We became acquainted with Maurice Suckling with his game Freeman’s Farm 1777 from Worthington Publishing in 2019 and really enjoyed the different mechanics of that game and how they all came together to create an interactive and interesting look at the Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution. Since that time, Maurice has designed several games that have went onto successful Kickstarter campaigns including Hidden Strike: American Revolution, Chancellorsville 1863 and 1565 Siege of Malta all from Worthington Publishing. He is now codesigning a game with Daniel Burt called Rebellion: Britannia that is the first entry in a future series from GMT Games and we agreed to host a series of Event Card Spoiler posts here designed to give our readers a look into how the game works.

If you are interested in Rebellion: Britannia, you can pre-order a copy for $52.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-989-rebellion-britannia.aspx

*Please keep in mind that the artwork and layout of these cards is not yet finalized and is only for playtest purposes at this point. Also, as this game is still in development, card details may still change prior to publication.

Card #4

The Power of the Druids

This part of the card relates to the Culture system discussed previously, incentivizing Briton factions attempting to control Ceremony Tokens, representing a focus on ceremonial development over military conquests, although there can be some relationship between the two. Mona was the center of druid culture during the period covered in the game, although druids were present and active throughout Britain. This Event Card is placed beside the board and is used during end game scoring, with the card type being highlighted by having a VP icon as its background. As not all Event Cards are used in any given game of Rebellion: Britannia, this scoring card may or may not come into play over the course of a game. This is a common theme in the game design, that of trying to highlight and provide different opportunities for players to test out strategies other than simple military conquest.

The Tribes Bristle

This is the same system discussed previously on Cards #1 and #2, but with Tension being placed in Mona.

Petuaria

This event allows the Rome player to immediately place a Fort in Parisi if they have built a settlement in Eboracum (modern day York), whether or not that settlement has been burnt. Petuaria, which was established in around 70 CE, was a Roman fort situated where the town of Brough in the East Riding of Yorkshire now stands. Petuaria marked the southern end of the Roman road known now as Cade’s Road, which ran roughly northwards for a hundred miles to Pons Aelius (modern day Newcastle upon Tyne). The section from Petuaria to Eboracum was also the final section of Ermine Street. Remember, that Forts are a source of Victory Points for the Rome player but also have to be protected as they can be burnt by the Tribes. Rome can build roads also and in the game there are no pieces for these roads. This is dealt with by the system itself. If two adjacent regions both have either a Fort or a Settlement (regardless of whether it’s been burnt or intact) then there is a road linking those regions, and roads speed up the movement of Legions.

If you missed the previous entries to date in the series, you can catch up on the posts by following the below links:

Card #1 Roman Supply Lines Tested, The Tribes Bristle and Development

Card #2 Military Occupation, Clash of Cultures and Prasutagus Dies

Card #3 Bountiful Land, The Tribes Bristle and Venutius Rebels

There will be more card spoilers to come in the near future with at least 8 total cards being spoiled. In the meantime, if you are interested we recently posted an interview with the designers and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/01/09/interview-with-maurice-suckling-designer-of-rebellion-britannia-resistance-against-rome-in-1st-century-britain-from-gmt-games/

If you are interested in Rebellion: Britannia, you can pre-order a copy for $52.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-989-rebellion-britannia.aspx

-Grant