Empire: Turn Four (320-310 BC)

The Persian empire is effectively over (unless the Parthians can revive it later), but the Roman republic seems poised to launch one of its own

There is more bad news for Persia as Armenia revolts, reducing the once-great empire to single province, Pontus.

The Macedonians are drawn to go first. Alexander is no more, so they can only launch one campaign, but for the next five turns will have a +1 modifier as part of the great captain's legacy. They take the easy option and conquer independent Armenia on a roll of 6.

Carthage again tries to invade Magna Graecia, but is repulsed on a throw of 2.

The Persians try for a revolt in Parthia, but fail.

Rome expands for the first time by conquering war-weary Magna Graecia with a roll of 5.

A relatively uneventful turn, but it is hard to see how a clash between Rome and Carthage can be avoided

Empire: Turn Three (330-320 BC)

Situation at the start of turn three after Macedonia, and to a lesser extent Carthage, started to expand

A revolt in Syria sees the province throw off Macedonian control. It will have to be reconquered by Alexander before he can move on to attack Persia and lands further east as campaigns can only be launched from a chain of provinces that includes the homeland or has at least four connected provinces.

Since this is the second (and last) turn in which the Macedonians have a great captain, they go first, and do indeed re-establish control of Syria. Alexander then takes Persia, Parthia, Bactria and INDIA (basically that part of the sub-continent ruled by King Porus). The Macedonians now have 11 provinces and are well-placed to mop up Persian resistance in Pontus and Armenia before possibly thinking of turning west.

The Persians are next up, and since their homeland, Parthia, is occupied, they could, instead of launching a normal campaign, try to make it rebel and return to Persian control on a roll of 6. Indeed, that is their only choice this turn since their remaining provinces of Pontus and Armenia do not make a connected block of four. However, their die roll of 5 is agonisingly one short.

Carthage invades Magna Graecia, but its roll of 4 is modified by -1 for a Carthaginian campaign outside the original empire, meaning the invasion narrowly fails.

The Romans roll a 1, easily consolidating their control of ITALIA.

At the end of turn three Macedon controls nearly all the map east of Italy, but the second red counter in Italia shows Rome has consolidated its control there and is ready to deal with a growing Carthaginian menace to the south

Empire : Turn Two (340-330 BC)

Situation in 340 BC

The revolt phase sees two 1s rolled, meaning AEGYPTUS throws off Persian control, bringing Persia back to its starting total of eight provinces.

This is the first turn in which Alexander the Great appears, and since great captains always move first, the Macedonians can choose to launch the first of their five great-captain campaigns by invading Illyria to the northwest, Thracia to the northeast, Magna Graecia to the west or Asia (really just a large chunk of Asia Minor) to the east. Since the last two invasions would involve a naval crossing, and Illyria is a dead end that can be dealt with at any time, it makes most sense to invade Thracia, especially as success there would open the door to the ripe pickings to be had in the Persian empire. As a great captain, Alexander receives a +2 modifier, meaning the attack on Thracia only fails if a 1 is rolled, but in fact up comes a 6. Next Alexander attacks Asia. Normally this would mean a -1 modifier for attacking a controlled province, but great captains ignore this unless the province is another people's homeland (Parthia in the case of the Persians). Again a 6 is rolled, and Alexander goes on to conquer Syria, AEGYPTUS and Mesopotamia. Rather as in real life, he first established complete control of the east Mediterranean seaboard and then drove towards the Persian homeland, leaving Pontus and Armenia to be claimed later.

Carthage launches another campaign against Sicilia, crossing the sea on a 6 and conquering the island with another 6 (reduced to 5 for being outside Carthage's original empire, but more than the 4 required).

Rome is next up but a throw of 5 means Roman control of ITALIA has not been consolidated (since this is turn two and a score less than the turn number is needed, only a 1 would have sufficed).

The Persians could attack INDIA, but their -2 modifier for attacks outside their original empire means only a 6 would succeed. Instead they counterattack the Macedonians in Mesopotamia, but roll a miserable 1.

