Month: September 2014

09/5/14

GrogHeads Reviews Hannibal: Terror of Rome

“I swear that so soon as age will permit . . . I will use fire and steel to arrest the destiny of Rome.” Hannibal’s promise to his father, Hamilcar Barca (attrib.)

A Review by Boggit, 5 September 2014

Developed and published by AGEOD/Slitherine

I first saw Hannibal Terror of Rome at Slitherine’s Home of Wargamers 2014 presentation, and was immediately excited by the crucial last real attempt by Carthage to halt the expansion of the of early Roman Empire. The inability of Carthage to strategically defeat Rome left Rome the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean. Over the next 100 years Rome was able to exploit that situation to expand into and dominate the rest of the Mediterranean world. But what if Hannibal had fully exploited his dramatic early victories, and defeated Rome? Could the Carthaginians have arrested the advance of the Roman Empire, or even have subjugated Rome?

Hannibal Terror of Rome is the latest standalone expansion to AGEOD/Slitherine’s game Alea Jacta Est. It continues the development of the franchise most notably with Birth of Rome, and the Parthian Wars scenario pack. There is more to come. Philippe Malacher and Philippe Thibaut, both of AGEOD/Slitherine told me at Home of Wargamers 2014 that further expansions to the game will be arriving on average twice a year, with the game franchise ending after the Wars of Charlemagne! The next couple of DLC packs planned are likely to be Rome in the third century AD, focusing on the Palmyran Wars between Aurelian and Zenobia, with another focusing on Rome in Britain (as well as a hypothetical Hibernian campaign [set in Ireland]). Anyway, let’s get back to Hannibal…

For those unfamiliar with the game system used in Hannibal, I refer you to my earlier article on Alea Jacta Est  since Hannibal uses exactly the same game engine. If you already have one or more games in the franchise, then there is no problem with duplicate files on your hard drive. Taking Philippe Malacher’s advice I simply installed Hannibal, copied over the content of the scenario folder from my other games (Alea Jacta Est, and/or Birth of Rome) into the Hannibal scenario folder, and uninstalled the other games. Simple.

The start screen where you can access not just the Hannibal scenarios, but other scenarios from the Alea Jacta Est family of games.
The start screen where you can access not just the Hannibal scenarios, but other scenarios from the Alea Jacta Est family of games.

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09/4/14

Prosciutto – Hamming it up with the di Parmas… Part Four Touchdowns

di Parma is going for di Record of di longest AAR on di web

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In Part 27 one evil brother was executed, leaving a young nephew in charge of Genoa, this nephew was imprisoned for treason and a plot is afoot to dispatch him. The other evil brother is already rotting in prison, his fate undecided. With all rebellions quelled, Benvenuto turns his attention to the family rival, Matilda in a plan to take her lands and destroy her line. In this part plots, sub plots, and the two ways of expansion

 

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Eleven hundred of Salerno’s finest gather just outside Matilda’s lands before launching the assault

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09/3/14

GenCon 2014 – Paradox Talks Runemaster

Cyrano grabbed a few minutes with Troy Goodfellow of Paradox at GenCon, and had a chat about Runemaster.

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runemaster_LOGO

Paradox Interactive isn’t just some software company: not to wargamers, and not to me. This, after all, is the band of Swedes that took a nigh-unplayable board game and turned it into one of the most successful strategic wargame franchises in PC gaming. This is the company that created the greatest medieval soap opera simulator in the history of everything and layered it on top of a robust conflict engine that lets me (and, apparently, some of the contributors to this very site) fancy themselves rulers of obscure kingdoms. And this is the company that soon (never soon enough, mind) will release one of the most anticipated World War II strategy games to come along in quite some time.

This is a company that has nurtured the wargame like its own child and kept alive the grognard fire during the harsh winter of console ascendancy.

So why, then, am I standing in the Paradox Interactive booth at GenCon talking to Troy Goodfellow about a game that involves the participation of men, elves, dwarves, and other fantasy races in the coming of Ragnarok?

And, let me say, talking to Troy Goodfellow about Ragnarok is weird in and of itself. He’s a widely-published games critic, co-founder and co-host of the “Three Moves Ahead” weekly podcast, and overall fanatic for the history of the Great Patriotic War. What, then, does he think he and the Paradox team are bringing to Runemaster, the up-coming turn-based, tactical RPG set in a world confronting the Norse eschaton?

The answer, reassuringly, is the ability to simulate people killing each other in various ways. OK, ok…Goodfellow, now an assistant producer at Paradox, and I spoke about other things…

Like the Clausewitz engine, for example. This is the system, first built for Europa Universalis III in 2007 that’s lurking under Runemaster’s hood. He said, early in his tenure with Paradox, he was invited to corporate and given a quick run through an earlier version of the game. He asked what it was running on and, when given the answer, admitted to being shocked.

Based on my own plays through the alpha of the game available at GenCon, I think most users will be shocked too. The game is in the family of Heroes of Might and Magic in that there’s an overmap where heroes are minted, armies raised, and experience gathered. It’s worth noting in passing that the game does not include city building or development. Heroes get their armies the old-fashioned way: at barracks.

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