An Introduction to the Campaign

Below you will find the introduction to my Domain of Soissons campaign supplement for Dux Britanniarum. At this point, I'm still planning on only including the Romans, Franks, and Visigoths due to my desire to focus the action in the campaign to the historical conflict, but the future may hold the addition of Alemanni, Burgundians, and Saxons as raider nations as well. It will all depend on whether these additions will better serve the campaign or if they will distract from the main premise of the campaign. We will have to see.

An updated map will be created before release with the correct provinces and points of interest.

The Last of the Romans

Dux Britanniarum and The Raiders immersed us in the plight of the beleaguered Romano-British kingdoms. Abandoned by Rome and her legions, they were beset upon by pagan barbarians and savage raiders upon all sides. While they fought bravely to maintain what later Christian scholars such as Gildas and Nennius would declare as the last bastion of civilization in the West, they were eventually defeated and the British Isles fell to the same darkness of Western Europe. However, the Britons were not the only ones abandoned by Rome during the slow collapse of the Empire. Roman Gaul, once a critical part of the Empire, was also abandoned by imperial authorities in order to protect Rome itself in the middle of the 5th century. While most of this territory was annexed or conquered by the Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks, one bastion of Roman civilization remained. What would later be called the Domain of Soissons stood alone, an island of enlightenment and faith surrounded on all sides by the tempestuous seas of barbarity. At least, that’s what the Christian scholars would have us believe.

In truth, the Domain of Soissons was simply one of the final Roman rump states that stood firm as their world came crashing down around them. With the westward migration of the Goths and Huns, the Germanic tribes, such as the Franks and Saxons were forced westward as well. Initially enemies, then allies, and now enemies again, the Franks have been a threat to Rome for over a century. They may have been allies to Rome before the fall of the Empire, but they know that their time is now. The weakening of Roman Gaul provided them an opportunity for power and wealth that they could not resist. The only thing preventing the rise of a powerful Frankish kingdom was the Domain of Soissons.

With the addition of two new forces, five new factions, and a new map, we will be able to transport the Dux Britanniarum experience to a new location, further exploring the rich, yet mysterious, time period following the collapse of the Roman Empire. While this supplement does not expand upon the base game, it does enable the players to expand their experience with the system and the period of history it is set within. The supplement can be used similarly to the base game, with the Roman player faithfully protecting his realm from the Frankish barbarians or similar to The Raiders where the players will be presented multiple new campaign opportunities. The players may take on a campaign where one or more are Romans defending against raiding Franks, Visigoths, Alemanni, and Burgundians, they may all take the role of competing Frankish petty kings, seeking to rise to the position of King of the Salian Franks, or they may take on the role of a dreaded Visigothic raider lord, pillaging the lands of the Romans and establishing his reputation of fear. Much like how The Raiders greatly expanded Dux Britanniarum, The Last of the Romans seeks to offer a massive increase of depth and longevity to your gaming experience during the Age of Arthur.

Included are the details on how to transplant the Dux Britanniarum experience to Continental Europe: rules for the way the new nations fight, their campaign progression, and new optional campaign rules.

Blog Revival and The Last of the Romans

Oh boy, it's been quite some time.

A really long time.

I don't really have any good excuses, other than a long sabbatical from modern wargaming. I'm not sure if this happens to anyone else, but I will occasionally go through periods of burnout in the hobby where I just can't get excited for whatever I happen to be working on at the time. This most recent occurrence, which lines up with my last post until this time last year represents the longest period of inactivity since I started wargaming. It's not that I left the hobby, I still visited all the blogs and forums multiple times a day and listened to multiple wargaming podcasts, but I continued to be uninspired to create my own armies and terrain for quite some time. 

That is, until I stumbled across Footsore Miniatures at Fall In in November of 2016 and decided to actually stop and look at Bill Thornhill's fantastic Dark Age miniatures. I had no intention of buying anything, but upon seeing his incredibly characterful and beautifully painted Late Romans and Early Saxons, I promptly dropped over one hundred dollars on a pile of Romans with the intention of finally starting a force for Dux Britanniarum by Too Fat Lardies. I bought the rules set and the Raiders Supplement way back when they were released and I fell in love with the campaign system, even before I fell in love with the period. I decided to just pull the trigger and picked up enough for a Romano-British starting force and it was the first time I'd been excited to paint miniatures and build terrain in a long time.

Naturally, being the smart gamer that I am, I decided to look into the period and see how I could make my new purchases serve a multi-purpose role and I stumbled upon the Domain of Soissons. I have to admit, the idea of expanding Dux Brit in a different setting sounded very appealing to me. Isolated Romans defending their lands from the Franks, former staunch allies and now enemies. It just fit so well with the period and the rule set. Unfortunately, I was not satisfied with the offerings for Merovingian Franks in 28mm so I would have to either substitute or settle. Again, being a smart gamer, I decided to do neither. I proceeded to butcher some of my recently purchased Romans and turn them into Franks, complete with their signature hair styles and mustaches. Many of my attempts look just awful up close, but I'm pretty pleased with them at arm's length. Below is some of my work  along with some conversions for you to poke fun at.

And the Franks

I ended up speaking with Bill Thornhill at Historicon 2017 about my dark designs for his beautiful miniatures and he, strangely enough, encouraged me. His enthusiasm for the period and the hobby encouraged me further and I will always be grateful for his input. He also was kind enough to provide me with separate heads that he uses for his sculpts so that I may convert my guys a little easier. If you didn't know already, Bill is a pretty good dude and a true asset to our shared hobby.

I also set about converting Dux Brit to the new setting. For the most part, it was just taking the bits that suited the conflict. As such, the Romans are a slight variation from the official Romano-British forces and the Franks are essentially a combination of the Romano-British and the Saxons, as I expect the forces would be more similar on the continent. I also have created a Visigoth force from scratch, but using troop types from the official rules to maintain consistency and balance. I've constructed new campaign progression systems and added new game-play mechanics to give the new forces character that I feel fits the period and what little we know about the factions involved, added a new scenario that fits the warfare of the period, and created a terrain guide for the different regions of the Domain of Soissons. This project is by no means done, but at 40+ pages, I think it's well on its way.

Anyway, I've been rambling for a while, but I felt like an explanation and introduction were in order.

I will be posting the introduction for the Campaign supplement, The Last of the Romans soon.