COIN: Pendragon

Chuck & Doug and Scott G. & Doug did two quick test runs of COIN: Pendragon last week and discovered a few bits of important information. Pendragon covers the period of the Fall of Roman Britain for roughly 150 years starting in the late-5^th century. The factions include the Dux (Roman Military), the Civatates (Briton civilian government), and two barbarian tribes – the Scotti and the Saxons.

Some lessons learned include:

• The barbarians need to do their job and RAID!
• The barbarians should not start with assaulting unless they have overwhelming numbers. However, if the opportunity arises in the east for the Saxons to eliminate a Roman Fort, they should do it (Roman Forts provide naval bases and reduce the number of raiders that make it ashore).
• Barbarians need to make the Romans come to them (see above about not assaulting when not advantageous). When you assault with Raiders, it just makes it easier for the Romans.
• It is important to return Plunder to the home country, but building up a large number of raiders can come in handy for taking Strongholds (Forts, Town, or Hillforts). As noted above, removing Roman Forts increases the number of raiders available in the east.
• Warriors do not come across the sea. Barbarians need to have raiders in place in Briton to raise warriors.
• As noted above, the Saxons need to eliminate Roman Forts in the southeast.
• Plunder reduces Prosperity, which keeps the Dux from winning (they have the default win at the beginning of the game).
• Keep close track of changes in Prosperity.
• The Dux has the ability to increase Prosperity, but the maximum is tied to Population and cannot be increased above the population of an area (populations can increase and decrease).
• There are a lot of good events for the Barbarians to play, but we found that they cannot get too enamored with those or they lose focus on…Raiding!