From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: One review Trasimeno 217 a.C. (Alea iacta est 1) This is the first game of the new Italian wargaming and military history magazine "Alea iacta est" (more information at www.ancientwars.com, a strange choice for the starting issue, as the battle of the Lake Trasimene is probably one of the more unbalanced fight of all history, if you don't choose to make things more equilibrate, through other aids (like different starting positions, different weather conditions, Roman alertness of the incoming enemies, and so on). Nothing of the kind was chosen by the designer of this game: Trasimeno is a simple game, almost introductory in several aspects, with no rules for weather and victory conditions that try to pass under silence the fact that the game is unplayable if you are the Romans. You may try to eliminate a few more Carthaginians than the play before, but each game of this kind (barren total stupidity by the Punic player) is doomed from the start for the Romans, as it was in the real battle (as Flaminius, the commanding consul of the Roman army, was definitely not an idiot, as some historians think). But, it's time to talk for a few sentences of the game. First of all, the graphics of the counters and even of the map are good enough for a magazine game, almost up to the standard of Vae Victis (the other European magazine to which Alea is forced to compare its quality). Counters are of thin cardboard, but are die-cut (a big plus over our French competitor), with silhouettes of the various units in play (several ones indeed, from legions to light cavalry, passing through velites, Celt medium infantry, Punic phalanxes, Roman and Numidian heavy Cavalry and so on) similar to the GMT's graphics of the SPQR series of games. The graphics for the leader units are too cartoonish for my tastes, but the rest of the game is o.k. Each combat unit is rated for combat and movement value, plus fire combat value. The leaders are rated only for initiative (the number of orders they may give each turn). The game lasts a maximum of 10 turns (but probably the Romans will be out of play after 7-8 turns); in each turn, starting with the Carthaginian player, the phasing player gives order to his units (that are divided among several commanders) that move, fire and melee; then you try to rally your routed units and move the ones that are still routed. Terrain effects for movement and combat are limited (a few units cannot enter a few kinds of terrain, while you lose one movemente point moving over a hill; the two different kinds of woods make hitting a unit inside harder). Each unit faces a vertex of the hex, having two front, two flank and two rear hexes. It may move and have combat only through its front hexes; if you attack through a flank or rear hex, you get a positional bonus in combat (+1 or +2), otherwise you may get a weapon bonus or malus through a weapon superiority chart. To resolve a melee both players roll a die, adding the melee strength of the units, plus the above modifiers. The winner may disorganize or rout the enemy. Fire combat is resolved rolling 1-3 dice (it depends on the fire combat factor of the unit), with each 1 or 2 (modified) hitting once the target: with the first hit you disorganize the unit, with the second you rout the unit. There are also rules for Roman aquilae and baggage trains. The rules (written only in Italian) are clear enough to be easily understood by a veteran player, while are probably too short and concised to be understood by a novice player. A few points are a little obscure, but you may understand them through play. Unfortunately, the system is not particularly brilliant (but not too bad, anyway) and added to a really bad starting situation, you obtain a game that you may set up and play a couple of times (at the maximum; more probably you stop play after only a few turns) before to put it forever on the shelf. I rate this game 5 out of 10 (6- for the system, 4 for the choice of the battle).