Along with my friends, Johan and Chris, I have been playing the scenarios in The Ancient World: Rise of the Roman Republic and The Ancient World: Carthage pretty much every Wednesday night since December 2023. At first, we just wanted to take the system for a spin as Johan spoke highly of it, but it has since turned into a grand adventure.

Our first play of the 1st Punic War scenario from Carthage ended with a Carthaginian victory. We had so much fun with that play, we immediately reset and went back to it again. This time the Romans prevailed. It was also around this time that, since we had been asking so many questions of the developer, Alan Ray, we formally signed on to the playtest team.

Since that time, we’ve played every scenario in both Rise of the Roman Republic and Carthage (except the Mercenary War – that’s coming) at least once and a few of them twice. It still hasn’t gotten old. Playtesting can sometimes be work; this doesn’t feel like it.

What is it that’s so engaging about this system that we keep returning to it?

Dynamic Play and “Player Agency“

Although the rules constrain the players somewhat in terms of what resources they have and the LAM chit pull system dictates when they can use those resources, the player is free to do whatever they want with their activated leader in whatever order they want (within the rules, of course). Want to move the length of Italy, have a battle, force a city to surrender, move again, fight again, move again? Go right ahead! There are only two governors on your ability to act: attrition and continuance.

Movement requires you to take attrition, so your army will slowly get smaller as you move especially if go long distances and/or cross a lot of rivers. The bigger your army, the more attrition you take. You can mitigate that somewhat by moving in shorter hops and stopping in friendly cities, but that leads into the second governor.

For the most part, when you stop an activity (movement, etc.), your leader can roll against his Campaign Rating to go again. The trick, of course, is making that roll. Since leaders vary in how good they are, e.g., Pyrrhus is a 6 while some Romans are a 3, you may not actually get to go again. The enticing array of possibilities available to you is exciting. The narrative produced by either making or failing a seemingly crucial continuation roll can be an emotional roller coaster that provides endless entertainment (and trash talk).

Battle

As in many of Berg’s [RIP] games, combat is driven by DRMs, and there are a bunch of them! The CRT (Combat Results Table) is generally predictable in that rolling higher (with positive DRMs) is better. But there is an X factor. Literally. If the modified die roll lands on an “X” result, you roll again (sometimes with a separate modifier), and those results are wildly unpredictable. It can take what should be a no-brainer spectacular Major Victory and turn it into a shattering defeat. You might be thinking “whoa, that doesn’t sound like fun,” but let me assure that it is. Primarily because while battle is interesting, losing one, even spectacularly, isn’t earth shattering. Losses are taken as percentages of your force (so smaller forces might take a larger percentage number but fewer actual losses). Also, After Battle Status (Disrupted, Disorganized, Useless) does have an effect, but it doesn’t stop you from doing most things, and, in battle…you guessed…it’s just another DRM.

But Why Is It So Good?

For us, it boils down to the narrative. No two scenarios turn out alike. From the beginning of the first continuation roll to the end of the game, it’s a twisting and turning path that rests on the accumulation of decision points and player choices through actions and reactions. I like games that tell stories, and, so far, The Ancient World has yet to disappoint me.

Why Does it Matter?

I’m telling you all this because The Ancient World: Thunderbolt is currently on P500. It’s available in two “flavors.” The first is just the third installment in The Ancient World series: Thunderbolt. This edition covers just the 2nd Punic War (and removes the Thunderbolt scenario from Rise of the Roman Republic). However, the Thunderbolt Deluxe edition contains all the games in the series: Rise of the Roman Republic, Carthage, and Thunderbolt.

Situation: The graphic shows the positions of the Roman and Carthaginian forces in southern Italy at the start ofThunderbolt‘s 209 BCE Hannibal at Bay scenario. The Carthaginians control the provinces of Bruttium, Calabria, and Lucania. Hannibal’s main army is confronted by two Roman consular  armies under the very capable Marcellus and Flaccus, while Fabius Maximus is poised to lay siege to Tarentum whose garrison is led by Carthalo. Hannibals’ able subordinate Hanno is in Bruttium ready to recruit the Bruttians to the Carthaginian cause.

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