“Carthiginians! Prepare for gory!”

I got in another game (well, two) games of Hannibal: Rome Versus Carthage.

Hannibal is an odd duck, indeed. It’s a war game where you don’t want to fight. The oft-maligned battle deck works reasonably well in this regard. While I’m not sure how much skill there is in the tactical little mini-game, it does encapsulate the fact army size (and lead skill) advantage only go so far. If I get 15 cards and you get 10, I’m probably going to win, but a good deal (a few of the ‘wild’ reserve cards) negates that advantage.

In a sense, this makes it tough to review. In my learning game (earlier this year) my opponent took pains to explain that Hannibal is really an area control game … but if you start losing battles, then you lose support. In this game, War really is just a continuation of politics.

Still, a nicely realized game. The rules aren’t that difficult to explain (I probably spent 15-20 minutes on the basics, and then brought up issues as they occurred. I did have to refer to the rulebook, but for a second game after several months off, that’s expected). Now that I’m comfortable, I could probably explain the rules cleanly in 15-20 minutes.

But apart from rules, there is the play. You have an interesting asymmetry. Hannibal will rampage through Italy, but he should eventually be whittled down via attrition. The Romans gain more units each turn (and all of them can appear in Italy, while Carthage has to ship troops in), but the card deck can really give them a boost. So an ideal battle (for the Romans) would be fight a few rounds and then withdraw (so that each side suffers equal losses). But what often happens is that the Roman general gets outmatched by a few cards, Hannibal’s skill let him block any withdraws, and then a route occurs. Carthage suffers 2-3 casualties (which is several years worth of recruits) but the Roman army is annihilated.

Still, Rome can survive that.

My ‘first’ game this week was called when Hannibal died very early in a battle he had a slight advantage in. (In the new version of the game, you don’t automatically lose when he dies, but the long term effects are devastating. Certainly if he dies before the half way point, you’ve probably lost). In the second game he was more successful and wiped out one Roman army most turns (which cover several years of campaigning). Some revolts in Numidia and Celtiberia kept things close but eventually there just weren’t enough Romans in Italy to take care of business, and the game was called due to time and what appeared to be a roman political collapse.

But those two games (the second game called on Turn 6, I believe, and the first on turn 3) took less than four hours, including rules and a few interruptions. Since a game is 9 turns normally, roughly 1 game was played. With some practice, this could reasonably be a 2.5 hour game (and obviously shorter on the games where on side gets an early automatic victory).

Getting Paths of Glory or Here I Stand to the table seem remote, but this is comparatively fast and teachable, and I’m glad I picked up a copy.

Inside the Box — Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage

My copy of Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage arrived yesterday … here are some thoughts about Valley Games, really, since I haven’t played the game.

I’m mildly annoyed about the large lag between when I was charged for this and when it shipped. The interest generated on $50 for a few months isn’t important, but it does make me slightly nervous. I didn’t pre-order their newest for other reasons, but the delay did cross my mind.

However, that delay is my only complaint.

The ‘puzzle board’ works well. It assembled easily, fits perfectly in the box. The art seems subdued, the game looks legible. The counters (combat units, generals, and control markers) are nice thick cardboard that punched easily. The rules had one or two odd paragraphs, but seem clear enough (I’m probably biased, since I’ve played Sword of Rome, which borrowed several features from this).

Even the insert impressed me. I normally throw these away and bag the pieces, but this one seems to organize the pieces well, and is intuitive. (I may still get rid of the insert, since it will get odd if I sleeve the cards), but that’s just a preference. The physical design is phenomenal.

Now to find out if the game lives up to the hype. (I’d settle for living in the same neighborhood).

Update: Better eyes than mine have found several typos in the rules (and the board!), most trivial but some serious.