As the topic title mentions. Other than eye candy, any real changes that would be worth shelling out the money for this version?

Looking at the box, it looks like it only adds new graphics and components, as well as a redsigned and clarified rulebook by the original creator. Maybe someone who's played both can tell you better, but it looks like mostly a cosmetic upgrade.

This web article probably does a better job than I will do here

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=41

However, its more than cosmetic changes there are gameplay changes in there and new components rather than just new presentation of the old compnents with new art - I have the Gibson version and this question was the very first one I asked - and after a long hard look at the game and a play or two I still went and bought the new game.

So some ideas as to what has changed....

Well the rulebook has changed, so you need that - I would recommend reading them anyway before buying - and its available as a PDF on the website in the game's support section. A read of that should actually answer many of the OPs questions - but here are the biggest changes to my mind.

There are some changes to the tribes order of play, notably Jutes going after Saxons (though there is a misprint on the board still annoyingly, the FAQ answers that)

Roman movement is slightly different as, I think, is their Limes scoring

The Belgae can submit and get a leader changing the dynamic of the southern England game

I think the Romano-British operate slightly differently

The whole concept of Raiders has changed to make it easy.

King/Bretwalda elections are done slightly differently

There are potentially four King options at the end of the game.

The 3 and 5 player game have changes and seem to be viable - whereas with the Gibson version the game was a 4 player game, period IMO.

Component changes

There is an entire new set of Saxon fort like counters

The board has changed at the top of the Pennines to allow east-west movement and vice versa.

Belgae leader now present.

Full colour art on each tribes counters including a unique symbol

Im guessing that if you check counter numbers you could probably handwave or proxy most if not all of these issues (Use Roman forts for the Saxon ones, borrow a king marker from another tribe of the right colour but thats a part fix) but I'd need to go and do a thorough check to be sure and Ive got theis nagging feeling you 'd be missing a piece or two somewhere.

However I got the new game for a number of reasons.

1) My Gibsons game box is falling apart as its now about 20 years old and has been played a LOT. Components are all there but still.

2) The new counters are all full colour rather than thin white line art on a block colour and I find them vastly easier to differentiate at a glance. Our Red/Green colour blind player did have some issues with the distinguishing the new background colours (Yellow, Green, Red, Blue) but he had also had several different issues with the Gibson edition (Purple, Red, Blue, Black) being very hard to follow and so despite the background colour issues the new art and symbols for each tribe overall meant he preferred to play with the new counters for differentiation of sides.

3) I got all the new rules and pieces at professional level without having to proxy anything of a different colour to confuse things.

4) The new board makes the layout changes obvious so we don't have to keep reminding ourselves that there is a hole up north.

5) I have both rule and game sets now so I can supply Britannia to people who prefer either setup.

Am sorry, but do you mean Avalon Hill when you are asking about "AH version." ???

Thanks.

I assumed so in my reply - though I had a Gibson copy and had only played a friends Avalon Hill copy.

It's definitely possible to play with the Fantasy Flight rules using an Avalon Hill set. But you'll need to read the rulebook (and ideally a comparison article or two) to learn the rule, token, VP, and, map differences between the two. And you're going to need to coin a bunch of your own counters. That's a moderate amount of work, and could justify getting the Fantasy Flight version.

I do recommend using the Fantasy Flight rules even if you stick with your Avalon Hill game -- The changes are fairly small, but they remove some of the sillier tactics which were possible in the old game. In particular, I like the Roman Roads rule for getting rid of some nasty Brigante submission tricks. And keeping Arthur out of Scotland is nice, as well.

I had an older version too (published sometime in the early 90s), don't know what company it was, but I didn't care for the game much... do you think I would like the new version, or should I not bother with it?

Skowza said:

As myrm's post explains in pretty good detail (and I would agree), the basic game mechanics haven't changed much. The FF version is a cleaner, refined game. In my opinion, it's better. But it's not a radically different game.

Was there something specific about the older version that you didn't like? Is it something that can be fixed by a house rule?