From: rri1@pge.com (RICHARD IRVING) Newsgroups: rec.games.board Subject: Re: Hannibals War raelene homewood (raelene.homewood@ait.ac.nz) wrote: : Who puts out this game, it sounds good. : Anyone willing to give a few more details on components, : game length, general feel of the rules? The actual title of this game is "Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage" And it is by Avalon Hill. Here is a quick review: The game is base on the We the People system. Strategy cards are used to regulate movement/acquisition of political control and recruitment of new units. The game revolves around gaining (and keeping) political control of areas. Components: Excellent. Very well done map using an old world style. Nicely done counters. The generals are placed in stands so they are very easy to see and move. The map uses point to point movement. The games comes with 2 decks of cards: the strategy deck which are played in regular turns. These cards provide much of the period flavor of the game. Each card has an event which allows a special move to be done or they can be used to move certain generals or place political control markers. The battle deck is used to provide a complex yet simple method of resolving battles. When a battle occurs, each player is dealt a number of cards based on their relative strength (# of units, generals battle rating, presence of allies (which depend on having political control of the area)) The attacker plays a card which the other player must match or lose the battle. In most cases, the defender will attempt to gain the initiative (by rolling a die) for the next round of the battle. It makes the calculating the odds almost impossible. The Rules: the rules are well written and are generally clear. The difficulty rating I think is "4" which puts it about as complicated as Upfront or Advanced Civ. The cards handle much of the rules complexity (and there is reference in the rules for each card if there are any questions--nice touch) The game: The game is fun to play and has a lot of period flavor (again thanks to the cards), but, unfortunately, it doesn't play much like the real 2nd Punic War. After playing several games, it appears the best tactic is to hold Hannibal back, wait for cards that give you an opening into Italy and attack that opening. Sending Hannibal over the Alps has doomed him to eventual capture (which is an automatic loss for Carthage in this game). Hannibal will be very difficult to reinforce--especially when compared to the Roman reinforcement rate. If something bad happens which hurts Hannibal (bad attrition roll over the Alps, Epidemic card play against him, surprising loss in battle) or in the force send to reinforce, he can be quickly worn down. I am going to try some adjustments which I hope will solve this problem. But overall, Hanibal Rome vs. Carthage is a very good game, that just misses being perfect because of balance problems and the effect of making the best strategy much too ahistorical. -- Richard Irving rri1@pge.com I don't like disclaimers, but I have to put them in. The opinions here are my own and not necessarily PG&E's. (As if it had any opinions about this stuff!) Made with recycled electrons.