Manage an emperor ruling the Han or
Kushan empire. Features deckbuilding,
a push-your-luck action system and
unique battle board combat resolution.



In a new nation surrounded by
enemies and debt, you're the president.
Can you survive?
Spotlight on Games > War Games > Ludographies
Britannia-style Games
added Chronicles of Japan (2024)
24 September 2024

The "Britannia-style" games are listed in order of publication.
Following that is a list of unpublished designs.

Contents
Introduction
Ancient Conquest (1975)
Ancient Conquest II (1978)
Britannia (1986)
Peninsula Italica (1993)
Maharaja (1994)
Hispania (1994)
Kampf um Rom (1995)
Chariot Lords (1999)
Vinci (1999)
Rus' (2000)
Kings & Castles (2000)
Dark Continent (2001)
Hegemonia (2004)
The Dragon and the Pearl (2004)
Britannia, second edition (2005)
Italia (2006)
China: The Middle Kingdom (2008)
Small World (2009)
Reconquista! (2013)
Conquest Europa (2014)
Corsica (2015)
Duel Britannia (2020)
Invasions: Volume 1 – 350-650 AD (2020)
Corsica (2021)
Roma aeterna (2022)
Chronicles of Japan (2024)
Mediterranea
Fertile Crescent
"Israel Britannia"
Eurannia
Mandate of Heaven
Dark Ages
Mesopotamia
Invasions
"History of the British Isles" (Mega-Brit)
Caledonia
Iberia
Albion
Byzantium
Hy Breasil
Italy
Italy
Romania
Empires in Ancient America
Frankia
Introduction
"Britannia-style" games consist of these general features:

This may be a rough definition and not all of the games will include all features. Admittedly, Britannia was not the first in the field, but does seem to be the best known, the most popular and the most direct inspiration for most of what has followed. For this, all due credit and praise should be heaped on Britannia's inventor, Lew Pulsipher (see his book on games).

Ancient Conquest
Biblical
R.J. Hlavnicka; Excalibre; 1975
Every phenomenon of any size must have its precursors; perhaps that's what this game and the next are for the Britannia-style game.
Not area-, but hex-based with counters that contain combat and movement points. All of a player's nations are played together and can even combine in defense, thought not in attack. There is no economic mechanism, so no new pieces are received as a result of occupation, only scheduled reinforcements. times. Many of the point goals are for taking cities. There is no stacking except in cities. The only other way to score points is to destroy enemy combat factors.

Ancient Conquest II
Biblical with extensions to include Persians and Greeks through Alexander
R.J. Hlavnicka and Dennis P. O'Leary; Excalibre; 1978

Britannia
British isles from the Romans to the Normans
Lew Pulsipher; Gibson Games-1986?/Avalon Hill-1986/Welt der Spiele-1991; 3-5 (4 optimal)
Recent studies such as Britain After Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070 by Robin Fleming tell us that the traditional model for the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons is misleading at best. When the Romans left, there was no grand invasion of mighty fleets. Instead, individuals from areas of less vibrant economy came in incredibly small boats, some only big enough to hold one, up to a maximum of about four and moved in. There they settled individually and tried to make a go of it. Sometimes they discovered a Roman villa and explored it, but as if in some post-apocalyptic dream, they did not know how to operate most of what they found there and perhaps only grabbed a souvenir or two. In time many kingdoms arose as those who knew how to seize power did so. There were many more than the seven kingdoms named by Bede – names for at least thirteen are known and there were no doubt many more – and their rulers need not have been Germanic. Indeed, the names of some of the early dynasts are Celtic. Later on, after much agglomeration of territory, kings sought to legitimize their rules with legendary tales of their invasions, a fiction that most still believe today.
Notes Playback

Peninsula Italica
Pre-Roman Italian peninsula
Camelot-1993
Available from
Strategia e Tattica

Maharaja
India from the Aryans to the British
Craig Sandercock; Avalon Hill-1994; 3-4
Pre-Gunpowder Variant

Hispania
Spanish Peninsula from the Carthaginians to the Christian Reconquista
Andreas Steding; Azure Wish-1994; 4
Comparison with Britannia

Kampf um Rom
Rome and invading barbarians
Gerhard Kuhlmann and Hartmut Witt;
Kuhlmann Geschichtsspiele-1995
This is actually two games in one. Germanica is by Hartmut Witt and Huns, Romans, and Germans by Gerhard H. Kuhlmann. Both deal with the barbarian incursions into Rome.

