You’ll see your forces and those of your opponent move around the screen, day by day. Your opponent plots their moves as well, and then two sets of moves are resolved simultaneously.
After all your moves for the upcoming map are plotting, you submit your turn. Forces with high aggressiveness will seek to engage their foes, while forces in defensive or passive postures will avoid contact (or fall back when attacked). Each force can be give one of four postures, each a varying degree of aggressiveness. Armies plot their moves from area to area, with each action taking a certain number of days. Players spend their time plotting their maneuvers for the coming months. Alea Jacta Est is an excellent simulation, with a turn structure that’s both true to the operational scale the game is attempting to portray, and compelling (and nail-biting) for the player. That said, I’m glad I put the time in to actually learn what was going on.
#‘ALEA JACTA EST,’ HOW TO#
I ended it knowing how to move units around, but also knowing that if I wanted a chance at winning at anything, I had better start memorizing the manual. The tutorial does a decent job of explaining game mechanics, but doesn’t really explain what’s going on in any depth.
#‘ALEA JACTA EST,’ MANUAL#
Caesar, for example, is a 6-7-7, but I had to go to the manual to discover what that actually meant. It also doesn’t help that the game tutorial doesn’t indicate what any of the values mean. Unfortunately, these units display surprisingly little information, forcing you to click further into the interface for each unit to learn more. I’m not a big fan of the interface- it displays your army in a general sense, and selecting an army shows all the units.
The game itself has a very board game-like look to it- armies are represented by standup leader portraits. It’s not the prettiest map in the business, but it won’t make your eyes bleed, and all the important terrain elements are easy to spot. The game map consists of areas marking out the ancient Mediterranean, and extends as far north as Britain. Additionally, if you are so inclined, the game has two stand alone expansion: Birth of Rome (focusing on the wars of the Roman Republic) and Parthian Wars (depicting, well, the Parthian Wars). The game’s signature conflict is the conflict between Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar (from which it draws its titular quote), but all of the scenarios are well-constructed, well-researched, and reflective of the historical conditions and constraints. The game’s scenarios depict a wide variety of different conflicts, from the Sertorian revolt to the Year of the Four Emperors. Alea Jacta Est is, then, a bit of a departure in time period, as it moves the system to the eras of both the Roman Empire and Republic, focuses on those times when Rome found itself engaged in civil war. Other games have touched on the American Civil War, the American Revolution, Frederick the Great, the campaigns of Napoleon, World War I, and the Victorian age.
#‘ALEA JACTA EST,’ SERIES#
Thankfully, AGEod, a small development studio out of France, stepped out Alea Jacta Est, filling the void with a complex but rewarding game that, if you’re up to the challenge, will provide you with many hours of great Roman strategic fun.Īlea Jacta Est is a quality member AGEod’s series of simultaneous turn-based games.
Yet, those efforts lack serious strategic depth and historical accuracy. Total War: Rome 2, Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar and others have given us our fill of the Roman Eagle. The recent couple of years have seen a glut of Roman themed strategy games. AGEod, Alea Jacta Est, Grand Strategy, Historical Strategy, Matrix Games, The Strategist, Turn-Based Strategy