Stripped Down for Parts: Hubris: Twilight of the Hellenistic World 220-165 BCE

 

One of the things that drew me to wargaming early on was the excuse it gave me to go read up on all the history I‘d missed out on, and in many cases that I still remain quite ignorant of. Morgane Gouyon-Rety’s Hubris: Twilight of the Hellenistic World 220-165 BCE (GMT Games, 2025) sits squarely inside one of my own historical blind-spots, the decline of the post-Alexandrian eastern empires in the growing shadow of the Roman Republic.

I think mine was order number 200-and-something when Hubris appeared on GMT’s P500 list. I found the subject compelling, and everything in the description at the time pointed to a deep, chewy and engrossing play experience. Now, with the physical copy in my hands, I’m wondering just how chewy the play will be, but for now I’ll satisfy myself with revealing the parts that make up the game, for they are legion.

Hubris box art.

Hubris comes in a three-inch-deep box (with a travel insert) requires every bit of that space. The cover is an original piece portraying a leader against whom the Fates have turned, kneeling on a balcony, face contorted with anguish, behind him a scene of death and destruction as his capital is overrun and put to the torch by his enemies. To be honest, when I first saw the final cover on the game’s product page on the GMT website, I was a little nonplussed; it seemed a little melodramatic for the broader subject of the game, but seeing it on the finished product, I’ve revised my opinion. It is really quite striking.

The box back with it's small font. Get used to it.

The box back is a portent of things to come. It offers an image of the complete game board in miniature, though parts of it are obscured by some of the many components that contribute to Hubris (we’ll get into these later). Above the map image is a quote from Polybios’s Rise of the Roman Empire, a copy of which, by strange happenstance, came into my possession just a few months ago. The quote is from the Introduction in Book I of the collection (in my Penguin Classics copy, the author’s name is latinised to Polybius). You should be able to blow up the above picture to read the translation from the box-back; translator Ian Scott Kilvert renders it thus: “There can surely be nobody so petty or so apathetic in his outlook that he has no desire to discover by what means and under what system of government the Romans succeeded in less than fifty-three years in bringing under their rule nearly the whole inhabited world.”

The choice of quote is telling; in Hubris, the players take on the roles of the rulers of the Antigonids of Macedon, the Ptolemies (or Lagids) of Egypt, and the Seleucids of Syria and Persia, but, like Polybius’s chronicle, the story of the game is that of the rise of Rome and the subjugation of all states around her. For the sake of those embarking on the game, a more appropriate quote may have been drawn from the same pages; “… [T]he study of history is at once an education in the truest sense and a training for a political career, and that the most infallible, indeed the only method of learning how to bear with dignity the vicissitudes of Fortune is to be reminded of the disasters suffered by others.”

Below the map image are three boxes of text rendered in very small font. The first box offers a historical thumbnail of the situation Hubris recreates, while the other two columns explain in very broad terms how the game plays out, with the players responding to a variety of military, diplomatic and internal political issues. The full campaign game runs for eleven turns, but it’s heartening to see there are single-turn introductory scenarios to reveal to the novice the games mysteries in bite-sized (nonetheless, I suspect still chewy) portions.

Hubris’s contents list looks like somebody went to the game-component desk and asked for one of everything. Okay, that’s a little fatuous, but as we go along, you’ll see what I mean. The play details tell us that the game’s intended audience is humans aged fourteen and up, that it will accommodate one- to- three players (with a note that a dedicated solitaire system has been developed by the dedicated folks in the GMT One division), and that – depending on the scenario – the game should play out in between one and eight hours. Difficulty is cast at 5 out of 9, and solitaire suitability at 8 out of 9. As with most games through the door, I’ll likely be engaging with Hubris solo the first time or two out, but I am keen to try it out with a couple of friends.

The Rules of Play booklet. Not as daunting as it seemed at first blush.

