Turn 1.....Exciting times

Just received my opening turn for the new game, how  exciting!

Must admit for someone who generally feels rather lost by the whole world of AGEMA and the other games i play(GoK) i am totally unsure of what i'm going to do first !!!!  was hoping for a little more to work with in my turn pack but think that is due to my lack of knowledge and experience !!

Has everyone got their ideas in place ?!? who are you planning to put on a spike first !?!?!

I think we're all in the same boat

Timing is perfect however as heavy rain means my plans to do some outside DIY today have been cancelled

Playing one of the northern positions beyond the heel of Rome, just reading through the rules and working out how they apply to me. My first thought though is I ought to build a hillfort to serve as a capital...

I've not even dared to open the rules yet!!!

Briskly read the newspaper! Was trying to get my game 10 GoK turn in!!!! It may be late!!!

I did a quick skim-read of both, now doing the more in-depth reading of them

looking forward to see how this goes please post results or if you want a seperate thread for you let me know

game 8 and rome arrived at the same time. Way too much for one day!

@ Deacon. It was like No9 bus, all came at once.

Luckily public holiday in Singapore today... gave me a chance to consume & wrap up G10 submission.

Kerensky wrote:@ Deacon. It was like No9 bus, all came at once.

Luckily public holiday in Singapore today... gave me a chance to consume & wrap up G10 submission.

How long does it take for you to complete one turn?

Good Morning, after a long furlough I'm back, tempted by Richard to join Rome is Burning. Not playing anything else at present.

Looking forward to getting my first reply from Agema .... and hoping to meet you all, in game at some point.

All advice welcomed. Please be patient with me.

Welcome Back.

Get the feeling we are all ( maybe some less than others) groping in the Dark with Regards RIB.

Looking forward to getting in touch with you in game.

J Flower wrote:Welcome Back.

Get the feeling we are all ( maybe some less than others) groping in the Dark with Regards RIB.

Looking forward to getting in touch with you in game.

Ref the groping in the Dark with regards RIB I found it handy to look up my character and province on Wiki which seems to have a lot on not very well known Roman's.

I am not saying you have to follow your historic character policy or habits (as was said earlier not all the sources are unbiased!) but it is handy to see who you are linked too and what your province is like:

A few minutes reading on my character showed that I have a wife who's sister is married to the son of another player, my former Legion and who I had served with. Now its possible that that you may well end up hating the in-laws in game or view former commanders as idiots but its a good place to start.

My character started with a initial problem posed by Richard and I was all set to go to the "law" over it. Only on checking my Province I found out Richard may have set a trap in that I would be sueing one of the most import gens (who I view as clans rather than families) in my Home Province, friends and family! Which was clearly not good..... so I am now looking for a out of court settlement, which could involve the 15/16 year old daughter and the 11/12 year old son. Plus a need for both gens to have someone else to blame!

Also found I was a real local born and breed in my province and from a Roman family who had been settled their for hundreds of years. By the time I had finished reading I was totally outraged by the terrible failure to give Latin Rights (Roman Citizenship) to my home province. Historically a injustice righted in five years time but clearly this was a good ambition to start with.

Other Roman leaders in my area may not care as much but clearly if people did want to stand for something rather than play a total opportunist this was a good cause to pick which would also give other players a starting point if they wanted Iberian support for their own policy.

Also after checking up on games, horses, Olives and Spanish Dancers from Gades it is clear that when the members of Roman Legions with links to Hispania retire they are going to want to go home and have their legal problems sorted out. So anyone who Commands one of these Lagions needs to know that if you spit on the hopes and dreams of Hispania and fail to support this ambition you are going to have one unhappy Legion and I hope your sacred chickens are right off their feed! Plus guess were your supplies of Olive oil, horses and most of your steel supplies come from........now about the "Votes for Hispania issie"

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Ref the groping in the Dark with regards RIB I found it handy to look up my character and province on Wiki which seems to have a lot on not very well known Roman's.

May be Mr Watts wrote the wiki entries to confound and send us in circles?

Marshal Bombast wrote:

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Ref the groping in the Dark with regards RIB I found it handy to look up my character and province on Wiki which seems to have a lot on not very well known Roman's.

May be Mr Watts wrote the wiki entries to confound and send us in circles?

Hope that is the case as my boy got a really good write up

As for some of the rest of you.........oh dear, oh dear, oh dear it is really not looking good.

Better hope the hachet job on your character, morals, etc, etc is down to hostile ancient sources you can have amended in game and not down to
Mr Watts.

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Marshal Bombast wrote:

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Ref the groping in the Dark with regards RIB I found it handy to look up my character and province on Wiki which seems to have a lot on not very well known Roman's.

