Historical Overview Section
The Patrician Roman departure from Britain followed a decline across the empire, as attacks from barbarian tribes ate into the manpower and resources of the Roman state, forcing a recall of troops to protect the center. The withdrawal was gradual, but many date it formally to 410. The archaeological records of the final decades of Patrician Roman rule show undeniable signs of decay across Britain as pottery shards are not present in levels dating past 400, and coins minted past 402 are rare. The garrison in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attack on all sides towards the end of the 4th century, and "Roman" troops were too few to mount an effective defence. The army in Britain became a focus for rebellion, after elevating two disappointing leaders at the end of the 4th Century, finally chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become their emperor in 407. When he took his army across into Gaul he was defeated, and it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed by Rome.
A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. With the higher levels of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and small warlords gradually emerged all over a Britain which was still aspiring to Roman ideals and conventions. The change was not sudden however, and more recent scholars uphold a view - endorsed by this list - that there was considerable continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods to the kingdoms that formed in the post-Roman period.
The first wave of Middle Anglo Saxons were reputedly invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Later Pictish and Later Scots-Irish, however Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may well have begun much earlier even than that. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic Roman auxiliaries being brought to Britain in the first and second centuries to support the legions, and when these new arrivals rebelled they plunged the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Middle Anglo Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name). A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the famous Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aëtius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against the Middle Anglo Saxon invasion in 446; another is the Battle of Dyrham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea. Non-Anglo-Saxon kingdoms soon began appearing in western Britain, largely based around Roman administrative structures, indicating further continuity, but also drawing on outside later Scots-Irish and Early Welsh influences as well. In the north kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd, the "Old North", arose, and fifth and sixth century repairs along Hadrian's Wall have been uncovered to further suggest a continuing Romanized influence.
King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians.
Using the army in ADLG
- +3 command with some LH is just about getting into territory where you could plan to play a terrain game, which would allow you to go mob-handed with the MD Spearmen, but in reality its more likely that this is a fairly solid HF Spear army
- 4 Irish Swordsmen plus a couple of MF Spears makes a decent rough terrain force, to counteract the relative lack of mounted punch in the Non-Arthurian version of the army.
- Those same Knights of the Round Table are pretty good in theme, especially when supported by the 4-8 normal cavalry. Unlike most Impact Cv in this theme they benefit from being non-Impetuous
- The 2 Saxon mercenaries may be tempting, but they do then mess with your command and control as that sort of necessitates having at least a Brilliant commander with their command, and prevents the "3 Competent" option. It'd debatable whether their additional cutting edge is sharp enough to justify the cost - but they do make an otherwise-stodgy army a bit more intriguing.
Useful Links
Useful Links
User-contributed links about this army:
- Roman Britain.org history site
- Postroman.org Web project focused on Britain, Ireland and the offshore islands between 350AD and 850AD.
- Sub-Roman British DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
- Romano-Brits DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
Army Lists
Sample army lists for this army
101 Romano British (USTT 2020)
Brilliant
6 Heavy Sp
2 Heavy Spear mediocre
2 MCv
1 Levy Expendable Mediocre
==
Competent
4 HCv Impact Elite
2 LH Jav medicre
1 Heavy Sp
1 Heavy Spear mediocre
==
Ordinary Unreliable
2 Bow
2 Irish Mercs Med Sword
1 LF Jav
1 Heavy Sp
1 Heavy Spear mediocre
3 Fortificatiosnn
200 Points
101 Romano British (Paluskiewicz - Britcon 2019)
Ordinary
6 HF Spearmen
2 MF Spearmen
==
Ordinary Included
4 HCv Impact Elite
2 HCv
1 LH Javelin Mediocre
==
Brilliant
3 Medium Swordsmen Irish
2 HCv
2 Bowmen
1 LH Javelin Mediocre
2 LF Javelin
101 Romano-British Michigan Brothers
Competent Included
4 Arthurian Cavalry Heavy cavalry impact Elite
2 Briton Cavalry Heavy cavalry ------
1 Scouts Light cavalry javelin Mediocre
==
Competent
6 Spearmen Heavy spearmen ------
2 Spearmen Medium spearmen ------
1 Light Foot Light infantry javelin ------
1 Martyrs Levy expendable Mediocre
==
Competent
3 Spearmen Medium spearmen ----
2 Bowmen Bowmen ------
1 Skirmishers Light cavalry javelin Mediocre
2 Britons Cavalry Heavy cavalry ----