Rome siezes Carthage!

My favorite game from BGG.con was Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage.

Caleb’s been interested in playing ever since my copy showed up earlier this month (he’s been studying ancient Rome and Greece lately) and today turned out to be a fine day for teaching him how to play. I went over the turn structure, how we checked political control at the end of each game turn and how the cards could be used. After that, we started playing and I filled in with details (battles, interceptions, etc) as we played.

He picked it up very quickly, distracting me (Rome) with a first turn ‘Syracuse Allies with Carthage’ (after I’d moved T. Longus and his armies to Syracuse, ugh!) and following it up with Macedonia declaring war on me. While I was trying to deal with that, he gobbled up political control for the rest of Hispania, leaving us tied at the end of turn 1.

The first half of the game remained a draw and it wasn’t until I wrested control of Syracuse back in the 5th turn and started making inroads into N. Africa in the 6th that things began to unravel for Carthage. In the 8th turn, I was wreaking havoc with Scipio Africanus in Africa and also brought Nero over to lay siege to Carthage. As it would happen, Caleb had no campaign cards nor any 3 ops value cards and was unable to recall any of his armies that were over in Hispania.

The siege was ultimately successful, eliminating those pesky Carthaginians, once and for all…or, at least until we play again!