Board Game: Empire Builder: Mediterranean, Carthage, Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Pella, and Avaricum

Initial Game design

Rules and Map

Start Up and Gameplay

Mercenaries, Technology, and Cities

This post is about each of the six civilizations a player can play: Macedonia, Egypt, Carthage, Persia, Rome, and Gaul. An in-depth analysis of their strengths and weakness’ are given, along with a look at the advantage their capital cards give. In addition, a look at each civilizations attack and defense values is taken, by relating them to the historical accuracy and the need to keep a game balanced.

Macedonian Kingdom, Capital Pella

The advantages the Macedonian capital of Pella give to the player synchronize well with the location of the empire. The capital card gives the player a free ship at the beginning of the game. This ship allows the Macedonian player to quickly take over their mainland Greek parts and then traverse to their colonies in the Black Sea, Western Anatolia, and Sicily. The early ship benefits the Macedonian players attack stat of two and defense stat of three. With only an attack of two, it is harder for Macedonia to take over early colonies, compared to the ability of its neighboring Roman and Persian enemies. The ship given to the Macedonian player can support the first Macedonian army in invading early territories in revolt, which then when settled have a strong defensive ability and are easy to hold despite how spread out the Macedonian territory is. Attack and Defense of Macedonia: The Macedonian phalanx has an attack of two and is the only nation to have a defense of three. This is based on the defensive capabilities of the phalanx in war, and the fact that Macedonian Greece was highly urbanized with many hard to take cities. Due to this urbanization and defensive formation, the Macedonians have the highest defense stat.

Ptolemaic Egypt, Capital Alexandria

Ptolemaic Egypt is surrounded almost entirely by food regions representing the incredible fertility of the Nile and its floodplains in Egypt. The Egyptian capital card Alexandria provides benefits that work well with the food heavy area it is located in. Alexandria supports two armies instead of only one and lets the player start with an additional army. Alexandria's two armies it can support allows the player to quickly become a military superpower in the region despite the lack of non-food resources limiting its ability in ship making and mercenary buying. Attack and Defense of Ptolemaic Egypt: The Alexandrian capital card gives the player an attack and defense of two. The attack and defense of this region are mostly based on balancing the strong bonus Egypt gets from starting with two armies and controlling a capital that supports two armies. By keeping the Egyptian players attack on the low end it stops Egypt from spreading out overwhelmingly fast overtaking its land rivals of Carthage and Persia. The low defense stat is made up for by the fact Egypt can create and support large amounts of troops that can help defend important areas.

Carthage, Capital Carthage

Carthage is separated into three main areas within the Western Mediterranean: North Africa, Sicily, and Mediterranean Spain. Carthage’s capital card gives it a boat at the beginning of the game. This boat is essential to Carthage’s success allowing it’s weaker attack stat of two to be successful in early conquests in North Africa. Once the food producing regions of North Africa are under the control of Carthage, it can use its boat to transfer troops and take over the wooded regions of Spain. This wood allows Carthage to become a full-time maritime power. Carthage’s capital cards second ability which lowers the Mercenary cost to only one gold is very important to Carthage. Carthage’s weaker starting armies must be supplemented by Mercenaries to stay competitive and the Mercenary regions of both the Balearic Islands and the Numidian Mercenaries in the Sahara are prime recruiting areas. Gold can be found in Spain and lower North Africa for Carthage. Attack and Defense of Carthage: Carthage has an attack of two and a defense of two. Carthage's below average stats come both from a loose historical understanding and a balancing act. Carthage was a naval power in the Western Mediterranean, excelling at that, unlike its prime rival of Rome which was a land power in Italy having almost no navy before the First Punic War. Carthage starts out with a ship at the beginning of the game which it can use to help its army attack with to assure the player can smoothly start their Empire building. In addition, Carthage has the ability to buy Mercenaries for half the price of all other players, and because of this their general army is weaker then opponents. This is in congruence with history, with Carthage having a larger than average mercenary population in its armies.

Seleucid Persia, Capital Antioch

Persia’s strength comes from its capital cards initial ability. Antioch gives Persia an additional region to start with that produces food. This allows Persia to create a quick second army when ready. Persia is located in the Levant and Eastern Anatolia being quite centralized. The protective strength of Persia’s centralization gives it, also hinders its attacking ability. For Persia to expand it must either attack Macedonia’s Western Anatolia holdings or fight with Egypt for the Lower Levant. Attack and Defense of Seleucid Persia: Seleucid Persia has an attack of three and defense of two. The attack is based on the historical strength of the Persian cavalry giving it the second highest attack. The defense is more generic with the Seleucids never being much stronger in defending their lands then contemporaries of their time.

The Roman Republic, Rome

Rome’s strength comes from its location on the Italian Peninsula. The Italian Peninsula has gold, food, and wood producing regions allowing Rome to be fully self-sufficient in the Peninsula alone. Rome is further protected by the Mediterranean in its east, west, and south, while it has Mountains to the north. The Roman capital card gives it’s armies the ability to move through mountains and forests in one turn. This is uniquely strong for Rome because they can leave their Peninsula base to attack the lands directly north of it, and if a counterattack is imminent they can then quickly retreat back into the Italian Peninsula. Rome has an easier ability to expand outside of its starting area than the likes of Persia because of its colonization of southern Gaul, and Sardina. These areas act as easy to take outposts for Rome which can help it control the Western Mediterranean. The Attack and Defense of the Roman Republic: Rome has an attack of three and defense of two. The Roman war machine is well known, and so the legions have three attack rolls. To keep Rome from conquering all the land in the Northern Mediterranean they only have a defensive roll of two as a balancing act. This balance is especially needed because Rome has the added advantage of having mountains act as a natural boundary from any land invasion, causing land attacks to be much harder to occur in Rome.

Gallic Tribes, Capital Avaricum

Gaul’s capital of Avaricum is situated in the center of modern-day France. This allows Gaul to quickly expand and gain control of the northern territories. This quick expansion is further pushed by the horses Gaul's capital card gives its troops, allowing them to take two actions a turn, and the incredible four dice attack Gaul’s armies have. The weakness’ for Gaul stems from its geographic isolation by natural formations. Gaul is separated from Spain and Italy by mountain ranges, and to the east Germanic forests hinder its troop's movements. Gaul's horsemen have to take three turns instead of the normal two going over mountains and forests causing them to be easily contained by these areas. Gaul also has a hard time defending its taken territories as it only has one defensive die roll. Gaul is an explosive attacker, but it is hard for Gaul to actually keep its conquests Attack and defense of Gaul: Gaul is still in the development stage and at the moment has an attack of four and defense of two. Gauls attack come from its strong cavalry, and success in fighting other areas for centuries, like when they sacked early Rome. The weak defensive nature of Gaul comes from the historical lack of unification within Gaul, and a lower urbanization rate compared to the other Empires in the game. Gaul can attack very effectively, but holding any of its territories is hard for it.