And Now for Something Totally Different

Now, before anyone starts yelling. Hear me out. I've been thinking that it would be really fun to do a Sharp Practice 2 force for a 19th century imagination force. I was looking at the Perry plastic ACW and AWI frames and say that the caps all had the same attachment system, where you just pop the cap on the head of the mini. I though it could be interesting to put the Saratoga cap on some Union infantrymen and making up a force, Ruritania style. The current idea is for a couple of rival German duchies with long-standing dislike for each other. This would allow me to play around some with historical plastics, play more SP2, and flex some of my creative muscles. I'm in the process of moving across the country, so most projects are being packed away, and this includes my Dark Age stuff, but I'm able to keep some plastics and my paint out to play with.

Without any further adieu, here are the first two Jaegers for the unnamed duchy of such-and-such.

And here are some cinematic shots with some Union skirmishers.

Clodwig the Red's big day out

I played a game of Dux Brit over the weekend while at Cold Wars and got to try out the forces for my Domain of Soissons campaign supplement. This battle, which was the first for both me and my opponent Caleb, pitted the Franks of Clodwig the Red (played by yours truly) and the Gallo-Romans of Honorius Sextimanius (played by Caleb) in the Raid on a Village scenario.

Clodwig and his men were only able to get one turns movement at the start of the game and Honorius and nearly all of his men managed to show up right in front of the village. This is an ill omen, the Romans must have known we were coming!

However, the Romans must have gotten tired racing the Franks to the village, because they were slow to react in the first turn. Three groups of Warriors in mass formation, led by Clodwig race up the right flank, hoping to pin the Romans so that his Levy may move into the village to plunder unopposed.

The Romans, while tired from their race to defend the village, were determined to prevent the Franks from stealing the initiative and began to wheel their formation to block the Frankish advance. As a result, Clodwig decided to simply decimate the Romans, rather than try to sneak around them. Full Advance!

As the two forces started to close, the Roman left flank attempted to make a attack on Clodwig's formation of Warriors. While bold, this move pitted one group of milites and one group of levy against three groups of warriors, Clodwig, and his champion Penda. Despite their ferocity (read great dice rolls versus terrible rolls for the Franks), the Franks dealt them a serious blow, wounding the noble and killing half of the warriors an levy troops. As they fell back in disarray, the Franks followed up and were immediately forced into the zone of control of the rest of the Roman line. However, an opportunity had presented itself, the Roman right flank was exposed to the rest of the Frankish force!

The Frankish elites, emboldened by this opening, raced toward the village and began smashing the place up, looking for drink and loot. While they did not find valuables, they did seem to find drink. At least that would explain their abysmal performance when Honorius and his comanipulares bashed down the doors and slaughtered them to a man and captured the noble with them. A dark day indeed.

It was at this point that Clodwig realized that he needed to do something drastic to turn this battle around. The Romans had formed a powerful shieldwall and his most experienced units had taken quite the beating. He grabbed the nearest group of warriors and cut down the Romans before him, along with the fleeing warriors and the noble with them. While he shattered the Roman left flank, he found himself isolated behind the lines with only three warriors and his champion. If he could act before Honorius and his comanipulares, he may be able to continue chasing down the fleeing levy and get out of range of the Romans wrath. That was not to be and he was set upon by Honorius' and his retainers, who cut down his men and gave him a grievous wound, which allowed him to be captured. The gods seem to have abandoned the Franks at this point.

If this were a campaign game, I would have pulled out now, having lost my Lord, Champion, my Status II noble, my elites, and about two groups of warriors. My force has been defanged, with only my three groups of levies and about eight warriors led by a Status I warrior. However, since this was just a pick up game, I charged the Roman line. Remarkably, it worked. The sheer numbers of my forces were able to overwhelm the remaining Romans still in the shield wall, which only amounted to two groups of levy and a group of warriors. These groups were cut down to a man, including the Roman noble, leading to the collapse of the Roman's force morale and a victory for the Franks!

It was a bloody battle, and one I would have been hard pressed to call a victory in a campaign setting, considering my Lord was captured, but that final charge had allowed me to snatch a +3 victory from the jaws of a serious defeat. Multiple mistakes were made by both players, both in regards to the rules and tactics, but we had a fantastic time learning the rules and playing the game.

