The Wargamer

Darkness Draws Near

This time of year, thoughts tend to wander towards that bump in the dark down the hall, the dim light moving from room to room, and evil lurking in the forest. Our imaginations tend to get the better of us in these darker days of autumn, inexorably leading to the cold winter ahead. 

Western cultures have many traditions tied to the end of summer and the autumn harvest, the modern culmination of which is Halloween and All Saints’ Day. These holidays are based on centuries old seasonal observances that were established to give people in past centuries a little comfort and a few explanations about the darkening world around them. Why did the warm summer have to end? Why are the leaves on the trees changing color? What the hell was that noise in the attic?

One emotion can claim much responsibility for the pagan beliefs and practices that spread throughout Eastern and Western Europe throughout the first millennium: fear. Ancient Greece, Egypt, China, and Rome had brought light into the world through science, the arts, engineering, and mathematics. By the 4th century AD, the legacy of these ancient cultures was beginning to wane. Most people couldn’t even spell aqueduct anymore. In Western Europe, the Pax Romana was a distant memory. In fact, the once great Roman Empire itself was becoming tarnished and rusty. New peoples, collectively known as barbarians, began migrating from Central Asia and Eastern Europe in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. What had began as a slow drifting of new peoples was inexorably turning into a torrent. By the last quarter of the 4th Century AD, millions of barbarians were pouring over the old borders of the Roman Empire. At this point, the old Empire had been divided into two pieces, Eastern and Western, with capitals in Constantinople and Rome, respectively. Both were vulnerable. The Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, the Celts, the Saxons, the Slavs, and the Allemanni, among other tribes and newly emerging nations, all posed a threat to both “Romes.” 

The light that had shone across Europe and the Mediterranean was flickering. Shadows were growing longer, and peoples’ chances of thriving and living in peace was foundering. Slowly the old Roman traditions were forgotten, and simple survival was becoming more difficult. The long “Roman summer” was brought to an end by a harsh, frigid wind blowing in from the east and north, and frightening, unrecognizable sounds could be heard coming from Rome’s collective attic. Darkness was descending.

Head for the Hills!

Thus the stage is set for the expansion to Rome: Total War. Barbarian Invasion places the player in the shoes of a commander of one of ten new factions between the years 363 AD and 476 AD including the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire (based in Constantinople), the Sassanid Persians, the Sarmatians, and, of course, a host of barbarian tribes. These tribes include the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Allemanni, Saxons, and Franks, as well as a host of other AI controlled factions. As of this writing, almost all of the factions in the game can be made playable with the application of one of several different patches available online. The three Western Roman factions from the original Rome: Total War are gone, as are the Senate and most of the other factions from the first game like the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Macedonians, Gauls, Germans, and Scythians. Three hundred and fifty years took a brutal toll on the peoples of Western Europe, and this is reflected well in the newly available factions of Barbarian Invasion.

Along with sweeping political changes, religion in Barbarian Invasion has undergone a major transformation as well. Gone are many of the old gods of the previous generation of factions, although a few may have survived and been absorbed into the collective religion called “Paganism.” With the rise of the Sassanids in Persia, Zoroastrianism has become a major movement. Additionally there is Christianity, adopted by Rome as a state religion and growing into the predominant belief system of Western Europe. As in Rome: Total War, if a commander of a different faith sacks a region with a separate belief system, there’s going to be trouble. And if a pagan barbarian tribe such as the Vandals overruns a Christian Roman city…head for the hills!

Before unleashing a torrent of blood, diplomacy is still an option in Barbarian Invasion too. The established civilizations have more options at their disposal, however, than the barbarians, especially when the tribes become hordes. Bribery, ultimatums, trade agreements, and marriages all play a major diplomatic role in Barbarian Invasion, and can help avoid some unpleasant pillaging and sacking if performed with skill. Ultimately though, this game is centered on pillaging and sacking. This is the beginning of the Dark Ages after all, and one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen was not torn asunder by tribes of do-gooders.