The Roman Empire

Antike Duellum – previewed at Spiel 2011 under the name Casus Belli – is a two-player strategy game based on modified rules from Mac Gerdts' Antike. The game includes two scenarios: Punic Wars (Rome vs. Carthago) on one side of the board, and Persian Wars (Greeks vs. Persians) on the other. The goal of the game is to be the first to gain nine ancient personages (Kings, Scholars, Generals, Citizens, Navigators).

Examples of modified rules from Antike:

Modular layout - when a player founds a city, he chooses whether it produces Iron, Marble, or Gold
Over 20 event cards, which provide more variety in the game
Town walls for individual protection of cities
Each "Know-How" costs a different amount - for example, inventing the market is more expensive than inventing the wheel
A new Know-How for trading goods with the bank
Higher costs for legions and galleys - they are first recruited from the bank to the personal supply (paying gold)
Easier rules for conquering cities with no movement of units

Players take on the role of one of three leaders in ancient Rome: Caesar, Pompeius, or Crassus. Each is seeking to dominate the others by various means. You could try a military victory by creating a massive land block... or perhaps a political victory by being elected as Consul twice... or perhaps you can win by sheer skill by raising your talents... Either way, a maximum of three players can participate in this sophomore release by Lookout games.

The turn play consist of 3 phases:
1: Supply phase - Each province supply gold or legion (based on the type of province)
2: Move Phase - The player move his Character to collect gold and move his Legions through out his province or invade province of his opponents
3: Action phase - can be used to do number of actions such as Persuade citizens, produce weapons or increase military or political competence.
The player turn end by moving the calendar stone one step down the track.

The game can be won by three different ways and ends immediately if one of the conditions is achieved:
Political victory: The player collects 6 citizens in his forum
Military Victory: The player conquers his 9th Province
Competence Victory: A player reaches VII on both Competence

Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire ruled the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. With peace at the borders, harmony inside the provinces, uniform law, and a common currency, the economy thrived and gave rise to mighty Roman dynasties as they expanded throughout the numerous cities. Guide one of these dynasties and send colonists to the remote realms of the Empire; develop your trade network; and appease the ancient gods for their favor — all to gain the chance to emerge victorious!

Concordia is a peaceful strategy game of economic development in Roman times for 2-5 players aged 13 and up. Instead of looking to the luck of dice or cards, players must rely on their strategic abilities. Be sure to watch your rivals to determine which goals they are pursuing and where you can outpace them! In the game, colonists are sent out from Rome to settle down in cities which produce bricks, food, tools, wine, and cloth. Each player starts with an identical set of playing cards and acquires more cards during the game. These cards serve two purposes:

They allow a player to choose actions during the game.
They are worth victory points (VPs) at the end of the game.

Concordia is a strategy game which requires advance planning and consideration of your opponent's moves. Every game is different, not only because of the sequence of new cards on sale but also due to the modular layout of cities. (One side of the game board shows the entire Roman Empire with 30 cities for 3-5 players, while the other shows Roman Italy with 25 cities for 2-4 players.) When all cards have been sold, the game ends. The player with the most VPs from the gods (Jupiter, Saturnus, Mercurius, Minerva, Vulcanus, etc.) wins the game.

In Augustus, you vie with your fellow players to complete "objective" cards for special powers and ultimately for victory points. Each card has 2-6 symbols which you must populate with legionnaire meeples in order to complete the card. These symbols are drawn one at a time from a bag, with all players gaining the benefit equally, but interestingly, the bag contains more of some symbols than others.

So the pivotal skill you'll deploy is in making your choice of which three objectives you'll start the game with (you're dealt six) — balancing potential difficulty of completion against value of the reward — and then which of five available objectives you'll add to your plate each time you complete one of your three. The game ends when someone completes seven objectives.

Game description from the publisher:

Via Appia, the most famous road of the Roman Empire, is under construction. Be a part of this historic event and finish the road that connects Rome and Brindisi. Prove your intuition in the quarry to get the best stones. Whoever builds the most valuable sections and reaches the different cities early will be victorious and the most famous builder in all of Rome.

Goal of the Game (from the Rules)
Rome needs a connection to Brundisium, and the players have been tasked with building the Via Appia in order to allow for fast travel between the two cities. To create the road, they’ll need to break off stone tiles in the quarry, then travel to Brundisium, laying out the tiles and creating the path that all will follow in the years ahead. This travel costs sesterces, but will bring crucial victory points and glory from Rome in return.