The content for the Thunderbolt Deluxe package has been finalized  with the GMT Art Department  team engaged in finishing up the counters and finalizing the maps.

A few changes have been made to the Thunderbolt scenario line-up. Added are two scenarios commencing at key points during the long war:

• Hannibal Ascendant: Starting in 215 BCE, the year after Hannibal’s great victory at Cannae, with the Carthaginians on the offensive throughout the Western Mediterranean.  
• Hannibal at Bay: Starting in 209 BCE, the year Scipio Africanus arrived in Spain to start the Roman offensive there, with Hannibal bottled up in southern Italy by several Roman armies under their best leaders.

A significant add to these lengthy three-map 2^nd Punic War scenarios are alternate ending points providing shorter games that bound key periods of the conflict. For the one map Italian Campaign scenario (16 Game Turns), the players may pick an ending Game Turn though we recommend games of at least 4 Game Turns.

The planned Island Contest scenario has been split into two short scenarios:

• The Island Campaign Part I: The Carthaginian Invasion of Sardinia. One map. 3 Game Turns (215-213 BCE).
• The Island Campaign Part II: The Roman Campaign Against Syracuse. One map. 4 Game Turns (213-210 BCE).

There was no interaction between the two campaigns so there wasn’t much point tying the two together. Both scenarios have short playing times. The Sardinia scenario can be played in under 2 hours and the Sicily scenario in under 3 hours.

The four other 2^nd Punic War scenarios remain as planned. All are one map and are playable in about 3 hours. The lone scenario outside the 2^nd Punic War scenario, covering the Carthaginian conquest of Spain is one map but will likely take twice the amount of time play.

Due to the nature of the naval operations in the 2^nd Punic War and manage the game’s complexity, the Ancient World Naval Superiority System is used in Thunderbolt scenarios  albeit with an additional rule to portray the large scale raids conducted during the war (for the Romans this was an annual event). For those players who would prefer the more detailed Advanced Naval System used in Carthage, we have included  a modified version of those rules  as an option for use with the  three-map 2^nd Punic War scenarios.

With the additional content, the size of the combined Thunderbolt rules and scenario has become unmanageable, so the booklet will be split into a rules book and  scenario book. The Carthage and RRR booklets will continue to have the rules and scenarios in a single booklet.

Although much of the attention has been on Thunderbolt, the Carthage and RRR members of the deluxe package have not been ignored. The Roman and Carthaginian political rules refined in Thunderbolt are used in both games albeit adjusted in a few places to address the circumstances of those historical periods. The Carthage Advanced Naval Rules have undergone a thorough update along with numerous rules and scenario updates based on feedback since its original publication. Similar treatment has been given to RRR, particularly with respect to its scenarios. 

Note: The following are art samples are near final but subject to change.

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