Continuing on from the previous blog post, The Events Deck, Part #1, this is Part #2.

Here are some further examples of Event cards.

This Event card has three effects:

• Rome conducts a supply check.
• +1 Tension in the Atrebates & Regneses regions.
• Add a Culture Token to the region with the lowest Tension: Cantiaci, Regneses, or Trinovantes (place in the region with the lowest number if there’s a tie).

Rome conducts a supply check.

We decided to model supply in such a way that it was present, but didn’t bog down the pace of the game. There’s no supply step – no turn-based injunction to test supply lines. But every so often an Event card will show up that forces Rome to test their supply lines. In such a case Rome is penalized for having Legions in rough terrain, for being in regions without a Fort or Settlement, or for having more than one legion in the same region. This approach means Rome can’t ignore supply, but nor does it really slow the game down, and we’re pretty happy with it as a way to handle supply in a game of this kind.

+1 Tension in the Catuvellauni & Dobunni regions.

The Events deck is the system through which we make the play space dynamic through the shifting totals and locations of British Tension pieces. Some of these changes affect player factions – the faction leaders themselves don’t always get to control when their support increases or dissipates. Some of these changes affect non-player British tribes. Although this game models three major British tribes and gives players the chance to control them, there were numerous other British tribes of note in this century, and we model them too. We have a non-playable conglomerate ‘faction’ we call ‘Other Britons’. These tribes can grow and shrink in power over the course of the game, and they can be influenced to join alliances with the players’ factions. (We know that the Trinovantes tribe joined Boudica’s rebellion, and we also know that Rome also tussled with the Ordovices tribe in what today is northeast Wales – so this allows us to reflect on this part of the history too.) Rome loses VP if any British tribe (including the conglomerate faction of ‘Other Britons’) cannot place a Tension marker when either an Events card or their own card requires it. This represents Rome’s compulsion to keep the Britons in check – if there’s too much Tension in Britannia then Rome is failing at its overall task of suppression. This maintains pressure on Rome to keep the situation in check. It also incentivizes the Britons to keep agitating and to make life difficult for Rome.

The color of the Tension (the owning faction) is determined by the region itself. Either that region will belong to a player or it won’t. If it belongs to a player that player receives a Tension token they can use. If the region doesn’t belong to a player it uses the color corresponding to the color of the region’s outline.

Add a Culture Token to the region…

This links to the Culture Token system mentioned in a previous blog post. The Culture token will either represent Agriculture, Crafts, Ceremony, or Trade.

This Event card has three effects:

• The British tribe with the most Ceremony tokens at the end of the game scores an additional +2VP.
• +1 Tension in Mona.
• If a Settlement has been built in Eboracum, Rome may immediately place a Fort in Parisi.

The first effect incentivizes Rome to destroy the druids. From the historical record this appears to have been a concern in Roman strategic thinking, and so long as the power of the druids remains it provides some sustenance to British tribes, especially those with a concern for the promotion of ceremonial sites and customs.

The second effect is tied to a system in the game that maintains British Tension throughout the game un-connected to player agency. So, regardless of what any of the players (any of the factions) do Tension usually surfaces somewhere on the board, maintaining pressure on Rome to address it, and gifting British factions the opportunity to leverage this Tension for their own ends – either to just siphon off Roman military pressure, or perhaps to leverage the Tension in some other way – perhaps transforming the Tension into Warbands and then using that piece in battle.

The third effect represents the effect of momentum building as Rome’s mastery of Britannia expands, success breeding success from Rome’s perspective.

This Event card has three effects:

• -1 Tension from each region bordering the region in which Rome initiates a battle this turn.
• +1 Tension in Cantiaci & Trinovantes regions.
• If Cartimandua is the leader of the Brigantes, Venutius rebels and replaces her.

The first effect represents the effect of a Roman military victory, here cowering local British tribes causing Tension to dissipate – emphatic defeats to the seemingly unbeatable Roman legions will do that as word spreads.

The second effect is another use of the system that generates British Tension – Rome almost always has work to do somewhere. Most Event cards have an effect that causes British Tension to occur in at least one or two regions.

The third effect causes the Brigantes player (if there is one) to switch leaders, from Cartimandua to Venutius. The Event deck is the system through which we control the timing of the switch in faction leadership, and if that switch occurs at all or not during the game. This switch in leadership will have a significant effect on the way the player controlling the Brigantes may wish to play out the rest of the game. To explain this, though, we need to look at leaders, which is the topic of the next blog post.

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