From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: one last review till mid-August Fall of Rome 2nd edition (S&T) This is a complete revision, by Joseph Miranda, of the system pioneered by John Young in S&T 39. It's a solo game with 7 different scenarios on the rise and fall (especially the latter) of the Roman Empire, with the player taking the part of the Roman Emperor. The map of the Empire is an area map, divided in Provinces (each normally subdivided in two or more different areas, each rated for movement costs); each province has a Victory Points value and a Militia value: the first is fundamental for the victory conditions (normally based on the accumulation of VPs), while the second indicates the maximum militia (i.e. local forces) that could be raised in that province. It also limits the maximum number of legion replacements that could enter in a single turn in a single province. Iconic units (very similar to the ones used in the Four Battles of Ancient World series) complete the components: there are different units for militia, legions, roman field armies, barbarian tribes, barbarian raiders and several different markers (a few of them, like colonies, capitals, etc., used only with the optional rules). The units are single strength points, totally interchangeable; all the units have a movement factor of 5. Movement from area to area is regulated by a very long set of rules and exception, to simulate the "robot" adversary. So are the rules for militia placement, barbarian placement, independent states formation and so on. So rules are long, but not particularly complex (even if the procedures to activate the various forces on the map and to understand the concept of province control are intricate and not very well explained) and play should prove smooth enough after a few turns (especially in the scenarios set in time periods where you don't have to check very often for internal revolution - i.e., the revolt of the Roman forces in various part of the Empire - and mostly for barbarian invasions). Movement is blocked when you (or the rules controlled adversaries of the Empire) move a force in an area where enemy forces are present, but you may move away from such an area, even for moving directly in another enemy occupied area. Combat is, in my opinion, too luck driven (but it's probably in the spirit of such a simple game): only the attacker counts - the enemy force is not taken in consideration, if not through a counterattack result). The different types of units in the game are given 3 different ratings in the combat table (from A to C), each with a different column to calculate the odds for the results (for example a single legion is the same than 4 militia units or 2 Persian or barbarian units). Then you roll a die and the results may vary form no effect to total elimination of the enemy forces (and with this CRT several units may be annihilated by a really inferior force). There are also half elimination results and the possibility of a counterattack (i.e. the defender becomes the attacker and the procedure is reversed). Control of provinces gives the player taxes, that he needs to pay his legions, buy replacements and, a nice touch of a the new edition, try to bribe the rebels or the enemies to return loyal or become federates. The game is not too long in the short scenarios (2-3 hours), but probably the longer scenarios may take up to 6-7 hours to complete. This is a game for folks who don't have better games on this period (for example West End's Imperium Romanum - several years ago I made a solitaire variant for the game to play the fall of the Roman Empire, unfortunately the rules to play this game are for the moment only in Italian and not a computer file, but it's possible that in the not so near future I translate that variant in English and put it on Grognard) or that want to play a totally solitaire game, that needs hundreds of die rolls to reach conclusion. For them, it's worth more than a try. For all the rest, this is a mediocre simulation, a not so good game, even for a magazine game, so try a couple of scenarios, find the holes in the rules (the combat system is the worst that I've seen since Imperium Romanum II, but that one at least takes in account the force of the enemy when computes the odds) and put it back in the shelves to be played once in a while. I rate this game 6 in a 1-10 scale.