Every year, the Charles S. Roberts awards highlight new, excellent war games across a variety of categories. It more or less equates to the Spiel Des Jahres, though you’ll find more categories and titles here. 2024’s winners were announced just a few weeks ago. In this series, we’ll take a look at the categories, nominees, and winners, each of which have their own style, verve, and deserving play. Starting with the ancients era.
If you’re a war gamer looking for something fresh, or just want to round out your collection with neat stuff, you’ll find it in this series. Many of the games here work well for players new to the world of war gaming too (shocking, perhaps, that well-designed games appeal to all stripes). As ever, take advantage of Noble Knight’s Want List too – many of the games you’ll see below come from small publishers, with small print runs, so titles will go in and out of stock frequently.
In this piece, we’ll look at the Ancients Era war game winner and nominees, games which (to no surprise) give you a gladius, a trireme, and tell you to get after it. If you watch Gladiator and see the conflicts playing out in hexes, this is the category for you.
Magazine War Games Remain Innovative
It is, perhaps, an obvious headline, but war gaming has a strong history of brilliant magazine games. C3i, with RBM Studio, published Baetis Campaign 211 BC last year, a Punic Wars game that somehow includes neither Hannibal nor Hamilcar. Elephants are nowhere to be found either, but in exchange you get a number of neat mechanics reflecting the mercenary times of the era.
First, and foremost, bribes. Carthage can leverage a hidden cash allowance to, you know, get those Roman goobers to take a pay raise in exchange for leaving the field. It’s neat color that can help leaven bad rolls, particularly in a game where a single D6 is the only dice around. Other neat angles dip into play too, from fluctuating attack allowances (troops need a chance to breathe, folks), leader support, and finding a good line for your cavalry to charge.
Baetis Campaign takes Mark Herman’s system from Gettysburg, Waterloo, and Rebel Fury and puts it to good, easy-to-learn use here. Despite a small amount of hidden information, this is a solid solo title too, with scenarios playable in an evening.
Another lesson to take from Baetis Campaign? Don’t overlook magazine war game publishers like C3i. Noble Knight often carries hard-to-find copies of these titles, with plenty of gems waiting for your table. Take a look.
Hollandspiele Continues to Innovate
One of war gaming’s most unique publishers, Hollandspiele makes experiences that defy traditional tabletop gaming habits. This can be overt, as in games like Endurance, a harrowing solo adventure attempting to keep the 27 crew of Shackleton’s 1914 Antarctic expedition alive, or subtle, as in Beware the Ides of March, nominated here. At the outset, this seems like a standard war game, set following Caesar’s murder and pitting a few familiar Roman names against each other. Two
factions at each other’s throats, playable solo by acting for each side (hidden information is optional, making this viable), and a solid production equals so far, so good, right?
After you punch out the 88 counters and give the side-eye to the included D6, willing it to provide luck but knowing it won’t, you’ll start to notice this isn’t a simple smash and score experience. Beware uses simple rules to create tense decisions, with that single dice doing work handling events (storms on the seas were no joke in this era), plague, and your combat table. Your options are many, and each carries with it substantial risks. But that’s the fun – every game here will be different as you decide where to fight the battle, how to handle sudden revolts or invasions, and how to get food to your legions. Part logistics, part brawl, Beware packs a lot into two hours of play time.
A Civilization Game, Streamlined
When you’re embarking on a quest to encompass all the elements of a civilization, it’s best to take a step back and refine those goals a bit. History of the Ancient Seas 1: HELLAS does exactly this, slicing away the faff while keeping key economic, military, and expansion elements that make for, well, a game. In this volume, Sparta and Athens compete over Greece, and the surrounding Mediterranean. It’s a clever start that sees both players begin right next to each other, with a broad map to fill in, producing immediate conflict while necessitating rapid expansion – there be resources out there, y’all.
