History TabletopGame / TheHyborianCampaign

-->''"As it happens, I enjoy organizing things...so working out systems of military service, taxation, family lineage and such items came easily to me and in fact gave me many hours of enjoyment... Howard...had worked into his stories far more background detail than exists in the normal fantasy. He had provided an outline map... and while the geographical picture was rather vague, featuring few cities, there was a wealth of ethnological detail available. On this I proceeded to build."''

Tony Bath was a noted {{Wargam|ing}}e during the 1960s and 70s. He was likewise a ardent fan of Robert Howard's {{Literature/Conan the Barbarian}} series, and so it was natural that he would come to combine the two. What followed was what may be one of the most in-depth and influential fantasy wargaming campaigns conducted. This was not a mere lifting of the Conan the Barbarian: in order to provide a suitable background for a wargame, Bath expounded deeply into the world of Hyboria, describing its armies, society, and economy, and the end result was a setting that was as much Bath's as it was Howard's.

Tony Bath was a noted wargamer during the 1960s and 70s. He was likewise a ardent fan of Robert Howard's {{Literature/Conan the Barbarian}} series, and so it was natural that he would come to combine the two. What followed was what may be one of the most in-depth and influential fantasy wargaming campaigns conducted. This was not a mere lifting of the Conan the Barbarian: in order to provide a suitable background for a wargame, Bath expounded deeply into the world of Hyboria, describing its armies, society, and economy, and the end result was a setting that was as much Bath's as it was Howard's.

The rules, likewise were as in-depth and detailed as his WorldBuilding. Virtually every detail of warfare-- movement, soldiers' pay, character traits, and economic resources, where elaborately expounded on in order to provide a realistic experience of warfare. Initially beginning as a two-player matter between Bath and his associate Donald Featherstone, it grew rapidly as more of their friends wished to join in the fighting. In the end, the campaign lasted for several years, conducted not only on the tabletop but also in mail as players sent their orders and complete with a newsletter sent out to the players to keep track of everything that was occurring.

The rules, likewise were as in-depth and detailed as his WorldBuilding. Virtually every detail of warfare-- movement, soldiers' pay, character traits, and economic resources, where elaborately expounded on in order to provide a realistic experience of warfare. Initially beginning as a two-player matter between Bath and his associated Donald Featherstone grew rapidly as more of their friends wished to join in the fighting. In the end, the campaign lasted for several years, conducted not only on the tabletop but also in mail as players sent their orders and complete with a newsletter sent out to the players to keep track of everything that was occurring.

[[caption-width-right:350:Tony Bath, the organizer the Campaign, concentrates on a battle.]]

* HostileShowTakeover: {{Downplayed}}: At one point in the game, the campaign newspaper, the Shadizar Herald, was taken over by the player controlling Zamora (the country Shadizar is in) after it reported scandalous rumours about the Queen. The GameMaster had to stage a riot in the city in order to wrest back control of the paper.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tony_bath17.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Tony Bath, the organizer the Campaign, concentrates on a battle.]]

* LowFantasy: As per [[{{Literature/ConanTheBarbarian}} its original inspiration]]. Bath went even further in this regard, doing away with magic all together and just keeping the {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}}s intact.

* AlternateUniverse: Of Conan the Barbarian, of course. Even accounting for the initial differences between Howard and Bath's Hynorias, [[http://theblogthattimeforgot.blogspot.ca/2010/03/imperial-cimmerians-and-aquilonian.html the Hyboria that emerged once the dust settled was radically divergent from yjr original setting]].

* AlternateUniverse: Of Conan the Barbarian, of course. Even accounting for the initial differences between Howard and Bath's Hynorias, [[http://theblogthattimeforgot.blogspot.ca/2010/03/imperial-cimmerians-and-aquilonian.html the Hyboria that emerged once the dust settled was radically divergent from Howard's original setting]].

* SpaceFillingEmpire: Vendhya (which was originally a FantasyCounterpartCulture of India) could definitely be considered this once the campaign ended, beginning with conquering border states and even one of the players' empires and going on to subjugate [[FarEast Khitai]] in the east to what was formerly Shemite land the south of the Styx to the west and everything in between by the campaign's conclusion. Note that the Styx is the setting's equivalent to the ''Nile''.

* EasyLogistics: Averted ''hard''. An entire chapter of ''Setting Up a Wargames Campaign'' examines the maintenance of armies from pay of troops to production of weapons. Failure to supply troops would result in them losing effectiveness every turn.

* SpaceFillingEmpire: Vendhya (which was originally a FantasyCounterpartCulture of India) could definitely be considered this once the campaign ended, beginning with conquering border states and even one of the players' empires and going on to subjugate [[FarEast Khitai]] in the east to what was formerly Shemite land the south of the Styx to the west and everything in between by the end. Note that the Styx is the setting's equivalent to the ''Nile''.

* TheEmpire: Cimmeria united to become Cimmerian Empire early on, though as the campaign passed it became defunct and was replaced by the Confederation of Varnar. The Shemite and Vendhyan Empries are present day examples of this trope.

* SpaceFillingEmpire: Vendhya (which was originally a FantasyCounterpartCulture of India) could definitely be considered this once the campaign ended, beginning with conquering border states and even one of the players' empires and going on subjugating [[TheFarEast Khitai]] in the east to what was formerly Shemite land the south of the Styx to the west. Note that the Styx is the setting's equivalent to the ''Nile''.

* AlternateUniverse: Of Conan the Barbarian, of course. Hyboria went through major wars through this period in the end, [[http://theblogthattimeforgot.blogspot.ca/2010/03/imperial-cimmerians-and-aquilonian.html but even the setting proper had numerous divergences from Howard's canon]].

* TheEmpire: Likewise, Cimmeria was unified into the Cimmerian Empire in this version of the setting, though by the time the campaign began it was defunct and replaced by the Confederation of Varnar. The Shemite and Vendhyan Empries are present day examples of this trope.
* TheFederation: Aquilonia became one in this version of Hyboria after several border states into it. Each member state is autonomous, with issues like defence and diplomacy being nation-wide.

* RiskStyleMap: ZigZagged. Bath's [[http://www.rudi-geudens.be/html/hyboria_map.htm official map of the campaign]] seems to have been divided into a number of countries, but the actual movement, economics, etc. seems to have been done on a hex map.
* SpaceFillingEmpire: Vendhya (which was originally a FantasyCounterpartCulture of India) is one of the largest empires in Hyboria, subjugating [[TheFarEast Khitai]] in the east to what was formerly Shemite land the south of the Styx to the west. Note that the Styx is the setting's equivalent to the ''Nile''.

* TheEmpire: Likewise, Cimmeria was unified into the Cimmerian Empire in this version of the setting, though by the time the campaign began it was defunct and replaced by the Confederation of Varnar. The Shemite and Vendhya Empries are

The rules, background and history of the Hyborian Campaign can be found in "Tony Bath's Ancient Wargaming", [[http://www.lulu.com/shop/society-of-ancients-and-tony-bath-and-john-curry/tony-baths-ancient-wargaming/paperback/product-15463540.html available on Lulu]]. A digital memorial to Tony Bath and an overview of the campaign can be found [[http://www.rudi-geudens.be/html/titelblad_bath.htm here]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Tony Bath, the genius behind the Campaign, concentrates on a battle.]]

The rules, likewise were as in-depth and detailed as his WorldBuilding. Virtually every detail of warfare-- movement, soldiers' pay, character traits, and economic resources, where elaborately expounded on in order to provide a realistic experience of warfare. The campaign lasted for several years, conducted not only on the tabletop but also in mail as players sent their orders.