For the very first time in the COIN series, in Pendragon: The Fall of Roman Britain, you will be able to take control and use for your own the pieces of another faction… How so? Through the very unique feature of Foederati, that typical Late Roman practice of hiring potential or even erstwhile enemies in exchange for land or subsidies. Let us explore this further:
In this article I will write about the specific activities that take place during the Propaganda Rounds in Colonial Twilight, and about the various Pivotal Events that players can execute during the game.
Colonial Twilight has three scenarios: Full, Medium and Short, consisting of 5, 4 and 3 Propaganda Rounds respectively. Like other COIN system games, in preparing the deck for play, one Propaganda Card is shuffled into each group of 12 Event Cards, so the run of cards between two Propaganda Rounds (the “campaignâ€) can be (but likely won’t be) up to 24 cards.
The fourth and fifth centuries AD were ones of widespread violence in Western Europe as the old Roman imperial structure buckled down under internal tensions and external barbarian pressure. Whether as a result of raids, or as a product of direct military confrontations between rival powers, there will be a lot of battles in Pendragon: The Fall of Roman Britain, and we are now going to have a look at how these work.
In this article I will write about the menus of Operations and Special Activities available to the two factions in Colonial Twilight: the Government, representing both local Algerian and metropolitan French authorities; and the political and armed fighters of the Fronte de Liberation Nationale (FLN), the insurgent force.
You may wish to refer to the previous two posts on the game, which explain the major differences and features of the game, and the forces and structures that meet in conflict within the game.
As we examined in the previous volume of these Chronicles, raiding is an important feature of the period covered by Pendragon: The Fall of Roman Britain. As a consequence, if you are playing a Briton faction, you better be prepared to suffer significant harm and desolation from marauding raiders. But that does not mean you are helpless in trying to mitigate, punish, or even deter these depredations, as you are going to see forthwith.
Possibly the most characteristic feature of Pendragon: The Fall of Roman Britain is the importance of raiding and counter-raider warfare: no matter what approach you adopt, you are going to undertake (if you play a Barbarian faction) or suffer (if you are playing a Briton faction) a lot of raids, so let’s start with raiding. We will talk of counter-raider warfare in the next installment of these Chronicles.
Here is a look at why we thought Falling Sky deserved an Ariovistus expansion, what comes in the package, and how we chose what to include. (Quotations from Caesar’s Gallic War are translations by Carolyn Hammond, Oxford University Press.)
What are the forces in the game and what is their structure?
Colonial Twilight has a total of 91 wooden pieces representing the various forces available to both sides. They are divided into the following types:
Government (total 46 pieces)
FLN (total 45 pieces)
The following gives some more background on what each force type is meant to represent from history, and how it works in the game.
Pendragon: The Fall of Roman Britain, Volume VIII of the COIN Series, presents a number of unique elements compared to its forebears, starting with not portraying a COunter-INsurgency at all! We are going to present the game and how it brings some exciting new stuff to the COIN family in this series of Chronicles over the coming months as we are busy polishing the game for release next year. On Gene’s suggestion, we figured we should start by telling you how Pendragon came to be…
“A game design is never finished, only published.”
Hello COIN Series fans! On the basis of recent tournament experience with Fire in the Lake and how some players are reacting to the US Faction mechanics, we have been noodling various modifications to the US Faction, particularly for tournament play of the Short scenario. Also, we are trying out changes to a small number of Event cards.
Here are a set of optional changes presented for your consideration, with a few comments about why so. We invite your feedback here, as we will use that as we consider what subset of these changes we might incorporate into the next printing of the game, currently on P500. Thanks!
