9-Player Pyrrhic War Campaign | TURN 1

Over the course of 8 months, our wargaming club refought the entire war between Rome and Pyrrhus from 280 BC to 275 BC. Each turn in this linked campaign represented one year of the historical war, with players maneuvering armies on a stunning theater map of southern Italy and Sicily.
This is a 5-part video series, spanning the complete duration of the Pyrrhic War. Today in Part 1, we outline the rules of the campaign, the war objectives, and we play the first turn (280 BC). It's a wargaming experience unlike anything you've seen on KZbin before, full of maneuver, diplomacy, sieges, and massive tabletop battles!
The campaign rules are available for FREE on the official LWTV website, while the tabletop wargame rules, called "Age of Hannibal," are also available on our site in print or PDF format:
www.littlewarstv.com
The Pyrrhic War campaign series is presented without KZbin ads or interruption, courtesy of our amazing Patreon supporters. Thank you, team! Most of the music throughout the series are original compositions by Sebastien Angel. You can find his channel here:
/ sebastien angel epic m...

[@willthejedi17]

"Who has lost his hair in service of Rome" made me LOL, great video

[@frankdonatelli343]

As a fellow baldy I feel this.

[@baldiesbattlesinminiature5902]

I concur

[@bryantwu8993]

I wept when he said that.

[@FeyTheBin]

Man put too much olive oil on his head.

[@lautaroalday7225]

nice pfp handsome

[@thepaintingfish7489]

The campaign map really elevated this to a whole new level

[@richmcgee434]

A thing of beauty, yeah.

[@fuferito]

When a man wearing a turtleneck and jacket combination speaks about ancient history in a British accent, you know it's epic.

[@LittleWarsTV]

DAMN RIGHT. The British accent is simply required for ancient history.

[@Jamiethedragon365]

Depends my Yorkshire lecturer at university gave an interesting wording to Napoleonic war module

[@user-uy1rg8td1v]

@@LittleWarsTV Great video and channel. I just want to say the dialogue sound quality isn't as good as in previous videos. Are they wearing mics? They could help. Or just have boom mic overhead.

[@LittleWarsTV]

@@user-uy1rg8td1v In THIS episode the sound quality was not great because we were running an air purifier in the club (we filmed it during COVID, a year ago). In the next four episodes the purifier isn't running!

[@anadaere6861]

@@LittleWarsTV I can only imagine a British guy reading historical accounts then immediately donning the red coat once they are involved / present

[@alexG106]

Pyrrhus taking Syracuse is HUGE! That alone would have saved him the trips to and fro Sicily and allowed him to focus on stopping Rome in its tracks. For predictions: I expect Pyrrhus to mop up Sicily in turn 2, for Rome to start threatening the Greek cities in southern Italy and for turn 3 to feature the first huge battle of the war and likely the most decisive one for how the war will play out.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Next week we'll see how good your predictions turn out. Pyrrhus indeed will attempt to "mop up" Sicily. Just how well that goes remains to be seen!

[@alans3023]

An excellent start to the campaign. But it also illustrates my one concern with rulesets like Age of Hannibal - everything hinges on the roll of a single die and I, like Greg in this case, can be relied upon to roll 1s (or whatever the worst roll happens to be) time after time. Whatever happened to ‘average dice’ or dice rolled in pairs (or triples) to give weighted scores and allow good strategies a better chance of working. None of which changes my enjoyment of Littlewars TV or my anticipation for the next episode. Thank you.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Dice karma tends to work itself out in the end...with enough rolls, everyone tends to revert to the mean. And in Turn 2, you might just see a little bit of that :)

[@davidnemoseck9007]

I know what you mean. I, at times, can roll really bad.

[@jacobkingan60]

@@LittleWarsTV romes gonna steam roll Carthage arnt they? Also now you guys have me playing Rome 2 total war

[@ahmadtheIED]

@@LittleWarsTV Ehh, i agree with Alan here. Unless it's DnD and you have dice economy on your side, it's unreasonable to expect the dice to average to the mean, as such only really happens with extremely large sample sets. In fact, it's actually super common in computation to get sample sets which tend wildly toward one extreme or another. This is a consequence of Boehr's law applied to hexanoic distributions.

