I love Military History particularly Ancients and WWII. Ive been eyeing this game on and off now for awhile so how does it play? I love FFG stuff for the most part (Tannhauser didnt do a thing for me) and I regularly play Commands and Colors: Ancients. Any help would be appreciated!

You need to understand what Brittania is about. It is a wargame that is very abstracted because it covers a large swath of history. You are cast in the role of the sovereigns of disparate nations, and your collective performance with those nations determines voctory.

Mechanically speaking it is simpler than the games you have mentioned. The complexity comes in formulating your strategy for the powers you control as they appear and (in some cases) disappear.

If you want to check the game out in detail here is a website with good ressources: www.pulsipher.net/britannia/index.htm

Britannia is one of my favourite strategic board games. In particular, I like the idea that you as a player control several nations that each have their own objectives. However, there are things you should be aware of so as not to be disappointed after buying it:

• While Britannia can be played with 3 or 5 players, it is really only good with 4.
• Even with experienced players, expect 4+ hours for a full game. With less experienced players, 6 hours is likely.
• Each nation you control gets points only for a small subset of the areas on the board, which some people think restricts their strategic choice. I quite like this aspect, as it makes the game less bland.
• The random factor is quite high.

First off, let me say that Britannia is one of my favorite board games and one of the few i have rated a "10" at BGG. It is one of the most balanced and exciting games I've ever played and even with its strong historical backbone every game plays out different.

torbenm said:

I would actually argue that the random factor isn't all that high. Yes, there are lots of die rolls, but that's exactly why luck isn't that high. You make enough rolls that it averages out over the long run. Sure you might have a specific roll here or there go your way or not but rarely does a single roll determine the outcome of the game. Good planning and long-term strategy will almost surely win out every time.

There are a couple of things that makes Britannia great. First, the core rules are extremely easy to learn. There are some special cases (Romans, submissions, etc.) but in general there's not much in the way of rules. What makes the game challenging is knowing when and where new nations come into the game and planning accordingly. Second, I love how much the face of the map changes over the course of the game. All it takes is one major invasion and the map changes drastically. The game is always exciting because nations are coming and going. Finally, the game is so incredibly well balanced given is asymmetry. Each player (in a four player game which is the way to go) is strong at a different point in the game but the balance is quite amazing when you look at stats collected over hundreds of games.

If you want a fun, simple, epic war game you can't do much better than Britannia Just make sure you have 4-6 hours to get through a game.

Thanks everyone! It sounds like I need to put this on my wishlist .

I agree with the comments that have already been made. I just wanted to add a couple of reasons.

1. There can be some fun diplomacy made. If one player gets out ahead, others can make deals with each other to target the front runner.

2. It's a great solitaire game. There's no secret information.

3. Even though it's a long game, you feel a great at the end because you created a great epic story. You'll remember some games of Britannia years after you played them. "Remember that game where the Belgae lived throughout the entire game?"

Have fun

I'm waiting for Conan. This will be my war game.

I would recommend the game as well. it is very fun and different game. The fact that you have different stages and everyone gets a large invasion makes the tides turn for who is winning a lot and can even help someone who is losing pull ahead. Very different game from most war games I have played since you control more then one race, some don't appear till later and some right away and even if one is wipped out which for some is expected/historical, you can still win. Very good game.