the Belgae's turn comes next) or in round two.

There are also points available in this round, and the next two, for occupying various areas, with those furthest north being the most valuable.

That gives me some idea of what I should be aiming for (we have all been studying experienced gamers' Britannia advice on the internet - some of it is, to say the least, contradictory, but I guess the fact that 'experts' can have different opinions about the best strategies is a good sign of a game that is deep, rather than trivial).

Each nation's turn starts with a population-increase phase - each nation, that is, except for the Romans, who instead, in later rounds, receive reinforcements, but this does not apply in round one.

Next is the movement phase. Roman armies are different from other nations' armies in several ways, including that they can move through three land areas in a turn, rather than two, and can have as many units in a single area as desired, unless that area has difficult terrain (shown on the map by deeper shading, eg Downlands and Devon), in which case they are limited to four units. Difficult terrain also halts armies that enter it.

Normally, when an army or armies enter an area already occupied by another people's armies, the newcomers halt, and a battle is fought (in the battle phase). However, if the attacking armies outnumber the defending armies by more than 2-1, the excess armies can move on to another area in a manoeuvre known as overrunning.

Southern Britain, after the Romans' movement phase

Using overruns, I have positioned eight Roman stacks, each of two armies, in eight areas - two occupied by Andy's Welsh (Devon and Avalon) and six by Reg's Belgae (Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Downlands, South Mercia and Essex).

Is this an optimal start? I suspect it is on the conservative side, but what unfolds may give a clearer indication.

With phase two of the Roman turn complete, we now move on to phase three: battles/retreats.

Battles are fought area by area, with the attacker - in this case, me - deciding the order. One die is rolled per army, so in this case I will roll two dice against my opponent's one in each of the eight areas where a battle is to be fought.

Roman armies normally need to roll 4+ to eliminate an enemy army, while a Roman army is only eliminated on a roll of 6 (this reflects Rome's superior military sophistication).

I start in Kent, where the dice land 5&1 v 3, meaning the Belgae army is eliminated. It is replaced by a Roman fort, which automatically happens whenever a Roman army is the sole occupant of an area. Forts have several advantages, including acting as a stationary 'normal' army, ie an army without the extra fighting abilities usually enjoyed by Roman armies (more on forts later).

In Sussex, the dice land 5&3 v 3, having exactly the same effect as in Kent.

But in Essex the dice land 3&2 v 4 - no result. When this happens, the defender can retreat, and Reg decides to take this opportunity to withdraw his Essex army north to neighbouring Suffolk, a Roman fort appearing in its place.

In South Mercia the dice land 6&1 v 4 - the Belgae army is eliminated, and a Roman fort appears in its place. The result is the same in Wessex after the dice land 4&1 v 2.

Next is Downlands, but here the combat system is different as a defending army in an area with difficult terrain is only eliminated on a roll of 6. The dice land 3&1 v 2 - no result.

The Belgae cannot retreat, even if Reg wanted them to, as there is no adjacent area that is either solely occupied by Belgae or is vacant. If the defender does not retreat, the attacker can do so, but I have no wish to retreat, and so the battle continues. This time the dice land 5&4 v 6 - a Roman army is eliminated.

Reg cannot retreat, and I choose not to, so there is another round of fighting, and this time the dice land 6 v 1 - the Belgae army is eliminated, and a Roman fort appears in its place.

At this point, with the Belgae reduced to four areas, they can submit to Roman rule.

Submission has various effects, but the most important one from the submitting nation's viewpoint is that it stops further Roman attacks. However, Reg declines to submit for the moment, and so I shall discuss the issue further later.

The next battle is in Avalon, against Andy's Welsh. The dice land 6&4 v 1, so the Welsh army is eliminated, and a Roman fort appears.

Finally, Devon, which is difficult terrain, so both sides need a 6 to score a kill. The dice land 6&4 v 2, so I win immediately.

This ends phase three, and normally we would move on to phase four of the Roman turn. But, you will hopefully recall, this round sees the Romans launch what is termed a major invasion, and that means the invader gets to repeat phases two and three.

So once again I can move my armies through three land areas, albeit having to halt any army that enters an area with difficult terrain. But I have great flexibility in that one advantage conferred on the Romans by forts is that any area with an undestroyed fort counts as having Roman roads, allowing Roman units to move through such areas without being charged against their movement allowance.