May be Mr Watts wrote the wiki entries to confound and send us in circles?

Hope that is the case as my boy got a really good write up

As for some of the rest of you.........oh dear, oh dear, oh dear it is really not looking good.

Better hope the hachet job on your character, morals, etc, etc is down to hostile ancient sources you can have amended in game and not down to
Mr Watts.

Sadly I think mine are true. Handing people over to Rome only for them to escape smacks of something political that those dastardly Romans would do. They're probably getting ready to conquer my lands when I'm looking the other way.

Marshal Bombast wrote:

Sadly I think mine are true.  Handing people over to Rome only for them to escape smacks of something political that those dastardly Romans would do. They're probably getting ready to conquer my lands when I'm looking the other way.

Worry not.........I am fairly sure that is not how the Roman Empire treats its client Kingdoms.

Basically what is ment to happen is that you borrow large sums of money from Roman Bankers at eye watering rates of interest to build the roads, forums, cities and raise the copy Legions any would be province of the Roman Empire is going to need.

Then when you die you leave your "Kingdom" to the Emperor as a fully working province. Which saves everyone all the hastle of cost involved in Conquest by the Legions.

If you and they are really lucky like Julius Vindex in Gaul your heirs may even get to wear a Toga and enter the Senate

If someone who you sold down the river to win favour with the Emperor is back and making common cause with your ex husband No1 I suspect its only Watts (AKA the Roman Demon of Dice) out to get you.

Have you ever considered as Husband No 3 a Roman with a fair number of Legions and a rough idea of what to do with a Pilum?

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Marshal Bombast wrote:

Sadly I think mine are true.  Handing people over to Rome only for them to escape smacks of something political that those dastardly Romans would do. They're probably getting ready to conquer my lands when I'm looking the other way.

Worry not.........I am fairly sure that is not how the Roman Empire treats its client Kingdoms.

Basically what is ment to happen is that you borrow large sums of money from Roman Bankers at eye watering rates of interest to build the roads, forums, cities and raise the copy Legions any would be province of the Roman Empire is going to need.

Then when you die you leave your "Kingdom" to the Emperor as a fully working province.  Which saves everyone all the hastle of cost involved in Conquest by the Legions.

If you and they are really lucky like Julius Vindex in Gaul your heirs may even get to wear a Toga and enter the Senate

If someone who you sold down the river to win favour with the Emperor is back and making common cause with your ex husband No1 I suspect its only Watts (AKA the Roman Demon of Dice) out to get you.

Have you ever considered as Husband No 3 a Roman with a fair number of Legions and a rough idea of what to do with a Pilum?  

As my in game character is husband No2 I'm hoping the last part doesn't come to pass

I do take it as random, which makes the game interesting. That or Richard wants me to channel Barnaby Bombast's ancestral spirit from the NBII Invasion of Britain campaign, if anyone can remember that.

[quote="Marshal Bombast"][quote="Stuart Bailey"]

Marshal Bombast wrote:

As my in game character is husband No2 I'm hoping the last part doesn't come to pass

I do take it as random, which makes the game interesting. That or Richard wants me to channel Barnaby Bombast's ancestral spirit from the NBII Invasion of Britain campaign, if anyone can remember that.

So basically when Queen Cartimanduan of the Brigantes passes on the Emperor is going to expect the Kingdom to be left to him, while the young stud of a shield bearer husband No2 is going to expect the Kingdom of Greater Yorkshire to be passed to him.

In what way does this make the job of the poor Roman Legate of Upper Britannia any better?

Interestingly I read that Gessius Florus was believed to have been given the job of Procurator of Judea due to the influence of his wife with the Empress.
Which makes you wonder if Mrs Florus was just ambitious for her husband and considered being a Procurator as a important post/premotion without wondering what happen to the last man in the post. Or did she just want her husband out of Rome while she entertained hot young Gladiators?

So what did poor Marcus Trebellius Maximus do to draw Upper Britannia which in 65 AD had recently been trashed by a major revolt and which from Rome probably looks like the unfinished vanity project of the prior Emperor. Probably no one left in Rome who can even recall why the invasion of Britannia was considered a good idea in the first place.

Problem for Rome is that a withdraw will look like a defeat which no Emperor wants on his watch, while trying to finish the prior Governments project is never a popular use of resources the new Government would sooner use on its own vanity projects. Which leaves the whole Roman Invasion rather bogged down somewhere in the Midlands and in the hills of Wales. Which is really not a happy place to be even before you get dragged into family feuds ripping the Yorkshire Chariot Club to bits.

