Pax Romana

Well, I seem to have begun writing some rules - my elbow is rather too sore for comfortable painting - it seems to have become blistered, perhaps because of spending too long leaning on it, painting.  Maybe I'll become famous for being the first person to suffer from a new medical ailment: "wargame figure painter's elbow".  Or (far more likely) maybe not!

I've thought of a title (see above), which seems suitably ironic, particularly when combined with the strap-line "... ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant." ("...where they make a desolation, they call it peace.").  During most of the period the rules are intended to cover, the empire itself was largely at peace (if you discount rebellious Britons and revolting Jews) - it was mostly the neighbours who suffered from an excess of peacekeeping.

So far,  the rules consist of a series of headings, some with nothing more than blank space following the title, others with a few notes, and a couple, where I already have some definite ideas, a page or two of text.  Not a bad start - but don't hold your breath - you might well die of asphyxiation long before I even get a first draft written.  It'll all depend on how much time I've got, and on inspiration - which can be slow appearing.  Or I might decide that it's not a good idea after all, and stick to WAB.  But in the meanwhile, it's a good way to arrange my ideas and see if there's enough of interest to justify the effort. 

I shall, at some point, need some folks to bounce ideas off, and maybe to do some play-testing.  I am, by nature, a trusting soul - perhaps too much so.  If there's any possibility of these rules ending up as a commercial set, I'd like to go that way (heck, I haven't had a paid job for four years - I'm a 'kept man' these days - so can you blame me for wanting to earn the odd crust for myself?).  That being the case, I suspect that my missus (the suspicious one out of the pair of us) would rather that I kept everything confidential, so that no-one nicks my ideas and rushes them into print.  She says I probably ought to get anyone who does want to help to sign some sort of confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement.  It pains me to say that - I'd far rather just trust people (wargamers are, in the main, good chaps), but I suspect that SWMBO would not be best pleased otherwise.

Back to the rules.  I enjoy WAB, so some aspects will probably owe a good deal of their inspiration to that source.  Other bits will be derived from things I like in other rule-sets.  And there may even be a few ideas of my very own buried in there somewhere!

Copyright © Dr. P.C. Hendry, 2010