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How did Rome get to be Rome? Why did the Glory
That Was Greece fade? What stopped Carthage from making an empire
of the Mediterranean? Could the Seleucids really have conquered
the western world?
These are a few of the questions you can explore in the exciting
new GMT game, PAX ROMANA, designed for play by all levels of
gamers, from the competition-oriented, one sitting players to
the Let’s Recreate History on a grand scale aficionados.
PAX ROMANA covers the Europe from 300 BC through the end of
the 1st century BC, when control of the Mediterranean was in
a state of flux with four empires possible. And it does so with
a scale and system that is filled with decision-making tension
but also highly accessible and easy to play. The emphasis is
on strategic operations, from raising armies to colonizing outlying
areas, to fighting barbarian incursions, to maintaining political
stability at home.
PAX uses a unique marker-oriented play sequence that provides
surprise and opportunity, plus a deck of unusual cards that provide
the historical background of events and calamities within which
the players must operate.
Each turn represents 25 years, with the movement of forces
and the shifting of power occurring at a proportionately very
large scale. Combat takes place throughout the game, but they,
too, represent ongoing conflict as much as individual battles.
But even here, subtleties are built-in: force composition matters
– armies overbalanced by cheap light infantry suffer penalties,
while cavalry can single-handedly make the difference between
winning and losing – and knowing when and where to make
a stand and when to withdraw to safer places can literally decide
the fate of a power for an entire generation.
And at this scale, of course, the best-laid plans frequently
go awry. In one playtest, Rome was all ready to sail for Sicily
when suddenly an army of Gallic barbarians appeared with the
play of a card and swept across northern Italy and down towards
Rome. In another, the two leaders for The East (representing
the Seleucids and the Ptolemies) joined together for a knock-out
blow against the Greeks in Asia Minor, when the play of a different
card had the leaders turning on each other, destroying over half
their forces, and putting The East on the defensive for the remainder
of the turn. In still another, the Greek player drew a card that
he was forced to play on himself, causing civil war in his homeland
and giving his enemies not only a breather, but a surprisingly
easy advance.
Most important for gamers, though, is the wide variety of
scenarios PAX provides, from fast-playing, one-sitting two-player
games to vivid recreations of the entire era with four players.
The game works well with 2, 3 or 4 players, and is designed to
be playable solitaire for those interested in the historical
view it provides. Scenarios range from The Punic Wars, through
the Eastern Med conflicts between the Greeks and the Seleucids,
all the way up to the entire 10 turn game, covering 300 years
of history. In addition, there are two versions of PAX: the Standard
Game, designed for fast play, and the Advanced version, which
adds in much tangential history and allows for a more introspective
examination of the era.
Designed by Ancients simulation expert, Richard Berg, and
staunchly developed by Neil Randall, PAX ROMANA includes one
beautiful gamemap (see the attached example of just the playtest
version), 55 cards, 400+ counters, and a host of play aids and
charts to keep things organized.
By Richard Berg |
