The Republic of Rome tournament continues to introduce new players to this classic game and allows veterans to return once again to see if they can bend the Republic to their will. The event’s demonstration provided the essentials of the game and allowed new players to jump into competitive play. Once again, these new players mastered the game with the help of numerous experienced players on hand helping to produce smoothly flowing games. The semi-cooperative nature of this game allows new players the opportunity to realize that, despite what might seem like an overwhelming rule-set, at its heart the game is not terribly complex.
This year Rome had a miraculous run of success with the players guiding the Republic through 4 Early Era Heat games and a Middle Era Final with no collapses. Despite all games avoiding collapse they varied wildly. Some games cruised past the early wars with spectacularly good die rolling, while one was forced to squeak by, barely keeping the count of wars below 4. In one game the Syrian War, usually a push over, became fierce when it was led by both Antiochus and was sheltering Philip of Macedon causing it to have a strength of 17 with Disaster and Standoff numbers 14-17. All games played through their entire decks in less than 6 hours, with some well under 5.
The Final included two former event winners Scott Harris (Crescent) and Brady Detwiler (Eagle). Other regulars were Dave Bleau (Wreath), Steve Bachman (Shield) and Tom Rodriguez (Star). New to event this year was Eric Vargo (Hand) who played in all Heats and the Final.
The first turn of the Final saw the appearance of the 3rd Macedonian War along with the very common event, Barbarian Raids. The Consul from Wreath pushed for light garrisoning against the raids, only deploying a single legion in each developed province and none elsewhere. Several provinces were overrun, but no Governors were killed. Meanwhile the Field Consul from Shield dispatched the Macedonians without losses.
The second turn saw the appearance of Sulla and C. Sempronius Gracchus joining Crescent and Eagle, respectively. Once again, barbarians raided the provinces, and once again the garrisons were light. The governors remained lucky except for Star’s Sulpicius in Cisalpine Gaul who was captured and had to be ransomed for 10 Talents. Julius and Marius were Consuls while Gracchus sponsored his first Land Bill. Marius defeated the Jugurthine War.
Turn three brought an Epidemic and the Cilician Pirates began disrupting the grain shipments. Four senators were lost to epidemic including the recently victorious Marius. The Censorial election was interesting with heavy bribery to gain office along with deal making to avoid prosecution. The 4th Macedonian war was easily dispatched by the Consul Aemilius of the Star faction.
The fourth turn brought multiple death chits. The Rome Consul from Crescent died and the Claudius family suffered a second death. The Senate faced Barbarian Raids along with a Sicilian Slave Revolt and the Numantine War. This time the Senate garrisoned the frontiers with 2 legions each and dispatched forces to both wars. Two veterans were lost in Sicily without success, while the Numantines were defeated.
Despite the garrisons sent in the fourth turn, in the fifth revenue phase Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul were overrun, but the governors survived. Death continued to stalk Rome with a second Epidemic, this killed a single senator. The Calpurnian Law was enacted then immediately superseded by the Acilian Law favoring the Shield faction with its many equestrian supporters. The Slave revolt was defeated and Consul Aelius of Star was briefly elated with his roll of 18 against the Cilician pirates, unfortunately this roll triggered a disaster.
Turn six began with 13 cards in the deck so any draw could have been the “game ends” card, and players became concerned with their near term faction influence. The events for the year included a Drought and a third Epidemic. Eric Vargo’s faction is hit once again, along with the Harris and Detwiler factions. The influence count at this point was: Detwiler 44, Bachman 30, Bleau 25, Rodriguez 24, Harris 22, and Vargo 19. A deal was made between the Censor from Detwiler faction and the leader of the knights with fining ability, Bachman, for no prosecutions or fines. The Consul Junius, from the Harris faction, could not gain a consensus on reinforcements or new leaders for the wars and abruptly closed the Senate. This left Proconsul Aelius from the Rodriguez faction to fight at +2 leading to a stalemate. In the revolution phase, Vargo played Popillius Laenas adding this statesman to his faction.
Turn seven saw few donations to the state as players leaned towards making and defending persuasions in what was likely the final turn. Still, Rodriguez and Detwiler picked up 7 and 3 influence from State donations. Harris tried a persuasion, but since most senators seemed well defended the target had only 1 influence, Sulla with a base of 9 rolled an 11 and failed. Complicating matters, Evil Omens occurred making persuasions yet harder, rolls >7 would fail regardless of persuasion strength. Players pressured knights for added protection and another persuasion this time by Fabius failed with a roll of 9. The final card of the turn was the game ends card, wrapping up a quick middle era game in 4 and a half hours. Ultimately, no player was able to muster a persuasion to shift the balance of power. Brady Detwiler held on to solidly win his second championship with 47 influence.
The final influence tallies were:
- Brady Detwiler – 47
- Steve Backman- 34
- Tom Rodrigues - 31
- Dave Bleau 25
- Scott Harris - 23 (won tie breaker with individual senator at 14)
- Eric Vargo - 23 (lost tie breaker with top senator at 12)
For his success Brady received along with his plaque a copy of “The Storm Before the Storm” by Mike Duncan which is an excellent book covering the important era which was featured in our Middle Republic Final.
I would like to thank the players for keeping the event easy to run, especially the experienced players who coached new ones. Also, thanks to those who brought boards and set up, this a major time saver while I am assigning tables and recording results.
Over the past few years, I have collected email information from players for discussion of Heat times and game options for future years. Topics for discussion include scenario preferences, variants to include, and opportunities to assist running the event. If you would like to be added to this discussion, please contact me (also watch for discussion on boardgamegeek and consimworld).
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GM Frank McNally enjoying the game. |
Some concern on the status of the Republic. |
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Looks like some concern for the stability of Rome. |
Finalists with GM Frank McNally. |
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