Barbarians at the Gates - The Return

Armed with new knowledge we started playing this game again.  It was going as per usual (Barbarians in the ascendance) until an unfortunate sequence of die rolls saw the Usurper Emperor eliminated and order restored.  The Loyalists had been down to 8 VPs and were going down fast, but this turned around and the are now slightly above their starting position.  Still a long was to go. 

Richard, the Loyalist player, has provided the following strategy discussion and AAR of the turns played with the caveat that he stopped taking notes after turn A (which along with turn B are the pre invasion turns).

Barbarians at the Gates - The Empire Strikes Back!

With multiple plays, a seemingly game winning strategy had emerged for the Barbarian player involving raiding early and raiding at every opportunity to inflict mortal damage on the Romans through the gaining of plunder and loss of provincial control (Ed: which all reduce the Loyalist's VPs). Something new and radical had to be tried to unsettle this strategy as well as combat the ever present Usurper threat.

Normally high 3 Ops value cards are saved for moving leaders around and engaging other forces or for playing of their events. They can also,however, be used to generate reinforcements in the form of 2 CUs or a CU and a Castra fortification.

Fortifications provide important benefits, particularly against raiders, as raiders are not allowed to conduct sieges and cannot remain in an enemy controlled space, such as is afforded by castra. Whilst not stopping raiding through the area occupied by the castra, they prevent plunder being taken and crucially prevent change of control, which is important in determining provincial control at the end of the turn.

The new mantra for the Romans was therefore, Fode Victoriae or Dig for Victory! It certainly felt counter intuitive, but the Romans built 6 extra castra, 3 in Gallia Lugdenensis, 1 in Italia Annonensis, 1 in Hispanae and 1 in Illyricum over the course of the first 5 turns.

In addition to fortifications, 1 and 2 CUs were billeted into the countryside to ensure that raiders were at least forced into combat as they raided, as well as providing a garrison to ensure provincial control and limiting raiding routes.

One of the problems with this strategy for this game was that we had discussed this as the option to try, so the Barbarian player knew what was coming.

How did the Romans fair using this strategy?

It is hard to say with any certainty as there was a fairly dramatic and far reaching event that had a material effect on the course of the game.

Other than the first couple of impulses, the first two "pre-turns" or the Successor Strife era representing a Roman Civil War preceding the Barbarian invasion proceeded unlike any of the previous games in that both sides eschewed battle in the civil war. The game opened predictably enough, with the Barbarian player, who takes the first turn, immediately playing the "Trouble on All Borders" card which gave 3 Ops for raiding and doubled all plunder gains. The result was 20 points worth of plunder which translates to a loss of 2 VPs from the Roman starting score of 12 and a further loss of 1 VP due to having less than 7 provinces under control.  With a quarter of starting VPs already lost on turn A, was it to be a repeat of all the previous games? Perhaps, but maybe not....

After the first 2 impulses of raiding, opportunities for raiding suddenly dried up. The Loyalist flipped back control of Italia Annonensis with play of the "Faithless Subordinate" card, leaving the Usurpers with forces in Africa and their Emperor in Illyricum. With Loyalist forces widely dispersed in garrisons, and the Loyalist Emperor in Durocortorum, there seemed to be rich pickings for the Usurper Emperor Constans II who marched across the map, mopping up individual garrisons with a view to opening these areas up for raiding opportunities. A foray by Constans II into Gallia Viennensis with a view to further damage came unstuck in dramatic fashion after he failed an avoid combat roll and was then brought to battle by Bauto who played the "Traitor's Head" card giving a +3DRM in the ensuing battle. Constans II's force was wiped out at Narbo and he was permanently eliminated thus ending the civil war early in the first pre-turn. The Barbarian player claimed to have a whole series of cards and events to play which would have caused the Loyalists a lot of problems had things gone differently, however, it was not to be. (Ed: I did, what was possibly a winning hand.  The loss of the Usurper Emperor returning all usurped provinces to the Loyalist which was a double whammy as it would then start giving them extra VPs)

With raiding opportunities stifled, the Usurper threat eliminated and no Barbarian invasions, the Romans were able to continue building fortifications and garrisoning the countryside relatively unmolested in pre-turn B. The remaining action in the second pre-turn moved to Britannae where the Picts had massed in forced, breached Hadrian's wall and ran amok in the British countryside gaining plunder as they went. Importantly though, the Romans were able to hang on to control of 9 provinces, thus gaining 2 VPs.

