After a year of waiting and watching from a distance, Aulus Proctavius Alanicus steps from the shadows of the East to make his bid for power. Left to his own devices, as the leading men of the West fight it out, Alanicus has been busy preparing an army of his own. Since the Civil war began, Alanicus had designs on the throne for himself, at first he had planned to let the contenders cut themselves to pieces and then mop up who ever was left, but as the year dragged on with no real winner in sight, Alanicus's patience finally ran out. He decided to take what was rightfully his, the title of Emperor.With his amassed army groaning and slipping away by the day, Alanicus knew he couldn't stay hidden for much longer and decided to act, much to the delight of his bored Legions who had spent the last eight months in secret staging grounds in Thrace.
Both Tullus and Secundus had herd reports earlier in the year of Alanicus in the East, but had laughed it off with contempt. Now with the army of Thrace and the renown III Gallica behind him, their laughter would soon die away. There were now three in the race for the throne and every one knew, there could be only one first citizen of Rome.
(With apologies to HG Wells)
ReplyDeleteNo one would have beleived in the last years of the 2nd century that the Western Roman world was being watched so keenly and closely by an Eastern intelligence greater than their own and as ambitious as themselves; that as Western Imperators busied themselves about their various petty concerns they were scrutinised and studied. With infinite complacency the would-be Emperors went to and fro about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire.
No one gave a thought to the older cultures to the east as sources of danger - or thought of them only to dismiss them as irrelevant.
It is curious to consider the mental habits of those days. At most, western Romans gave a tentative nod to the heritage bequethed to them from the east, but none the less still considered Easterners inferior and glad of Western governance.
Yet across the gulf of Mare Internum a mind that is to their mind as a man's is to the beasts, an intellect cool and unsympathetic, regarded the Western powers with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew his plans against them...
Mars, the Bringer of War, is on the march. Look to the East!
Aulus Proctavius Alanicus is on the move. None shall stand before me!
I just discovered this blog last week and have finally read through it all. It's outstanding stuff! I can't wait to find out what happens in the campaign next!
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to get a copy of your campaign rules? I'd like to try running this campaign for my local group. I was also wondering where you got the Roman stats you found online? The ones that come in the WAB rule book are alright but they don't give a player that many options.
Hello Dewolfe, It's always nice to get some positive feed back, especially from a fellow gamer. I'm afraid to say that the Campaign rules are all hand written still, in a big black book with various scribbles and map sketches. Not being one with a great knowledge of any typing programs, they have had to stay that way. The rules are still really a work in progress that get amended now and then when ever a new situation arises and so are far from actually being finished. I'm very glad you are enjoying them and that means a lot to me, for they took me a long time to work out and craft into shape. Being an old Roleplayer at heart, I like to put a generous helping of that in too when I write up the Campaign rolls and tie the random events together. Knowing that the game was for three friends, I took time to get their thoughts and ideas and add them into the mix, so everyone had input in the game and could therefore enjoy it more. There is a brief out line of the rules earlier on the blog, they really are quite simple, with a basic turn system which involves rolling on a table of the gods to create events throughout the year. It's fair to say that I tailor made these rules to suit my group of friends and their needs, with their likes and dislikes all included, so I don't know how well they would stand up anywhere else. I will try to get you the location of the New (improved) Roman army list and post up a link. Off the top of my head, I think they're called 'The Heirs of Caesar' and were found on the Yahoo WAB army list sight. I'll get my friend Alan to put up a link, he is the one who descovered them originally.
ReplyDeleteNow that the third player has joined the race for power things will really get intresting, so I hope you carry on enjoying the game and thanks again for the request.
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ReplyDeleteHere, as promised by Simon, is the link to the "Heirs of Caesar" Early Imperial Army list, which is far superior to the Roman list provided in the rulebook. The "Heirs of Caesar" lists were written by a certain Jacques Gerber.(Thank you Sir!)
ReplyDeleteIf you copy and paste this link onto your address bar and follow it you SHOULD then see options to view either an Early Imperial or Middle Imperial list. Simon and I are using the Early Imperial List.
Enjoy! (Hope this works):
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/WABlist/files/WAB%20Army%20Lists/Imperial%20Rome%20era%20lists/EIR%2BMIR%20Armylists/
I should just mention that these and many more Army lists can be found on the Yahoo WABlist site under "Files/WAB Army Lists"
ReplyDeletehttp://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/WABlist/files/WAB%20Army%20Lists/