Something I've been considering recently is an ancients Mediterranean campaign focused on the rise (or fall) of Rome. The timeframe is 228 BC to 168 BC (Gallic incursions and start of Second Punic War through to the end of the Third Macedonian War), with campaign rules based upon John Graham-Leigh's "Simple Campaigning" booklet published by the Society of Ancients.
Turns will span four years, with various attendant actions per turn decided by die roll, and played out on the wargames table.
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| Situation at 228 BC |
There are five major powers (green being Seleucids) plus minor powers that will change depending upon the turn in question.
I envisaged it as a solo campaign with Rome at the centre, but the quantity of battles is potentially daunting. Thankfully, a number of SoA members have kindly agreed to involvement with resolving these, so it looks as though we will be able to make a start and see how we go.
This turn's actions so far constitute a grappling between Ptolemy and Seleucus over Phoenicia and an attack by the Gauls upon Italia.
Events will be updated here as they progress.
Any blog-readers not in the SoA who might be interested in playing out battles (under rules of your choice, and including solo play), please feel free to drop me a line at prufrock DOT japan AT gmail DOT com
Cheers all!
Campaign updates:
Battle of Anthedon 228 BCBattle of Clanis River 228 BC
Battle of Raphia 224 BC
Battle of the Sacred Grove c.223 BC (someone *ahem, me* counted BC the wrong way round; exact date is now confirmed!)
Battles of Heraclea Lyncestis and Emporiae 219 and 218 BC
Attack on Sinope 216 BC
That's a coincidence as I played recently a DBA campaign in the Mediterranean Sea : https://javieratwar.blogspot.com/2025/04/dba-campaign-in-mediterranean-sea.html
ReplyDeleteI live your map very much Aaron.
Excellent Javier, I guess that is why DBA is such a popular rules set - you can manage an entire campaign a\in just one day! Very nicely done.
DeleteThank you Aaron! I think we will play different theatres after the Mediterranean area, but I may ask for it later. Cheers,
DeleteLooks great and I have armies for all of the contestants myself!
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter - if the mood ever take you to run a battle, it would be great to have you involved!
DeleteCheers Emperor Aaronius,
ReplyDeleteFollowing this with some interest, as time and events permit. By my simple math(s), there will be 15 battles fought, recorded, and presented. Have you an estimate on the time line or window for the completion of this effort? While it might mean extra work, are you thinking about something (a summary or other assessment) for submission to Slingshot? Do you have a number of these campaign games/battles that you want to play?
Cheers,
Chris
Hello Chris, Proconsul of the Americas, I think I will wait and see before I make any rash promises!
DeleteAmazing Aaron! Looks like you've been busy and I've been under a rock and been missing it! Hopefully I'll get a chance to follow more closely. I've been back and forth with campaign ideas but think I'm settling for one based on Jeff Jonas' Campaign map from WSS and having a more Engle's Matrix esque feel.
ReplyDeleteYou've been busy too, Tony! Will be interested to see how you get on with your campaign. I quite like Matrix games.
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