Author: Douglas Gavelin

Scenario Idea

Battle of Morbihan is a scenario focused on a historical naval battle during the Gallic Wars. This event took place around 56 BC, as part of Julius Caesar’s campaign in Gaul. The map is built to look like the Gulf of Morbihan and nearby Quiberon Bay off the western coast of modern-day France. This battle is the third scenario of the Roman campaign in Iterum.

How Quiberon Bay looks like today in Google Maps. Map data © Google

History

In 56 BC Julius Caesar was facing Celtic tribes in western Gaul. He built a fleet of ships on the river Loire to attack the seafaring tribes along the coast of Quiberon Bay. Caesar appointed general Decimus Brutus to command the Roman navy.

The Battle of Morbihan was a unique battle in Caesar’s campaign as the only major naval battle during the wars. In this battle the Veneti tribe had allied with the Namnetes and other coastal tribes to resist Roman rule.

The Romans historically had only built oar-driven ships for the Mediterranean Sea, which were not as sturdy nor as easy to maneuver on the open oceans of the Atlantic as the Veneti sail-driven ships. The Romans were initially at a disadvantage, and had to adapt their tactics to win this battle. They used grappling hooks to shred the outriggings and sails of the Veneti ships. Once the enemy ships were crippled the Romans could board them and defeat them in combat with their superior infantry, or ram into the crippled ships and break them apart.

Photo of the Olympias, a reconstruction of an ancient Athenian trireme.
Ελληνικά: Χρήστης Templar52, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

Scenario start

I wanted the beginning of the scenario to be exciting and start with a huge battle. Caesar moves his navy into Quiberon Bay which triggers enemy Elite Attack Ships to spawn and attack.

The player loses their starting Bireme ships. This is where the player learns they need to start building bigger ships to match the Veneti.

The player has a Roman Camp in the corner of the map along the river Loire and an additional Bireme ship to explore the map with.

Early on the player is prompted to build the Shipyards improvement in their Settlement. This will allow the recruitment of Trireme and Quadrireme ships. These ships are much stronger than your starting Biremes and give you a fighting chance against the Gauls.

The player starts the scenario with some Armaments to speed up the recruitment of these new ships. They are then given free rein to defeat all remaining enemies on the map. To do so the player has to build up their navy and attack enemy ships and Settlements.

Iterating and new ideas

Planning and building this map was challenging since Iterum lacked most ship and naval battle features when I started. I had to propose and design many new systems for ships and enemy AI behaviour at sea.

A new ship type

I suggested Iterum should have a new ship unit called the Elite Attack Ship, based on the already existing (Gallic) Attack Ship. The Elite Attack Ship would be stronger than the (Roman) Bireme and Trireme ships. I thought they were needed for this map in particular, to reflect history. Historical sources tell us that the Gallic tribes had ships that were bigger and stronger than the Roman ships. This would add some difficulty to the scenario.

The Veneti ships had a large hull and large sails.

For this map, I requested a portrait of Decimus Brutus. Decimus played a key role in the Battle of Morbihan, appointed by Julius Caesar as general of the Roman navy.

New Ship game mechanics

I also proposed that some military ships be able to carry units like Transport Ships. Ships with units in the cargo would also gain a small attack buff. The idea was that they board enemy ships during battle and attack with their infantry.

To add flexibility of naval combat I suggested we enable amphibious assaults. Infantry onboard military ships would automatically disembark when targeting a settlement, launching an amphibious assault. Previously, players had to manually disembark infantry and attack a Settlement in two separate steps.

I was not sure how to translate the grappling hooks that were historically used in the Battle of Morbihan into a gameplay feature. Therefore, I decided to let the player simply recruit bigger and better ships to match the superior Veneti ships and let that be the deciding factor in the battle.

A previous version of the map featured more landmass in an attempt to replicate the geography around the Quiberon Bay. After some playtesting it became clear that the land was a distraction from the focus of the scenario which was naval battle. I pushed the landmass more to the corners, separating the landmass into different sections and featuring more water and more space for naval battles.

Conclusion

As a designer it was a rewarding challenge to adapt this battle and mirror how the Romans overcame their initial disadvantage and how that would work for the player. It was fun to come up with new ideas and features for ships inspired by this battle that created new gameplay features for Iterum.

In conclusion, his scenario demanded some new thinking and creative solutions to keep it authentic to the real history behind the Battle of Morbihan while keeping gameplay fun and engaging.