[@ClockworkAnomaly]

@@LittleWarsTV From the opposite side of things, I have been working on a system that relies not on rolls, but concentric "Rock-Paper-Scissors" calculations to allow maximum player agency while still obscuring the immediate outcome of things a bit. Within the system, you could become the same as a master chess player and remove all doubt vs your lessers (whether thats good or bad is opinion). I think its worth a try to produce a range of systems, from wild luck, to weighted luck, to no luck. People value various things. Someday I hope you'll have the opportunity to try my system ^^

[@SwordlordRoy]

As one of the honorable senators who also advised caution towards the start of this war, I was one of the many who voted for Gregianus. His plan was sound, even though his sound did not go to plan.

[@MrRoflcopter146]

Best wargaming channel on YT

[@CB-zq1ky]

You got that right!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Wow, thank you Stu!

[@WargamesTonight]

I always knew Steve was Pyrrhus! A highly entertaining video. I was half-expecting Steve would have had backup singers repeating his taunts in harmony to reflect Pyrrhus' larger-than-life personality? That would have been awesome!

[@LittleWarsTV]

OF COURSE it was always going to be Steve. Naturally!

[@lukevillarreal1458]

--Gonna be a bit of a Gregianus apologist here-- I feel like his strategy of diplomacy and maneuver would have worked had his rolls been even statistically average. Also, there really weren't any major catastrophes for Rome here, so the compounding Roman advantage through the following turns will be able to be brought to bear without having to make up for previous casualties. I think Greg did okay given his limited information, however I will not lie- I was kinda on the Gregianus hate train on patreon for a while, this video clears a lot up though. Idk what do you guys think?

[@italianstallion7272]

I would hope the denouncment of gregianus on patreon were both long winded and inflammatory

[@TheMoose8181]

The best mechanic of this whole campaign, IMO, is the consular election. It doesn't really matter if Gregianus made the right strategic decisions or not, all that matters is whether or not he gets reelected to continue with his strategy. Great mechanic.

[@SuperDuperHappyTime]

While his strategy may have been sufficient, his leadership skills matched what you would expect for a guy with anus in his name.

[@elgenerico6263]

@@TheMoose8181 realistically though, no Roman consul would be reelected

[@generaltom6850]

A Flaminium strategy.

[@duxae1617]

I like how this campaign has uncontested withdrawal mechanic. Some games act as if generals couldn't escape a field battle which is highly unrealistic. Almost all battles I can think of were mutually agreed on encounters. As such this campaign is a series of sieges and manuevers which is cool

[@LittleWarsTV]

Yes that always struck us as a realistic maneuver for a commander. But we do have a penalty for withdraw, allowing the attacker to gain a free diplomacy roll in the space vacated.

[@MC-pt8kv]

Your videos are always a treat, I love your channel and how audacious you guys are in coming up with these big, visually and mechanically impressive games and campaigns. I'm curious how others feel about the rather serious and 'epic' tone of the intro in this video. I really enjoy the silliness and lighthearted way your club members tend to approach most games and the difference was very apparent this time.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Oh yes, we went for the "epic tone" introduction on purpose. This was a very big, epic project for the club. But I think you'll discover plenty of silly, light-hearted moments coming in this as the guys get into it....

[@lyinarbaeldeth2456]

This campaign board and setup is amazing! I love the dedication for full costumes as well. You guys are aces.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Aces or just really shameless geeks. Maybe both?

[@Jamiethedragon365]

@@LittleWarsTV is there a difference?

[@Malbeefance]

Steve and Greg's humor really helped elevate the fun of this video.

[@rosmith606]

This is my first exposure to the channel and I have to say, the Patreon voters simulating the senate is ingenious. I appreciate the measured tactics displayed by Rome but alas, cursed by the dice rolls!

[@robertmalmstrom3236]

This campaign is why I am a patron; fun, games, and history.

[@PatGilliland]

Do not throw your augury birds in the ocean! Great start to a new series - and that table- amazing!