Chariot Lords
Near East from the earliest history up until about 500 BCE.
Charles Vasey;
Clash of Arms-1999
Some differences from the Britannia rules include the following: initial setup is free and counter by counter; order of nations within a turn is random; redeployment phase; mountains count as a double area for movement; leaders do not add to the movement rate; the basic movement rate is three; leaders affect two areas in a round; defender retreats first; maximum number of rounds of combat is fixed (two or three); growth is not based on number of areas owned; units may return from the dead if for each a unit is removed permanently; invaders need not double-stack to overrun; submission rules are generalized; submitted units are not allowed to move.

Vinci
Prehistoric to Medieval Europe
Philippe Keyaerts;
Eurogames/Descartes Deutschland-1999; 2-6
Europe is divided into vague and unnamed territories of different types: Agriculture I, Agriculture II, Forest, Mountain and miscellaneous. Some territories also have a port or mining abilities. Civilizations are represented by randomly drawn pairs of counters of various kinds: military, resource, miscellaneous which are drafted by each player. The player then takes a number of tokens based on the number of players and red numbers on the counters which basically fixes the civilization size for its life. Civilizations begin from an edge of the map and move into adjacent territories. There are no dice. Conquest requires a number of tokens depending on the number of defenders and variations caused by terrain and special abilities. When after a few turns the civilization size has dwindled one usually decides to let it "go into decline". This turn, it does not move by the player chooses a new civilization. "Decline" counters are placed on the existing territories leaving only one token each to still earn points. And so on. Normally one plays two, three or four civilizations during the course of a game.

Rus'
Russian early and medieval history
Randy Moorehead;
Simulations Workshop-2000; 4
1700 years of Russian history, from the demise of the Scythians to the death of Ivan the Terrible. Players lead Huns, Goths, Mongols and other groups that ravaged ancient and medieval Russia, as well as the great city-states of Kiev, Novgorod, and Moscow. Alexander Nevsky battles the Teutonic Knights, the Mongols seek to destroy all in their path...

Kings & Castles
Medieval Britain
Gary Dicken, Phillip Kendall and Steve Kendall;
Ragnar Brothers-2000; 3-4
Game on England and her conquests for up to four by the inventors of History of the World. Sides are represented by individual kings and entirely decided by draft before play even begins. Kings vary by the amount of extra force they add and in their primary spheres of activity. Play itself is diceless (and thus reminiscent of Vinci), the core of the combat system being a rather strange and unique form of arithmetic. The active player's forces must defeat the inactive defenders by the minimum possible amount – pieces are rated at value 1, 2 or 3 – but then only the strongest of these invaders remains. The other unusual mechanism is that over the entire course only twenty-five percent of one's forces are guaranteed to be one's own. The rest are drawn from a bag and may be one's own, but are also often the forces of other players, rebellious indigenous groups or mercenaries usable with any of the above. (There are also three levels of fortification.) The need for a player to clear out his force pool for the next set of forces means often going through unusual gymnastics. For example, he may use other player forces to conquer rebels, then use rebels to conquer them back and finally use his own forces to conquer the rebels. The other unusual feature is that in a four-player game, each player has only six turns and only on half of them may he declare scoring (which occurs for all players). Just as in their previous game, the board is no board at all, but printed on a folded cloth.

Dark Continent
Nineteenth-century Africa
Peter Schutze and Lloyd Krassner; Schutze Games;
2001; 2-4
Players take on the roles of rival European-based powers expanding their influence and control into Africa during the nineteenth century.

Hegemonia
Ancient Greeks
Sven Andressen; City-of-Games-2004; 3-5 (4 optimal)
From Agamemnon and Troy to the wars of Athens/Sparta and Persia, then Alexander the Great and right up through Hannibal and the Roman conquest of the entire known world. Simulating 1600 to 146 BCE in 16 rounds to last about 5 hours. Includes 36 pages of rules, 60x60 cm board, 16 cards, 298 pieces, 5 dice, scoring track, etc. Games are made on demand for 35 Euro + packing and shipping. In German.

