Empire - Completing The Second Cycle

FOUR of us have got together for our eighth playthrough of Philip Sabin's Empire, the light boardgame centred on 200 years of warfare around the Mediterranean.

The four are myself, my regular wargaming opponent ('Reg'), security consultant Richard Johnson, and Andy, a serving officer in Britain's armed forces.

Each of us will take control of one of four peoples - Carthaginians, Macedonians, Persians/Parthians and Romans.

Since this playthrough will complete our second cycle of four games, there is no need to draw for who gets whom.

Instead I will, for the second time, lead the Macedonians, Reg the Romans, Richard the Persians/Parthians, and Andy the Carthaginians.

There will be four points for the winner, three for second, etc.

So far it is the Macedonians who are bringing up the rear, as the following scores-by-people show.

Persians/Parthians: 23pts

Romans: 20.5pts
Carthaginians: 16.5pts
Macedonians: 10pts

The fact that I have only had the Macedonians once may at least partly explain why I am leading the player standings. 

ME

Game One: 3pts (Carthaginians)
Game Two: 3.5pts (Romans)
Game Three: 4pts (Persians)
Game Four: 1pt (Macedonians)

Game Five: 4pts (Persians/Parthians)

Game Six: 2pts (Carthaginians)

Game Seven: 3pts (Romans)
Total: 20.5pts

ANDY
Game One: 4pts (Macedonians)
Game Two: 3.5pts (Persians/Parthians)
Game Three: 3pts (Romans)
Game Four: 2.5pts (Carthaginians)

Game Five: 2pts (Romans)

Game Six: 4pts (Persians)

Game Seven: 1pt (Macedonians)
Total: 20pts

REG

Game One: 1pt (Persians/Parthians)
Game Two: 2pts (Carthaginians)
Game Three: 1pt (Macedonians)
Game Four: 4pts (Romans)

Game Five: 3pts (Carthaginians)

Game Six: 1pt (Macedonians)

Game Seven: 4pts (Persians)
Total: 16pts

RICHARD JOHNSON
Game One: 2pts (Romans)
Game Two: 1pt (Macedonians)
Game Three: 2pts (Carthaginians)
Game Four: 2.5pts (Persians/Parthians)

Game Five: 1pt (Macedonians)

Game Six: 3pts (Romans)

Game Seven: 2pts (Carthaginians)
Total: 13.5pts

As can be seen, it is very tight at the top, and Andy quite reasonably entertains high hopes of regaining the No1 spot.

However, as I explained at BoardGameGeek, when veteran wargamer John Graham-Leigh commented on our last playthrough, I plan on implementing a 'new' strategy when taking on the persona of Alexander the Great.

Instead of going after the rich province of AEGYPTUS, possession of which earns double-points, I intend following historical precedent by effectively going after Darius, the idea being to eliminate the Persians as an independent people.

Under the rules of the game, they may well come back later as the Parthians, but I hope to gain time to conquer as much of the East as possible, including AEGYPTUS.

As usual, I will write up the game turn by turn.