Project Rome - Play Testing the Campaign..

I just finished play testing a complete campaign year and the results exceeded my expectations. Through the course of ten months (February to November) events for both sides moved as though on a roller coaster – up and down.

Rome opened the campaign year well, splitting the army in two wings with each operating for the first months independent from one another and the goal was to join forces after the summer to consolidate their strength. In that time both consul and praetor would try to create as many “friends of Rome” as odds are other tribes could turn hostile.

Using the card system went better than expected as after playing a phase meant drawing new cards which offered both sides an opportunity to play a few phases per turn; this livened up the game considerably.

Spanish strategy was rather simple, wait for Rome to blunder before making a move. The consul did this rather well as his flair for diplomacy failed on two occasions which had tribes hopping about. The consul’s wing was mauled twice with the last engagement resulting from an ambush set by two Spanish tribes, this essentially destroyed his force.

As Spanish tribes could not initiate any military movement until their status reached a hostile state, they could exercise their diplomatic skills which did prove effective in eliminating revenue producing areas within Hispania Ulterior. Each province has ten regions that produce revenue and four of these were lost during the consuls’ term. 

From the Senate's report, two regions in Lusitania were conquered by Rome but were retaken later in the year, two major defeats resulting in the loss of half the consular army and the loss of revenue for Hispania Ulterior would mean new lots would be cast for the coming year for two new positions.    

Play testing will continue for the coming month and possibly by early summer this should be on file at the Fanaticus Resource page.

Cheers,