Game Preview: Sylla

By W. Eric Martin
September 15, 2008

Publisher: Ystari Games / Rio Grande Games
Designer: Dominique Ehrhard
Players: 3-4 (see below)
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 60-90 minutes
Release Date: Spiel 08
Price: €36-ish (see below)
Link:

Designer Dominique Ehrhard has criss-crossed game genres with his many creations, which range from Crazy Circus and Montgolfiere to Serenissima and Condotierre/Iliad. With Sylla, which French publisher Ystari Games will release at Spiel 08, Ehrhard and the Ystari crew offer a title with all the hallmarks of a prototypical Eurogame: money and resource management, auctions, and vital but limited choices all in a tidy quick-playing package.

At least that was my initial view of the game based on a reading of the rules, but Ystari’s Cyril Demaegd was quick to say that Sylla stands out from the current crop. “In my opinion, this game is really refreshing in the world of modern games,” he says. “I don’t know how many resource management games will be released in Essen (and I love this kind of game of course), but surely they will be way different than Sylla. We tried to offer something really different this time, and we’re really happy with the feel of the game, which is really political (in a nutshell) and thematic.”

When in Rome, Try to Rule

So what’s going on in the game? Players are vying to take over leadership of Rome from Sylla, otherwise known as Sulla or Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who is stepping down from his position as dictator after reforming the legal system and the Senate.

In his introductory notes to the game, Ehrhard writes that the game development was “long and painful” with multiple themes and game play mechanisms. Says Demaegd, “It was long and painful mostly for Dominique, but not for us, aside from the usual overlong tuning!” The Rome setting was already in place by the time Demaegd first saw the game. “In fact, Dominique sent me another game to test, and then we met in a café to discuss it, where he told me about Sylla (then named Cardo Maximus), which was obviously a ’Republic of Rome light.’ As a big fan of RoR, I was so interested that we forgot to speak about the other game.”

Some have already commented on the appearance of Christians, not to mention the persecution of same, in the game as ahistorical for the time of Sylla and the aftermath of his rule. “We don’t pretend to be really precise about this, and this is not an historical book, but a game,” says Demaegd. “The game, like its ancestor, is supposed to span over a long period, so it’s not impossible to imagine Christians in it!”

Rome Was Built in 60-90 Minutes

To win the right to rule Rome, you’ll need to earn prestige by showing strength in the areas of civic spirit, leisure and health – but the value of each of these areas will depend on the actions taken during the game as well as the events that you need to confront.

To increase your standing among the public, you’ll use support from Senators, Legionaries, Merchants, Vestal Virgins and Slaves to construct buildings (each with a special ability), stave off attacks on and negative events in Rome, and receive revenue to spread among the Plebians or pool with other players to build great works. (In some ways, the great works resemble the sacrifice element in Knizia’s Amun-Re as players either contribute to building them and earn points, or give their money away to lower the total amount given.)

You’ll be fighting ever-increasing famine, which costs prestige to those who can’t support the people. Decadence is a constant threat, lowering the spirit of the public through their own besotted behaviour.Your choice of Vestal Virgins or Legionaries will determine your influence on the event chart and your ability to protect the value of civic spirit, health and leisure. Of couse if someone else will protect those values due to their own holdings, so much the better for you.

As Demaegd says, “There are several ways to win, and one of them is to find overlapping strategies with other players. Trying to play alone (that is, without interaction) is a big mistake as you can’t fight against three other players. You can’t control the Res Publica scale” – which shows the current value of health, leisure and civic spirit – “and famine alone, so don’t try to do so.”

Events, great works, and various player actions raise and lower the value of civic spirit, leisure and health in the minds of the citizenry, which affects the prestige point value of each at the end of the game. If one of these concerns bottoms out on the value chart during the game, those politicians who show the least interest in this area lose prestige while the big boosters gain it. After five turns, the game ends and players find out who will now be in charge.

Rules for the two-player game will be available on the Ystari website because as Demaegd notes, “The two-player version is fine, but it’s not the ‘real’ game.”

For those who need to have all the best of everything, you can pimp out your copy of Sylla with a high-quality leather purse and 60 metal Roman denars (replicas, of course). Ystari Games is producing 500 copies of this moneypurse, one hundred of which will be available through the Ystari website while the other 400 can be reserved for pick-up at Spiel. The cost for Sylla itself, the purse and the coins is €45, and reservations will be possible on the Ystari website in August. (Note that in the image the bag also holds coins from the Caylus Premium Edition as Demaegd had only twenty Roman coins on hand.)

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