Your faction leader is surrounded by a court of nobles that includes your extended family, your army generals, and your provincial governors.
Threats can now emerge from within, thanks to the game's new system of political intrigue. After your first few turns, however, it'll quickly become apparent that the strategic minutia of Thrones of Britannia are very different.įor starters, your enemies no longer solely exist outside your borders. You build your economy and move your armies around on the turn-based campaign map, while fighting pitched battles and city-sieges in real-time. The game lets you choose whether to take up Alfred's mantle, striving to unite the various Kingdoms under the flag of England, or disrupt history by controlling one of several other factions, including the Kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, two flavours of Viking, and several Celtic factions hailing from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.Īt a broad structural level, Total War Britannia is business as usual. Thrones of Britannia takes place in 878 AD, commencing just after Alfred the Great smashes a huge Viking Army at the Battle of Edington. And although as an experiment it isn't entirely successful, there are some areas where Thrones of Britannia might just be the best game in the series. In some ways it's strikingly innovative, radically altering mechanics revolving around army recruitment and how provinces work, and introducing a brand new, Crusader Kings' II-style system of political intrigue.īasically, it's an experiment, trying out a bunch of new ideas on a smaller canvas and at a reduced price. Unlike Shogun II, however, Thrones of Britannia isn't all about refinement. This is probably why The Creative Assembly has addended the title of this Total War with the word Saga, so that nobody goes in expecting a continent-spanning conflict only to find themselves in the Total War equivalent of a fight in a pub car-park.Ĭlearly I'm being facetious, but in some ways Thrones of Britannia is undoubtedly a return to historical basics, featuring a smaller, Shogun-like campaign map, turns spread over seasons rather than years, and a narrower unit roster that mostly revolves around the traditional trio of infantry, archers, and cavalry. After the extravagant spectacle of Total War: Warhammer (and its sequel), making your next game as strikingly small-scale and unusual as Thrones of Britannia is a bold move, like following up a holiday to Disneyland with a weekend in Bognor Regis.
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