Starting Out With Dux Britanniarum

Well, I have my first game of Dux Britanniarum on Monday evening and I must say that I am really looking forward to it! It does look as though it's going to be a great system to play!!

Here are a few pictures of what I will be using for this first game.

Below is the starter warband that each Romano-Britsih player has for the beginning of a campaign. I must say it is great to be able to start with a new set of rules and have models already painted - a luxury that is all too alien to us here at Geetarhero Towerz!! Anyway, the models are obviously from my WAB armies. At the back we have, from left to right:

2 groups of 'warriors' or 'milites, as us Romano-Brits call 'em. These are the standard fighting warrior of the age. They are mostly unarmoured, but all have helmets. This differentiates them from the other models in the army. In the centre are the elite hearthguard, called 'commanipulares'. These are fuly armed and armoured and I have chosen to use, surprise surprise, models from my WAB commanipulares unit, the red and white shields making them stand out well and truly from all other fighters in my force. Sadly, us Romano-Brits only get one group of these kick-ass fighters in our starting force! At the back right we have 3 groups of Levy, who are basically pretty crap! The Saxons don't get any of these, obviously, having an additional group of each of warriors and elites compared to us Brits...Bloody barbarians...think they are all so bloomin' hard 'n that!!  In front of the levy is  a group of missile troops. In the front centre are the heroes.

Below, a close up of the heroes. These are a Tribune (chap in the posh purple cloak - clearly wants to be thought of as Imperator!), with his Champion behind his right shoulder. Next to them are two Decurios, minor nobles who'll lead the units into battle.

Below, a close up of the Commanipulares. You'll note that each group of formed troops consists of 6 models. The movement tray is by Warbases...they did them specially for me as their stock ones have round holes. Great service too...I highly recommend them to all of you.

 Below, the Milites...

 ...And the levy...

 ...And the archers. Missile troops onl;y come in groups of 4 and won't impact too much on the game as a whole, I'm guessing.

Below are 4 shieldwall markers. I'll use these to help remind myself when my troops go into shieldwall, as I have a brain like a sieve and would otherwise forget!! I do the same when playing WAB!!!

In Dux Britanniarum, units gain 'shock' as they fight combats, get shot at, or move through tough terrain, etc. Keeping track of this is crucial in the game, so I made myself some shock markers using various Dark Age casualty models I had in my bits box, plus some casualty marker bases from Warbases. Pics of each one below. I painted these in 4 evenings this week, using the 'white undercoat, bright neat basecoats, Army Painter dip, one highlight with the original basecoat, Testors Dullcote' approach. I think they look pretty darn good and sit alongside my 3-layered army pretty well! They will also come in handy when playing Dan Mersey's Dux Bellorum as well, so two birds killed with one stone there!

And that's the lot ready for Monday!

I hope that you have enjoyed this brief glimpse into my initial force and resources for Dux Britanniarum. I am now going away to create some character profiles for my heroes ready for setting off on the campaign trail. Whether Mike and I will do that Monday or just play a practice game, I don't yet know. Whatever happens, I hope to take pics and write a report following Monday's game, so tune in next week to check that out.

Cheers

Andy