After my historical work for the Castelum museum I had the opportunity to illustrate two boardgames concerning Ancient Rome. Donning the purple (2019) and the expansion Votes & Virtue (2020) by the Norwegian  Tompet games.

Set in 193 AD, The Roman Empire is not as great as it once was. Hordes of enemies are crossing the borders, famine spreads throughout the provinces and the political intrigues are tearing the empire apart from within. The previous emperor was killed by his own Praetorian bodyguard and has left a power vacuum that the powerful families in Rome are trying to fill. Donning the Purple is an asymmetrical king of the hill game with a bit of worker placement.

I illustrated all the cards and the cover art. The game was funded by a successful kickstarter campaign. One the pledges was the opportunity to use the faces of backers as inspiration for the illustrations. This was a rewarding experience working so directly with material provided by the actual backers. They provided photo’s of themselves that I used as reference for certain cards.

More illustrations can be found in my illustration portfolio.