Each legate will then draw two additional chits – one from the consular provinces, and one from the pile of praetorian provinces that were just drawn. The consular province is where he is currently serving, and the praetorian province is where he will represent the enemies of Rome in the upcoming battle round. When an odd number of players are participating in the draw, the province that doesn’t get a legate drawn for ‘the enemies of Rome’ gets a peaceful year. When consulars draw provinces, their opponent is normally another consular who has drawn a legate chit.

Praetorian governors may buy extra troops for their army (spending gold) or politic the Senate for extra troops (spending prestige as well as gold to do so). Praetorian armies of the period were (conveniently) normally two legions, which works out to the standard DBA army. Praetorian governors must chose to either be a conservative general who uses the Polybian Roman list (II./33), or a forward thinking general who uses the Marian Roman list (II./39). Additional troop types are available as mercenaries, and certain allied troop types can be found in certain provinces (for example – the governor of Africa can hire an elephant with enough gold, but the governor of Cisalpine Gaul cannot). Consular governors have a much larger army –represented by two DBA lists.

Legates have no influence over the type of army the Consul or proconsul they support is using. And so dice 1,2,3 = Polybian 4,5,6= Marian. Legates may not petition the Senate for more troops but can hire small numbers of auxiliaries or allies out of their own purse. See army composition rules further on.

Next, the praetorian governors will roll one die to determine if there are any foreign wars in their province. The Foreign War Die Roll may be modified by the praetorian governor or by the legate, in either direction using gold or prestige. This modification occurs secretly after the die roll. (Although it may seem a little strange, most of the great families of Rome were perfectly willing to stir up trouble in somebody else’s province in order to secure political or pecuniary advantage).

The modified Foreign War die roll is compared with the list of potential enemies to the province, and if the modified die roll is equal to or lower than the aggression of the appropriate DBA army, then a war exists with that nation. If more than one nation is at potentially at war, then the nation with the highest aggression number is at war with the Roman province. If two nations have the same aggression, randomly determine the enemy. If no potential enemy has a low enough aggression, check the aggression of the nations listed as ‘potential raider/invader’. Note that the aggression level of these nations has been modified higher in some cases as these nations listed are coming some distance to molest Roman territories. This represents a brief, historical event that isn’t identified with the more generalized DBA aggression numbers – for example, a small tribal raid into Narbonese Gallia by the otherwise peaceful Gauls. This affects the starting procedure for the DBA game - use the higher aggression number to determine the DBA game attacker, and always use the Roman province’s terrain for the terrain type.

In subsequent rounds or as a result of first round events, there may be nations already at war with Rome. The nation already at war may be selected as a ‘second’ war in this case, but only if the aggression die roll does not permit another enemy, or if all nations in the potential enemy list are at war. This represents previously neutral factions in the province joining the war against Rome, a second invading army from a civilized nation, etc. When this occurs, the new army may join with the existing enemy army on a die roll of 4,5,6, creating a two-general Big Battle DBA army. If a multiple general DBA army already exists for that nation, then the die roll is 5,6 to join a two-general DBA army and 6 to join an army that already has three or more generals. If the two armies do not join, they are fought in separate battles. Nations that have successfully become ‘Friend and Ally’ can still go to war with Rome, representing a splintering of the tribe/nation in its own civil war.

If the die roll produces a natural ‘6’, one randomly determined nation in/adjoining the province is seeking ‘Friend and Ally of the Roman People’ status. This nation may actually be the aggressor in a foreign war as well, representing a local Civil War in which one side is seeking Rome’s support against the other. A governor who successfully champions such an application can garner significant resources of gold and prestige. Servile revolt and pirates may not seek ‘Friend and Ally’ status.

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