The Dragon and the Pearl
Ancient and Medieval China
Thom Richardson;
Spirit Games-2004; 4
Chinese history from 200-1300 (Han Dynasty to Mongols?). Desktop-published game includes some 200 plastic counters in 4 colours with stickers, color map on heavy paper and two pages of rules. Shipped in a roll without container. Unlike Britannia, does not use special victory point awards for each particular group. More at Andrew Parkin's site

Britannia, second edition
British isles from the Romans to the Normans
Lew Pulsipher; Fantasy Flight Games-2005; 3-5 (4 optimal)
Combines together all the different versions of the rules and adds a method for distributing nations that will provide greater variety in the 3- and 5-player games (optionally also in the 4-player). More at Lew Pulsipher site

"Myths of British Ancestry" by Stephen Oppenheimer is a fascinating article on the early peopling of Britain, mentioning for example that Germanic languages were probably spoken there much earlier than previously thought and also the Norwegian invasions of the isles prior to the Romans. Obviously this game needs a prequel.

Italia
Italian Peninsula from the 400 BCE sack of Rome to 1080
Andreas Steding; Phalanx Games; 2006
The history of the Italian peninsula, Roman Africa and Illyricum from the foundation of Rome to the consolidation of Julius Caesar in the first scenario and in the second, from the invasions of the Visigoths to the consolidation of Charlemagne.
Published in October at the Essen Game Fair.

China: The Middle Kingdom
China: Warring States to modern
Tani Chen;
Decision Games-2008; 4
There are 400 army pieces, are used in 24 game turns, each a century long, starting from 403 BCE. Important aspects impinging on play are mountains, emperors, heroes, new inventions, rebellions, barbarian invasions, diplomacy and the Great Wall. Growth of each nation depends on the amount and nature of the territory it owns.

Small World
Fantasy
Philippe Keyaerts; Days of Wonder/Edge Entertainment-2009; 2-5
Re-make of
Vinci, now as a game of giants, dwarves, elves, orcs, amazons and wizards. Includes 14 races and 20 special powers.

Reconquista!
The Struggle for Iberia, 850-1250 CE
Javier Romero; Decision Games-2013; 1-3
Includes 200+ counters representing Andalusians, North African yihadist forces (Almohades and Almoravides), Frankish, Catalan, Aragonese, Asturias/Leon, Castilians, Portuguese, Military Orders (Templars, Santiago, etc.) and Christian Crusaders. Published in issue #279 of Strategy & Tactics magazine (January 2013).

Conquest Europa
Europe 400-1480
Roger Heyworth; (print and play)-2014; 6
The game includes 41 nations and covers from the collapse of the Western Empire to Joan of Arc. Playing time is about ten hours with rules based on Britannia rules. Includes two pages of special rules mainly for enhanced movement and fighting; submission and revolt; sacking Rome; "fight as they move" (to simulate the conquests of Attila, Genghis Khan, etc.); etc.

Corsica
The Invasions of Corsica, 556 BCE-1796
Brett Ludsen; (Web published)-2015; 2-4
The sixteen rounds see the maneuverings of autochthonous Corsican Ancient tribes (3 per player), Greeks, Carthaginians, Etruscans, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Saracens, Lombards, Franks, Aragonse, Papal States, Pisans, Tuscans, Genoese, modern Corse people (2 different factions), Ottomans, English and French. There is also an expansion that adds the World War II conflict.

Duel Britannia
Lew Pulsipher; PSC Games-2020; 2
Two-player version for faster play that includes over 200 plastic miniatures.

Invasions: Volume 1 – 350-650
Philippe Thibaut; Wisdom Owl-2020; 2-4
Twelve turns of German invasions of the Roman empire and related. The map stretches from Ireland to the Kushans. This is more like the system on steroids. Novelties include

  • event cards
  • separate military and non-military units
  • statue of barbarian, kingdom or empire
  • ageing of entities
  • much more elaborate rules for submission
    and so on.

    Corsica
    The Invasions of Corsica, 556 BCE-1796
    Ruben J. Navarro; Wisdom Owl-2021; 2-4
    The sixteen rounds see the maneuverings of autochthonous Corsican Ancient tribes (3 per player), Greeks, Carthaginians, Etruscans, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Saracens, Lombards, Franks, Aragonse, Papal States, Pisans, Tuscans, Genoese, modern Corse people (2 different factions), Ottomans, English and French. There is also an expansion that adds the World War II conflict.

