Have a rummage...

Monday 30 July 2012

Dux Britanniarum: How do you know he's a king?

So, armed with a fistful of dice, I tackled the atmospheric but nonetheless straightforward procedure to create some heroes and villains to struggle for control of Britain.  It was considerably quicker than the time taken to write this post, and the preceding one!

Having consulted both the fantastic maps in the Dux rulebook and my own OS map of Roman Britain, I decided that my future games would be set within the Kingdom of Celemnion.  The rules allow you to place your campaign pretty much anywhere on mainland Britain, from the lowlands of Scotland southwards.  As such, I quite liked the idea of fighting on local ground, namely the Valley of the Temmes, hence Celemnion.  This also set a start date for the campaign, 550AD, as the Saxons pushed northwards from what is now Hampshire.  

The next step is to personalise the various nobles on each side.  The Romano-British are led by 22 year-old Tribune Albanus, the son of a centurion.  Clearly his mind is more on matters spiritual than material, given that he is also rather devout.  It may well be worth investigating the role of religion once play begins, both on the table and off it in the campaign.  Albanus is supported by a pair of Decurions, Burcanius (who is 25 years of age and short and wiry in physique) and Lupinus (a venerable 31 years old).  Burcanius is also the son of a centurion, and is both dutiful and an excellent horseman.  By contrast, Lupinus enjoyed a more privileged and wealthier upbringing as the son of an honestiore, but is none the worse for that, "for Lupinus is an honourable man", to anachronistically misquote the Bard.  As military nobles, they are responsible to a king who happens to be 64 years old.  The campaign rules allow a play to be made for the throne if wished, so a pensioner monarch might be handy.  None of them have any reputation to speak of; hopefully they'll each carve one out for themselves, rather than having it foisted upon them by their Saxon foes.    

Meanwhile, the Saxons are stirring to the south.   Their Aetheling is Aelfric, 27 years old.  His right-hand men- well, adeligs- are the ox-like Sigebryht and devout Coelwulf, 31 and 28 years respectively.  The son of a peasant, Coelwulf is the odd-man out, with the others both being Wodenborn aristocrats.  Again, they all have no reputations to speak of; not surprising given that Aelfric and Coelwulf have (to my mind) distinctly un-Saxon physiques, being short and wiry.  In fact, I get the distinct impression these are Saxon slackers, with Aelfric more interested in lust than loot! Having said that, his 'thief's horde' of initial loot is more impressive than Albanus' 'beggar's bowl'. 

Now, I just need the postie to deliver the starter armies that Too Fat Lardies are also offering, and we can get cracking with our first Saxon raid- once they've been painted and based.

Ah- I should've known there was a catch...  

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