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SPQR (Video Review & Play Through)

20 May 2012 No Comment

This game contains counters and maps that allow the reproduction of five battles of warfare in the Roman Republic. The mechanics allow leaders to activate units within their command range in order to rout or destroy the other player’s army.

Volume II in GMT Games’ Great Battles of History Series.

Contains:
5 Battles
2 doublesided maps
3.5 counter sheets
Rules for SPQR

Cannae August 2 216BC	The largest army Rome has ever fielded — eight double legions, almost 80,000 men — stands arrayed in their unique but devastatingly effective checkerboard formations. Across the field, through the blowing summer dust, is an army half their size, a motley crew of Spanish javelinists, Numidian cavalry, Gallic lancers and the feared, sword-swinging Celts. But this varied force has already smashed two Roman armies, and it is led by one of the greatest tactical geniuses in history: Hannibal. The stage is set for one of the most brilliantly fought, stunningly overwhelming victories the world has ever known. And the stage is set for you to recreate one of the greatest battles in military history: Cannae!
Zama 202BC	In one of the most important battles in ancient history, two crack Roman consular armies under Rome’s first military genius, P. Cornelius Scipio, faces Hannibal’s undefeated Carthaginians. Is Scipio the man to finally outwit the cunning Carthaginian leader? The finely tuned, evenly balanced battle matches two tactical systems at their peak in a final confrontation for control of the Mediterranean.
Cynoscephalae 197BC	Considered the classic legion vs. phalanx battle, the armies of Consul Flaminus and Phillip V of Macedonia stumble into each other on a rocky ridge in the middle of a fog bank. Who will find whom? Can the weight of Phillip’s double-depth phalanxes break the Roman center? Or will the legion’s maneuverability carry the day in this, the battle that gave Rome control of the Mediterranean? And this time, it’s the Romans who have the elephants!
Beneventum 275BC	In the finale to the first series of meetings between the legion and the phalanx, Rome goes head to head with the famous Greek mercenary and descendant of Alexander, Pyrrhus. A meeting engagement with a surprise night attack, the battle features not only elephants, but the system’s first use of artillery — Roman scorpiones — as well as an accurate scale rendering of the Roman camp.
Bagradas Plains 255BC	Rome is having a pretty easy time of it at the First Punic War, and Consul Regulus is poised to apply the finishing blow. The Carthaginians, however, have hired a Spartan general, X

Expansion Modules:

War Elephant: Introducing Hellenized Eastern armies to the system; Raphia (217 BCE) & Magnesia (190 BCE)
Consul for Rome: More 2nd Punic War; Trebbia (218 BCE) & Metaurus (207 BCE)
Pyrrhic Victory: More battles from the war between Rome and Pyrrhus of Epirus; Heraclea (280 BCE) & Ausculum (279 BCE)
Africanus: The Young Scipio (soon-to-be Africanus) at Baecula (208 BCE) and Ilipa (206 BCE)
Jugurtha: the Battle of Muthul River (109 BCE) can be played using either SPQR and manipular Legions, or Great Battles of Caesar and cohort Legions
Barbarian: Battles from the Early Republic

GMT’s C3i magazine and their SPQR Players Guide are good sources for more scenarios and modules. Look under “More Information” for more module/scenario information.

~ GMT

Intro (from Heraclea playthrough)

You might be better off just looking at the detailed play example (below) – though this gives some first thoughts

Review

DARS

Utica (contains a detailed example of play in first two videos)

Heraclea (my first playing)

Nola – a particularly nice playthrough

Many many more SPQR playthroughs available on my youtube account, if you’re a masochist for such things.

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calandale

Recovering hobo, one-time actor and street corner philosopher, now trying to enjoy the less fine things in life (like everyone else does). One thing has been nearly constant in my life - gaming. Even before discovering wargames (at the tender age of 10 or so - purely fortuitous), I would play out family games (including the 3M series) solitaire. But, life situations interfered not too long ago, and I was largely without board gaming for the better part of a decade. The last couple of years have seen me devoting myself to the hobby again - and learning a lot of the newer designs - so, I'm looking from the eyes of an old grognard (ah, how I fought against THAT term when first used on me) but an open mind and willingness to see if newer games appeal.