At the end of turn two the Macedonians have made great strides in Asia while Carthage is approaching Rome's doorstep before the Romans have managed to consolidate their control of ITALIA

Play-Through Of Philip Sabin's Empire: Introduction & Turn One

EMPIRE is a strategy boardgame set in an extended Mediterranean world - India comes into play - starting in 350 BC.

Over 200 years, lasting 20 turns, Carthaginians, Romans, Macedonians and Persians/Parthians battle for supremacy.

Each turn starts with a a two-dice roll to determine which controlled province, if any, revolts.

Then each of the four powers gets to launch a campaign, the order of launching being chosen randomly.

A campaign consists of invading a neighbouring province - there are 22 in all - with the result decided by a die roll, with modifiers, 4 or better being needed for the campaign to be successful.

So far, so simple, but a complicating factor is the appearance of great captains - Macedon's Alexander the Great in turns two and three, Carthage's Hannibal in turn 14 and Rome's Scipio the Younger in turns 15 and 16.

Great captains can launch five campaigns a turn, instead of the usual one, provide a +2 die modifier and usually are not affected by a -1 modifier that would otherwise apply for attacking a controlled province.

There are other special rules, which I will cover when they apply, but basically that is it.

Victory points are awarded halfway through the game, ie at the end of move 10, and at the finish, the end of move 20.

Most provinces are in red, but four are in white, denoting the four powers' homelands

Each province controlled at the end of moves 10 and 20 is worth a point, except those in capitals (IBERIA, AFRICA, ITALIA, AEGYPTUS and INDIA), which are worth two points.

ITALIA is a special case. If Rome's control over it is consolidated - more on that later - it is worth three points.

Some of the provinces have slightly strange names, eg "Asia" covers only part of Asia Minor, and "AFRICA" is really just Greater Carthage, but this is easily taken on board.

At the start of the game the Persians control eight provinces (west to east: Asia, Pontus, Syria, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Parthia and Bactria), the Carthaginians control three (AFRICA, Numidia and IBERIA), while the Macedonians and Romans have only their homelands.

Along the bottom of the map is the Victory Points Track. Rome and Macedon start at zero, but Carthage and Persia, reflecting their past imperial success, begin at 12.

Anyone used to playing complicated boardgames by Avalon Hill, SPI, etc, may be astounded a game can seem so simple, and really Empire is simple.

But I hope to show it can also be enjoyable, especially for anyone with an interest in ancient history.

The game can be played by one to four people, but what particularly attracted me to it is the idea of playing it solo and watching history, or at least an alternate history, unfold.

TURN ONE (350-340 BC)

The map at the start with counters in place

The revolt dice-rolls pinpoint Cisalpina, but since that starts as an independent province there is no effect.

Macedon is drawn first. Lines of invasion from Macedonia show a campaign can be launched against Illyria to the northwest, Graecia to the south and Thracia to the east. Since Macedonian control of Graecia is vital for getting the best out of Alexander the Great on the next two turns, the Macedonians, presumably in the form of Alexander's father Philip, invade there, succeeding on a roll of 5.

Carthage is up next. It can attack Gallia from IBERIA or Sicilia from AFRICA. Carthage has a special campaign modifier of -1 if attacking outside of its starting empire, which means a 5 rather than a 4 is needed. But further modifiers are in play. Any attack on Gallia, or Cisalpina for that matter, on turns one to 10 suffers a -1 modifier, representing "tribal ferment," so Carthage would need a 6 to succeed, meaning the odds are 5-1 against. An attack on Sicilia is not affected by restless tribes, but it involves a sea crossing (the route is shown in blue to emphasise this). A campaign with such a crossing requires an extra roll, with 1 or 2 indicating the invasion never arrives (the fleet is deemed lost in a storm or naval battle). So to succeed the Carthaginians will have to pass a two-in-three chance (rolling 3 or higher) and a one-in-three chance (rolling at least a 5 as Sicilia is outside their starting empire). That works out at two chances in nine of succeeding, or 7-2 against. Accordingly the Carthaginians set sail, successfully landing in Sicilia (they roll a 4), but miserably failing to conquer the island (a roll of 1).

