Tuesday, 4 July 2023

Stripped down for parts: Caesar! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes!

   

 

Note: I wouldn’t normally give this treatment to a game as small and unassuming as this one, but it’s such an artfully wrought thing, and one that manages to look great while sticking to a very simple design brief, that I had to show it off. I’d like to give a shout out to Mitch and the team at MilSims Games for putting a copy of this aside for me.


It could be argued that Paolo Mori’s Caesar! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! (PSC Games, 2022) isn’t a wargame. The theme of the game is the contest between Julius Caesar and his once-friend then bitter rival, Pompey for control of the Roman Empire; a martial contest for the ages. I don’t feel qualified to make grand pronouncements on what constitutes a wargame and which games fall short of that (I don’t have a YouTube channel), but I will stand, hand on heart, and declare that Caesar! unquestionably has a place on this blog; it is both a fast game and a good game.

This is a neat little game in a neat little box, which is itself sturdy, colourful, and contains its components admirably. The cover illustration is cartoonish without looking cartoony. It conveys that this is a fun game about a serious subject.

The rules are printed on a glossy stock and are easy to read, simple to interpret, and helpfully-illustrated. The rules for the base game run to five digest-sized pages. Two more pages cover the “Expansions of Rome,” the addition of Poison and Centurion rewards to the mix of yellow counters, which may apparently be added separately or together into the game, and a further four pages of solo rules. This was unexpected, but I’m very grateful the game has a dedicated solitaire mode.


The board is a stylised map of the Mediterranean, divided into provinces with clear, straight lines. Over these lines are superimposed circles, each with a symbol representing a particular type of influence that can be applied there (Sword, Shield, Crossed Spears and Ship) Some are adorned with Laurel wreaths; these are Wild tokens that can be placed in any Influence space.

Nice mounted board. Small but perfect in every detail.

These symbols correspond with symbols that appear on the red and blue Influence tokens belonging to Caesar and Pompey respectively. The yellow tokens are Province Bonus tokens that are placed randomly in each province, and which can be claimed by the player who places the last Influence token to “close” a province, regardless of who wins the contest of influence. The tokens are printed on a good weight of brown-core card stock, and I’m happy to report they punch out easily and cleanly. My one criticism would be the choice of black print for the symbols and numerical values on the on the rich red and blue of the Influence tokens. I managed to read them without difficulty, but I can see how others might struggle with it.

A third sheet of rectangular counters are included. These are for use with the solo game. I haven’t explored their use as yet, but these also punch out nicely.

The mysterious solo counters.

Each player’s Influence tokens reside in a drawstring bag, printed with the portrait of Caesar or Pompey, as appropriate. 

Caesar (left, and Pompey (right)

The players each start the game with two tokens drawn, which they of course can look at, but which are shielded from the other player’s view by a screen. The screen also includes brief descriptions of the functions of the yellow Province Bonus tokens.

And that covers it. This is a simple and very fast-moving game. The components do what they are meant to and the whole package pops on the table with its use of primary colours and its adherence to a fairly no-thrills approach. In a world of monster, big-box games with dozens or hundreds of miniatures, it’s nice to find a game you can probably play through twice in the time it will take to set up the next chapter of Frosthaven.

Veni, vidi, lusi.
 

 

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