JJMicromegas | 23 Mar 2015 5:27 a.m. PST |
Taken from: link Aurelian is a tabletop game about the Crisis of the Third Century, the period during which the Roman empire nearly disintegrated in constant civil war and foreign invasions. Players take one of four roles: a Roman, Germanic, Sarmatian, or Persian commander. Any number of players can conduct a campaign, in which each type of army has a different set of victory conditions. While holding off Rome's many enemies, the Roman players are also trying to defeat each other and ultimately become (and remain!) emperor. The Persians are trying to carve away provinces in the east and add them to the Sassanian monarchy. The barbarians are trying to raid and carry away as much loot as possible while amassing glory from victorious battles over any sort of enemy, even one's own tribe. Every battle is therefore a balancing act, in which the military and political context is constantly shifting. Aurelian can be played with miniatures, or with "unit tiles" on any flat surface, much in the same manner as Blücher's unit cards. The centerpiece of the game is the campaign, in which each player manages the fortunes of his character and faction, much in the manner of the campaigns in Maurice and Longstreet. Unlike most Ancients games, which attempt to span the millennia from Moses to Columbus, Aurelian concentrates on a specific period of roughly 70 years. Players fight a series of nine battles against a variety of enemies, often from one's own side. The composition of their armies changes. Veteran Roman legionaries become incresingly scarce and irreplaceable as the Roman players cobble together vexillations and recruit barbarian foedorati and tributarii. Will the Persians squander their expensive elite cataphracts and elephant units in early battles, or hold them in reserve? Will a barbarian warlord play it safe and not raid as deeply into the empire, at the risk of not bringing back enough treasure and glory to maintain the loyalty of his optimates? Aurelian will be released in late 2015, and only in PDF format. The exact date and price will be announced in the Summer. |
Lord Ashram | 23 Mar 2015 5:36 a.m. PST |
Good stuff. Until now I've never played any Ancients, and while I still haven't WON any games in Ancients, it is fun:) Anything that has a campaign like Longstreet is a huge positive! |
BigRedBat | 23 Mar 2015 5:38 a.m. PST |
That sounds like an absolute corker! I'll be buying a copy. :-) |
monger | 23 Mar 2015 5:51 a.m. PST |
I will be interested in this. SOunds pretty exciting. |
PiersBrand | 23 Mar 2015 6:23 a.m. PST |
I just got my finalised playtest copy the other day… After Salute I can devote sometime to it as it looks excellent so far. |
wargame insomniac | 23 Mar 2015 6:40 a.m. PST |
Whilst I love Hail Caesar for smaller games, if Aurelian is anything like Blucher, then it will be a must for me for larger games. And if it has similar cards to the Hundred Days campaign packs then it will be an ideal way to get a group of friends into Ancients who have no interest in collecting minis for the period. Look forward to further announcements. |
Oh Bugger | 23 Mar 2015 7:11 a.m. PST |
I'll follow this with interest. |
Captain Cook | 23 Mar 2015 7:21 a.m. PST |
Longstreet for the third century, does it for me. |
Axebreaker | 23 Mar 2015 7:23 a.m. PST |
Since it's from Sam I'll buy it simply because of his track record. Christopher |
Jamesonsafari | 23 Mar 2015 8:36 a.m. PST |
Sounds brilliant. Often thought the 3rd century was a highly neglected period |
nochules | 23 Mar 2015 9:24 a.m. PST |
I have a whole bunch of Sarmatians I didn't know what to do with… until now. |
Maddaz111 | 23 Mar 2015 11:04 a.m. PST |
Ok, don't know anything about it, but I'm going to say I won't be playing it, already got five excellent different ancient game systems.. covering different levels of games.. Why would I need another. Hope it is successful.. |
BigRedBat | 23 Mar 2015 12:31 p.m. PST |
I really liked the campaign system in Longstreet. Even if I don't use the wargame rules (I already have a set that I am quite attached to ;-) ), the campaign stuff has to be worth looking at. |
Oh Bugger | 23 Mar 2015 12:56 p.m. PST |
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Nick B | 23 Mar 2015 2:02 p.m. PST |
Really looking forward to this. |
Allen57 | 23 Mar 2015 3:12 p.m. PST |
Sam has finally caught my attention for the first time since FPGA. |
Lord Ashram | 23 Mar 2015 7:38 p.m. PST |
Bat, me too. The Longstreet campaign might be my favorite bit of toy soldiering ever. And from what I've heard, the Scharnhorst (sp?) stuff from Blucher is both revolutionary in its approach and fantastic for generating a game with meaning behind it. I am sure the campaign for this will be great fun; Sam really has hit a fantastic grove with these. |
George Krashos | 24 Mar 2015 4:11 a.m. PST |
Dearth of Middle Imperial Roman figures though, in any scale. Early or late get all the attention. Has kind of put me off buying. |
Nick B | 24 Mar 2015 4:36 a.m. PST |
A very cursory Google search: Essex Miniatures 15mm – reasonable range of figures link Museum Miniatures 15mm link A&A Miniatures 28mm link |
BigRedBat | 24 Mar 2015 5:13 a.m. PST |
The A&A Miniatures range is a superb and comprehensive one, beautifully sculpted, too. I'm slowly building an army of them, to close what I refer to as my "Middle Imperial gap."
Dr. Phil Hendry has a superb collection. |
Trajanus | 30 Mar 2015 3:04 a.m. PST |
Just by chance our group has the right figures for this – well truth to tell the Romans are a a bit later but still Romans – and they don't see much action as everyone is too lazy to think up a scenario for our weekly games. Longstreet solved the proble for ACW and it looks like Blucher has for Naps so this could be a no brainier for Ancients! |