Britannia
$25/Avalon Hill/1987
Britannia makes use of a unique rules system to realistically trace the history of the British Isles from its A.D. 43 Roman invasion through the 1066 Norman Conquest. 'Britannia's' innovative system has inspired such popular games as 'Maharaja', and gamers who have not yet given it a try will likely be happy that they did.
In so many ways, Britannia is what a historic boardgame should be. It is simple and realistic, and a few games will give players a pretty clear picture of more than 1,000 years of British history. The rules, a mere six pages of them, are straightforward and concise, and include a two-page synopsis of British history from the first decisive Roman invasion of Britain to the last successful invasion of the isles by the Normans.
What really separates Britannia from traditional wargames is that the goal is not simply to use one's armies to capture as much territory as possible. Some 17 major peoples from British history are divided among each of 3-5 players. Players must then seek to fulfill the same historic goals of these peoples and gain points based on how well they do this. The player who has the most points at the end of them game is the winner.
Not all of Britannia's peoples are in play simultaneously, and appear or disappear at points in the game that correspond with their periods of activity on the British historic stage. For example, in a four-person game player C begins turn 1 in control of the Brigantes, and does not bring into play the Irish until turn 3, the Saxons until turn 4, and the Norsemen until turn 11.
Components besides the rulebook include a mapboard of Britain; 17 cards listing the victory conditions for each major people; 256 counters; and five dice. Overall, the game is clean-looking and attractive (as opposed to strikingly beautiful, like some of Avalon Hill's more recent releases). Game play is two to four hours for those familiar with the rules.
A marked disadvantage of the game is that it requires a minimum of three, and optimally four, people to play it. It is uncanny how many more times two people, as opposed to three or more, are looking for a game to play.
And with a game as nice as Britannia, it would be nice to be able to play it a little more often.
To order this game directly, go to Amazon.com.
