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7.6

Empire: The Macedonian Punic Wars, 350-150BC

Society of Ancients
2009
Empire: The Macedonian  Punic Wars, 350-150BC
0
BGG Overall Ranking
1-4 players
Best: 4+,0
1.3 / 5
Complexity
60 min
Playing Time

About Empire: The Macedonian Punic Wars, 350-150BC

A simple strategic level game for 1-4 players, simulating the struggle for dominance between Carthaginians, Romans, Macedonians and Persians/Parthians. It can be played as it is with very simple comba...Read More

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Reviews

7
agripa

Very simple and straighforward game that give players a very general and abstract overview of the struggle of empires during 4th and 3rd BC in the Mediterranean and Middle east. The playthrough starts with a random revolt activation followed by a chit pull activation. Essentially each player rolls one die per turn to see if they are successful or not in his expansion designs. Solo well despite being a bit repetitive but I need to have a experience with four players to rate it. Components (card map and counters) are very poor, the 2 pages of rules are straighforward and clear, accompanied by two more pages of Designer notes plus one table for Revolts and one for Campaign DRMs. It is beyond my understanding why the SOA does not publish this title as a PNP version! Each turn represents 10 years with 20 turns total.

Can be played in 45 minutes. AAR: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2914222/empire-macedonian-punic-wars-350-150-bc-illustrate

3
capracaligo

Too basic for my tastes. Commendably delivers plausible outcomes in a very portable package with minimal rules (though the many combat DRM exceptions are a bit of a pain)

9
Charles Vasey

Very ingenious super-fast game on empires. Rather than the usual few bits cobbled together this is a genuine distillation.

10
Dave in Ledbury

This is a relatively simple, but brilliant game, with dice determining the fate of a nation's campaigns each turn, with modifiers and Great Leader bonuses that are designed to play out the historic grand strategy of the Punic War period. It has a few rules to make it run close to the historic outcome, but this is not a foregone conclusion. It may be too simple for diehard wargamers, but it is easily playable solo. It can also be the basis of a campaign where the Empire battles are played out using your favourite wargame system e.g. Lost Battles.

6
etagimbo

As part of Lost Battles Deluxe. Very simple. Very limited decision making and lots of luck. But nice as a framework for lost battle campaigns.

6.75
GillesP

Counters have been mounted,maps in 2 parts on card-stock. 8-page rulebook (looks fragile). Clever mechanisms with the situation at the end of the game giving an historically accurate situation. Could be used as a campaign system for a game like Ancients (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1782/ancients). Otherwise, this could be used as a filler / introduction game.

8
Gorgoneion

Ordered it. Very curious on how it works. :)

UPDATE Played a couple of full games on Vassal. Very simple strategic wargame. Your choices are important as well as taking advantage of new situations that arise. If Alexander doesn't go to great lengths to KILL the Persian Empire it will win with an astonishing amount of points. After the Persian empire has been killed it is up to the Roman to kill both Carthage - easy enough - and the Macedon empire - a little more difficult.

Nice little game but I cannot imagine to propose this to my group, it may be easily played solo. I'd prefer to have at least a nibble more of meat on this one.

UPDATE Played in three and had a lot of fun! This is getting to a solid "8" for me. :)

10
HarryWarriorofRome

very simple game, yet player has choices, and it tends to produce a narrative much like the historical events

8
John GL

Excellent solo, best with two players (Persia/Rome v Macedon/Carthage).