reviewed by Moritz Eggert<\/i><\/p>\n
Martin Wallace does not disappoint with his newest game, the unusual wargame
\n“Byzantium”, which was presented at Spiel 2005 by his “own”
\npublishing house, “Warfrog”. In fact “Byzantium” might be one of his
\nbest games yet.<\/p>\n
“The Year is 632 A.D. \u2026” begins the rulebook, and we, as players,
\nfind ourselves in a time when the Byzantine Empire, descended from the glory that was the
\nRoman Empire, face a new enemy in the growing Arabian empire.<\/p>\n
The map shows a simplified area of the Middle East. At the beginning the Byzantine
\nEmpire dominates all; only Tabuk, Medina and Mecca are Arabic. In the east there are some
\n“neutral” Persian cities which will soon fall under both Arabic and Byzantine
\ninvasions. In the north the Bulgars threaten the heart of the empire, Constantinople.<\/p>\n
One might think that this is a wargame in the classical sense, one player playing the
\nByzantines, one the Arabs, and so on, but in fact the most unusual feature of the game is
\nthat ALL the players play the Byzantines AND the Arabs (and the Bulgars) at the same
\ntime, and they have to play them all well to be successful.<\/p>\n
To make this work Wallace uses a solid rule system that has many
\n“Euro”-characteristics. Players have one action each round. Moving and
\nattacking is always unlimited (as long as you have cubes as resources), but many actions
\nare special, and can only be done a couple of times per turn, so they are marked with a
\ncube as “used”. One could compare this to “roles” common in games
\nlike “Puerto Rico”, and the turn order will play a large role in who will get
\nthe most interesting choices first. Players spend cubes for practically every action, so
\nat some point they will run out of cubes and the turn grinds down to a halt. Whoever
\npasses first is first in the next turn, of which there are only a maximum of three in the
\nentire game.<\/p>\n
When you do something as “The Arabs” you will mark your VP’s on the
\n“Arab” track, if you do something as the “Byzantines” you mark them
\non the “Byzantine” track. You always have to strive for a balance of points, as
\nwhen you earn more than double the amount of the other VP score, the lesser one does not
\ncount. This automatically makes for an “equalizing” mechanic in which no side
\nnever really dominates, because you have to switch back and forth.<\/p>\n
![\"board\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen2\/byzantium_b1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Typically for Wallace’s games dice DO play a role, but as all players can profit
\nfrom the successes of either major side, the game is not dominated by luck as some other
\nwargames.<\/p>\n
Each player owns a tableau on which he openly deploys both Arabic and Byzantine
\nforces. The first space is reserved for elite troops, the second for normal troops, the
\nthird for militia and the 4th for movement. Wooden cubes in each of these spaces show the
\nstrength of each “trait”. The players can bring in new cubes from the (limited)
\nreserve onto the tableau as an action, but once they’re there moving them costs
\nmoney. It is of little surprise that also the treasuries of each empire are kept
\nseparate. Moving a cube on the tableau is paid by the faction that profits from the
\nmovement (for example weakening the Arab elite troops by moving a cube from there to the
\nByzantine militia helps the Byzantines, so they have to pay for it).<\/p>\n
Each player moves up to two armies on the board, which he calls his own, one Arabic
\nand one Byzantine army. The “Bulgars”, in essence “Barbarians from the
\nNorth”, can be moved a total of two times per turn, by whoever chooses their action
\nspace. When the Bulgar’s attack the side NOT being attacked gains the points they
\nmake.<\/p>\n
There are three sizes of cities, one, two or three wooden disks high, which equals the
\nvictory points they bring when you own them at the end of the game. Once a player has
\nplaced a cube on a city, he “owns” it and his militia on the tableau is
\nresponsible for defending it in case there is no “real army” present.
\nAlternatively the army present can always decide to retreat before a combat, an action
\nwhich probably doesn’t make the always inferior militia very happy, we can
\nassume.<\/p>\n
![\"board\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen2\/byzantium_b2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Obviously Arabic armies only attack Byzantine cities and vice versa, but once or twice
\nper turn players can choose the “civil war” as a special action and attack
\ntheir friends. Combat is simple – each army gets as many dice as they have
\n“normal” troops\/cubes, up to a maximum of 3. Elite cubes can add one dice each
\nad libitum, but they also cost more upkeep at the end of a round. A 6 is a hit, both
\nsides roll at the same time. Whoever has the larger army present after this process wins
\nand the losing army retreats. After that there is a siege roll, one dice for each city
\ndisk, each 6 destroys another army. If you then still have more cubes of your army than
\nthe number of city disks, you can proudly walk it’s streets as a conqueror. Spoils of
\nwar include money and VP equal to the new size of the city, which is obviously one disk
\nless as it was razed by you.<\/p>\n
Cities can also be fortified or “grown” (up to three disks) via an action;
\nother interesting one-time actions are gaining temporary control of either the Arab or
\nByzantine elite troops. Arabs and Byzantines have slightly different movement rules
\nregarding sea travel (the Byzantines are better), and the use of captains can shift this
\nbalance, but I have yet to see a game where this option is actually used. There are two
\nmore options each round, one is exchanging cubes for money, the other is erecting mosques
\nand temples for VP’s (costs 6 money).<\/p>\n
When the turn ends, each player has to pay hefty support for his troops, which can end
\nin tears if the money doesn’t cut it, so players tend to completely destroy their
\narmies in order to reduce the cost, as at the end of the turn half of your destroyed
\ncubes are regenerated for free. But this is not always a good tactic, especially if you
\nwant to defend\u2026.<\/p>\n