We have been on a bit of a Roman era kick recently. With 12 games crossing our desk.  We choose half of these to review and they are now slowly finding their way up to screens both online and in print. After the excellent ENEMIES OF ROME, became our first, the second is the end of the Roman era PANDEMIC FALL OF ROME. Lets explore!

PANDEMIC FALL OF ROME

Players 1-5 / Ages 12+ / Time 60 minutes

At the height of its power, the Roman Empire held more than two million square miles of territory. Streching from the shores of North Africa to the phantom isle of Albion. In its mists were about a hundred million people and it revelled in wealth, before never seen. By the beginning of the 5th Century however,its power was waning. Due mainly to political infighting and broad economic corruption, it flipped from one crisis to another. Its overburdened military had little ability to cope with aggressive barbarian tribes, all eyeing the capital of Rome and its excesses of wealth.

THE GAME

PANDEMIC FALL OF ROME starts as the empire is crumbling. Invasion from countless tribes such as the Anglo-Saxons, Goths, Vandals, and Huns is in the offing and you are the frontline to stop it. As you march through the Roman Empire, you must recruit armies, fortify cities, forge alliances, and face off against the invading hordes in battle. But this is just the beginning. Like Pandemic, each player has a role and that comes with special abilities. You have to follow a varied and dynamic course of actions to succeed but this certainly helps. There is also a solo mode, in which a player has to become the ailing Emperor and command three different roles to try to protect the city from the invading hordes. With an additional mode for a much more difficult game, called “Roma Caput Mundi” challenge, this has a variety of ways to add more to every game played. The best introduction and how to play video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_BbAeVYmh8 

I will now set out to review the game indepth.

REVIEW

PANDEMIC FALL OF ROME continues two legacies. The first is that of the empire it charts the end of. The Roman. The second, is that of the game series it pinches some mechanics from. That being Pandemic. I have avoided the set up and how to play for reasons of space and time but also I think to aid review. However if you do not know the game or the series, it is best now to watch the above and come back. If you know the game or the series…Well READ ON!

FALL OF ROME appears to be a tantalising offer to a gamer, history buff or someone who finds theirselves inbetween. Doing a more simple job than it seems at first, to create and set up something. Historically, the events feel tangible in the mind and hand of players without having to tax them by reading up on the period. Card management is clean and crisp and the flow of the game, all important in Pandemic, is paced and swiftly shifting from pertinent event to pertinent event. It offers a newer spin on an old theme though, with the roles and events matastisizing but without simple resolutions. Importantly, it also offers to seasoned players, both solo and co op, a varied, unrelenting, complex and often cathartic play. One player here did suggest they felt a little lost by the historical elements. You need not know the historical elements, I do due to other reasons, but those that make up the collapse of the empire (and many others) are relevent and irrelevent here. so little or no period understanding is fine. What you just need know, is that everything in the game plays like a reflection of the choas of the time. From how the Revolt cards, added to the deck, make the instability paramount to the rolling destruction. Apt in isolation and in a historical sense.

We all agreed that GLORIA MUNDI, FALL OF POMPEII et al took on the same subject with varied success. Translating the choas but draining its immediacy. FALL OF ROME drowns in the moment. But brilliantly so. Another game of note here is DONNING THE PURPLE (review upcoming). It got the period almost perfect, with the Roman empire charting a choatic course, but it personalised the experience. FALL OF ROME is the companion piece for a group of players. There are problems with roles and powers but overall it mitigates the personal and spares no one. You have to move strategy quickly. Simply defending Rome for instance is not enough. You are drawn ever deeper into having to engage. One player cant be fire fighter. All must do their bit. Find peace with neighboring peoples. Gain tribal alliances or die trying is the thought of the day. Its harder than it sounds. Tribes act as buffers often but can turn on a dime. FALL OF ROME. If you want to know what it was like then, well this is the real deal. A great game, which translates it subject with the intellegence it deserves.