For those who are interested in the terrain, the buildings and trees are all for Caleb's SP2 Boshin War game earlier in the day, which explains why it kind of looks like the Romans and Franks were transported to Japan. The roads and plowed field are flexible terrain made by Battlefield Terrain Concepts, which I am already a fan of. The fur mat is from Killing Fields Terrain, who make the absolute best faux fur mats I've ever seen. Since they use a dying process rather than paint, they are able to fully color the fur as well as keep it soft and flowing, making it better to both look at and play on. They are pretty reasonably priced at around 75 USD, which is not that far off of how much it would cost to make your own, even before you accounted for the time spent doing so. I can't recommend them enough.

Additions to the Fate Deck

Each faction in the Last of the Romans campaign supplement has unique cards in the Fate Deck that the player may use to best utilize their forces in a manner fitting to each force's unique style of fighting. The Romans remain unchanged from the base game or the Raiders supplement because they remain largely unchanged as a fighting force, but the Franks and the Visigoths each have their own way of warfare that is reflected both in the force organizations and the following Fate Deck changes. The Franks have a greater number of Strong Arm cards to reflect their use of their Francisca throwing axes. They also have the Form Shieldwall! card, allowing them to form shieldwall, albeit at a reduced ability compared to their Roman counterparts. The Visigoths have several cards that were exclusively in the Raiders supplement, all to guide the use of the force as a fast and aggressive faction. They also have the Thundering Hooves card in their deck, which allows savvy players to utilize fear to their advantage and break a potentially unbreakable formation when used correctly.

Frankish Cards

The Franks begin the game with one Aggressive Charge card and one Strong Arm card. The balance of their hands are dealt at random from the Fate Deck which is made up as follows:

Carpe Diem x 3

Strong Arm x 2

Aggressive Charge x 1

Form Shieldwall! x 2

Goad x 2

Form Shieldwall! - The Frankish player may play this card on a group or formation that has not activated this turn and they may form a shieldwall formation. This shieldwall functions as the standard Romano-British shieldwall, but a shieldwall with Elite or Warrior troops in the front rank may only move or wheel 1d6 inches and a shieldwall with Levy in the front rank may not move or wheel at all. This reflects the fact the while the Franks can and do form shieldwall, they are not as well organized as their Roman counterparts. The Frankish player may not use a shieldwall formation without playing this card as it represents the reduced discipline of the Frankish forces when compared to the Romans. This is a Retreat Card in Post-Game Phase. (Use unused Saxon or Raider cards to Represent this card, or make your own!)

The Franks may also utilize the Shieldwall Braced card, but only when in shieldwall formation.

Photo Property of Footsore Miniatures

Visigoth Cards

The Visigoths begin the game with one Bounding Move card and one Darting Blow card. The balance of their hands are dealt at random from the Fate Deck which is made up as follows:

Carpe Diem x 3

Bounding Move x 2

Darting Blow x 2

Thundering Hooves x 2

Goad x 1

Thundering Hooves - A Group or Formation of Cavalry moving into close combat may play this card to instill fear upon their target as they see their dreaded enemies charge. Roll 1D6 for each attacking figure before the charge, counting one point of Shock on the front rank of their target for each 5 or 6 rolled. All morale effects will take place before the charge continues, meaning that the target unit may fall back or flee before receiving the charge. The charge will then proceed as normal. This is a Pursuit Card in Post-Game Phase. (Use unused Saxon or Raider cards to Represent this card, or make your own!)

The Dreaded Goths: Visigoth Additional Campaign Rules

Here are the additional campaign rules for the Visigoth forces. I'm working from the idea that the Visigoths would still be evolving from the raiders from the East, with speed and ferocity being their greatest strengths. Similar to how the Scotti evolve from the Irish list to their own unique force over time, I've attempted to do the same thing with the Visigoths here. They start as a largely cavalry force, but almost all reinforcements they receive over the course of the campaign are infantry. This is to represent the much more gradual changes that the Visigoths historically conducted over the course of a century or two. The Visigoth player's goal is to develop a reputation of fear and barbarity for his lord, using this reputation and the wealth gained during the campaign to seize more power for himself.

