Skip to Content
 

Caesar Augustus

4 replies [Last post]
Mon, 04/02/2018 - 14:36
caesar_augustus
Offline
Joined: 01/15/2018
CA Map
playtest

Hi all,

My name is Eddy and I'm new to the site and new to board game design. I'm designing a board game called Caesar Augustus which is a historical game of strategy set in the Roman Civil War period for 2-5 players. Players will take the role of a Roman general, one of many, who is competing to gain absolute power over Rome and its territories. In order to become victorious you will need to deploy political diplomacy as well as military strength.

The mechanics are mainly area control with some aspects of worker placement and card drafting thrown in.

The game is currently in the early stages of development, having only been through 6 play-tests. There's still a lot of work to be done, but if you're interested the latest copy of the rules can be downloaded here
https://caesarboardgame.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/caesar-augustus-1-5-...

Please follow my blog if you are interested in receiving updates at https://caesarboardgame.wordpress.com/

Thanks for taking the time to read this :-)

Top
Tue, 04/03/2018 - 09:20
#1
MAR
MAR's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/23/2017
Hi Eddy, Your game sounds

Hi Eddy,

Your game sounds fun! I love the theme. Hope things go good for you, keep us updated on the games progress :)

-Austin

Top
Mon, 04/16/2018 - 07:52
#2
DarkDream
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Reviewed Rule Book

I went ahead and looked at the rule book. It looks like an interesting game.

For inspiration, I suggest to look at this board game:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20134/end-triumvirate

It seems similar to yours.

On reviewing the rules, one concern I have is the possibility of a dominant strategy occurring. This strategy would be the first to get the majority of Senators (which seems guaranteed if you go first), and then move your general to Rome and then use all the Senate armies.

By controlling the Senate, you 10 VP which seems to me to be a huge amount. You would need to control 10 territories to just match this.

Ideally a game should have multiple winning strategies. It just seems the control of Rome via the Senate is far easier and seems like players will just go for this one.

Best of luck,

--DarkDream

Top
Mon, 04/16/2018 - 09:35
#3
Jay103
Jay103's picture
Offline
Joined: 01/23/2018
Yeah, I have to agree with

Yeah, I have to agree with that. Looks like bribing is the whole game, and it's a pretty simple mechanic. So you bribe constantly and move your General to Rome and when you take control you leave the army there so nobody else can put a General there.. In a two-player game as soon as you get to this point with two senators, you immediately get and keep the third as well (which I guess is irrelevent).

And since it's 10 VP, you basically win.

Two general fixes:

1, make it much less valuable, like 3 VP.

and/or 2, make bribing more complicated than "I bribe you!" What are you bribing them WITH? Do they stay bribed forever? Why?

Also, for the manual itself, you have a big section that looks like this:

1.
1.
2.
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
2.
1.

Use the feature of MSWord that changes those to A/B/C, a/b/c, i/ii/iii, etc. Very hard to track when it's all the same numerals.

Top
Mon, 04/16/2018 - 12:35
#4
the_mediocre_poet
Offline
Joined: 04/11/2018
I too really like the theme.

I too really like the theme.

I also like the scope of the game. From combat to politics, it offers a nice variety of play without seeming to bog down the player.

I do think (if I understand it correctly) there could be a better balance of the victory points being distributed. That way, to be victorious, you'd need to broaden the focus to all aspects of gameplay.

Top
Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut