Designer's Comments

My second game, and this time I looked at the end of the Roman Republic. The game was heavily influenced by the old Avalon Hill boardgame 'Republic of Rome'. There were essentially two main sections - the internal Roman political game, which involved factions in the Senate vying for honours and commands, and the Provincial (map) game. Senators aimed to become Consuls and Praetors, and then get sent out to a lucrative Province governorship, where they could interact with barbarians or try to fleece the locals for more money. There were also several non-Roman powers played. The Egyptians had an internal politicking and backstabbing game involving the daughters of Ptolemy (including Cleopatra), scheming eunuchs and army commanders, and trying not to be absorbed by Rome - Egypt also provided most of Rome's grain, so that gave them leverage but also a reason for Rome to invade. The Parthian Empire was also played as a small team, as well as single players representing Nabatea, Dacia and a couple of other minor kingdoms. Barbarian incursions were run by Control.

The game went pretty well from my point of view, although the Parthians ended up being quite dangerous, so Roman internal politics were crimped by having to deal with a long and gruelling war with Parthia. A highlight however was Caesar, having been sent to 'deal with' the Egyptians, but only having been given one Legion, ie having been set up to fail, nevertheless storming the walls of Alexandria and imposing a Pax Romana among the squabbling dynasty.