Strategy & Tactics #161
Successors
The War for Alexander the Great's Empire
Successors is a 3-4 player game of the fighting over Alexander the Great's empire after his death. It's a simple game with just a few pages of rules. The map is an area map of the middle east from Thrace to India. Combat units move three areas a turn, so to give you some idea of scale it's possible for a combat unit to move across the map in 3 turns. Each space is rated for Taxation/Victory point value, which can range from '0' to '6'. Most spaces are worth 2 points. Spaces are also either normal (cost 1 point to move into) or rough (cost 2 movement points to move into). Sea areas can be entered only by fleets. A few coastal areas have ports. Each area also specifies the type of unit that could be raised there. You must control at least one province with a Cavalry marker to raise cavalry, for instance.
To start the game players roll die and the high die gets to choose his home province He gets 5 TP (Treasury Points) to immediately purchase units to place there, along with his single leader.
The sequence of play is as follows, for each player in turn (starting with the LAST person to choose a province:
- Random Events (there are a LOT of these, good to bad, and can affect the rolling player or somebody else or nobody at all).
- Treasury Phase -- tax your provinces, maintain your troops (each cost 1 to maintain), raise NEW troops (levy=1, infantry=2, cavalry=3, fleets =3 if built in a port and 5 otherwise). New units are placed in your home province or with your leader.
- Movement - you must stop when you enter an enemy occupied province, though a formal alliance can alleviate this restriction.
- Combat -- the moving player decides if he wants to fight anybody present (in order if more than one player). If so, there is a fight. If not, the defender decides if he wants to fight anyway. There are two phases, pre-combat where cavalry get a first shot and elephants can negate them, and regular combat. Regular combat rounds last until there is nobody left on one side. After each round the attacker can retreat if he chooses, if not the defender can retreat if he chooses, and if both sides are still present then you fight another round of regular combat.
The game continues in this manner for 10 turns. Victory is determined via province value plus one half the total TP you have.
It is important to note that you control a province only if you have a land unit there and nobody else does, including rebels. Since each unit cost 1 TP to maintain that means that you'll spend a lot of money maintaining a large garrison force.
Unit types are Infantry (in combat hits on a roll of 5-6), levy (hits on a 6), cavalry (hits on a 5-6 AND gets a pre-combat chance to hit on a '6) and elephants (hits on a 6 AND prevents two cavalry from getting a first shot in during pre-combat). There are also fleet units - fleets can also fight each other, but there seems to be little of that and their most important use is transporting infantry to land someplace else, like one of the undefended islands.
Leaders (each player has only 1) provide movement bonus to all units that move with them and during regular combat rounds provide a bonus to one unit. If left alone after a battle they are captured. Elephants and Mercenaries are available to buy via random events, so it's sometimes worth it to save a few TP after the Treasury phase.
The game's variety comes in two ways. First, this is a multi-player game so diplomacy is the rule, and there is the unwritten "Whine" phase where in everybody points to somebody else as the obvious leader and target for the rest of the group. Since this happened in the actual history this is appropriate. Also, it's possible to make deals, form formal alliances, buy units from each other (with restrictions), offer bribes, etc.
Initial choice of home province is very important. Two spots in particular, Egypt (6) and Macedonia (4) are worth more than all others (ranging from 0 to 3). Also, movement across the map can become constricted by simple proximity to each other. Egypt in particular is constrained in this manner. (review by Steven Bucey 2005)
Contains:
- Rules (pp 35-44 bound in)
- 22" X 34" color map
- 240 die cut counters
- Each game turn represents a variable amount of real time
- The map is divided into land areas (provinces) and sea zones.