Turn 1 saw the Jute invasion and subsequent raid into both Hispanae  and Gallia Lugdenensis with gains due to plunder, however, there was by now a substantial garrison in place and importantly control over these provinces remained in Loyalist hands due to the heavy presence of castra and garrison forces, denying barbarian control.

Turn 1 also saw the Allemani tribe invading, however, they were surrounded at Argentorate when the Romans played Major campaign which allows the activation of 3 leaders in a single impulse. Surrounding them meant that they were unable to migrate in the migration phase, leading to the permanent elimination of the tribe and leader. The sizeable, but leaderless Barbarian CUs left behind were later mercilessly cut down early in Turn 2 by the Romans to the cries of "For Varus". To add insult to injury the Romans played the "Roman Rejuvenation" card and gained a further VP after the battle.

Turn 1 saw a cagey Roman Emperor make sure that he kept a very close watch on any potential rivals and kept his generals at close quarters, stacking with them and thus making them ineligible for targeting as Usurpers. This meant that Usurpation opportunities were limited and so the Barbarian player plumped for Britannae. The Roman player had anticipated this and played the Arbogastus leader reinforcement card into Britannae, in addition to Magnentius, to ensure that there could at least be a toehold left in the event that this province was targeted for Usurpation. Sure enough, just as Arbogastus had beaten down the Pictish threat he was usurped and control of Britannae was lost to the Loyalist. Despite the loss of Britannae, a further Roman VP was gained as 8 provinces were loyalist controlled at the end of the turn

Barbarian invasions kept coming in turn 2 with the Franks, Visigoths and Vandals all making their way from Germania. The Franks started a siege of Augusta Trevororum in Gallia Belgica, but the garrison was relieved  towards the end of the turn and the Franks were rebuffed and retreated into Germania. The Jutes migrated to Hispanae in turn 2.

The Romans were desperate to regain control of Britannae so they could play the "Eagles Leave Britain" card and introduced the Briton tribe as a loyalist controlled tribe in control of the province. This needed play of the "Flavius Claudius Constantinus" card which flipped control of Londinium to loyalist and the next impulse saw "Eagles Leave Britain" played for a short lived regaining of the province as the Barbarian player then immediately played the "Revolt against Rome" card and promptly flipped them to Barbarian control, flipping the control of Britannae away from the loyalist once again. With a reasonably sized Usurper force reinforced in Britannae and nothing to do there, Arbogastus conducted a naval invasion into Brigantium on the coast of Hispanae, easily overwhelming the garrison and presenting a thorn in the side of the Loyalists, who despite losing that space as well as other spaces from earlier Jute raiding, maintained control over the province due to garrisons in key towns and spaces. This Usurper force will nevertheless be in a position to cause problems in the coming turns.

Other than the loss of Britannae, with the extra castra and garrisons in place, raiding opportunities dried up and provincial control was stable with the Romans gaining a further VP and suffering no losses, advancing the VP total to 13, one ahead of the total at the start of the game.

Whilst encouraging for the Romans at this stage there is a long way to go and there are numerous threats brewing. The Vandals under Gunderic are already at Virunum in Illyricum in substantial force, similarly the Ostrogoths under Aleric are at  Versontio in Gallia Lugdunum. The Franks are licking their wounds in Teutoberger Wald ready for another onslaught into Gallia Belgica and there is a substantial Usurper force in Hispanae under Arbogastus. Although the castra and garrisoning strategy has given some initial stability, with forces widely dispersed the Romans may need to give consideration to offering resettlement early to either or both of the Vandals and Ostrogoths as it will be difficult to stop these tribes as they get stronger each turn. There doesn't seem to be a way back for Britannae, so the Romans are on the knife edge for Provincial control and the threat of further Usurpation represents a constant challenge.