Next up is Persia. They could attack Thracia, INDIA or AEGYPTUS, but the Pesians suffer a -2 modifier for attacking anywhere except AEGYPTUS that starts outside their empire. That makes the decision simple, and they take the land of the pharaohs on a roll of 5, meaning the Persians now have nine provinces.

The Romans begin the game in control of ITALIA, but before they can expand they must successfully consolidate their control with a special internal campaign that requires a die roll lower than the turn number. Since this is turn one, the Romans effectively pass.

Situation after turn one - Persia has gained AEGYPTUS (worth two points if they have it at the end of turn 10) and Macedon has conquered Graecia (worth 'only' one point at the end of turn 10, but important for Macedonian success in turns two and three)

Latest Slingshot

THE September/October edition of Slingshot arrived yesterday, with a new editor in charge.

Under the previous regime the magazine largely consisted of a few in-depth articles.

This has radically changed, and the emphasis now is on lots of short pieces.

Slingshot ... the Septmber/October edition is issue 242 of the Society of Ancients' magazine

I can see arguments in favour of both approaches, and you cannot please all the people all the time, but perhaps an approach nearer the middle would be best.

Tactical Mistake

LOOKING for something to read on a foreign trip, I popped into the Orcs (sic) Nest in central London and bought Strategy & Tactics Quarterly's Alexander The Great.

Alexander The Great - originally published last autumn

It cost about £14, which seemed reasonable for what I realised would be little more than a rehash of what I already knew, but that would include a game that might be fun to play.

I was sadly disappointed as all I got was the magazine - apparently editions with a game cost considerably more, which I guess I should have known.

Still, the magazine was an interesting read, although it could have done with a decent editing job, especially in resolving differences between what the text says and what some of the maps say.

Doggone It!

THE impressive-looking crown below is above the main entrance to Dresden's Zwinger palace.

The crown gate of the Zwinger palace

Zwinger translates into English as kennel, and seems a strange choice of name for such a grand building.

It comes from a medieval German term for the part of a fortification's defensive works lying between outer and inner walls.

The name was given to the palace even though by the time building began, in 1709, the area no longer had such walls.

Ruling The Tabletop

MOST wargamers seem to operate on the principle that it is impossible to have too many sets of rules.

That was certainly part of my thinking when I bought the October issue of Wargames Illustrated, which comes with "everything you need to play intriguingly simple Napoleonic big battles."

Wargames Illustrated and the accompanying Valour & Fortitude rules

I have not tried the rules, but they make an interesting read and are certainly less ridiculously daunting than the likes of Black Powder.

It is a long time since I bought a wargaming magazine, apart from my subscription to Slingshot, and I was pleasantly surprised by the contents, although too much coverage - for my taste - of fantasy and skirmish wargames will make me hesitant to purchase future issues.

Slingshot Issue 341

THE July/August edition of the magazine of the Society of Ancients arrived earlier this month.

Slingshot 341

Once again it shows desperate need of being given a lookover by a competent sub-editor, but as always is an entertaining read.

My favourite article is Jens Peter Kutz's refight of Adrianople, despite the date being printed as 378 AD rather than the correct AD 378.

Big Gun

ON a trip to Dresden I today came across this 17th century gun outside a city centre restaurant.

"Pulver Turm"

An accompanying plaque reveals the 24-pdr gun was built in 1686, and was one of 72 artillery pieces in service with the Saxon military in 1730.

On the near wheel is painted Pulver Turm, which translates as powder tower.

Two Mags

PAYING £6.99 for a magazine strikes me as a lot, especially when compared with most paperback history books.

But issue 38 of Ancient History proved too much of a temptation with its theme of Finding & Founding A New Home - Colonization In Antiquity.

Meanwhile issue 340 of Slingshot arrived in the post, but I fear I still cannot get used to the reduction in content caused by the use of a much bigger typeface.