Sack

The Visigoth player may elect to attempt to sack a Roman settlement. If the player declares his intent to do so, a Battle will be fought in the same way as the main rules. If the Visigoth player wins the Battle, his forces rampage through the settlement, looting, burning, and killing wantonly. Consult the Sack table below to determine the post battle outcome. The Visigoth player does not conquer the province, this represents the people of the settlement throwing themselves at the mercy of the victorious army upon seeing their army defeated.

SACK RESULTS TABLE
	Winner	Loser
+1	You gain sufficient followers to replace light losses from this battle in one month, moderate losses in two months and heavy losses in three months. You gain a Thief’s Horde in plunder.	You gain sufficient followers to replace light losses in this battle in one month, moderate losses in two months and heavy losses in three months.
+2	You gain sufficient followers to replace light losses from this battle in one month, moderate losses in two months and heavy losses in three months. You gain a Tribune’s Tribute in plunder.	You gain sufficient followers to replace light losses in this battle in one month, moderate losses in two months and heavy losses in three months.
+3	You gain sufficient followers to replace light losses from this battle in one month, moderate losses in two months and heavy losses in three months. You also gain two volunteer Warriors to add to one of your Groups. You gain a Tribune’s Tribute in plunder.	You gain sufficient followers to replace light losses in this battle in one month, moderate losses in two months and heavy losses in three months.
+4	You gain sufficient followers to replace light and moderate losses in two months and heavy losses in two months. You also gain two volunteer Warriors to add to one of your Groups. You gain a Tribune’s Tribute in plunder.	It will take you 1D6+2 months to regain sufficient followers to replace the men dead in this battle.
+5	You gain a Patrician’s Purse and sufficient followers to replace the men dead from this battle and may upgrade one of your Groups to a better quality.	It will take you 1D6+3 months to regain sufficient followers to replace the men dead in this battle.
+6	You gain a Patrician’s Purse and sufficient followers to replace the men dead from this battle and may recruit one additional group, checking on the Reinforcements Table	It will take you 1D6+4 months to regain sufficient followers to replace the men dead in this battle.
+7	You gain a Patrician’s Purse and sufficient followers to replace the men dead from this battle and may recruit one additional group, checking on the Reinforcements Table	It will take you 1D6+6 months to regain sufficient followers to replace the men dead in this battle.

Devastatio

The Visigoth player, while they may not conquer territory, may subject enemy territories to Devastatio in the same way that the Raider nations do in The Raiders.

Dread

The Visigoth Lord is responsible for cultivating a reputation as a fearful adversary. Similar to the Honour system in The Raiders, the man fights not only for plunder, but also status. Within the Dux Britanniarum campaign each wound suffered in battle that the Lord survives gains one point of Dread. Any time he flees from battle when his Force Morale reaches zero he will lose one point of Dread. Any enemy character that he or his Champion kill gives one point of Dread. Any time he routs the enemy force he will gain a point of Dread. In addition, any successful Raid or Sack will give one point of Dread in addition to any other Dread gained during the encounter or battle.

We keep a running total of Dread for the Visigoth Lord and this will affect his ability to

progress on his career path as well as affect gameplay as shown below.

DREAD LEVEL
Level	Result
0-5	No Effect
5-10	-1 on enemy Force Morale roll
10-15	-2 on enemy Force Morale roll
15+	-3 on enemy Force Morale roll

Frankish Campaign Additional Rules

Below are the additional optional campaign rules for the Frankish campaign progression. I view the Frankish campaign as a combination of the Saxons and the Raider Nations, such as the Irish or Picts. There is the potential to play a campaign as multiple Frankish lords attempting to seize the role of King of the Salian Franks and becoming the leader of all Franks or the potential to have a more standard campaign with the Franks invading the Domain of Soissons. The additional rules below, especially when combined with those available to the Roman player, will also offer much more strategic depth to the campaign. This should offer even more replayability, with a minimal increase to the complexity of the standard campaign system.