The Rules of Play booklet clocks in at 52 pages. The good news is that this count includes fourteen pages devoted to the game’s seven scenarios, a four-page glossary, and ten pages devoted to the explanation of key concepts (and the front and back cover pages). The actual rules of play take up just twenty thoroughly and thoughtfully illustrated pages, plus a single page outlining the two-player game option.

Rules of Play (sample spread).

The daunting part is the font size – about eigh-point. It is manageable for me wearing reading glasses (which, to be honest, I should be doing with all rulebooks), but people with more serious reading issues may be better off using the pdf downloadable from the Hubris product page on the GMT website. So far, two of the four included booklets are available for download on the website. If you need the others, you need the others, I’d suggest writing to the friendly and helpful GMT office folks. Hopefully the two outstanding booklets will eventually make it onto the product page.

The Learning to Play booklet. I probably should have started with this
(its the first thing you see inside the box).

The other booklet that is also available as a download is the Learning to Play booklet. This twenty-eight-page book includes a “just the facts, ma’am” truncated Key Concepts section (just two and a half pages), an extended Example of Play clocking at eleven and a half pages a four-page Solitaire Rules Example, and a key to interpreting the many and varied cards and counters included in the game. The Rules of Play booklet is printed on what seems to now be the standard matte-finish paper-stock (though given the collective number of pages between the booklets, it feels like the printers have gone with around 80gsm weight), printed in a full-bleed colour process. I’m sometimes annoyed with rulebooks printed with a full-page background design; visually they are often gorgeous, but just as often make the text difficult to read. This is not the case here – the text in the booklets is all printed over a yellowed buff colour that doesn’t detract from the readability at all. This carries over to the Player Aid Cards, though some of the sections have a different (also light) coloured background to help differentiate the sections. Take it as read that all the booklets meet the same standard of quality and readability as the Rules of Play.

Learning to Play booklet - sample spread.

I’m pretty sure this is the book is going to get the most milage when I finally manage to take Hubris out for a turn. I’m no expert yet – I’ve only just started digging into the rules – but everything here seems to make sense so far. I wouldn’t quite say it’s all intuitive, but it all should work smoothly enough. There are just a lot of moving parts to the engine. And there are literally a lot of parts, which all do different things. But I’m getting ahead of myself again, and we still have two booklets to look at, so let’s stick to the schedule.

Solitaire Rules booklet. 

Next is the Solitaire Rules. These come in at twelve pages. This isn’t a separate system; it’s assumed that to play the solitaire game you have already digested the rules – as Picasso said, you have to know the rules before you can break them, or something to that effect. In this case, you have to understand the rules first, then the Solitaire Rules booklet will tell you how to tweak the systems to better allow a fluid solo experience. This advice is shared out over ten pages, with the back cover providing a key to the slight adjustments to the play of several cards for solitaire play.

The Companion Book: a wonderful source of game-related historical titbits. Read this and
you'll be able to hold your own at your next Classics Department sherry night.

Finally, we come to the Companion Book. This is the heftiest of the game’s booklets, displacing 68 pages. Familiarity with this book is arguably not crucial to play, at least initially, but it offers a wealth of historical context for the game. A series of appendices cover the Card events, the named leaders who appear in the game, and the Second Punic War which casts an inescapable shadow over the proceedings. The Companion Book also offers designer’s notes, a guide to the correct pronunciation of the names and locations featured, a map gazetteer, and a bibliography that should keep you out of trouble for a good while.

Companion Book sample spread. Historically enlightening and game-useful.

The historical notes are quite thorough and incorporate tips for playing the associated cards and characters. I think its worth reading these kinds of notes, maybe not before a learning game, but definitely before you start digging into the complexities of the game. Plus, that will give you a few conversational nuggets to share with your opponents over the game.

The mounted map board. It looks busy, but it should play pretty smoothly. I particularly
like the sundial turn track, but the whole thing is oriented toward ease of play.
I'll have more to offer about it a game or two in.

