''Britannia'' is a strategy

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

, first released and published in 1986 by Gibsons Games in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and The Avalon Hill Game Company in 1987 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and most recently updated in late 2008 as a re-release of the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

edition, produced by Fantasy Flight Games. It broadly depicts the wars in, and migrations to, the island of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in the centuries from the Roman invasions to the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. ''Britannia'' was selected among the anthology '' Hobby Games: The 100 Best'' and is ranked by members of the Board Game Geek site in the top 350 of over 10,000 ranked games. ''Britannia'' has spawned a subgenre of wargames characterized by epic time scales with players taking the part of multiple tribes or nations over the course of the game.

Components

* a rulebook * a board depicting a map of the island of Britain * 251 unit markers in red, blue, yellow and green representing infantry, cavalry, leaders, Roman forts and Saxon Burhs. * 17 nation cards with information about each nation * 175 victory point tokens in denominations of 1, 5 and 25 * 16 population markers * one sword-shaped game round marker * five white, six-sided combat dice

Gameplay

''Britannia'' is a three-to-five player game that takes about four hours to complete. Primary rules are for four players using the counter colours, but there are variant scenarios for three and five players, as well as a three-player shorter game and several short two-player scenarios. Each player controls several nations. The game begins with one army in each area of Britain, with each part of the island occupied by different nations: the

Belgae The Belgae ( , ) were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth b ...

, Welsh, Brigantes, Caledonians (representing the distinctive

Broch In archaeology, a broch is an British Iron Age, Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Brochs are round ...

culture) and

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...

. A force of Romans begin in the English Channel and are the first nation to move. Through their superior fighting power and mobility the Romans will come to dominate most of the board, but eventually the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

will withdraw their forces from Britain completely, leaving behind just the scattered

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

. Meanwhile, throughout the game, further nations arrive from across the seas: the Irish and Scots, and later the

Dubliners ''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were writ ...

, from the west; the

Norsemen The Norsemen (or Northmen) were a cultural group in the Early Middle Ages, originating among speakers of Old Norse in Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a Viking expansion, large-scale expansion in all direc ...

from the north; the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

, Angles,

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

and

Norwegians Norwegians () are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norsemen, Norse of the Early ...

from the east; the

Jutes The Jutes ( ) were one of the Germanic people, Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the end of Roman rule in Britain, departure of the Roman Britain, Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic na ...

and

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

from the south. All of these nations will compete with each other, as well as the existing nations, for turf. Some nations will be destroyed, and the recurring theme in ''Britannia'' is that nations will rise and fall. However all nations will make their contribution to a player's Victory Point total and eventual victory or defeat. At the end of the game all four players will have the possibility to become the King of England through their control of Harold the Saxon, William of Normandy,

Harald Hardrada Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' in the sagas, was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. He unsuccessfully claimed the Monarchy of Denma ...

and Svein Estrithson. It is possible that no nation will be king if all four of these leaders have been killed or if they lack the required number of regions. However this in itself will not determine who will win the game. Nations take their turns in strict order, each taking one turn in each Game Round. Each nation's turn has five phases. ; Population Increase Phase: In this phase nations other than the Romans count the territory they hold and may be able to add new armies to the board through natural increase of population. ; Movement Phase: In this phase a nation may move none, some or all of its pieces on the board. Distances are generally limited, but some nations may be able to move pieces along the coasts using boats. Also new forces arriving from across the sea will be able to land. Roman and cavalry forces can move further than infantry, as can forces with leaders. ; Battles/Retreats Phase: Where a nation has moved forces into an area held by another nation a battle will occur. Once all movement is complete battles are resolved with the aid of dice. Battles are conducted in rounds and forces of both sides may retreat after each round. The ability of nations to retreat and fight another day is a major part of the flavour of gameplay. ; Raider Withdrawal Phase: Some nations have designated Game Rounds called Raiding Turns which allow their forces to remain at sea, or return to the sea after making an attack on the land. These forces will return in later Game Rounds. ; Overpopulation Phase: At the end of their turn if a nation other than the Romans has more armies than twice the number of areas held, the excess armies are removed due to overpopulation. A nation is made up of several different playing pieces: ; Army: These represent the fighting forces of the nation, as well as possessing some characteristics of population. ; Leader: These have no combat strength in themselves, but increase the combat strength of all forces they are with. Named leaders appear on various Game Rounds for specific nations throughout the game. ; Fort: These represent Roman Forts. The Romans build a fort in each area they conquer. These fight as normal armies and may not move. The Romans must protect their forts, as they can only score on Round V for areas that contain an undestroyed fort. If a fort is destroyed it is turned over onto its destroyed side, to show that the Romans failed to protect that area. Forts may not be rebuilt. ; Burh: These represent Saxons fortified settlements or Burhs. These may be built if the Saxons hold less than a set limit of areas on certain Rounds, and help the Saxons build up their strength for resisting the expansion of the Danelaw late in the game. The player whose nations have achieved the highest Victory Point total at the end of the game is the winner. Nations can score Victory Points on any Game Round, such as for eliminating certain opposing pieces or temporarily capturing certain areas, but will mostly score for holding different areas of Britain during the Scoring Rounds of Round V, VII, X, XIII and XVI. Also nations can score additional points by achieving Bretwalda or