King of the Franks

The final step for a Frankish player is to rise to the position of King of the Salian Franks. In order to become King of the Franks. All of the Frankish petty kings now swear fealty to you. You must provide them with gifts to ensure their support for the position in the form of A Thief’s Horde for each subordinate king. You must also ensure that none can rival you in power by maintaining a greater number of provinces than any single petty king. If at any point you have an equal or lesser number of provinces than a subordinate king, roll to determine if a Civil War occurs as described in the main rules. If war does occur, the Frankish player will fight a battle against the usurper, who will bring a starting Frankish army. If the Frankish player is victorious, the rival king is killed and the player’s position is preserved. He will immediately annex the required number of territories required to hold one more province than any other rival king. If the Frankish player is defeated, roll 1d6-1. The number rolled represents the number of provinces annexed by the attacking king, who is now declared King of the Salian Franks. The Frankish player is demoted back to Petty King. If all of the Frankish player’s provinces are annexed, he must flee into exile and his campaign is over. Your followers have deserted you and you must fall upon the mercy of greater men than you. Remember, the higher you rise, the farther you fall.

Barbarian Invasion

The Frankish player, once declared King of the Salian Franks, may initiate an invasion of Roman lands. He must pay each subordinate petty king A Tribune’s Tribute in order to secure their cooperation. Each month for the next year, the Frankish player may attempt to fight a battle to conquer the nearest province owned by the Domain of Soissons. This province does not need to be owned by the Roman player in order to be attacked. Both players will fight with their current forces if the Frankish player chooses to attack personally. However, the if the Frankish player is unwilling or unable to attack for any given month, the territory is attacked by one of his subordinate kings using a starting Frankish army played by the Frankish player. If the province is not owned by the Roman player, he will use a starting Roman army. If the Frankish player is wins the battle, the province is annexed by the attacking petty king. However, no Frankish king may attack two months in a row except the Frankish player, troop recovery permitted. If no Frankish kings are able to attack, no attack will occur that month. This invasion continues for the rest of the year or until all Roman provinces are captured, which ends the campaign. If no provinces are captured, consult the King of the Franks rule for a possible civil war. If at any point the power of the Frankish player rivalled by a subordinate king, consult the King of the Franks rule for a possible civil war.

Optional Rule: While this is supposed to be a game of gentlemen, if the question of game integrity is raised for the non-player Barbarian Invasion battles, a different process is to be used. If both players can’t be trusted to fight these battles to the best of their abilities in order to prevent negative effects for themselves during the campaign, such as the Frankish player purposely losing a battle for a rival lord in order to prevent them from threatening his power, the players will trade armies. The Roman player will play as the Franks and the Frankish player will play as the Romans. This will ensure that both players will do their best to win as they will both have a vested interest in the outcome. The Frankish player wants to prevent his rival kings from gaining power and the Roman player wants a civil war to occur within the Frankish lands. However, please remember that we play this game for fun and that sort of skullduggery is unbecoming among friends.

Starting Forces Finished and Optional Roman Campaign Rules

I've finally finished with my starting forces for my Gallo-Romans and Franks! Below are the last six Frankish Levy groups. They are a mix of Footsore Picts and Romans to provide some more variety. I wanted to make the Franks, especially the Levy, a diverse and versatile force. I imagine that most Frankish levies would look pretty similar to most other dark age warriors, which gives me a pretty broad scope of miniatures to choose from. To represent the poorest troops and/or slaves, I've thrown in a few of the wealthier looking Picts, some of the Roman levy troops with either generic or more Germanic shields and stripes, and a mix of Goth and Saxon troops. Most of these guys are able to serve double duty in my future Pict, Saxon, Irish, Scotti, and Visigoth armies. I am a pretty slow painter, so I want to maximize my cross-compatibility and therefore minimize my time and money spent putting the forces together.

Optional Roman Campaign Rules

The Roman player is presented with new additional rules the can supplement the main campaign progression in order to provide more longevity and depth. These rules are in Bold on the Career Progression tables above. They are entirely optional and players may choose to ignore them if they simply want to play Dux Britanniarum in a new setting with unchanged campaign progression.

