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Historical Scenario Reviews

SUMMARY: This well-executed historical scenario is a conquest and empire building scenario featuring the conquest of Hispania (Spain) in the 1st and 2nd centuries B.C. Historically, it took the Romans 200 years to conquer all of spain, though they were able to more quickly drive their foes, the Carthaginians, off the continent.

A lively scenario featuring galleys, picturesque ancient armies, and a terrain that is possibly as dangerous as the native peoples themselves, you will need to fight hard to hold territory and conquer all of Spain.

Playability Rating

10/10

GENERAL: You have essentially two choices as a new player - you can choose to play the Romans, who begin as a tyranny (=fundamentalist) government and try to conquer all of Hispania, or you can try one of the several native tribes of Celts and Iberians and try to stop the inexorable advance of the powerful Carthaginian and Roman armies. The game plays very differently depending on your choice. As such, I have split my commentary into two sections.

Some players may find the scenario too challenging - this is clearly an expert-level scenario.

One of the best features of the game is that there is a combination of one very powerful opponent and several weaker opponents to face off against. If you challenge Carthage early, you may find it hard to gain territory against your weaker foes. On the other hand, if you don't, Carthage may overwhelm enough local forces to become a major threat to your power.

ROMAN PLAYER: As the Romans, you start with only one city (Emporion), but it is fully built-up and can produce lots of gold every turn and a tough, veteran unit every four turns or so. You're the clear tech leader; your only real rival initially is Carthage. You also begin with a moderately large army of foot soldiers and horse-based units bent on conquest.

Your units are extremely expensive to build, which makes each one important until you have enough cities to produce thousands of solid (gold) per turn. You have two types of infantrymen, the spear-carrying Pilum (5 attack/7 defense) and the sword-toting Sternum (6 attack/5 defense). In addition, you can build several "move 2" units. The Cavalry and Turtle units are cheaper and have slightly higher attack factors than the Cataphract, but the latter has better defense. You also have a variety of siege weapons that can be useful for defending cities or cracking walled cities on tough terrain. Your best weapon at the start, however, is not a land unit at all, but rather your powerful ships. With fast movement rates and powerful attack ratings, you can use these to wipe out all but the most potent locals.

You face a decision: should you attack primarily the natives, and gain power slowly for the eventual showdown with Carthage? Or should you conquer only a few nearby native villages and push your assault directly to the gates of Gades, the Carthaginian capital in the region? Carthage is one powerful foe, with mighty elephant units (attack 12, move 2!), a lot of siege engines, and some very dangerous ships. If you wait, you may also find yourself fighting against envoys that can bribe your cities and armies and turn them to the enemy's side. Either way, you face a lot of challenges. Carthage may turn her military forces against your Roman forces... or she may conquer inland. If she controls too much territory inland, you may find yourself in a world of hurt, as Carthage is also a fundamentalism and produces a LOT of soldi every turn. Expect a fight.

The main problem was an AI problem; for some reason, even major cities were often lightly defended by Carthage. I am not sure why. She seemed to prefer to build siege engines and go on the offensive - a strategy that rarely worked. Occasionally, in the late game, Carthage would get more clever, though, and use ships to attack me. That would hurt!

Even once Carthage is subdued, you face a long trek to the center of the peninsula. The natives may be low-tech, but they have impassible mountains, deep forests, and relatively few roads and rivers. Expect to find fortresses and lots of units that can move across otherwise difficult terrain.

CELTS AND IBERIANS: As one of the native peoples, you start way behind in technology and have a poor government (monarchy) to start with. Especially as the people of Turdestan, you are under constant attack from potent invaders. The Carthaginian army rolled over my defenders consistently, despite a large cash reserve on my part.

The key to victory as a native nation is stalling for time. You must try to halt the Carthaginian and Roman armies as much as you can, forcing them to wipe out units alone and killing them whenever you can. Pillaging roads is a viable strategy as well, especially the "infinite move" roads that lead in to the continent. On the other hand, if you destroy the roads, you will find that when you are ready to counterattack, you'll have no way to proceed without Carthage and Rome using the same tactics against you that you used against them! You'll probably also need to sell a lot of improvements to finance your war effort. Don't be afraid of selling just about everything at the front; you're going to lose those cities anyway.