    Roma aeterna
    Italian peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, 290 BCE-1140
    Guenther Ganster & Stefan Volz; Ars Strategica-2022; 4
    Little is known so far, but play continues over sixteen turns, requiring four to six hours. Some of the nations include Alemanni, Byzantines, Carthaginians, Gauls, Goths, Greeks, Huns, Illyrians, Lombards, Normans, Pompeiians, Romans and Vandals.

    Chronicles of Japan
    Japan, from the Yamatai to the Meiji Restoration.
    Game Journal-2024; 3-4
    Decide whether the Yamatai should be located in Kyushu, the Kinai region, in your hometown, or in the unexpectedly unexplored region of Ezo.


    The Unpublished:
    (so far)

    Mediterranea
    Mediterranean Basin and Britain: 400 to 1100
    David Bofinger; unpublished-2001; 4
    Shorter scenarios include "Decline and Fall" (of the Western Roman Empire), "Heirs to the Empire" (German successor states), "Jihad" (rise of Islam), and "The End of the World" (millennial).

    Fertile Crescent
    Biblical
    John Strand; unpublished

    "Israel Britannia"
    Biblical
    Unpublished design which J.C. Connors reports was submitted to Avalon Hill during the latter days of its ownership by the Dotts. Apparently it even included an "Ark of the Covenant" piece. This may be the same as Fertile Crescent or Chariot Lords above.

    Eurannia
    Europe: Scythians to 18th century
    Ralf van der Post; unpublished-c. 1995; 4-6
    The game has a playing time of probably more than twelve hours.

    Mandate of Heaven
    China: Han Dynasty to modern
    Philip Jelley; unpublished; 4
    Playtesting is occurring online; details at
    https://groups.yahoo.com/group/MandateH

    Barbaria
    Fall of Rome to the Mongol invasion of Europe
    Lew Pulsipher; unpublished
    "Successor to Britannia." Formerly called Dark Ages.
    More at
    Lew Pulsipher site

    Mesopotamia
    Near Eastern history, 2600 BCE to 500BCE, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Armenia, and Egypt
    Lew Pulsipher; unpublished
    More at
    Lew Pulsipher site

    Invasions
    British Isles and Ireland
    Lew Pulsipher; unpublished
    Covers the same period as Britannia adding Ireland and subtracting much of the scoring. Battle cards replace dice and plastic figures the counters. More at
    Lew Pulsipher site

    "History of the British Isles"TM (Mega-Brit)
    British Isles and Ireland
    Lew Pulsipher; unpublished
    This is "8 hour Britannia" (including Ireland). There are more nations and more areas. More at
    Lew Pulsipher site

    Caledonia
    Scotland
    Lew Pulsipher; unpublished
    Scottish history from the Romans to Norwegian king Magnus Barelegs. More at
    Lew Pulsipher site

    Iberia
    Iberian peninsula
    Lew Pulsipher; unpublished
    Presumably similar to Hispania (see above). More at
    Lew Pulsipher site

    Albion
    Britain
    Torben Mogensen; unpublished

    Byzantium
    Byzantium
    Simon Bullock; unpublished
    Starting in 360, it ends 14 turns later with Murad II taking Constantinople. It accommodates 4 players each controlling 4-5 nations, plus an extra 10 or so nations assigned randomly at the beginning of the game. Included are (player 1) Byzantines, Mongols, First Crusaders, Catalans; (player 2) Goths, Bulgars, Lombards, Venetians, Ottomans; (player 3) Persian, Vandals, Franks, Russians, Seljuks; (player 4) Huns, Saracens, Normans, Magyars. Randomly assigned are Sarmatians, Serbs, Croatians, Genoese, Avars, Slavs, Cumans, Uz, Karamans.

    Hy Breasil
    Fantasy
    Torben Mogensen; unpublished

    Italy
    Italian history
    David Bofinger; unpublished

    Italy
    Italian history
    Lew Pulsipher; unpublished

    Romania
    Romania
    Torben Mogensen; unpublished

    Empires in Ancient America
    North America
    Pete Belli; unpublished
    to cover the period from 500 BCE to 1500.

    Frankia
    French history
    (unknown); Decision Games; unpublished; 3-4
    Uses a shortened, simplified version of the systems. There are three scenarios:

  • Merovingian Rise, 406-843
  • Carolingian Collapse, 843-1215
  • Rise of the Nation-state, 1215-

    Spotlight on Games > War Games > Ludographies


    spotlightongames.com