Imperium Romanum
A Campaign Game

(boardgame)

by Jim Womer

The rear cover of Volume I of this journal carried an advertisement for the above boardgame and, taking an exception to our normal policy of declining the opportunity to review boardgames, we will review Imperium Romanum herein; not because of the value and merit the game possesses to us as miniaturists.

With the notable exception of the box-cover art, the graphics and counters are nicely done; I suspect that the unmounted hex-gridded map will not wear well, although it is on heavy stock. The map is physically attractive but permits some confusion over the various terrain types. The counters represent legions and their supporting auxilia, naval squadrons, and leaders to whom special attention is paid.

The countermix permits up to six Roman factions in any given Civil War as well as assorted barbarians; to represent different qualities within the same faction, counters of a different color are used. Incidentally, the counter mix does not attempt to represent the entire Roman army, but rather the forces available for conducting a civil war within the empire.

The scope of this 8ame is impressive, covering Roman military history from Pompey and Julius Caesar circa 67 B.C. to the campai8ns of Belisarius circa 540 A.D. No less than 34 scenarios, including 2 solitaire ones, set forth a wide variety of Roman conflicts ranging from introductory land and naval actions to relatively complex and covering the destructive internal civil wars as well as massive barbarian incursions. The best superlative which comes to mind to describe designer Albert A. Nofis' research effort is monumental. Quite obviously, Imperium Romanum is a labor of love.

But such a labor can beget problems; As a boardgame, the problems are in the relative complexity or the rules. The combat system is difficult as it represents not only raw strength but relative quality and morale, with a rather obscure table for computing these variables. Even more complex is the economic system which is a dynamic and evolving variable over the centuries portrayed in the game.

Not only does the tax revenue of the various provinces change over the Years, but also changing are the types, costs and quality of the troops which can be raised in any given province Not withstanding the optional tactical game system in the rules, I suspect that the boardgame as such will not find great favor among boardgamers; it has to be frustrating to learn a complex rules system, manuever well through the game, and have the game resolved by a single roll of the die, which seems to occur fairly often in the civil war scenarios.

Having said the foregoing about Imperium Romanum as a boardgame, we now consider its relevancy to miniature ancient wargamers.

In a sense, a boardgame is a closed information system wherein the information or data is presented in the various game rules and here particularly in the evolution of the Empire's economic and military systems. Needless to say, that type of hard data is usually difficult to come by in most histories of the Roman period.

While the information might be subject to challenge, it does provide a good base for common activities such as club gaming, and at the very least is a good starting point; as such, the game represents a substantial savings in research time, especially on the economic system.

The other aspect or hard information concerns the orders of battle presented for the various factions. While in some respects these are intelligent and informed "guesstimates" by the designer, if used with caution these form the basis of evaluating the relative strength or the various factions and get into some detail in answering just how many Dacians-Sarmatians were there available during a given period.

Beyond the raw mass of military and economic information contained in the game, designer Nofi has made a substantial effort to integrate miniatures as a tactical interface with this essentially strategic game. This gets quite a bit beyond the simplistic 'one strength point equals so many men school' which often passes for such discussion in boardgames. Some thought has been applied here to terrain, weather, civil wars vs. Foreigh wars, unit conversion rates and rules modifications; all which shows more than ordinary understanding of the problems facing miniaturists.

Given the foregoing, it should be obvious that Imperium Romanum can be used as the basis of fairly large and extended ancient campaign games. With the Rreat number of factions possible in some scenarios, there is enough in this game to keep an ancients club going for some time.

Two caveats should probably be kept in mind. First, the boardgame rules will have to undergo some modification and revision which will probably reflect individual and group tastes. Second, some of the forces available in the scenarios are huge when compared to typical WRG ancients armies which necessitates a number of choices to each ancients club - such as whether to 'scale down' the forces or utilize a grand tactical ancients rules system, etc.

My overall impression of this boardgame is relatively favorable. All too rarely do we miniaturists get so much information and such a selection of strategic choices which can be adapted into the basis or club campaign gaming, although with some effort.

Rules and map errata for the boardgame are available from the publisher; although I wrote for a parts price list and a self-generating scenario system reportedly in existence, neither of these last two items were received at the time of this writing. Imperium Romanum is available from the publisher, West End Games, Inc, PO. Box 156, Cedarhurst, NY 11516 or from local hobby shops and has been retailing for $25.00.

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