Republican Roman Linear Campaign

Hi Guys,

I've been working on putting together a campaign charting the rise of the Roman Republic and would love to get your thoughts.

It consists of 13 battles over 3 Chapters, using the Scenario X army lists as the basis for each battle, thus it doesn't follow pre-set battles. Each Chapter reflects the different Roman armies, Camillan, Polybian and Marian. To add emphasis to each Chapter, it could also end with an Epic Battle. I envisioned this as a two player campaign with either one person and Romans and another and the Enemies, or with players alternating between battles as Roman.

Res Publica
Linear Campaign

Chapter 1 - Early Republic
Camillan Romans (30) vs...
1. Latins (68) - Rome's early battles against it neighbours
2. Samnites (69) - The three wars its had with the Samnites.
3. Pyrrhus (37) - Rome's battles with Pyrrhus of Epirus

Chapter 2 - Mid Republic
Polybian Romans (40) vs...
1. Later Carthaginian (39) - The First Punic War
2. Syracusan (29) - Again variation with the First Punic War
3. Iberian (44) - Second Punic War, Rome's push into Iberia
4. Later Carthaginian (39) - An Epic battle with Hannibal

Chapter 3 - Late Republic
Marian Romans (52) vs...
1. Later Macedonian (42) - Representing the series of Macedonian wars
2. Seleucid (35) - It's conflicts with Antiochus
3. Servile Rebels (48) - Its struggle in keeping down those rebellious slaves
4. Mithridatic (51) - Rome's struggle with Mithirdates
5. Gallic (31) - The campaigns in Gaul
6. Marian Romans (52) - The great showdown between the Optimates and Populares

Let me know what you think of it,
t. gracchus

Good idea

Thanks!

Since forming this, I had come up with a few other ideas for linear campaigns using the scenario X as the basis and created these:
Pyrrhus Linear Campaign


Sulla Linear Campaign


Shortened Roman Republic Campaign


I also played around with the 'political token' campaign model to fit into a CC format, where 2 players battle for control of specific objectives/factions/territories, and these territories provide a bonus for the next battle e.g:

I would love to play for the enemies of Rome. But we need details. I play Command Color for a little over a year. Mostly common scenarios. internally and through Vassal. Scenarios X has not played. But ready to learn.

The concept for the Linear campaigns is simple - you just play through using the usual scenario X system for both unit selection and terrain.
www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/the-g...army-list-usage.html

The political token campaigns are designed to have 2 players using the same forces over a series of battles, where the results of battles impacting the next without interfering with core game rules to much. It still uses secnario X as the basis.

Using the The Gallic War as the example. one player takes the role of Caesar (marian romans), the other Vercingetorix (gallic army) - the aim of the campaign is to control the most political tokens, here represented by gallic tribes. Each political token controlled can confer a bonus to the controlling player e.g. an extra command card, or 'veteran' units (I give them an extra block to show better morale).

At the end of each battle, the winner rolls a d6, on the result of a 6 they gain two new political tokens of their choice, on the roll of a 2, 3, 4 or 5 they gain one new political token of their choice, on the roll of a 1 the enemy gains one political token of the winner choice.

The the next battle is played taking into account any new bonuses from new tokens controlled. In order to not have the campaigns go on indefinitely, I thought to cap them at five battles total. The campaign victory conditions are:
1. Conquest Victory - achieved automatically when a player controls all the political tokens, if this doesn't happen then...
2. Subjugation Victory - if a player wins four battles, regardless of political tokens, if this didn't happen...
3. Annexation Victory - for the player that controls the most political tokens, if this doesn't happen...
4. Treaty Victory - the player that won the most battles wins the campaign.

e.g:
1. Caesar and Vercingetorix battle, Caesar gets an extra block for his MI for controlling the Aedui, Vercingetorix gets an extra block for his War for controlling the Arverni - they play the battle using scenario X - Caesar wins!
2. Caesar rolls a d6 and gets a 4 - he decides to gain control of the Carnutes token to have 'veteran MC' in the next battle.
3. They battle again, Caesar with the bonus for both the Aedui and Carnutes tokens, while Vercingetorix for the Arverni - Vercingetorix wins!
4. Vercingetorix rolls a d6 and gets a 6! - able to pick two tokens, he takes the Aedei and Carnutes tokens from from Caesar.
5. They battle again, Vercingetorix now has three bonuses, Caesar no longer controlling any tokens doesn't get any - but Caesar still gets the win!
6. Caesar rolls a d6 - its a 1! Despite Caesars victory in the last battle, Vercingetorix gains the political token, as there is only the Nervii token left, the Vercingetorix now control all the tokens!
7. The campaign ends with Vercingetorix gaining a conquest victory against Caesar!

The core mechanic are the same, but you can add different flavours of them and the tokens can reflect anything, e.g.
Antigonos and Seleucus fighting for control of Phrygia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylonia
Rome and Carthage fighting for control of Italia, Sicilia, Hispania and Africa
Optimates and Populares fighting for control of the people of rome: Patricians, Equites, Plebs Rustica, Plebs Urbana
or even the Achaeans and the Trojans fighting for the influence of the gods themselves: Athena, Poseidon, Ares, Apollo

Thank you very much for the detailed response. Many optional rules, but I think it will be an interesting experience. As I understand it, you can play through Vassal version 3.3 cards are already filled in there. or can i use vassal 4.0?
I suggest to start exploring the possibilities with a simple company of your choice.

Sorry - I don't use vassal so can't really help with that.