This game dates back quite a while. I think it was published by some small game company around 15 years ago, and the current seller is either a successor company or it bought the rights to the game. Someone out there should know...

Anyway, this was one of my favorite multiplayer games when I was introduced to it in college. It broadly simulates the conquest of the Roman Empire by various barbarian tribes. I believe the game had a few solitaire and 2-player "historical" scenarios, but I don't recall ever trying those. We always played the standard non-historical multi-player scenario, in which players started out as barbarian tribes which grew rapidly. They then converted from "tribal" to "military" units, at which point they were capable of attacking into the Roman Territories (which just have static defense units). and capturing areas with economic value (based on area, not hex, movement).

You then became a "Kingdom" and had to pay maintenance for your units, and you could pay to build new ones. At some point you became an "Empire", at which point it becomes really expensive to maintain your military forces (you end up with Roman-style "legions") and you have to deal with worse and worse events from the random-events table. Basically, at some point, an Empire would be defeated by other players with "younger" kingdoms, but then the defeated player could start all over again with a new barbarian tribe (or he could abandon a weakening but unconquered position to start anew). Victory points are totaled and averaged over the total number of turns you played, so the game could go on as long as the players wanted to continue, and (the best part) new players could enter the game anytime with a fresh barbarian tribe.

I think the game came with 6 sets of counters, so "1-6 players" is probably correct, although more could play the standard scenario if more counters were available. The game is reasonably simple, but just as the ad says, it lends itself to many strategic options. For example, German tribes, when they convert to military units, have decent heavy infantry counters and good access to the heart of the Roman Empire (where the valuable territories are) early in the game, but as the game wears on they tend to have a central position on the board, so they become vulnerable to attacks on both sides from tribes that started on the far corners of the board, such as Picts (with ships and light infantry) and Huns (with mainly fast cavalry). The Arabs have weaker units and less room to "spread out" to grow faster in terms of units, but they are positioned to attack the Mediterranean underbelly of the Roman Empire, and they have a good defensive position since they are hard to outflank.,

In addition to the flexibility in the multi-player game, I really liked the way the game illustrates the process of change from light, powerful Barbarian forces, to heavy, ponderous Empires. Even though the game is not technically an accurate simulation (though I think it is very good considering it's simplicity), it gives the "feel" of the rise and fall of ancient empires wonderfully (I think it would be great for an Ancient History class in high school). So overall I highly recommend this game and am glad it is still available.

Views from the Internet

Enemy at the Gates
Barbarian, Kingdom, & Empire; The Game
Avalon Hill "De-emphasizing" Boardgames
Figures Needed?
Comparing Water and Titanium in Outpost
We The People I
We The People II