Busy on the Compendium today. Spent quite a bit of time thinking about a section heading, and nearly emailed a female friend who is also a gamer and early Mediaeval British historian, but I think, in the end, I’m happy with this:

Women 

It’s a matter of some scholarly debate as to the role of women in the society of Dux Britanniarum. Whether you choose to allow certain game roles to be filled by women is really up to you, but it seems to me that given the availability of a number of very nice sculpts for Saxon shield-maidens, for example, it would be a crying shame to pass up on them. Equally, the British can trace a legacy back to the likes of Cartimandua and Boudicca, for which there are also figures to be had (even in Roman armour). 

As such, I’ve made a conscious decision, after a fair amount of consideration, not to provide any actual rules differentiating the abilities and characteristics of the sexes in the Compendium. If you’re treating Dux Britanniarum purely as a wargame, it’s not going to matter at the level of abstraction the game models a warrior at, and if you’re immersed deeper in the game as a vehicle for telling a story? It’s your story, and the narrative and your perception of the setting is going to drive events far more than any rules I can come up with. 

My story has heroes and heroines. 

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Accountability update for today, before I go rig for a band rehearsal:

• Imported and formatted my terrain articles from the two Lardies specials
• Wrote new section on writing and testing your own Raid scenarios
• Finished above section on Women
• Added rules for a Bannerman as a retainer
• Tidied up contents page formatting, added another section/contents level
• Started on various printable/copyable reference sheets