[@jakewarden5872]

You did a good job hyping this campaign and episode 1 was worth the wait. Excited to see Turn 2 and some minis in action :) Really well done, folks.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Oh the minis are going to get quite a bit of action by the end of this campaign....

[@TheMoose8181]

I’m so into this campaign. Thank you guys, looking forward to the next turn!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Next Tuesday morning, Chapter 2!

[@colink563]

So great to have Dr. Goldsworthy speaking. He was a staple for some of my absolute favorite history documentaries on History channel (when they showed history), BBC, and even Smithsonian. Really cool to have him included!

[@jadegreen438]

This is super cool I love the mechanics of the Roman Senate. I'm really excited for more and seeing that I had to wait for over a year to see this I am not disappointed at all.

[@LittleWarsTV]

That's a relief to hear! All the filming and editing took us a lot longer than expected, but we tried to pull out all the stops for this one. We had no idea how it would turn out in the end, but all 5 turns wind up telling one hell of a story.

[@jadegreen438]

@@LittleWarsTV that's exciting to hear. You guys are awesome keep up the good work!

[@wayoutwest7]

I am so stoked for this.

[@LittleWarsTV]

We are stoked to finally release it! We've been working on this for a long time and damn...we think the five-part campaign turned out great!

[@rogerbogh3884]

Damn, I SO MUCH want to see that documentary... Great format on the Consul elections. That was an AMAZING idea.

[@LittleWarsTV]

We're editing the documentary now and will have it ready to roll out as soon as the campaign ends!

[@alexwitzaney9018]

Really appreciate Greg's and Steve's humor and costumes. LOL

[@charlessapp1835]

This is the best Little Wars content yet! I love how you combine the campaign map with on the field battles. My brother and I are just getting started in wargaming and my dream was do do something like this someday.

[@scarletphantom6403]

I love the Rome: Total War music and sounds in the video and look forward to watching the rest of the series. Gotta say, I am captivated, bravo and good work!

[@nilskuhl2967]

Soooo looking forward to watching this at home with some scotch NGL xD direct question, what miniatures did u used and what base sizes? Looks pretty dope

[@LittleWarsTV]

All 6mm figures on 40mm bases. Turn 1 is a lot of maneuvering, but some of the battles later in the campaign get pretty massive. So we felt 6mm scale was the way to go given the size of the armies.

[@nilskuhl2967]

@@LittleWarsTV thank youuuu for the quick help😊

[@hordynighthawk325]

Cannot wait for next part

[@josephcade6425]

Excellent start. Had I a vote, I would have voted for Greg but I see he also rolled dice pretty much like I usually do. Looking for some battles next turn (and better die rolling for the new consul).

[@LittleWarsTV]

Rome's next consul must pray to different gods than Gregianus, let's just leave it at that until next week....

[@Lehr-km5be]

I'm already in love with this series :) Rome Total War soundtrack hits so good with what is happening in the game. Highly looking forward to the next episodes!

[@pyrosianheir]

This sounds absolutely insane, and I'm so excited. Edit: Man, the dice were just NOT in Greg's favor this time.

[@MrRschwab]

A Great first year! Greg, Fortuna is a fickle mistress, her cornucopia of blessings missed you!

[@HeavyH2006]

Absolutely fabulous stuff!! A remarkably fascinating & enthralling watch & great role play by all at Little Wars. Can’t wait for next installment! Big thank you!

[@michaelg.1786]

Amazing map terrain. The prior video showing the construction was very informative. Maybe though, Gregianus should command construction projects only!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Hahahah yes, either exile or demotion to prefect in charge of aqueduct construction!

[@michaelg.1786]

@@LittleWarsTV 🤣

[@derekburge5294]

This is dorkery on a scale I didn't think was possible. Love it. Subscribed. Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!

[@Don_Juan89]

Pyrrhus Wars are some of my most favorite Campaigns in Italy. The Victories of the true Macedonian Style of warfare over Rome and Romes tenacity and ability to come back again and again are amazing! Looking forward to this!

[@K-972.]

Cant wait to watch all these

[@LittleWarsTV]

We'll air them every week, back-to-back!