HELLAS earns a look with its production (mounted board, wooden components, no counters to clip), and keeps it with its fascinating action rondel, one that limits available actions every round to three, and prohibits repeating the same action an opponent just performed. This keeps the game from getting bogged down in repetitive clashes over the same territory, while also pushing players to think both short term (what actions do I have this round) and long (how can I, say, take Sicily before Sparta?). It’s a meaty decision space without a rule book to match, as HELLAS keeps its laws short and sweet. The game itself, though, can devour an evening. Expect an engrossing several hours or more – but you’ll be spending that time playing, rather than teaching or looking up rules exceptions. All told, HELLAS marks an auspicious start to a new series.
Late Rome, Solitaire Style
Rome, Inc emerged a few years back like the long-lost uncle emerging at the Roman Empire’s family reunion. Ditching Caesar and the Senate, Rome, Inc and its sequel, Rome, IInc throw you into the rarer, difficult task of managing the decline and fall. Both are games from ATO magazine, proving yet again that war gaming’s ability to squeeze brilliance into folios remains undimmed (Rome, IInc is one of two magazine games nominated in this category alone). Rome, IInc shifts the timeline ahead from its predecessor and makes some streamlining improvements, but the core remains the same: you’ll need to manage multiple fronts, from barbarian forces, Emperor-killing assassins, and your own ambitious governors to, potentially, popes. Easy rules and smooth combat keep the action moving, while the many ways things can turn ensure no scenario plays out the same way.
To wit: those darned Goths are streaming in from the north. You appoint a governor with a penchant for swordplay and he dices up the invasion. Now, that governor’s thinking he might look good in the Emperor’s laurels. You’ve stopped an invasion, but started a civil war. But a timely assassination might solve that problem, leaving Italy’s northern flank as peaceful as can be. Until, you know, the next turn. This is a taste of Rome, IInc’s dynamism, and while it’s not a lunch break game (you can combine it with Rome, Inc for a gargantuan campaign good for a cabin weekend), you’ll spend those minutes having fun, not hunting rules exceptions. For those willing to share power, Rome, IInc can also be played co-op, splitting the Empire into halves. Then you can, at last, answer the age-old question of who would be the better Emperor.
Just remember: Diocletian retired to grow vegetables. Good luck doing the same.
Alexander in Monster Form
The winner in this year’s Ancients Era war game category is The Fate of All, a grand title for a grand game, which fits Thin Red Line Games’ trend. With scenarios set largely during Alexander the Great’s conquests, Fate floats as complete a frame as you could want. Supplies, commanders, army composition, and morale all factor in this operational simulation that has a neat tactical battle board to bring engagements to life. You could shove counter stacks into one another, roll some dice, and call it a day to save some time (there are rules for this), but Fate encourages you to wheel those chariots around in flanking strikes while your phalanxes pin the enemy in the center.
Fielding those armies forms the crux of Fate’s puzzle, though. In addition to those supplies, you’ll have to find coin, best earned by plundering conquered
territory. That won’t earn you friends, and could earn you some knives in the back, so you’ll have to manage the coffers of your troops with the hatred of your subjects. It’s a tricky balance, but a rewarding one. After all, if you’d rather avoid the sticky elements of being an Ancient-era ruler, games like Great Battles of History and Onus! will be happy to put you in the fight and nowhere else. Successors, too, brings a bigger player count and less complexity to the setting.
But you don’t pick up a monster like The Fate of All for speed and light dice chucking. This, like its big fellows, immerses you in an era, makes you feel the tension as your navy sails the Mediterranean to bring crucial reinforcements, or the dust choking your citizens as they cower at an enemy’s siege. This is history made huge, but not inaccessible, and with a production immersed in theme (the fonts and counter illustrations are delightful) and the latest in Alexander-era research. Prizes, sometimes, are awarded for bold strides, and The Fate of All is nothing if not bold.
The next piece in this series will look at medieval games, so if you prefer a longsword to a gladius, well, you’re about to have a slew of excellent recommendations coming your way. Until then, as ever, add these games to your Want List, uncork some lead-free wine, and get ready for an evening (or many) of Ancient-era battle.
Check out our previous article here!
