Sandals and Spears!

Strap on your sandals, grab your spear, tighten up that loin cloth, and be sure to pick up a fresh can of bronze polish! Oh, and please don't make those elephants angry. Its time for ancient wargaming!

If you are like me, your gaming interests periodically focus on one particular theme. In my case right now, its ancient history wargaming. Circus Maximus, Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage; Caesar: Epic Battle of Alesia; Battle Line, Conquest of the Empire, Commands and Colors Ancients (which should arrive any day now...), and my now pre-ordered copy of War Galley... there's some great games out there! Heck, I'd even throw Colossal Arena into this genre.

I hate to admit it, but I think part of the appeal of this genre is just how incredibly vicious and bloody the era was. Who doesn't enjoy controlling armored elephants on the battlefield? Ancient battles were pretty much organized slaughter, with slavery being the best the loser could hope for. The Romans, for instance, enjoyed marching their enemy's captured generals down Rome's main street in a victory parade, then having them strangled. Yikes! Vae victis, indeed!

Anyway, I'm hoping Richard Borg's Command and Color Ancients keeps all the good things from Memoir '44 and throws a healthy, heaping dose of ancient battle flavor into the mix. In the mean time, maybe I'll crack open my copy of Caesar's Conquest of Gaul...