King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers Constitutional monarchy, regula ...

. Nations all have their own Victory Point objectives listed on their Nation cards, and each player colour will accumulate Victory Points at different rates through the game. This means that at any given moment who is actually winning will not be immediately obvious. Experienced players develop an idea of what typical scores are at different stages of a game and so will be able to tell what is really going on. An ideal game ends with a close finish with several players still being able to win, and the outcome resting on one battle or roll of the dice.

Development history

This game was created by

Lewis Pulsipher Lewis Errol Pulsipher (born January 22, 1951), often credited as Lew Pulsipher, is an American teacher, game designer, and author, whose subject is role-playing games, board games, card games, and video games. He was the first person in the North ...

in 1983 under the working title of ''Invasions''. It was first published by Gibsons Games as ''Britannia'' from 1986 in the United Kingdom in two slightly different versions after development by Roger Heyworth. A German-language version was released by Welt der Spiele and the game was later republished in the United States by

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the compan ...

. The game developed a devoted following across the world, generating variants and additions. One of the most popular additions was the 'Oh Danny Boy' By Jim Lawler, which included a variant for the First Edition rules. The rules included Isle of Man (part of England) and 4 Irish areas, an extra leader 'Brian Boru' was also an option. In 2003, after a long break from board game work and having regained the publishing rights,

announced he would be extensively revising the game, a great deal of player input contributed to the revision, which not only tidied up the rules, but also brought in a number of new features. Consequently, the newest version published by Fantasy Flight Games is sometimes known as ''Britannia Second Edition'', or ''Britannia II''. This version was first published in 2005, and when the first print run sold out a reprint was produced in 2008, incorporating all official errata and corrections, as well as new language versions in German, French, Spanish and Hungarian. The Fantasy Flight version went out of print in mid-2012. A new edition, including two new, shorter games (one diceless) using new boards has been developed by Pulsipher, the designer. This was published in 2020 by PSC Games. It includes a two-player 'Duel Britannia' game. Pulsipher is said to be working on 'Epic Britannia', an extension to include the Isle of Man and six areas in Ireland. Other possible options include extra Welsh leaders and Danish Burhs.

Changes between versions

At each stage of development and publication of ''Britannia'' changes were made to the rules of the game, as well as to the scenario and materials: ; Map : On the hand-drawn map in the original ''Invasions'' prototype there was just one

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

area, and several areas had different names, such as

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, which would later be Avalon, and

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, which would later become Downlands. The Gibsons version introduced North and South Mercia, and rearranged the connection of areas around the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

