With Christmas duties out of the way, I headed off to enjoy the contest for he Mediterranean between Rome and Carthage.
"Pax Romana" is a beautifully made game with a focus on playability over historical realism. It pits four powers, Rome, Carthage, Greece and "the East" (an amalgam of Diadochi powers) in a contest of supremacy that includes conquest and the building of cities. Rome starts off weak but has a lot going for it. Greece and the East are far more cohesive and effective than historically, but as a game it plays well, gives the players lots of interesting choices and "just works" in the way that "Space Empires" (the game from our last Boys Weekend) did. It would be a good candidate for our next Boys Weekend, if we get tired of intra-galactic space.
I chose the most historical of the scenarios for my first attempt: Carthage against Roma. It took me a few goes to ensure I have a full grasps of the rules: Carthage fell too quickly the first time and then Roma as I missed subtleties.
You can see Pyrrhus on the right of the image in Greece about to land to the aid of the Greeks against the Romans. In Africa, the Carthaginians have subdued the Numidians and are starting to expand into Spain.
As play began, Pyrrhus was blown off course sailing from Greece. Roma tried a preemptive strike which saw it suffer a repulse on the walls of Tarentum. Then Pyrrhus finally arrive and fought his way unopposed through Capua, Roma and into Cisaplina. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians took advantage of the chaos to consolidate with a town building program in the Sicilies.
The Roman attempted to retake Roma but were short of cash and could not muster the right dice rolls. The turn finished with Carthage on top.
The next turn Roma built legions to finish off Magna Graecia and the Carthaginians made an attempt to dominate Spain. The Romans succeeded with the former while the Carthaginians had to contend with a slave revolt in Africa, so only managed a toe hold in Africa.
In the third turn, Rome was finally ready to take on Carthage in Sicily, but again were plagued by bad die rolls. Carthage on the other hand went through Spain easily so continued through southern Gaul and into Cisalpina. At the end of the turn, the Roman position was pretty hopeless. Particuarly as the Carthaginians hold another "Soldier of Fortune" card (= another Pyrrhus type army in Italy) to enhance the pain.
Good game! For solitaire play you do need more realism, but I can see the fun in this. Although I was mostly watching the cricket, three turns (each with 8 operational phases, called Activations) took almost three hours. The right length of a lazy post Christmas day.
Perhaps this is a good Boys Weekend game. Assuming I don't boycott the next Boys weekend if it turns into another Canberra patheticness.
Posted by: Paul | Tuesday, 26 January 2016 at 10:53 PM