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Marshal Bombast wrote:

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Marshal Bombast wrote:

As my in game character is husband No2 I'm hoping the last part doesn't come to pass

I do take it as random, which makes the game interesting. That or Richard wants me to channel Barnaby Bombast's ancestral spirit from the NBII Invasion of Britain campaign, if anyone can remember that.

So basically when Queen Cartimanduan of the Brigantes passes on the Emperor is going to expect the Kingdom to be left to him, while the young stud of a shield bearer husband No2 is going to expect the Kingdom of Greater Yorkshire to be passed to him.

In what way does this make the job of the poor Roman Legate of Upper Britannia any better?

Interestingly I read that Gessius Florus was believed to have been given the job of Procurator of Judea due to the influence of his wife with the Empress.
Which makes you wonder if Mrs Florus was just ambitious for her husband and considered being a Procurator as a important post/premotion without wondering what happen to the last man in the post.  Or did she just want her husband out of Rome while she entertained hot young Gladiators?

So what did poor Marcus Trebellius Maximus do to draw Upper Britannia which in 65 AD had recently been trashed by a major revolt and which from Rome probably looks like the unfinished vanity project of the prior Emperor.  Probably no one left in Rome who can even recall why the invasion of Britannia was considered a good idea in the first place.

Problem for Rome is that a withdraw will look like a defeat which no Emperor wants on his watch, while trying to finish the prior Governments project is never a popular use of resources the new Government would sooner use on its own vanity projects.  Which leaves the whole Roman Invasion rather bogged down somewhere in the Midlands and in the hills of Wales.  Which is really not a happy place to be even before you get dragged into family feuds ripping the Yorkshire Chariot Club to bits.

Given that I suspect Rome is stitching up the Upper Britannia Legate too. Who'd want the job with that write up along with the cold and damp and not even a wall to hide behind from the wind.

Who would want the job of Roman Legate of Upper Britannia????????!

What about someone who is mad keen on hunting and red heads?  Plus it helps if your are a cheerful, positive type who believes that all hard fighting has been done with the defeat of the revolt. So all you need to do is tidy up a few odds and ends like finding a lost Eagle, get the Gold Mines and shell fish exports to Rome running well. Then bugger off back to Rome with some blue Gladiator's for the games to celebrate your triumph.

Basically what can go wrong???  Your's may be only the fourth strongest group of Roman forces but all you have to deal with are a few savages without body armour or even a hill fort to their name mounted on nothing more than a few ponies.  While your rivals:

- In East.........have to deal with Armoured Cavalry, Horse Archers and top grade fortifications.  Plus they have loads of dodgy Jews in their rear area no doubt reporting to the foe.

- Rhine........Hordes of Germans not unlike some of the people you have to deal with put now lead by a Roman trained commander with Roman trained troops.  Plus they

have some very dodgy Gaul's and a bloody great river at their backs.

- On the Danube........Ok only a Barbarian King but one with lots of Gold to hire lots of hairy horsemen and buy some decent kit.

Clearly the Legate of Upper Britannia thinks he can be enjoying the warm waters of the baths of Aqua Sulis and working out if purple goes with his eyes while his rivals will be still stuck in some Forest or Desert.

Basically its fool proof......the only thing which can go wrong is if one of your rival commanders wins a bigger victory than you.

PS If your are the player running the Roman Legate of Upper Britannia and it is OK to scream "My command Tent is leaking water on to by bed, Rome does not understand my problems and as soon as I get back to Rome I am going to divorce the bitch who thought being a Hero of Britannia and conquer of Hiberia would look good on the CV"

Good evening,

Having just joined Rome is Burning, and having taken on the role of Marcus Trebellius Maximus, and having just read the above comments, i am just a tad worried lol.

Reading the WIKI page about his career in Brittannia doesn't help either. Oh well, hunting and red heads it is then, before the curtain comes down.

Any help anyone can offer to get me started would be gratefully accepted.

Many thanks

Good choice @sammon Though I dropped out a while back reading the what's your best roman meme thread keeps me up to date with what's going on

Thank you for the pointer, looks like a good place to start.

Many thanks

If it helps try to find Lucius Vitellius. Brother of Aulus Vitellius. (The luckless character I have been playing) He may be able to help you. Just do not repeat do not put him on or near a boat.
Currently fighting super human Germanic tribesmen who have the ability to take on entire cohorts & rout them single handed. Not to mention an up coming bout with the Guard in their Celestial Armour impervious to a thousand cuts.

Just have to hope the exploding pigs is a viable technological breakthrough.

sammon wrote:Good evening,

Having just joined Rome is Burning, and having taken on the role of Marcus Trebellius Maximus, and having just read the above comments, i am just a tad worried lol.

