From: Dave Townsend Subject: Re: Imperium Romanum Alan Poulter wrote: > ... Even so, there must be something about this game to > account for the response. Anyone care to post a review? Any errata around > for IR? And what are the differences between the editions of IR? With 51 entrants, you ought to get plenty of opinions, too. :-) IR2 is a strategic Roman Late-Republic-And-Empire game. One month turns, units represent single legions or smaller collections of auxilia. You want scenarios? It's got 'em, 35 to be exact, for all sort of #players [1-6, more could be handled in desparation]) and game length (< 1 year through 10 years) and time periods (Marius vs Sulla [88 BC] through Justinian's reconquest [AD 533]. I think IR2 has a great integration of good looks and functionality. Its map is one of my favorites. The counters are duochrome (just white or black on a background color) but are clear and functional. There are two charts booklets, spelling out stacking, supply, recruiting, CRTs, etc. Well-written rulebook with extensive designer's/developers notes, and a relevant mood-setting quote for each rules section. Play gives a pretty good feel for the era. Leadership and combat efficiency are important (although the players can't do much about 'em); morale, is too, and the system rewards you for victorious combat and penalizes you for avoiding combat. The hidden stacks (can't examine enemies unless you fight) and interception mechanics make some tactical ploys possible. Chrome: Forts, Corn Supply, Naval Operations, Militia, Limitanei, Sieges, Divine Intervention optional rule. The down side? There's a fair amt of bookkeeping, which is especially troublesome if you're trying to do a six-player scenario solitaire. You've got to track morale, province control, money, and recruiting. I made some player aids to help out here: a simple 10x10 array of boxes, numbered 1-100, helps out with money and morale. I also made a deck of index cards, with the province names and tax values along the edges. The deck is pretty big, since the provinces have different values in different scenarios, but I found the result to be worth it in terms of reduced paperwork -- when someone takes over a province, I just move the card. Supply units are very slow moving, which can make inland campaigns rather slow. Some of the scenarios are rather unbalanced; doesn't bother me as a historian, but you're not getting 35 viable games. Sometimes a game comes down to a single big battle. Provinces can be in four states (Cultivated/Wild combined with Road/No Road), and it's not indicated on the map in any manner -- you have to consult the sketchmap in the rules for the given scenario. I found remembering what's what to be non-trivial. Probably need to make some markers to handle it. Calculating supply in given hex takes some experience, since it's dependent on the type of terrain in the hex, the presence of a city, and whether the hex is in a cultivated provice or a wild province, and whether or it's winter or summer. No individual calculation is complicated, but trying to keep it all straight can be a challenge. Ditto for limitanei and militia -- it's hard to remember the status. There are three ways of recruiting units, which it at least one too many. I've listed more negatives than positives, but I do think very highly of the game. It's among my Desert Island 10. Errata: I've got errata on an old, off-line computer. If no one else offers it, I'll dig it out. It's about three pages; I'd prefer not to type it in. Comparison with 1st Edition: There's no good reason at all to play the first edition. The first edition had some features that 2nd does not; two different scenarios, actual corn supply units, and a tactical battle map. But the game itself (including the tactical map) just didn't "work", in any manner that felt like history.