- Designed by: Gary and Neil Graber
- Developed by: Christopher Cummins
Magazine Contents
Successors: The War for Alexander's Empire (Historical Article by Brian Booker. Includes: Alexander's Empire at his Death; Satrapal Government; The Babylon Settlement; First & Second Wars of the Diadochoi 320-319; Roun d 2; Third Diadoch War 314-311; Fourth Diadoch War, 311-302; Campaign of Ipsos 302-301; Epilogue 301-280; Marching to the Future
Sub Articles: The Importance of Siege Warfare; Two Exemplary Campaigns (First Diadoch War - mid 320 BC; Seliukos establishes his empire, 311-310); Three Personalities (Demitrios I Poliorcetes; Eumenes of Kardia; Antigonos Monophthalmos); Colonies; Successor Army Systems (Diadochoi Armies in Asia Minor and Syria; Army of Antigonid Macedonia; Armies of Seleukids; Army of the Ptolemies; Field Army of Eumenes at Gibone; Field Army of Demitrios at Gaza)
Maps: Alexander's Legacy: The Successor Wars 323-200 BC. )
The B-29 and the Rise of American Strategic Airpower (Historical article by Timothy Kutta. Includes: Interwar Influences; Americas Strategic Airpower Doctrine; Long Range, High Altitude, Daylight, Precision Bombing; The B-17 Flying Fortress; B-24 Liberators; Blitzkrieg; Superfortress; Bad Start; Battle of Kansas; Twentieth Air Force; B-29s in China; Killer Bees from the Marianas; Japanese Air Defense; Pilots; Japanese Reaction; Target Tokyo; Japan's Folly; Hansell's Last Shot; Beginning of the End; Iwo Jima must Fall; Reap the Whirlwind; America Changes Strategy; The Death of Six Cities; Little Towns are Next; The A-Bomb; Summing Up; Post Script; The Last Mission
Charts: Bombers vs. Fighters - Early 1930s; Comparison of Strategic Bombers, World War II; Bomber Defensive Fire Power - 1940s; B-29s in Combat; Japanese Fighters in the Air Battle of Japan; Bomber Command (20th & 21st); The B-29 Line (Variants); Sources
Sub Articles: American Leaders of the Bombing Campaign against Japan; Top Japanese B-29 Killers )
Issue Game: Successors (by Gary and Neil Graber)
Napoleon's First Battles: Bonaparte in Italy and Egypt (Historical Article by Joseph Miranda. Includes: Organization of the Revolutionary & Republican Armies; The Regiment; Big Guns; The Cavalry; Training; Operations
Sub Articles: Montenotte: Napoleon's First Battle, 12-15 April 1796 (includes Order of battle and map); Arcola: The Indirect Approach, 15-17 November 1796 (With Order of Battle, Map and The Austrian Army insert); The Pyramids: Bonaparte in Egypt, 21 July 1798(with Order of battle at the Pyramids and map); Battle of Marengo, 14 June 1800 (with Marengo: The First Consul's Rising Star; Map and Order of Battle )
J.F.C. Fuller: The "Idea" Man (Profile: Great Military Strategist. Biographical Article by John D. Burtt )
Tactical Notebook (A Survey of Historical Data and Analysis, Includes: The 164th Light "Afrika" Division (with Planned Organization layout as of August 1942); The First Storm troops (German Storm troops of World War I); The Armament of Eighteenth Century French Warships, 1789-1815 (with chart of French Armament Establishment of 1806))
Clarifications (Errata and Q&A by Keith Schlesinger. Featuring: Zeppelin (S&T159); Red Sun/ Red Star (S&T 158); Italian Campaign Sicily, Salerno, Anzio (S&T 146, 150, 155)
This is Superior shape copy that may have a bit of shelf wear or staple rust. It is crispy clean, unmarked and guaranteed complete. The game is unpunched and unplayed.
SPIS&T161 June 1993 80pp, map, 1 counter sheet
There is no charge to ship this item to a domestic US address via Media Mail. We must caution that Media Mail is very slow and can take 2-5 weeks to reach you (despite what the post office ‘claims’ is their normal delivery with this service). We always send tracking numbers if they are available when we generate your shipping label.
All other shipping (including Foreign) is dependent on the weight of the package, choice of service and distance shipped from zip code 14468. There are no additional discounts for combined shipping but we will always send a refund if estimated postage is less than expected.
This item would weigh just under 0.94 pounds (0.43 kg) when packaged for shipping.
|