Reading the WIKI page about his career in Brittannia doesn't help either. Oh well, hunting and red heads it is then, before the curtain comes down.

Any help anyone can offer to get me started would be gratefully accepted.

Many thanks

Hi Sammon,

Welcome to RIB if it helps any here is some background information on what has happened (or not happened) in Britannia since the state of the game:-

1) Both the Brigantines and the Legate of Britannia were active for a short while - so probably some drilling and the odd nice Bath House etc built but not much mentioned in paper.

2) Major character active in Britannia for a long time was the King of Caledonia - A noted trouble maker (note his men taken captive while taking delivery of Parthian gold in last issue of paper). He has gone silent but expect your province too be full of Druidic trouble makers and Druidic plots.

- Hiberia and the proto-Welsh tribes have not been active or so may be easier to influence or invade than better prepared Northern types.

3) Starting problem for Britannic Legate was a missing Legion Eagle. Believed to be in the hands of the Northern Tribes, not sure if this problem was solved or not? Possible Tribes might have returned it to lower pressure for a Roman attack on them. King of Caledonia being a tricky and devious sort.

4) Another starting problem was someone in Gaul claiming to be “Britannicus” the son of the last Emperor but one. Almost the whole of the Senate were in the room when the real son dropped dead and watched his funeral pyre. Plus the new “Britannicus” ran into Trajan mother who called him a very bad actor. So as plots go this one is pretty poor but the Chaos Gods on Mount Agema may run it past you again.

5) Your character did have an order from Nero to get on with the invasion after Nero got offended by something the King of Caledonia said. And at one stage Nero was talking about leading a newly raised Legion and his Guard on tour including to your fair province to get invasion moving. Nero orders seems to have been eat by Legates dog or the Legate got locked in his his new Bath House but either way invasion has yet to get going again. Accounts that the Guard murdered Nero to get out of going to Britannia have not been proved.

6) In effort to find out what the hell is going on in Britannia and if it was worth while to continue the invasion or do something else like partial or even whole withdraw of the whole invasion force. The the new "Republican" government in Rome sent a “Man from Rome” to report on Britannia.

- Someone tipped off some of the Legions in Britannia ahead of the inspection resulting in a lot of drilling and polishing going on.

- Also please do not arrange for the inspector to have an “accident” as he is the Commander of the Rhine Legions brother.

7) This means your characters basic starting political situation is that he currently commands about 15% to 20% of the whole Roman Army and Navy (almost the whole of the Empires strategic reserve) on an invasion of Britannia which has bogged down and stalled.

This is costing the poor cash strapped Roman Military Treasury a lot of money and the powers that be in Rome are pushing for a full report on what the hell is going on in Britannia, how much it is costing and can they draw down on your garrison? Too say fill some of the holes on the Rhine and Danube frontiers and shift everyone a bit sideways to crush revolt in province of Asia.

Ref the Legions under your command a high percentage seems to come from Iberia. This means that like other Legions they like the red heads and the hunting but they also like their high class olive oil, rope dancers from Gades and row about which part of Iberia makes the best fish sauce.

On the plus side Iberia is an oasis of civilization and calm in the Empire keen to make sure their boys in service get only the best which is good for your logistics. Perhaps on the negative side is that a lot of your troops may be strongly in favour of “Latin rights” for their home provinces (which they wish to retire too rather than on a cold damp island) and prone to listen too Iberian political leaders who you might view as a bunch of penny pinching civilians who just do not understand why Britannia is such a great position for the strategic reserve of the Roman Army to be stationed.

Well all that hunting in the rain and dodging annoyed red heads with a knife keeps them fit and active. Unlike say the flesh pots of Alexandria and the East!

Note how you play your Character is up too you and Britannia always had strong tendancies to seperate from the rest of the Empire. However I think the main difference between RIB and Glori is that in Glori you are generally playing a geographic area like the Kingdom of Bavaria or the UDP. While in RIB you are playing a Roman political faction with your character at its head. Your Senators in Rome are not Envoys they are active members of the Roman Government. Suggest that what you try and do is build your faction by adding a new agent be turn and trying an influence attempt per turn.

This builds your faction and your characters client base. You should then work on getting offices and positions for your clients since in Rome the Patron-Client relationship was a two way street.

Hi Stuart,

Many thanks for your very comprehensive reply, i am feeling in over my head at the moment, but looking forward to finding my way through this new venture.

I did play GOK as Portugal a few years back so hope this will give me some pointers and how to play.

This game does seem to be vastly different, so I will dip my toes in and make a start.

Thank you for all your help and advice,

all the best

Danny Lodge (sammon).