Blacksmith Features
February 2rd, 2009 by Lord Basse

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Saxon Invasion of Britain

By marijan1

Saxon Invasion of Britain is a simplistic Build and Destroy scenario in which you play as a band of Saxon raiders, clearing the way for a large invasion of Britain by Saxons, Jutes and several other barbaric tribes. Set in the 6th century, the authour of the game, marijan1, gives a history lesson mixed with loads of fun as you raid and pillage the British countryside. While not being an epic masterpiece, Saxon Invasion of Britain is bound to entertain you for a good few hours if you like more traditional build & destroy maps.

The scenario begins in Britain, where a band of Saxon mercenaries controlled by you help the British in defending their lands from Celtic marauders, but after a while you realize how much more you would earn if you switched sides. While in the Britons’ service you only get the crunches of bread that fall from their tables, if you’d join the Celts and Jutes in invading Britain, you would be able to claim all the riches that the land possesses. You take the ships brought by the now dead Celts and use them to sail across the sea, back home to Saxon-controlled lands, and use this as your base to start fighting the British. After many years of attempts (or, for us, several hours), Britain is yours to rule, and the native Britons have been pushed back by large numbers of Saxons, Jutes and Celts.

Albeit the story as a whole being quite shallow, with no real personalities for any of the characters, no sense of emotion and so forth, the story works very well for the scenario and there’s little to complain about. It is the story of a Saxon army and not any individual, and it fills its purpose very well. I personally really enjoyed the story since it fit in so well with the atmosphere and gameplay of the scenario, and it actually gave a sort of ES-esque feel to the scenario, which can be a good source of nostalgia if you liked the original campaigns in Age of Kings! And although the scenario might not be sparkling with creativity and awesome tricks, humongous trigger numbers or drool-spawning map design, this ES feeling is on its own very creative, and works marvelously well with the simplistic build & destroy gameplay presented.

To accompany and improve the build & destroy part of the scenario, this game comes with a pretty-looking and strategically worked out map, with hills and cliffs to be used for good defense and up-hill advantages. Even though the map as a whole is no masterpiece in designing, it does a great job enhancing the gameplay, and it has several spots that look just perfect for the gameplay and theme, like many green fields in Britain and the rural villages scattered around the island. If you have a few hours to kill and you have no idea of what you want to do, downloading and playing Saxon Invasion of Britain is something I’d recommend.