Two mags

Angling For England

FOR my trip to Transylvania I was going to take just two books: Tim Parks' The Hero's Way - Walking With Garibaldi From Rome To Ravenna, and Philip Sabin's Lost Battles - Reconstructing The Great Clashes Of The Ancient World.

But I popped into Foyles in London's Charing Cross Road shortly before the trip began and bought a signed copy of Marc Morris's The Anglo-Saxons - A History Of The Beginnings Of England.

I am glad I did because even so I ran out of reading material before my nine-day visit was over.

But I am especially pleased I bought Morris's book as it is a riveting read, the only sore point being it ends at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in early 1066.

The Anglo-Saxons - not quite a "masterpiece"

Whether he ran out of space or time to finish the book, or whether a part two is planned, I cannot say, but otherwise it was for me £10.99 well spent.

Castle Dracula

DURING yesterday's free day in the chess tournament I caught a bus to Bran to visit Dracula's castle.

That, at any rate, is how Bran Castle is billed, although it is doubtful if author Bram Stoker even knew it existed.

Not only that but Vlad the Impaler, aka Vlad Dracula, and serial killer Elizabeth Báthory, two of the real-life characters said to have inspired Stoker, almost certainly never set foot in Bran Castle.

Still, it was a fun half-day out, and Bran Castle turned out to have an interesting history of its own.

Originally built in wood in 1212 by the Teutonic Knights, it was destroyed by Mongols in 1242.

Permission for a stone castle was granted by Louis the Great, King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland, in 1377 to Germans, known as Transylvanian Saxons, who lived in what was then Kronstadt but is now Brașov.

The castle was used as a defence against the Ottoman Turks and became a customs point, with the village of Bran - now town-size - growing up in its shadow.

Roaming

AM visiting Transylvania, staying in the alpine resort of Poiana Brașov, which has a wooden church built in the Maramureș style.

This became popular in Austro-Hungarian lands from the 1500s onwards after the Catholic Habsburgs banned the use of stone in building new Orthodox churches.

Maramureș churches emphasise height

Modest from the outside, such churches tend to be anything but on the inside, and Poiana Brașov's example is no exception.

Small but beautiful

I am playing in a chess tournament, but have had plenty of time to catch up on my reading, including finishing Tim Parks' The Hero's Way - Walking With Garibaldi From Rome To Ravenna, and - for at least the second time - Philip Sabin's Lost Battles - Reconstructing The Great Clashes Of The Ancient World.

Pair of beauties

I nearly chucked the former in a bin after reading Parks' claim on page five that Pope Gregory XVI banned railways from the Papal States because he believed they were invented by the Devil.

Of course no educated man would have thought that - nor many uneducated ones for that matter.

In fact Gregory was anti-railways for similar reasons to the Duke of Wellington - both thought they would upset the social order by increasing the power of the lower classes, eg by increasing mobility, which would lead to higher wages, and by increasing commerce, which again would lead to increased self-sufficiency by those used to depending on their 'betters'.

I am very glad I persevered as the book turned into a riveting mix of travelogue and history as Parks and his wife retrace the route Giuseppe Garibaldi and his republican volunteers took in 1849 while evading multiple foreign and monarchical armies.

Sabin's book probably needs no introduction for dedicated wargamers. Suffice it to say that while I do not agree with all his assertions, especially with regard to how often the losing side in ancient battles had by far the most troops, I do find his book fascinating.

His rules for refighting such battles are very interesting, to say the least, and give the impression of probably being easier to play than they seem at first sight (I certainly hope so, anyway, because I do not find it easy to get my head around all the mechanisms).

But the bottom line with Sabin is he knows how to write, and that is half the battle - pun inadvertent, but left in-  with a book like this.

Newcastle (no, not that one)

AM visiting Bridgend, which is halfway between Cardiff and Swansea in South Wales.

The town was formerly dominated by the Newcastle, built in 1106 by the Normans as part of their slow conquest of Wales.

Newcastle gateway

The castle is very much in ruins, and so has the advantage of not being considered good enough to charge an entrance fee.

