Grand Variant:
Combining Republic of Carthage with Republic of Rome
Rules of Play
Version 1.8
February 22, 2007
Copyright (C) 1994-2006 Richard M. Heli
- Play Republic of Carthage through the end of the Early Republic.
(Even if during the last turn of the first deck there are fewer than
6 cards available, do not add cards from the second deck until after
completing the Carthage Revolution Phase.)
- Then, set up Republic of
Rome in the usual way, starting with the first deck and each Republic
of Carthage player also taking over a Republic of Rome faction.
Place the 1st Punic War as an Inactive War in the Roman Forum as
usual. The Carthaginian Forum begins with the 1st Roman War as an
Inactive War, in addition to any Active and Inactive Wars which
may already be in the Forum.
Each turn consists of the following, in order:
- Carthage:
- Carthage Mortality Phase
- Carthage Revenue Phase
- Carthage Trade Phase
- Carthage Forum Phase
- Rome:
- Rome Mortality Phase
- Rome Revenue Phase
- Rome Forum Phase
- Senate:
- Carthage Senate Phase
- Rome Senate Phase
- Exploration, Combat and Revolution:
- Combined Exploration and Combat Phase
- Carthage Revolution Phase
- Rome Revolution Phase
When any Punic war appears in the Roman Forum, the Roman war with
the corresponding number becomes active in the Carthaginian Forum.
When any Roman war appears in the Carthage Forum, the Punic war with
the corresponding number becomes active in the Roman Forum.
(If the now active
war card is not already present in the Forum, find it in the
deck, put it in the Forum and re-shuffle.)
Matching War and Leader cards continue to make Inactive Wars
Active as normal.
Should the Roman Senate attack and defeat a Punic War, it
makes the Roman War of the corresponding number a Lost War in
Carthage. Similarly, if the Carthaginian Senate attack and
defeat a Roman War, it makes the Punic War of the corresponding
number a Lost War in Rome. If in the same turn the Roman Senate
attacks a Punic War and the Carthaginian Senate attacks a Roman
War and both wars have the same number, the War cards are ignored
and combat is resolved as described below.
An extra restriction is added for this scenario: the Punic and the
Roman Wars must be addressed in numerical order, e.g. the second war may
not be attacked before the first.
Note that the 1st Roman War and 1st Punic War are essentially two-part
wars. The fleet part of the war must be defeated before the land part of
the war may be attempted. If the first part is accomplished, but not the
second and then on a subsequent turn the other side re-conquers the fleet
portion, but not the land portion, then the first side must once again
defeat the fleet portion before it can attack the land portion.
Any leader, i.e. Pyrrhus, Hannibal, Hamilcar or Scipio, who dies in one
Forum is also removed from the game in the other Forum, or is discarded
upon his appearance from the deck as if the card had not been in it.
When both sides are attacking the other's war of the same number,
resolve it as in Rebel combat. The force with highest combined
strength and commander military ratings is considered the attacker.
No Disaster/Standoff numbers are used.
Any losses except "ALL" are applied equally to both armies:
- "Victory"
- losing force loses the war
- "Victory/No Losses"
- same as Victory, but in addition all
the units of the losting force are
destroyed and the losing commanders
must draw Mortality Chits equal to the
number of units lost.
- "Stalemate"
-
war is undecided and can be continued
in the next Combat Phase, either by
fighting the respective War Cards or
if both sides send forces, against one
another. Surviving forces are left on
the respective war cards. The number
of Mortality Chits drawn remain the
same, but apply to both sides'
commanders.
- "Defeat"
-
attacking force has lost the war.
- "Defeat/All"
- same as Defeat, but in addition the
attacking force, only, must draw Mortality
Chits.
When Carthage loses a war, apply the same effects as if the Senate
had sued for peace. When Rome loses a war, the war may no longer
be fought and will cost the Roman Senate 25T during the Revenue Phase
each turn thereafter. Any leader matching the Inactive War remains
in the Forum, active if other matching wars are present, becoming
inactive otherwise.
Note that in the Combined game, if either side loses a war to the other, 15T of
the 25T paid each turn is paid directly into the state treasury of the winning side.
The Combined game ends on the turn in which the last Republic of
Carthage card is drawn in the Forum Phase or when the last Republic
of Rome Early Republic card is drawn, whichever comes second. Should
Rome run out of Early Republic cards prior to Carthage exhausting its
deck, the Roman Middle Republic deck should be used.
Should a player achieve conditions which would normally allow him to
win the game prior to its end, i.e. achieving 35 Influence for a Senator,
becoming Consul-for-Life or successful Rebellion, the game does not end
as normal, but instead continues until the conditions in the previous paragraph
apply. A Senator who successfully rebels is considered Consul-for-Life.
A Consul-for-Life retains all of his powers for the remainder of the game or until
successfully assassinated; one assassination attempt can be attempted per turn
(i.e. normal rules for assassination attempts apply).
Players may approach this expanded version of Republic of Rome with
uncertainty and confusion -- this is expected! After all, you are
being asked to simultaneously play factions on both sides of a war
to the death, that is, to have a foot in each camp. Actually this
has been done before in games (cf. Russian Civil War, Junta) and so
should not come as a complete novelty. Players will quickly find that the
addition of the Carthaginian scene takes negotiation and scheming to
a whole new order of magnitude. There are new sets of options to
consider. No longer is success in Rome paramount for personal success.
If one doesn't do well in one Republic, there is always the other.
One can delay the success of rival factions by strong play in the other
Republic or even work against one of the Republics to permit the triumph
of the other (and one's own faction of course).
Some may view such approaches as "unpatriotic" within a particular
Republic, perhaps even unrealistic. But it should be kept in mind that
in both Rome and Carthage there were always political forces which for
their own reasons opposed war and sought to avoid it whenever possible.
Such peace parties don't make sense, can never make sense in the original
Republic of Rome context because of its inherent nature as a wargame. But
in Republic of Carthage, the Senate may, by means of exploration and suing
for peace actually divert a portion of the republic's energy into
other activities. And in the combined game, life can be breathed into
the peace parties of Rome as well, providing another level of tension and
conflict so typical of the Roman Republic.
Many thanks for the points brought up by
Ray Wilsey
regarding these rules.
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