Roma Invicta? (2008)

Roma Invicta? is a simulation game about the first two years of Hannibal's campaign in Italy (218-216 BC). The Carthaginians have three armies and the Romans four, the strengths of which are tallied in a chart off the map to save having a lot of counters. These armies are manouvered around the 17 regions of the map of Italy in a simple I go - You go framework, undertaking different actions including ravaging (for the Carthaginians) and combat. The combat rules are straightforward and simple with a few interesting tweaks such as ambushes. In many cases conflict is restricted to skirmishing between the forces but chance may cause a larger battle to occur. The Romans have to strike a balance between not risking having their armies utterly destroyed in battle by the wily Hannibal whilst not allowing the empire to become demoralised if the Carthaginians are allowed to ravage the land unimpeded. The game, given to Society of Ancients members as part of their subscription in 2008, consists of a 20 page A4 rule-book with colour covers, a simple but adequate map and 36 counters which you need to cut out yourself.