PLAYED FOR YOU

Rome & Carthage

Conquest around the mediterranean

War around the Mediterranean is imminent; you want to occupy two capitals of your opponents at the same time for two rounds or eliminate opposing armies completely in order to win. The cities involved are Byzantium, Carthage, Alexandria and Rome. Each empire is commanding seven armies - three infantry men, two galleys, one chariot and one elephant. In relation to the number of empires you are directing (one or two) you take a selection of resources cards in hand; members of a team can confer upon their actions and show each other their cards.

In the first two rounds of the game you deploy army units, then you have one move in turn, this move comprises drawing of cards, playing of special cards, moving army units and engaging in battle. For a battle both opponents play two cards each, the higher total value wins the battle. In case of a tie an additional card is played, the spy cannot be used now.

The rules feature two variants: "On Equal Terms" for 2-4 players - you draw the same resources cards, albeit in different order, and team members cannot show the cards to each other. "Rapid Conquest" needs four players to play, the aim of the game is to reduce opposing units to five pieces or to reduce them to three pieces and control the capital of the other team member for one round or to win on the conditions of the basic game.

A game that is nearly 60 years old, designed by one of the co-developers of Risk! Well, it has a flavor of Risk and at the time of its first release it was a sensational step away from the usual roll & move. Today, it is still a respectable game with a rather balanced ratio of luck and planning and some interesting special effects on the cards.

Players: 2-4

Age: 10+

Time: 60+

Designer: Jean-René Vernes

Artist: Vincent Dutrait

Price: ca. 47 Euro

Publisher: Grosso Modo 2012

Web: www.gm-editions.fr

Genre: Conquest, card use

Users: With friends

Special: 2 players

Version: multi

Rules: de en fr

In-game text: no

Comments:

New edition, first edition 1954 as Mediterranean

Still a good game, despite its age

Luck and tactic are rather well balanced

Compares to:

First edition Mediterranean, very slightly Risk

Other editions:

Currently none

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 0

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 3

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0