Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Have you ever dreamed of commanding a powerful army? Have you enjoyed a good historical novel about Ancient Rome and you would have liked to move to this period in the middle of battle?
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Campaign Card Play
Play cards to command conflicts and carry consequences through a campaign.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Action/Event
Cards can provide player actions, trigger events, or force a choice between them.
Command Cards
Use cards to issue orders and determine which units or actions can activate.
Events
Triggered events alter the shared state, rules, or available choices.
Read the full game description
Have you ever dreamed of commanding a powerful army? Have you enjoyed a good historical novel about Ancient Rome and you would have liked to move to this period in the middle of battle? Would you like to be able to change History or revive exciting historical events? If you have answered affirmatively to any of these questions then this is your game. ONUS! Traianus is a historical battles wargame, similar to a miniatures game, where two sides confront each other in an Ancient battle. This game is focused on the armies of the great superpowers of the apogee of the Roman Empire, during the reign of the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. In this game, different action cards recreate varied kinds of orders and battle events, that allow every match to be unique and to any combat to be epic, unpredictable and exciting. ONUS! can be played anywhere but to get the best gaming experience we do recommend a game area as large as possible, i.e. 3.2 x 2.9 feet (100 x 90 cm). Units are represented by cards which have been scaled around a Centuria (also known as Century) or to a Maniple (also known as Manipulus), representing formations from 80 to 100 men for Infantry units, 20 cavalrymen for Cavalry units or 6 Elephants. Units have their own set of traits to represent permanent attributes of the unit, like Melee Combat, Range Attack, Defensive capacity, Morale and Life, and Movement capacity. This set of traits gets bonuses and penalties depending on the ongoing situation and combat engagements. Units also have their unique set of skills to represent specific abilities they can perform: from defensive formations to extremely effective techniques to attack enemies. Some of these skills need to be activated; meaning only one of them can be used in an engagement, while others are inherent to the units. Leadership is represented in the game by the figure of the General. A General’s token represent his HQ and its own escort. In addition to the leadership benefit, a General grants bonuses to nearby units, boosting the morale of the troops and providing additional benefits when they are engaged with the enemy in those bloody encounters. —description from the publisher