AD69: The Megagame of the Year of Four Emperors

This megagame was held in Eardley School, Streatham on Saturday 14th June 1997.

As all historians know, primary sources are often good for giving you an idea of what was going on, but are often biased by the perceptions of the people involved. For megagames this is even more so, since the players will have you believe that they personally triumphed over all the others. AD 69 is particularly prone to this phenomenon. To this end I collected the papers of Glitius Decianus, the Procurator of Belgica after the game. I also collected a number of papers from the ruins of the Senate including some of the letters from Fabius Fabullus the legate of Legio V, Alaudae and Defender of Belgica.

The recovered papers are:

• About Glitius Decianus
• The Belgican Treasury accounts showing (the official version of) where all the money went to.
• Glitius Decianus’ letters to Rome. These give a chronological account to the Imperial Treasury & the Senate of events in the Belgica/Germania region.
• Other’s letters found on the floor of the Senate after it had been sacked. These give an idea of what the other players were telling the Senate.
• Fabius Fabullus wrote home to his Mother & Father regularly describing what was going on at the front in Belgica. When the other German Legions marched on Rome he bravely stayed and defended the frontier from the barbarian hordes which attempted to exploit the reduced garrisons. His deeds in defence of the empire should be rembered always…
• Glitius’ Story. Events during the year A.D. 69 (as represented in the game) as experienced by Glitius Decianus, the Procurator of Belgica. It focuses on the West and tends to ignore all but the most monumentous events in other parts of the Empire.
• Glitius Decianus’ eventual fate as the paymaster of the German Legions.