Looking back at the gateway from inside the castle

It would be easy to visit Bridgend and not know of the castle's existence, but there are signposts pointing you across Ogmore River.

Looking through the gateway to St Illtyd's Church

Little is known about the saint to whom the nearby Anglican church is dedicated, but he may have been a soldier who founded, or at least helped develop, a monastery and college in nearby Llantwit Major.

However the church was only named after Illtyd, also spelt Illtud, in the 16th century, having originally been dedicated to St Leonard, a Frank whose cult became popular in the 12th century.

Old Capital

AM visiting Kraków, which was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596.

The city's old town is well-preserved, and in 1978 was among the first sites given world heritage status by the United Nations cultural organisation Unesco.

St Mary's Basilica

Church of St John the Baptist and St John the Evengelist

Side street

Wawel Royal Castle

Barbican, built in the late 1400s to cover the main entrance to the old town

St Florian's Gate, built to protect the old town following Tatar destruction in 1241

Saints Peter & Paul Church, built 1597-1619

Bronze statue of the Wawel dragon, which legend has it terrorised the town until killed by a sulphur-filled dead cow left as bait by the sons of King Krak

Between Two Rivers

AMONG the more-interesting books I have read recently is Paul Kriwaczek's Babylon.

Despite the title - perhaps imposed by the publisher, Atlantic Books - it covers a much longer period of history, starting well before Babylon was founded in about 2300BC.

The book's sub-title, Mesopotamia And The Birth Of Civilization, gives a much better idea of the contents.

As the blurb on the back states: "Kriwaczek tells the story of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements around 5400BC to the eclipse of Babylon by the Persians in the sixth century BC."

A faded photo - metaphor for Mesopotamia's glory?

To put the period in context, Kriwaczek points out in the introduction: "If history, as by most definitions, begins with writing, then the birth, rise and fall of ancient Mesopotamia occupies a full half of all history."

Inevitably, in covering such a huge span of time, the author resorts to sweeping generalisations that I imagine would make specialists wince - his observations on the Assyrian military, particularly the superiority of iron over bronze ("cheaper, harder, less brittle ... sharper ... keener"), certainly made me flinch, and I am no specialist.

But there is a lot of interesting reading in the book's c300 pages, and I feel much more informed for having read it.

Chilled Argie-Bargie

WHILE in Mallorca I have had the chance to finish Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia, recently bought from a stall of remaindered books in Spitalfields market, East London.

"Vintage Chatwin," with the stall's £5 price tag still attached

The book, first published in 1977, won literary prizes, being hailed as a "little masterpiece of travel, history and adventure" and "one of the most strikingly original post-War English travel books."

Chatwin tells of the people he met and recounts incidents, many of them violent, from the history of Patagonia, which comprises the southern parts of Argentina and Chile, including the subpolar Tierra del Fuego.

Some of the tales are obviously fantasy, although Chatwin often repeats them as if he believes in the truth of what he is writing, or at least hopes readers will.

I cannot claim it is a book I could hardly put down, but the book is widely regarded as a landmark publication and I am glad I have read it.

Old Salts

AM visiting Mallorca, which is not just about beaches and bars.

At Colonia de Sant Jordi in the southeast are salt flats that may have been worked commercially more than 2,700 years ago for bartering with Phoenician traders.

The salt flats are still commercially exploited today

 

Marine Spears

HAVE completed painting a unit of Egyptian marines armed with spears.

The figures are 10mm from Magister Militum

Because most Egyptians lived close to the Nile, it was from the river that the kingdom was controlled.

This meant marines were the elite of the army until the appearance of chariots, and even then were held in high regard.

My marine spearmen have leather body armour and helmets, as well as shields, which allows them to be classified as having medium armour under Neil Thomas's rules.

Other Egyptian spearmen, and close-order archers, are classified as having light armour.

Marine spearmen with their marine-archer colleagues

The marine spearmen are equipped with short spears which could easily be called javelins.

The spears of regular spearmen (right) are much longer, presumably because marine spearmen could be called on to fight in confined spaces aboard ships and because short spears are easier to handle when assaulting from ship-to-land