With a high research rate, you can eventually get some form of native army, which gives you a pretty good defensive unit (5 attack/4 defense). Fortified behind city walls, these armies are good enough to stop all but an elephant. You will need to counterattack judiciously and keep these armies piled at the front, expecting to lose some. Combine your attack with ballistas and horsemen to kill lone elephants and siege engines; let enemy soldiers attack you.

As Turdestan, I lost several cities, including a "wonder" city before turning the tide. The key was to develop Cavalry, an 8-attack unit for the natives that moves 2 squares. Lots of vet cavalry plus Iberian Armies allowed me to capture the Carthaginian capital and several other major cities, albeit with some difficulty. Then I had to race to develop ships to attack nearby cities, and most importantly Coastal Fortresses to keep Carthage from using ships to wipe out all of my units right away and recapture their cities.

The game is much harder as one of the native tribes, and you'll find that attacking your neighbors is as important as sacking the rich cities of Rome and Carthage. Be prepared for a tough fight!

Level of General Care

8 / 10

COMMENTS: The map is great, very accurate and difficult to traverse. You move quickly by sea, but inland travel is harder, and you will need to make good use of both existing roads and the rivers. The author has inserted many impassible mountain squares that make invading some areas virtually impossible; you'll need envoys or other units that ignore zone of control to pass.

City names are accurate and good, and the readme is terrific. The units are well-balanced and carefully thought out. Capitals are well-placed and usually appropriately difficult to capture.

I also enjoyed the use of altars and other Roman temple-like structures as sources of income. The author uses fundamentalism to give you incentive to build lots of structures. Also, cities grow rapidly, which means you will build a lot of improvements. Big cities can generate a lot of production and money for your war effort. As a native country, you will similarly be able to churn out a lot of research and grow quickly to prominence.

One problem was that the tech that makes cathedrals make people happy seems to be missing in some cultures. This makes happiness a bigger problem for the natives, and is not documented.

The author inserted descriptions of all the wonders, which is very nice for historical effect. A few wonders seem to have effects that are not documented in the descriptions, though, and do not go obsolete.

The high price of units makes you less willing to sacrifice them, which is a nice touch. On the other hand, I was unclear as to why some of the units cost more than units I would have used less anyway. The biggest offender was the cavalry versus turtle comparison, as the Roman player. Cavalry seem much weaker but are more expensive.

The events file is a bit sparse. Perhaps more historical info could go here? You get messages for a few city captures, but not for many. Most of the events are used to give free units to the Romans at various points.

There are a few hero units that appear, but none of them is really a major threat to Rome. Perhaps they should be strengthened. More importantly, the "hidden cost" of these units should be raised. Though never built, the price to build a unit affects the cost of bribing them. I found that bribing a major King unit was a bit silly, especially when it cost me only 300 soldi.

Overall, the scenario is well-considered and scores highly except for a few minor problems.

Art and Originality

8 / 10

COMMENTS: In some ways, the scenario is not original; it's another historical war scenario. In other ways, though, often subtle ways, it is highly innovative. There is a delicate game balance and a good use of art to convey mood. The sound is also terrific. I admired the way the author built "two scenarios in one" without using a different events file for each. The game plays totally differently as the Romans and as the natives. Plus, the use of strong and weak powers adjoining each other in the way they do here was very innovative. You will actually feel that there is something to be gained from attacking stronger opponents as well as weaker ones, and the diversity of units gives you the real feeling of differences.

The art is good and there is a lot of it, but it doesn't "wow" me the way the art does in some scenarios these days. It's workable and serves its purpose, but I kind of wish there were some new city styles and a nicer, more interesting-looking set of terrain tiles. Even though there are a lot of new resoures, most of them look very similar, and none of them really stands out.