DBA Arthurian Campaign – What are my options?

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I like the Arthurian setting. I like Campaigns. I like DBA and HoTT Campaigns because they are relatively simple and quick. I’ve played a few games of Arthurian HoTT. I’ve run Britannia 600 AD as a HoTT campaign for six players, although it can be used for DBA. I like the idea of gritty dark age DBA games. A recent article by Martin Smith on his “Arthurian Campaign” for DBA got me thinking about campaigns in this period again. The question is, what to do? How can I improve on previous efforts? What does an even better Arthurian campaign look like? And what army lists to use?

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Rich’s Powys Welsh (Western Cymry) for Britannia 600 AD

For the Big Day of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign Rich Wilcox chose army of his wife’s homeland, Wales. Rich was the first to get the bug for Britannia 600 campaign. He painted up a historical army, but was also the one to find the reference to the Giant of Snowdon, a character that subsequently joined his ranks.

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Mike’s Northumbrian Saxons (aka North Angles) for Britannia 600 AD

For the Big Day of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign Mike Lowery chose the army of his homeland, Northumbria. With time short, and having avoided paint brushes for 10 years, Mike decided to paint the minimum number of figures necessary. This meant he was short an element of Spears relative to the official DBA list; instead he took more shooters and a Hero.

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Big Day – Playing the Britannia 600 AD Campaign

It started with an email to a bunch of my friends:

Subject: Britannia 600 Who’s interested?
http://www.balagan.org.uk/introduction-to-the-britannia-600-ad-campaign

From such small beginnings a project team was formed. Six guys spread across England started assembling and painting armies for the Britannia 600 AD Campaign.

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Painting Guide for Britannia 600 AD

This painting guide applies to all nations of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign, although variations are mentioned. Checks are common patterns for the Celtic nations (Welsh, Irish, Scots, Picts – although the latter are actually pre-Celtic), but modern style tartan was unknown (Heath, 1980).

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Timeline of the Northumbrian v Welsh Conflict

My interest in the Northumbrian-Welsh conflict came about because I work with a patriotic Northumbrian (Mike Lowery) and I like playing the Thomas=Welsh ancestry card on him. This developed into the challenge of 15 mm DBA armies at 1 foot to decide the issue. We’re now gearing up to paint those armies (actually for the Britannia 600 AD Campaign).

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Introduction to the Britannia 600 AD Campaign

I’ve always loved Britannia, the Avalon Hill board game, and it seemed an obvious setting for a DBA/HOTT style campaign. Rather than attempt to recreate the entire time span of the game (45-1085 AD) I thought I’d concentrate on a period that specifically interests me, 600-700 AD. That span of years corresponds to Turn 8 and 9 in the board game – hence Britannia 600 AD.

He glutted black ravens on the walls of the fort,
but he was no Arthur.

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15mm Wargaming Figures for Britannia 600 AD

There are a few possible suppliers of 15 mm for the Britannia 600 AD Campaign. My existing Dark Age kit is from Donnington Miniatures and Essex Miniatures. I mix them together but this won’t appeal to some as Donnington Miniatures are much bigger than Essex Miniatures, in fact they are much bigger than anybody else. At the time I put my Gothic army together I didn’t have a choice, but now there is much more on offer …

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