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?
Smash your chains and fight for your liberty !
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Action Points
Spend a limited allowance of points across several possible actions each turn.
Area Movement
Move pieces between connected regions rather than along individual spaces.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Secret Unit Deployment
Place or assign units secretly before their positions are revealed.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
Smash your chains and fight for your liberty ! Taking the places of Spartacus (-73 to -71), Tryphon (-104 to -101) or Eunus (-139 to -132), during the three Servile Wars which shook the Roman Empire, defy the Roman Consuls (Crassus, Pompey and others) by liberating slaves, ravaging the countryside and pillaging cities in the heart of Italy. Recruit your armies amongst the enslaved warrior tribes of the Gauls, the Dacians, the Germans, the Syrians and the Thracians. Increase your forces tenfold as swiftly as possible before Rome sends its best legions to re-establish the Pax Romana. Only your genius and your knowledge of war can save you and allow you to found a kingdom of former slaves. But be careful, for Roman strategists are watchful, and are taking the new menace more and more seriously. You must conquer or perish... on the cross ! Imperator: for the Romans the word signified a victorious general, and was an honorific title. The nearest term today is marshal, rather than emperor. Declaring Spartacus to be Imperator was an out and out provocation to Roman military nobility which sought honour above all ! THE GAME PLAY Actions in the game Each season, each chief can do 1 to 4 actions (1 in Winter, 3 in Summer and Autumn, 4 in Spring ...) A player takes an action with a chief, and then the other player takes an action too. - Move - Recruit (only for the Slaves, random units) - Ravage (only for the Slaves) - Play a Stratagem (special real historical action) - Reinforcement - Historical new troops (only for the Roman player) Bounty - it can boost recruitment and reinforcement - you gain it with battle victory and ravage Battle - 4 tactical choices (units in first line can make critical hit but are the first to die) - the best general has rerolls - fire phase - 2 melee phases Siege Battle - 2 tactical choices - the best general have rerolls - city gives reroll - 1 or 2 fires phases - 0 to 2 melee phases Specials - Pirate Fleet attempt to escape - slave counters are hidden (not the number but the unity) - two armies of the same player can't be in the same area (jealousy, Roman glory, not enough food for slaves) - dead units can't be recruited or the player must wait one year - The victory conditions can change each year