The game board is mounted and comes to the standard 22” by 34” in size. It presents the eastern Mediterranean from the eastern-most part of the Italian coast to the Arabian Sea, with both land and sea divided into areas. The land areas, or satrapies, each feature a colour a colour (indicating political affiliation – buff for the Seleucids, rose for the Macedons, and blue for the Ptolemies – A banner baring the provincial name and indicating the VP available to the player who has full or partial control of the region, and cities, settlements and fortresses.

The board also features a sundial turn track, a double-row general game track, several Rome-reated boxes and tracks, including a “Roman Belligerence Track, and banners indicating the status of six consequential, relatively independent nations; the Aitolian and Achaean Leagues, Sparta, Rhodes, Pergamon and Parthia.

Bi-fold Player Aid Card (front and back (above) and inside fold).

The game comes with a handful of Player Aid Cards. Three are duplicate general bi-fold PACs, one for each player, with each page laid out in two columns. These cover operations in the regular run of the game. The front cover offers a detailed Sequence of Play and notes on Control, VPs and Taxation, War and Peace, and War Exhaustion. The centre spread covers the Actions available to the payer in their turn as well as procedures for Land and Naval Battles, Reactions to Actions and Events perpetrated against the player, and notes on Minor Limitations (i.e., the limited places a minor power may campaign on behalf of the player).

The back page offers advice on accruing Renown Points and Ambitious Generals, dealing with Rebels, notes on Courts and their Intrigues, and a table called Casus Belli Thresholds (which, I confess, I haven’t got up to in the rules yet). As one might expect, every list and table features the rule reference number next to the title for further clarification. This should be a minimum standard, but I’m always heartened to see it.

The single-sheet PACs. Non-Player Kingdom operation flowchart (left), and the
Roman functional guidelines and Surrender to Rome charts (AKA the
Rome-owned tables (by nobody, ever)).

Hubris also includes two single panel PACs. One is intended specifically for use in two-player games; this card offers a flow chart for running Macedon as a third “bot” player, or Non-Player Kingdom (NPK) in game-parlance. The reverse has notes on how to run a Non-Player Macedon faction on the top half, with an initialised region map for solo play below (at this point I haven’t delved into the solo mode for Hubris at all, so I can’t say how this helps but I’m sure it does something useful).

The single-sheet PACs, reverse side. Macedon NPK guidelines for the two-player
game, and Solitaire area map (left), and a handy Map Legend (no room for that
on the actual map), and Greek Statis Event matrix.

The other one-panel PAC has guidelines for managing Rome as a force in the game, including separate Surrender Conditions charts for the Macedons and the Seleucids/Ptolemies. The reverse of this card presents a Map Legend (we don’t get a legend on the map-board, but there is already a lot going on there, so this is forgivable), and a d66 Random Table for Greek Statis Event; this is related to a particular Event card (Ev3), and as big as the Event cards are, this would not have fitted comfortably in its confines. All of the PACs are printed on a good weight cardstock (typical for GMT publications), and for the most part, are quite readable (he says, reaching for his glasses again).

The three card decks in three different sizes, secure in their plastic wraps. The cards
 all fill different (sometimes multiple) roles. Three decks - no waiting. 

So, now we come to the cards. Hubris boasts three different sizes of cards. The largest (standard tarot-sized) are the event cards. On the whole, these present the player with problems to overcome or opportunities of which to take advantage.

Sample Event cards. I like the use of randomisation in the event results
related to the minor powers.

Some Events are specific to one of the player factions, some will affect all three factions, and some may be bid upon by the factions for the boon the card offers.

The poker-sized cards include a huge deck of Leader cards – these represent significant historical figures from each faction who may have some influence over the course of the game. As in history (and in life) various Leaders possess varying skills and skill levels. The talents of the Leaders in Hubris have been abstracted into three areas; Military, Diplomacy and Administration. I’d like to say more about this, but I’m still getting my head around the game, so I’ll refrain here from boldly declaring anything I’ll have to come back and correct alter in edit.

Sample Leader cards.

Roman Activation and Agenda cards, and the Punic War cards.
Best not mention the war.