Raid

The Roman player may bribe a rival Frankish king to conduct a raid on the Frankish player’s lands while he is away raiding. This will cause the Roman player to have some time to recover from an attack or prepare for the next one. On any month that the Frankish player raids the lands of the Roman player, the Roman player may pay one Thief’s Horde to bribe a rival Frankish king to raid the Frankish player’s land. The Frankish player will not be able to conduct a new offensive raid on the Roman player until the losses to his lands and population have been recouped. In game terms, the Frankish player may not raid or attack the Roman player for 1d3 months.

Military Alliance

The Roman player may make an alliance with a Frankish king who is a rival to the Frankish player. In multiplayer campaigns where there are multiple Frankish kings, they must select a non-player Frankish king if possible. However, if there are none, they may ally with a Frankish player. This alliance will allow the Roman player to help check the power of the Frankish player. The Roman player must pay A Tribune’s Tribute to the desired ally to broker the agreement. In order to use Invasion, Battlefield Support, and Betrayal, the Roman player must be allied to a Frankish petty king neighboring the Frankish player.

Invasion

The Roman player can subsidize an invasion of the Frankish player’s lands by a rival king if they are military allies. This invasion may only be started if the rival king, player controlled or otherwise, if the two kingdoms are in relative parity. The rival kingdom must hold one fewer provinces, equal number of provinces, or one more province than the Frankish player. In game terms, the rival Frankish king will attack the province nearest to their capital that is owned by the Frankish player with the intent to capture the province. The players will fight a Battle as defined in the main rules, with the Roman player playing a standard Frankish army against the Frankish player if the rival king is not player controlled. If the defending Frankish player loses the battle, the province is lost. The Roman player must pay his ally A Prefect’s Riches in order to conduct the invasion.

Battlefield Support

The Roman player may provide financial and military support to his Frankish ally. They must pay the ally A Prefect’s Riches and send 1-2 Elite groups and 2 groups of Warriors along with the Lord, his champion, and all but one of his subordinate commanders to join the rival Frankish army in battle against the Frankish player. This will drastically increase the likelihood of success, but the risks are greater to the Roman player if they provide this support. All casualties during the battle carry over to the normal campaign and must be recovered. If the defending Frankish player wins the battle, roll 1d6 for each group. The number rolled is how many casualties the group suffers during the retreat to either desertion or the enemy. For each character, roll 1d6. On a roll of a 1, they are captured and may be ransomed back for A Tribune’s Tribute. If the Roman Lord is captured, he may be ransomed back for A Patrician’s Purse.

Betrayal

The Roman player, being the devious schemer that he is, may also betray his Frankish ally on the day of battle. If the allied Frankish king is more powerful than Roman player (if they hold one or more provinces than the Roman player), the Roman player must pay them to conduct an invasion and provide their required supporting units and characters and then abandon the ally on the field of battle. The attacking Frankish army must roll on the Force Morale Table in the main rules for the loss of these units as if they had routed off the table. The battle is then fought between the two Frankish armies. If the Frankish player wins the battle, they may immediately annex the province owned by the attacking king nearest to the player’s capital, unless it is the capital province of the betrayed king. If this is the case, the Frankish player will select the next closest. The Frankish player will also roll 1d6-1. This number is how many provinces the betrayed kingdom will have annexed during the ensuing chaos by surrounding kingdoms. The Frankish player will divide all annexed provinces equally among the neighboring Frankish kingdoms, with any leftover provinces being given to the strongest non-player kingdom. The capital of the betrayed kingdom may not be annexed during the chaos this turn. As the Roman player, the decision to betray your ally should not be taken lightly. The betrayed party will immediately sever ties with the Roman player and declare them an enemy. As long as the betrayed king still lives, any campaign turn that the Frankish player does not attack the Roman player, roll 1d6. On a roll of a 1, the Roman player will be raided by the betrayed king’s army, which is represented by the starting Frankish army.