, while changing marshy Somerset into lowlands and lowland Berkshire into highlands. This map, painted in dark shades of green and blue, was retained for later versions until the Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) version, which slightly changed the Pennines area again and cleared up the sea area connections in the Skye region. The Avalon Hill mapboard incorporated the Turn Record Chart down each side of the board. In previous versions the events of the game were listed on a card for each of the four players. The onboard Timeline was reimplemented by FFG, and their artwork for the land changed to predominantly yellow, with a rather enlarged map compared to previous versions. ; Colours : The original prototype used Blue, Red, Green and Yellow for the different player pieces. The first Gibsons version had Purple, Brown, Red and Blue, with the Brown pieces becoming Black in their later version and in the Welt der Spiele version. Avalon Hill changed these counters to Green. This led to players of the different versions calling this coalition 'BBG' or Brown-Black-Green. FFG then changed the Purple counters to Yellow. ; Scenario : In the prototype the Irish were allied to the Romans, and this was changed to the Irish joining the Red coalition in the Gibsons version, and all subsequent versions. For the non-standard games every version had slight changes to which nations were controlled by which player. Gibsons introduced a short game. Small changes were made to many of the forces arriving in the game between the prototype and the Gibsons version, and later for FFG's version, which also added more leaders. In FFG's version Round V became a Victory Point counting turn instead of Turn 4. The FFG version also includes several two-player games and a changed version of the short game. ; Rules : In 1983 the ''Invasions'' prototype was submitted by Lewis Pulsipher to Gibsons for evaluation and testing, and most development work was done by Roger Heyworth without referring back to the designer. This had been Pulsipher's last design before effectively retiring from game design. This led to a number of areas being confused and not entirely in line with the designer's intention. By 2004 when Pulsipher first saw the published version of ''Britannia'' being played at a convention he was surprised by some of the tactics that were allowed by the rules, especially in terms of their historicity. One major area of change between the intention of the prototype and the Gibsons and Avalon Hill versions was how raiding worked. In these games raiders could 'hang around forever' at sea without committing to landing. These and other areas in the rules were cleared up with the advent of the FFG version, reducing the need for players to clarify rules amongst themselves, as had been the case during the period between the Avalon Hill and FFG versions. The 2008 version removed any lingering detailed issues with the 2005 version, including the nation turn order listed on the map. ; New concepts : FFG's ''Britannia II'' has introduced the new concepts of

Roman Road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

s and Roman Reinforcements, Belgae submission and the Boudiccan Rebellion, and a four kings ending instead of three, with the addition of Svein Estrithsson. ''Britannia II'' also includes rules for players to bid amongst themselves to take particular sides in an auction, in part to address any perceived imbalance between the colours.

Reimplementation

The game ''Maharaja'', also published by Avalon Hill, reimplemented the same system, on the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. Other published designs using systems developed from the ''Britannia'' pattern with additional complexity include ''Hispania'', covering the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

and ''Italia'', covering

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

List of leaders

* Angles: Ida, Oswiu, Offa * Belgae: Boudicca * Brigantes: Urien * Danes: Ivar & Halfdan (as one leader), Cnut, Svein Estrithsson * Dubliners: Olaf Guthfrithson * Normans:

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

* Norwegians:

* Norsemen: Ketil Flatnose * Romano-British:

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

* Saxons: Aelle, Egbert, Alfred,

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Midd ...

, Harold * Scots: Fergus Mor Mac Erc

List of areas

England

* Avalon *

Bernicia Bernicia () was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England. The Anglian territory of Bernicia was approximately equivalent to the modern English cou ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

* Downlands *

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

* Hwicce *

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

* Lindsey *

Lothian Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

* North Mercia *

* South Mercia *

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

Scotland

* Alban *

Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland. There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...

* Dalriada *

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...

* Mar *

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

s * Skye *

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Welsh language, Welsh; in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic, meaning 'strath

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

of the River Clyde') was one of nine former Local government in Scotland, local government Regions and districts of Scotland, regions of Scotland cre ...

Wales

* Clwyd *

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

* Dyfed * Gwent *

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

Seas

* Icelandic Sea *

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

* Frisian Sea *

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

Reviews

* ''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bou ...

'' #45 (June 1988)

References

External links

Official ''Britannia'' Homepage
*

{{Avalon Hill Avalon Hill games Board games introduced in 1986 Board wargames set in Ancient history Fantasy Flight Games games Works set in the United Kingdom Cultural depictions of Harald Hardrada Cultural depictions of William the Conqueror Cultural depictions of Boudica Cultural depictions of Alfred the Great Cultural depictions of Harold Godwinson