[@meleechad6695]

The fog of war you guys add to games like this really makes these games stand out.

[@JohnW78]

Fantastic!...the pageantry!....the drama! Truly taking it all to the next level guys. Except for the rolls which were comical at best. I cannot wait for Part II.

[@chrismikucki9107]

Simply outstanding guys! Well worth the wait.

[@gerhardengelbrecht9116]

First time on the channel this is awesome!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Welcome, Gerhard! However you managed to find us, we thank the KZbin gods!

[@spockamania]

This campaign is even better with the Rome Total War music in the background. Such a good soundtrack

[@mrgunn2726]

Two Consuls, who would alternate holding the fasces each month, would have been interesting if Rome had two players each handing off strategy.

[@troydodson9641]

A petty disagreement leads to disaster, love it

[@richardklug822]

The play acting is entertaining, but your well designed, solid game play is what keeps me watching, even with battles/campaigns outside my areas of interest. Great job guys!

[@YoungClarke]

Hannibal, my son. Swear this, never a friend to Rome. It's so cool to look at the one ifs, the foes that could have stopped Rome from dominating the western world for so long.

[@randomguardsman5554]

Damn I waited so long for this campaign. Finally

[@eoinmccormack1940]

Very excited for this, well done to you all on the massive effort!

[@utkphilobio]

Really looking forward to the rest of the series!

[@troydodson9641]

Watched the finale trailer, which had me coming to the first episode. Holy crap, whenever I mentioned a table top, people tell me of Warhammer or D&D, which didn't catch my eye. I love the old histories, I didn't know these things extended to this period. The rule set and map blew me away, the armor is fun, and this is just episode one! Pyrrhic campaign is an amazing choice and have the crowd pick Consul is wild! I don't know what inspired the fickle and horrific Algorithm Gods to send me that trailer, but it worked this time!

[@kamikazebadger2686]

Amazing work! I can’t wait to see all the turns played out.

[@yesinup4116]

Woah. How have I not found this channel yet?! This is awesome!

[@LittleWarsTV]

We don't know!! We've been waiting for you!

[@Warhoon]

This was amazing! The effort is very much appreciated!

[@paintballinrn]

this is just amazing, cant wait to see the rest

[@KrisV385]

Yes! Been waiting for this and it was well worth the wait!! Thanks LWTV and well done.

[@PatS152]

Super Excited for this series!

[@jeffwilbanks384]

fantastic stuff. you guys just keep getting better and better at presenting such wonderful and inspiring historical miniature games and campaigns.

[@deathmagnetic300]

This is epic! So freaking stoked for this! You guys have kicked up the channel to an all time high! Reliving history to the day with the Civil War, now a 9 month campaign! What does the club have next as a challenge?!?! Impressive work!

[@LittleWarsTV]

We ALWAYS have the next project brewing...it's a good one.

[@miscdisc4854]

Amazing! Campaign looks awesome!

[@norm977]

thank you - a huge enrichment of the hobby.

[@MoggAssassin]

This was a fun campaign to vote in. Keep up the content!

[@aclevername9381]

By Jupiter! Those dice rolls were abysmal! Throw him to the lions!

[@scottanderson5581]

Love this! Can't wait for the next installment!

[@jellybryce7742]

awesome series. looking forward to more!

[@alans6752]

As always - damn fine stuff from you all. Very inspiring! Love campaigns, so that's just tops the cake!!

[@RubberToeYT]

Great episode, looking forward to the rest of the series, can’t wait for how it will all come together

[@davidnemoseck9007]

Glad to see this finally out. Can't wait to see the rest of it!

[@crumbum2]

Love the format! A quick intro with a link to the full backstory, and then thrown right into the battlefield. Your channel keeps getting better and better!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Hell yea, we aren't wasting any time with this one! There will be a ton of content later for the history of the real war, but we know people around here want to see the gaming! They've waited long enough!

[@duncansBoB]

A campaign year clearly hugely influenced by the Great Gods o f the Die.... Gregiarnus Inepticus was clearly one of the names history forgot. And I presume the 3 word description of our antagonist settled any further discussions on casting? Outstanding guys. Totally locked in for the campaign...

