Suggested Rule Change for Roma from Designer Stefan Feld

By Patrick Brennan

I’ve played Roma a few times now and I quite like the blend of luck, pace and potential variety. Recently however we came across a strategy that seemed obscenely strong. It started dominating, turning a seemingly multi-dimensional game into a one-dimensional game. We called it the Mercator strategy. Stefan Feld, the designer, has suggested a minor rule change to bring the game back to balance.

The Mercator strategy is to search thru the deck as fast as possible for the Mercator or a Haruspex, using multiple dice on the card disk each turn. If you find the Haruspex first, use it search the deck for the Mercator and then hold it safe in your hand.  Perhaps hit your opponent a bit so they’re losing VP’s each round and not getting too many VP’s from forums. Save your money as fast as you can using multiple dice on the money disk. Then, in one move, place your Mercator down on a die roll that’s been activated, get money with your other 2 dice again (if you need it) and purchase all your opponent’s VP’s for an instant victory.

There are ways to counter this by going on all out attack and forcing the Mercator’s hand earlier than possible, but once the Mercator is safely in hand, the Mercator owner can play a more normal balanced game until the moment is ripe to launch the Mercator for the win. The power of the Mercator was turning a game rich with possibilities into one with the same strategy each game for us.

Well it turns out we didn’t have any rules wrong, nor did the card have an incorrect translation. Stefan Feld advises that there is indeed a problem. In the early versions of the game, there was a Spy card (draw a card from the opponent’s hand) which balanced the Mercator. At some point in playtesting, the Spy was dropped (with some other cards), forgetting about the Mercator balance issue. If there is a new edition (perhaps), the Spy may be back, but in the meantime, Stefan’s suggestion is to further define the Mercator in this way: you can spend a maximum of 6 ses. with one dice-action.

One small change, but hopefully one big difference to replayability and enjoyment. Knowing what the intention of the Mercator is, you may wish to try other variants, but the real win is that I look forward to bringing Roma out once more.

Source: Patrick Brennan

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