Roman expansion continues, with eight more battles to be fought (barring submission by the Belgae or Welsh)

I start in Cornwall, where difficult terrain means both sides need a 6 to score a kill. The first dice land 3&2 v 5. The Welsh cannot retreat, even if Andy wanted them to (defenders can never retreat to sea), and I do not want to retreat, so the battle continues, the dice landing 5&4 v 4. That is again indecisive, but the next dice land 6&5 v 6. The Welsh army is eliminated, along with a Roman army, and a Roman fort is built.

In Dyfed I win immediately when the dice land 6&5 v 2.

In Gwent, which is a difficult area, the dice land 2&1 v 2 - no result. The dice are rolled again, landing 2&1 v 5, and again: 6&4 v 1. So Gwent falls to the Romans, and at this point Andy orders the Welsh to submit to Roman rule (the Welsh can do this when reduced to five areas or fewer).

Submission has the following immediate effects:

i) Roman units in any Welsh-held area leave, in this case meaning the two Roman armies in Hwicce move to South Mercia.

ii) The Romans receive victory points for the four areas controlled by the Welsh as if the Romans had occupied those areas.

iii) The Romans can no longer attack Welsh areas, and the Welsh can no longer attack Roman ones.

Effect ii) means, as per the Roman card above, that the Romans receive two victory points for Gwynedd, and one each for Clwyd, Powys and Hwicce.

These points are in addition to ones for occupying the other conquered Welsh areas, Cornwall, Devon (2pts), Dyfed (2pts), Gwent and Avalon.

That is 12 points in all from the Welsh areas, to which must be added two victory points for the occupation of each English area (note that many geographic terms in Britannia are anachronistic, but, after all, 1,000 years of history are being covered). So far that is six areas, which means a further 12 points, and so my Romans have so far collected 24 VPs.

In North Mercia it is one Roman army against one of the Belgae, and the terrain is not difficult, so when the dice land 5 v 2, the Belgae army is eliminated, and replaced by a Roman fort.

Reg now offers the submission of the Belgae, muttering that he should have done so before I took North Mercia.

This has the following immediate effects:

i) My armies in Belgae-held areas leave, and I put two of them in Essex, and the rest in North Mercia.

ii) I receive victory points as if I have occupied Suffolk, Norfolk and Lindsey (2pts per area), and I receive a further six victory points as per the Roman card for inducing the Belgae to submit in the first round.

iii) The Romans can no longer attack the Belgae, and the Belgae can no longer attack the Romans (well, in theory, perhaps, but actually the Belgae will unsubmit when Boudicca appears later this round).

So, including the Roman occupation of North Mercia, I have a further 14 victory points to add to the 24 mentioned earlier, meaning 38 in total.

Updated situation in southern Britain

With phases two and three of the Roman turn completed (twice, thanks to the Romans launching a major invasion), we turn to phases four and five - raider withdrawal and overpopulation.

Since the Romans were not raiding, as opposed to invading, and since Romans are not subject to overpopulation rules, the Roman turn in round I is finished.

The whole board

Britannia - How To Win

THERE are four main ways to score victory points in Britannia.

The foremost of these is by uncontestedly holding areas of the map at the end of a scoring round (these are rounds V, VII, X, XIII and XVI).

The card for the Caledonians - one of the nations controlled by Andy - shows that at the end of round V, and VII for that matter, the Caledonians receive four points for controlling each of Caithness, the Hebrides and the Orkneys, and two points for each of Dalriada, Moray and Skye

The second way to score victory points is by occupying certain areas during certain rounds.

This is a less-onerous requirement than holding an area, as to occupy is defined as being the sole nation to have a unit in an area at any point during the round.

Therefore, merely passing through an empty area at some point during the round is sufficient, and the nation concerned immediately scores the appropriate number of victory points.

My Norwegians gain 10 points if at some time in round XV they occupy York, six points if they occupy North Mercia, and four points for occupying each of Bernicia, Cheshire and March

Note that you can only once score points for occupying an area - a subsequent occupation does not score. However, you can score points for occupation even if you have already scored for holding the same area.

The third main method of scoring victory points is by eliminating specified enemy units.

The section with a skull on a red background shows Reg's Picts in any round score two points for each Roman army eliminated, and six points for each Roman fort destroyed

The fourth way to gain victory points is to successfully claim the title of bretwalda between rounds VIII and X, or the title of king from round XI onwards, except for round XV (more on this later).

Finally, my Romans have three additional ways to gain points: i) limes (submitted nations and intact forts) at the end of round V, ii) submission by the Belgae in round I; iii) submission by the Brigantes, Picts and Welsh (more on all this later).

There are some limits and refinements on scoring, but I will come to those when, and if, they come into play.

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!