Kris Hall: Caesar XL Impressions

While the vast majority of my gaming is multiplayer Euro-gaming, every now and then I get a chance to try a wargame.  This happened last week when I finally got to play Caesar XL, a wargame about the Roman Civil War designed by Joseph Miranda and published by Victory Point Games.  If you are a wargamer then I probably don’t need to describe who Joseph Miranda is, but a quick look-up on BGG will demonstrate how prolific Mr. Miranda is.

Victory Point Games is a small company run by Alan Emrich that is devoted to low-cost, low-complexity wargames.  Caesar XL costs about $20, and the most expensive game that VPG sells is only $30.  Of course, the components of Caesar XL are more functional than dazzling, but they were certainly more than adequate.

In Caesar XL, two players take on the roles of Caesar and Pompey as they battle for control of the Roman world.  Caesar has a slighter higher military rating than Pompey and he begins with his forces concentrated.  Pompey starts with more cash than Caesar, and his dispersed forces control more of the income-generating cities.

There are two ways to achieve victory.  First, if a player eliminates the opposing faction leader, and takes over the vast majority of the cities, and has his leader in Rome, he will win.  Second, a player may gain forum cards that score a player political points for one of the two political parties in the game—the optimates (aristocrats) or the populares (common people).  A player who gains seven points for one of these parties can win the game.  Many of the forum cards cost large amounts of cash—cash that cannot then be spent purchasing legions.

Most of the game is a relatively simple military struggle with players trying to capture the best income-generating cities while attacking and defeating enemy forces.  The constant decision that players must deal with is the need to both disperse and concentrate their armies.  Legions must be dispersed to garrison and control the cities, but these forces must concentrate to be able to attack or defend against enemy armies. 

Each turn, players also draw cards that can affect the game in various ways.  Tactics cards give bonuses in battle.  The forum cards offer opportunities to score game-winning political points.  Event cards add a touch of randomness to the game.  Leader cards give players minor leaders like Cato or Marc Antony who can add additional power to a group of legions.  And special action cards allow various happenings (such as long-range naval transport of armies) that can throw monkey wrenches into enemy plans.

I was impressed with Caesar XL.  In our game, Ted Cheatham (as Pompey) foolishly attacked Caesar early in the game and got himself killed.  I anticipated an easy victory as my legions spread across the board to claim the best cities.  But I could never quite drive the enemy into a corner and eliminate him, and Pompey’s early cash advantage allowed Ted to slowly recover.  By end of the game (which took less than an hour-and-a-half) , neither one of us had achieved victory so the game was a draw.  I expect that there are some gamers who find draws an unsatisfactory end to a game, but it seemed a fitting end for our evenly-matched struggle.

We played with the most basic rules set (the Bronze Rules).  The game also comes with a set of Silver Rules that add additional complexity.  There is also an expansion available for about $7 that adds additional units and cards.

Caesar XL takes too long to be considered a filler game, but for a wargame it is on the light side, and for me that is a good thing.  I have plenty of wargames that never get played because of game-length and complexity.

Wargamers should check out Victory Point Games.  They offer low-cost alternatives to more mainstream publishers. 

I’m hoping I can try the advanced rules for Caesar XL before too long.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it can probably be claimed in little over an hour.

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