DBA Campaigns

ENEMY AT THE GATES

Rome versus the Barbarians, 300-500 AD

Fall, 301 AD

The scribes are confused as how to title this campaign, Under the Barbarian Yoke or Barbarians at the Gates. Whatever they decide on may be influenced by military outcomes on the fields of battle. As of now it is the Romans who have secured the first yoke over a barbarian nation.

Currently the players represent the Patrician Britons, Western LIR, Eastern Patrician Romans, Burgundian, Early Visigothic, Early Ostrogothic, Saxon and lastly the Gepids. The player representing the Eastern LIR had to dropout and a successor was found as well as an additional Roman player as Patrician Britons. A club member, Greg Skelly, generously loaned his beautifully painted LIR figures to both Western and Eastern factions so the campaign could go on.

The campaign year has seen the Gepids repulsed by the Eastern Patricians, Ostrogoths over run northern Italy (the only barbarian success thus far), and the Patrician Britons sudue the proud Saxon nation. This despite the presence of two allied contingents of barbarian allies that came to their aid. Surely there must be a northern crusade to liberate the noble Saxon people. All this unfolding in four battles over the afternoon.

The Burgundians have been notable in sending allied contingents everywhere in support of their beleaguered brothers. Their warbands have been criss-crossing the homelands constantly until their chieftain called for a respite.

The Barbarian Confederation is much loathed, by the Eastern Patrician Emperor in particular, but this is as it should be for the historical background to come into play. The Barbarian Confederation has come about naturally on the barbarians' part. Eventually, one must assume there will be treachery in the ranks, no doubt induced by Roman gold but rue the ally that sucumbs to such perfidy. If they are not successful they will surely be wiped out in the next year. This is just an observation, not a threat of action.

Turn one produced this heroic piece of epic poetry:

Wistan's "Elegy for the Fallen"

by Matthew Grippin

(This piece is written for the current DBA campaign set in A.D. 301.)

There was a man named Wistan who served in the hearth-guard of Heoden Saxon-King during the ill-fated battles against the Patrician Britons and the enslavement of the Saxon lands. Wistan had a reputation as a poet; and so, after Heoden had submitted to Roman rule, he held a feast in his hall and invited Wistan to stand before the remainder of the thanes and compose a song in honor of the recently fallen warriors. By order of his king, Wistan took up his lyre and sang the following song:

Wolves and ravens
Ravaged the slain
As Guthlaf broke
Bones and rent flesh,
Slaughtered horsemen,
And hewed down the mighty;
Yet, he fell in the face
Of foemen's steel,
Strong as he was.

Seldom seen was
Courage as evident,
Even in ancient times,
As Hnaef's that day;
Dealer of Roman deaths,
Compatriots' rampart,
Reaper of men,
He slew many
But met his doom.

Horsemen harried
And held the field
Despite Saxon
Struggle and sacrifice,
Letting of blood;
Not last to fall,
Old Ord did toil
To take up his byrnie,
yet so well met his death.

Massive the host
Invading the hearth-land,
The heart more emboldened;
Sword against lance,
Shield against hoof,
Hengest himself
Held hard his blade
Until Roman
Riders slew him.

Defiant thanes
Fought the Romans,
Yet lost their lives,
Not lightly did blood flow.
So, Hoc was slain
But slew his share;
The vile Latins
Had learned his name,
Hunted him down.

Heroes stood firm
While earth trembled;
With eyes so trained
On the horsemen's approach,
One's pride could hold
Back the foe-wave.
Now fallen is Garulf;
How few are left
To fight this war!

Sunlight broke and
Burned the clouds of
Direst doom, but
Dawn not long did
Last, nor did Sigeferth,
Lordly Burgundian,
Who raged and fought
The Roman horse,
The Saxons' bane.

Broken spirit-
Failing in strength,
Fearful and lost:
Heoden, Saxon-King,
Saw his allies
Fall to riders,
Reckoned his lot,
And bowed his head
In brutal shame.

Realizing that Wistan had insulted him, Heoden turned blood-red, succumbed to a fit of rage, and ordered the poet to be taken from the hall and killed. Wulfmaer, the king's eldest son, intervened and asked his father that Wistan not be killed until the dawn of the next morning "so that the glad spirit of the feast would not be ruined by the spilling of blood." Heoden granted his son's wish and had Wistan removed from the hall and placed under guard to await execution. Wistan's song, however, still weighed heavily on Heoden throughout the evening, and the king was seen to drink heavily and fall asleep at his bench.

Not wanting to disturb the king's rest, the guests quietly began to leave; but, before the last guest had gone from the hall, Wulfmaer discovered that his father was dead. Many whispered that Heoden's own shame at having surrendered to the Britons had killed him-and that it was Wistan who had reminded him of this dishonorable behavior. Immediately, Wulfmaer set Wistan free. In return for his earlier advocacy and this act of mercy, Wistan agreed to support the young man's bid for the Saxon kingship, and in a matter of days, Wulfmaer was declared King of the Saxons and generously distributed gifts to all who would pledge their loyalty to him. From that moment forward, Wistan sat in the place of highest honor at the king's table and nurtured Wulfmaer's wisdom and virtue with songs and tales from the days when the Saxons were free.

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Last Updated: Nov. 28, 2002.