The Leader cards represent leaders (Kings and members of Court) from the three player factions, Roman Consuls (three in all – one for each faction), and Unaffiliated Leaders (some rogue elements, like Hanibal). Among the poker-sized deck you’ll also find the cards governing the Roman activities, nine Roman Activation cards, four double-sided Second Punic War cards, and three double-sided Roman Agenda cards. These last two types have display areas on the board; the Agenda cards flip to one or the other side depending on whether the Roman status marker is flipped to Limited War or Full War.

Sample Satrapy cards. These are a worthwhile addition to the game.

The smallest cards (European mini-sized) each correspond to a satrapy. Each cards duplicates the information printed on the board for that satrapy. The use of these is optional, but they should speed up VP and revenue calculations.

Counter sheets 1 & 2. The faction colours work better than I would have guessed.

Counter sheet 3. Pre-rounding carried to its logical conclusion.

Hubris comes with three sheets of counters. These are, in the main, pre-rounded 5/8“ troop and status counters and track markers, with some very pre-rounded, well circular, markers which correspond with names locations on the game map. There are also some 1/2“ counters (around 3/4" by Mark 1 Eyeball) that match the Leader cards (I’m guessing for map-location, but don’t quote me (see above)), VP adjustment markers. Some satrapies pay different VP dividends across the three factions, so I will make an educated guess that these are mnemonic devices to indicate this on the board. And that’s about the limit of my speculations until I dig deeper into the game.

The counters all look fine or excellent, and the pre-rounded ones punch out easily and cleanly. I haven’t tried removing the 1/2" counters yet, but they look like they’ll come out pretty cleanly. The cardstock looks a little thick for my counter clipper, so I may end up removing them from the sprue with a craft knife. Yes, I have a counter clipper (Oregon Laminations standard 2mm radius), which just makes me appreciate pre-rounded counters that much more.

Blocks and stickers for stand-up leaders. You can't see it very well in this photo,
but included in the wooden components is a black cylinder for tracking the
game-turns on the sundial. God is in the details.

Along with counters and other markers, Hubris comes with a bag full of wooden blocks, and two matching sheets of stickers. The stickered blocks will represent various leaders on the board.  I may have missed it in my first go-through, but I have yet to establish if the blocks are intended to be single or double-sided. I’m leaning toward the blocks being stickered on both sides as it does state in the rules that Hubris is a game without hidden information. The blocks represent each faction’s King, his Chief Minister, the Strategoi (role placed on a governor during a time of war) and the three Roman Consuls. Again, I don’t want to say too much about the use of the blocks on the board as I’ll probably mess it up. I’ll get deep into the tall grass with the first Hubris AAR.

Inside the box. Nice dice and some baggies for storage.

Rounding out the set is the dice. Each faction has their own dice, colour matched to their side. These look like regular, workable d6s – four to a player. The colour matching is phenomenally good and is a nice touch. In fact, I have to admit I wasn’t thrilled with the colour-blocking of the various spheres of influence, but seeing the board laid out on the table, I’ve revised my opinion;

The game comes in a sturdy box typical of the quality casements GMT have been shipping all the games I’ve seen for the last four or so years at least. Baggies have also been included, but given the number and variety of cards in the game, I’m thinking about springing for the cheaper Cube4Me options for their Hubris storage kit which will accommodate the counters, blocks, dice and cards for under US$20.00 (shipping from Poland to Australia, up to 1kg, is around $US10.00 - which will cover three or four games worth of storage solutions, so I'm going to wait 'til after Christmas to put an order in).

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So, there is a quick-ish and not all that enlightening look at Hubris. At this stage, the plan is to try to make this my Christmas project, between family events and other distractions. To paraphrase a familiar quote, no plan, however well developed, survives contact with the relatives. Then there’s some other games in the queue that I need to write up – we try not to play favourites too obviously here at A Fast Game. That said, I’m going to try to at least run through one of the solitaire scenario (Scenario number 5 – Antiochos’s Hubris) early in the new year. A full report will be forthcoming just as soon as I can manage this.