[@theandf]

I love this. Roleplayed, high stakes scenarios is what Little Wars TV does best. Kudos to you guys.

[@svedenska4535]

Well, this was well in the making

[@WeirdGuy4928]

The wait is finally over! Looking very nice so far.

[@richm6400]

Absolutely great fun - poor Gregianus 🤣

[@treynine8418]

It's Table top total war and its amazing

[@logannoble6707]

Oh man how I was devastated when I checked and I cant just binge watch this series :( I cant wait for the next episode !

[@LittleWarsTV]

Anticipation is half the fun! We'll roll right through the campaign week by week!

[@j.b.macadam6516]

Outstanding campaign and video! Like our gaming group, you guys really get into the spirit of the era and game. I am really looking forward to the next year and what it shall bring. Carry on, Gentlemen!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Haha oh yes. Our guys get into it for sure. We are super nerds.

[@DrewShotsFan]

Absolutely brilliant, guys 👍

[@DMiso90]

Amazing work, loved the map!

[@bigsarge2085]

This is fantastic!

[@vincentgregory1470]

What a great, great start to this campaign I've been excited for. Thank you!

[@LittleWarsTV]

Just the tip of the iceberg, Vincent!

[@lordbruno47]

Very epic video, i look forward to part 2 when it comes out.

[@andypickard7314]

So worth the wait! You certainly turned it up to 11 with this production.

[@elliotlane3225]

Brilliant. Hopefully the next Consul will have more luck with rolls than Consul Gregianus Infelicitas! Cry Havoc and unleash the dice of war!

[@boredscholar6303]

You guys have outdone yourselves this time, absolutely fantastic!!!

[@brandoncampanaro7571]

ive honestly loved this, i truly appreciate all the work and time put into this

[@utgaardhorstson2353]

Very entertaining and exciting video - I'll stay tuned and am looking forward to the next episodes.

[@tpd71261]

Very impressive, great job guys. looking forward to the rest of the campaign...

[@green6horn]

Really excited to see this finally come together. Great work folks.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Thank you, Todd!

[@davepumphouse1378]

Worth waiting for!!!

[@j.w.9669]

Great video can‘t wait for Part 2

[@frankdonatelli343]

This is incredible. Thank you. Just want I needed on my lunch break

[@LittleWarsTV]

Good news then, Frank. You have some really, really fun lunch breaks coming this month....

[@Lelouch7201]

I’m so glad this is finally here. I’ve been waiting and it’s so exciting. I hope Pyrrhus wins

[@adapax77]

Loving all the classic Rome Total War sound bites 😁🎶

[@paulbenson9015]

Well done Gents, well worth the wait. Looking forward to the next turn👍

[@Aldehyd27]

This is truly glorious, i love everything about it!

[@antoniomendoza2682]

Terrific way to start this campaign here on youtube. Well done guys, thanks!

[@jackgonz6580]

We should have known not to trust a bald man as counsel! his inability to fight have left our Carthaginian Allie’s defenseless and they now struggle in the region. Great vid :)

[@tonymarano913]

"Lost his hair in service to Rome" bah, surely a more hirsute general such as myself could have done better 😉

[@obamasisi-fegreg3255]

This is amazing!!!!

[@thomast8539]

Would be neat (and messy) to complicate a straight forward game by introducing backstabbing, bribery and collaboration by members of the Senate not in the Consul's camp, and maybe someone on the side of the Greeks doing they same thing to Pyrrhus, pretending to be his aide and ally. Life is messy like that and it would add an unseen and dangerous element to such a game. Maybe down the road?

[@LittleWarsTV]

A most interesting idea here, Thomas. Bribery and backstabbing...that sounds like just the sort of thing our club enjoys. Stay tuned. You may just see a bit of that coming in the campaign.

[@DOCCOPA]

amazing campaign so far, can't wait to see how the next turn goes

[@len796]

YEAAH! ITS HERE!

[@esr243]

This is brilliant. Love the gameplay too. I know why I am a patron for the last year.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Thank you for that! This madness was possible because of you and this awesome community. You guys are to blame to for what's to come!