Rebellion

The Roman player may instigate a rebellion in the Frankish player’s lands in order to check their power. The Roman player pays A Prince’s Chest and the Frankish player must roll results for a rebellion as described in the main rules with slight changes. The lord with the least loyalty will automatically rebel against the Frankish player, but if only one lord rebels against the Frankish player, the rebellion is quelled in 1d3 months. During this time, the strongest neighboring Frankish kingdom may annex the nearest province every 1d6 months, ignoring any defenses present. If two or more lords rebel, the rebellion is quelled in 1d6 months and the strongest neighboring Frankish kingdom may annex the nearest province every 1d6 months, ignoring any defenses present. If no lords remain loyal follow the results of the main rules for rebellions, with a new Frankish lord being elevated to the position of Petty King

Reconquest

The Roman player may decide that his position is strong enough to attempt to reconquer Imperial lands long thought lost forever. The Roman player pays A King’s Treasury to outfit an invasion force and may conduct an attack on the Frankish player’s lands. The two players will fight a battle for the fate of the Frankish player’s province nearest to the Roman player’s capital. If the Roman player wins the battle, they take control of the province and are awarded with the sobriquet of ‘The Great.’ Any upgrades made to the province will carry over. The Roman player will also immediately gain one new group of Levy to represent their increased population. The Frankish player will suffer the penalties associated with losing a province.

The Forces

The Last of the Romans supplement adds two entirely new forces and a variation of the original Romano-British army specifically for the Domain of Soissons. These new armies will present more variation and tactical challenges in addition to some new rules both for battles and campaigns.

The two new army lists for this supplement, the Franks and Visigoths, offer a distinct change in play style. The Franks, largely Germanic in nature, are not too dissimilar from the Saxon army in Dux Britanniarum. However, unlike the Saxons, they are not the professional, lightly-equipped raiders plundering foreign shores and will bring their Levy troops to the battlefield. As the campaign progresses, their units will swell with more experienced warriors who will be able to rival even the most powerful Roman force. Their exposure to Roman tactics as Foederati also allows them to us the Shieldwall formation under certain circumstances. The Visigoths, due to their exposure to the Huns and warfare in the East, focus on fast-moving cavalry to outmaneuver and overwhelm their opponents. As the campaign progresses, their focus will start to shift to a more infantry-focused force, as they did historically. This makes them effective raiders at the start of the campaign and a significant threat at the later stages.

The Domain of Soissons

This force is similar to the base British force in the main rules, with two exceptions. There is an additional Group of missile troops attached to the force, bringing the number up to two. The reason for this is that many of the conscripted levies were encouraged to use the bow as it was seen as a more effective use for the unskilled, part-time soldiers. This extra unit does not function any differently than the normal missile troops in the main game.

The other change is the ability for the Romans to have mounted units exchanged for some of their infantry. A Roman Lord may elect to substitute six elite foot soldiers with four elite Shock cavalry in any game. He may also elect to substitute six of his Warriors with four Warrior Shock cavalry. The British Lord may select one or both options, or he may elect to keep his men on foot. Men who are mounted will fight on horseback for the duration of the game; they may not dismount.

When fielding mounted troops, the Romans may attach any of their Nobles to command the cavalry. If a Lord is mounted then his champion will be too. A mounted noble may only influence cavalry troops during the game.

Character creation will remain the same for the Roman player.

The Franks

A Frankish force is led by a Lord with two subordinate leaders, these are your Nobles. The Lord is rated as Status III while his subordinate leaders are Status II. You’ll also be granted a Champion to accompany your Lord

Led by these Nobles, you will have one Group of Elite troops, three Groups of Warriors, and three Groups of Levy troops. All of these Groups will be six figures strong. You will also have one Group of four missile troops armed with slings, bows, or javelins.

The Visigoths

A Visigoth force is led by the Lord and two subordinate leaders. The Lord is Status Level III and his subordinates are Level II. The Lord will also be accompanied by a Champion.

Beneath these Nobles you will have one Group of four Elite Shock Cavalry, two Groups of four Warrior Raider Cavalry, and two Groups of six Warriors. The force will also be accompanied by one Group of four Skirmish Cavalry and one Group of four Skirmishers.

The Visigoth Lord may elect to fight on foot or mounted, but must choose at the start of the game and his Champion must follow suit. He may also choose to have one or two of his Nobles mounted, but the number of mounted Nobles, including the Lord, may not exceed two at any point. A mounted noble may only influence cavalry troops during the game.