The Great Battles of History IX: Caesar in Alexandria Well, I have now played the three scenarios of Caesar in Alexandria. I had not bought the game when it came out as I suspected that it would be pro-Caesar as was Conquest of Gaul. There was also the question that it lacked the normal five or six scenarios that GBoH games usually provide. However, I was awarded a cash bonus at work and having researched the period (by watching Cleopatra, Carry On Cleo and Ice Cold in Alex) I ordered the game. The box is nicely done and the map and counters are what you expect from GMT, nice and clear while still looking good. The rules are complex in that they combine Simple GBoH with War Galley. If you are familiar with these games you should be OK, if not you will need a couple of games to work things out. Strangely GMT provide a small naval only scenario, but no small land only scenario. I think that such a scenario would allow a player to skip over the naval rules and learn Alexandrian street-fighting. Once familiar with that they can grapple the naval rules and take out the galleys on a trip round the Pharos Lighthouse. Thereafter, players can move onto the amphibious battles in the Heptastadium Scenario and the main game. I didn't much like the two short scenarios, mostly because of all the rules you had to absorb meant I constantly had to refer to the rule book. The Romans won both battles hands down, which didn't help. I then played the main game, which was a lot better. I had figured things out, and I got to look at the house to house combat. Here the Romans control the Palace, but need to capture the Redoubts at either end of the Heptastadium Causeway connecting the Island of Pharos to the City of Alexandria. Ganymedes and the Egyptians hold the causeway, but need to capture the Palace or kill Caesar to win. If either side becomes Exhausted (breaks) it fights on, but cannot shock attack, to see if it can deny victory to the other side. In my game some of the Roman Galleys were sent east of Pharos to keep the Egyptian Navy out of the hair of the the semi-Veteran XXVII Legion D-Daying on Pharos. The Egyptians came round the point, avoided being raked and reved up to Ramming Speed to cripple the Romans. Meanwhile Ganymedes launched an attack on the Recruit XXXVII Legion (not to be confused with the XXVII Legion above) defending the Royal Harbour, but gave up as the battles around Pharos took hold. The XXVII Legion enveloped Pharos Town, and even attacked the Redoubt, but took a couple of loses, exposed its flanks and was beaten by Ptolemais and Co. The Roman Veteran Cohorts only have one side, so were eliminated once their cohesion mathes their TQ. The Egyptian HI & MI, though of lesser fighting ability, have a reverse (downgraded) side and can take more hits. SK and LI don't have a reverse side, but are only worth 1 or 2 rout points if knocked out. With the XXVII Legion on its last legs Caesar launched an attack from the Palace with the VI Legion while they still could. These veterans of a thousand bar-room brawls made easy headway and cleared out several city blocks. However, the 1st Cohort was caught front and flank by the Egyptians and its death broke the Roman Army. The Egyptian LI javelined the remaining Legionaries without fear of reprisal, allowing the HI and MI to deliver the coup de grace. Driven back to the Palace Caesar & Cleopatra where surrounded, their bodyguard killed, and their heads pickled in a jar. This Egyptian win depended on the victory on Pharos. The Romans, arrogant after their earlier victories, did not send enough troops to take the island, and so suffered a local defeat that endangered the whole army. Each has to send a force to Pharos and keep another near the Roman-held Palace Complex. With troops needed to supply marines to the navies the game is a matter of correctly deciding what to send where. The Egyptian Victory bouyed up my hopes as the Romans were not top dogs. They won the next game (the VIth took Pharos & both Redoubts, while the XXVII and XXXVII Legions fought the Egyptians to a standstill at the Palace). In the third game Caesar was 00'd by a spearman, but the game was continued (with Caesar rushed to Cleo's divan in the Palace) and resulted in both armies Exhausted. So three good games in the end, so worth the buy (£32.95), so 7/10. Even more worth the buy with a few more scenarios, but read on... As mentioned one gripe was the lack of scenarios in this box, surprising as three sprang to mind as soon as I played the Main Game. The Egyptians have to set up 11 infantry and 1 artillery unit on the Pharos with the rest of their army in the City of Alexandria. Caesar has a Gallic MI and Cretan SK in the Pharos Lighthouse (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), but the Legions and the rest of his auxiliaries occupy the Palace Complex. Assuming that he sticks to history Caesar will send a task force to take Pharos, while the rest hold the Palace. It is quite simple to ignore the naval rules and set up the troops as if they had just landed on Pharos. We then have a simple land based game. For a larger game we can use the remainder of the armies left in Alexandria. It is therefore fairly simple to combine the two into a land based version of the Main Game. The players could then learn the naval rules and play the two original scenarios before moving onto the Glory and Grandeur of Caesar in Alexandria. There was also the early part of the siege with Achillas in charge of the Egyptians, when the Romans took the Pharos Lighthouse and 400,000 books of the Great Library was burnt. I see this as a full scale land and naval scenario. After the siege King Mithridates of Pergamum marched to Egypt at Caesar's behest. He took the fortified town of Pelusium in a day, beat an Egyptian army at the Battle of the Jewish Camp then set up shop in the Nile Delta to await Caesar. Together they crossed a tributary of the Nile, cleared away the light troops defending it and stormed Ptolmey XIII's fortifications in the Battle of the Nile, ending the Alexandrian War in triumph. These 3 battles are better covered using the rules, maps and counters from the Great Battles of Julius Caesar, though things are better if you use counters from the SPQR Module War Elephant. Phil Jelley