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.