When In Rome

The monthly GNN game of Time of Crisis is usually planned weeks in advance, but not this time. I had been expecting a fallow May followed by activities in June when Joe discovered he had the run of the house on Saturday. With Martin occupied elsewhere, it was Sam who stepped into the breach.

We begin at 7.13 on the dot, and it is a slow start. I am in Thracia, Ian in Gallia, Joe in Africa and Sam in Galatia. Joe looks at the board and said “interesting...”

In fact, I was so disappointed in my last game that I was determined to do the same opening move as before. So with three blues and two yellows I put an undefended governor in Macedonia, only this time instead of giving him a militia I boosted his support to level two.

Everyone else went for the classic opening of three blue, two red. Ian puts a governor and army in Hispania, Joe puts a governor in Egypt and builds another army in Africa. Sam builds a governor and army in Syria.

It’s a very quiet start. In the next round, I build a Basilica in Thracia and moved an army into Pannonia. Ian, Sam and Joe all built Limes, prompted by the sight of an Ira Deorum crisis roll that sent masses of barbarians to our borders.

The Franks are first to invade (as they did repeatedly throughout the game) but we have Good Auguries on our side, so we are almost happy to see them.

Ian certainly is, as he clears them out of Gallia and then takes Britannia. Joe moves an army into still-neutral Italia, and Sam takes over Asia.

For my next move, I get beaten up by some unusually active Goths in Thracia, but console myself with becoming Emperor! At 7.57. I have little chance of holding onto it with Joe’s army in the capital, but I figure I’d best start on my Empire soon.

Ian then mobs me in Italia while building in the UK. Joe strengthens an army in Africa, as the Nomads are congregating, and steals Asia from Sam. The Sassanids suddenly rise up and swoop into Syria and Egypt. Sam thinks about attacking the Sassanids, even though it’s two legions versus three barbarians. “It’s as good a time as any,” suggests Ian, cunningly prompting one of his rivals into war. After some contemplation, Sam does attack but, alas, he picks up the evil dice and rolls a 2-1. He should’ve used the other dice. The Sassanids get in three hits in reply.

I get the Goths out of Thracia and clear that pesky mob in Italia. I am still Emperor, to my surprise.

My surprise does not last long as Ian easily unseats me in his next move. Our second Emperor at 8.22. Joe has a dreadful hand with two blue points that he can’t use. He invades the Nomad homelands and wins handsomely, but forgets about that lone Sassanid in Egypt. His support falls to zero and suddenly he only has Africa and a very tenuous grip on Asia under his command.

Sam rolls and gets an event card that I don’t recall ever seeing. Ludi Saeculares. Ian, as Emperor, has to discard a card but he gets points according to it’s value. Discard a strong card but get points on the board? He decides against it and gets rid of a lowly one-card.

Sam takes Asia back from Joe. I finally get rid of the Franks in Pannonia thanks to recruiting one of them that happened to be very good at rolling sixes. Ian is still Emperor, though.

My largely military-free regions

Ian builds an army in Italia and tries to get rid of Joe. He fails, though. Joe uses one blue point to try and retake Egypt. He needs a six but rolls a five. He kills off the Sassanid anyway.

Sam hangs on to troubled Syria by boosting support and then watching it fall back to one. I build two armies and recruit a barbarian.

Ian is annoyed at still being Emperor, since he needs the governor and won’t survive the support check so won’t get the rewards of his Empire-ness. He boost supports in other regions instead.

With a neutral senate, Joe easily becomes Emperor at 9.19. He finally takes back Egypt, too. Sam clears Syria of Sassanids and a Priest King that I forgot to mention in my notes until now. He then gets voted into Egypt to weaken Joe in Rome.

By now the scores are pretty close: Ian 40, Joe 38, Sam 35, Andrew 34.

I take Egypt from Sam since I need a fourth province to get a Pretender card. Ian moves an army into Italia and beats Joe. Joe retreats and Ian becomes Emperor again at 9.53! He is also on 52 points.

Sorry for putting my glass on your board, Joe.

Joe loses to Ian in Italia, takes Egypt off me and then fails to get voted into Ian’s Hispania.

Sam invades the Sassanids’ homeland, and also takes Egypt from Joe even though he knows he’ll lose it immediately. I have a plan to attack Ian’s Britannia and then use his Basilica against him. I am unsure of the number of movement points between Gallia and Britannia, though. I don’t want Ian to know of my plan (although, in retrospect, he couldn’t have done anything about it) so I text Joe and ask him. He texts me back, saying there are two movement points. This ruins my plans, since I don’t have enough red points in my hand.

Instead I attack him in Rome but fail. I beat the Alamanni in Thracia but lose to the Franks in Pannonia. Sam said “I’ll try to roll low” before he rolled a double six. After that I needed a hopeless nine votes with my five blue points. Needless to say, I did not succeed.

Ian’s last hand has 10 yellow points! He build three buildings and triggers the end of the game as he hits 69 points. My sad Pretender card was still sitting in the discards, waiting to be recycled but never to be used.

In his final turn, Joe attacks Ian in Hispania but Ian’s single legion manages to get four hits to Joe’s one! Joe fails to get voted into Emperor and he ends on a damp squib. Sam’s final turn is a cracker, though. He kills some Sassanids, and fights and beats me in Thracia before unseating Joe in now-undefended Africa.

Ian 79
Sam 57
Andrew 53
Joe 48

A great performance by Ian and well done to Sam for coming in second despite never becoming Emperor.

We ended with a quick Texas Showdown, during which Cybil really got talkative.

Andrew 3
Sam 7
Ian 8
Joe 12

And then we played two rounds of Dead Man’s Chest, with only two lives instead of the regulation five for a four-player game. I won the first when Joe foolishly tried to challenge my 5-5. In the second game Sam won when he bid 3-3. I passed it back, thinking perhaps he was being clever, with the bid of 5-5. It wasn’t.

And with that, we were done. Thanks for hosting, Joe, and for the bourbon. Very much appreciated. And thanks to all for another great evening.