Storm Over Jerusalem
The Roman Siege
by
Multi-Man Publishing
Jerusalem: for many people down through the ages it was, and is, considered the center of the world. The first Roman siege of Jerusalem was in 63 BCE. Pompey the Great had just finished the Third Mithridatic War. Mithridates of Pontus was finally dead, and Pompey was now making a leisurely stroll through the territories that had now become adjacent to Roman lands. That siege actually lasted three months before the entire city was taken. Now, we go forward more than 100 years to the Jewish Revolt of 66 CE. The Jewish freedom fighters had almost completely thrown out the Romans from the whole of Judea. Nero then gave the task of reconquering it to the future emperor Vespasian. We are very lucky in the fact that Vespasian captured a man called Josephus who proceeded to write down the history of the revolt and the following Roman campaign. Jerusalem has probably a greater history of sieges than any other point in the world. The sieges started pretty much right after King David made it his capitol and have continued down through the roughly 3000 years since. Assyrians, Babylonians, and so many others have tried to make the city theirs. This game deals with the siege that Vespasian started, and his son Titus continued, in 70 CE. Strangely, with so many sieges, there are not many games about them, ancient sieges that is. For some reason wargame designers do not think to develop too many actual siege games.
So, here we are in 70 A.D. and about to either try to take the city or defend it. This is what Multi-Man Publishing says about the game:
"By the year 70 of the Common Era (CE), the province of Judea had been in revolt against Rome for nearly 4 years. The protests and riots that began in 66 CE had quickly turned into open rebellion. The standard Roman punitive force under Syrian legate Cestius Gallus, having failed to capture Jerusalem, was wiped out at Beth Horon. General Vespasian was given command of the Roman army in the region and ordered to crush the rebellion and restore order. Turmoil in Rome, however, saw Vespasian recalled to become Emperor. In early 70 CE, Emperor Vespasian dispatched his son Titus (a future Emperor) along with four legions to end the rebellion in this important province. Titus arrived in Jerusalem in April to find the city still at war with itself. Throughout the rebellion, differing Judean factions had fought a bitter internecine war among themselves. The primary factions fighting each other in Jerusalem at this time were controlled by Simon bar Giora and John of Gischala. With the arrival of Titus and his legions, however, they were now faced with a common threat to their immediate survival.
The brutal siege of Jerusalem lasted nearly five months. During the siege, city walls were breached one-by-one, much of the city devastated, and the Temple—central to both the Jewish religion and the defense of the city—destroyed and burned. With the capture of Jerusalem, Titus had effectively ended the Judean revolt, with the last of the rebels finally cornered and eliminated in the legendary siege of Masada in 73 CE.
Storm Over Jerusalem is a card-assisted, area-movement game based on Multi-Man Publishing’s Storm Over series of games (Storm Over Stalingrad, Storm Over Dien Bien Phu, and Storm Over Normandy). Cards augment the game play and increase the tensions and choices faced by each player.
As the Judean player, you are outnumbered and surrounded; you must use your forces wisely to hold out as long as possible behind the Walls of Jerusalem. As the Roman player, you must breach the Walls to capture the city, eliminate the rebels, and end the Judean rebellion before time runs out."
So, we see that the game's pedigree comes from the highly acclaimed games in the 'Storm Over' series. We also see that it is card assisted and has area movement. Let us take a look at the components. This is what comes with the game:
One 22"x34" full-color map
Two full sheets of counters (162 3/4" counters and 88 5/8" counters)
Full-color rulebook with examples
Two double-sided player aid cards
Card deck with 55 full-color cards
4 six-sided dice
For those of us who have any knowledge of Jerusalem, be it secular or not, the map is an amazing piece of time travel. We get to see the city exactly as it was laid out at this time in history. Other than being completely historically accurate, the map was designed as a wargame map. It was not designed as a piece of art that you would hang on your wall. However, that does not detract one bit from it. The colors and illustrations are perfect for its use. The artist has truly given you the image of an oasis in the midst of desolation. The map paper comes with a coating that will help with its longevity. No, do not bring your different beverages around the game table to see if it endures; it will not. The counters are what my daughter used to call as a child "big huge". All of the Jewish and Roman units, along with a few of the gameplay ones, are 3/4" sized. They have a nice picture on them to denote their weaponry. The numbers on them that are needed for the game are very large. Their very physical and number size bring tears to an old grognard. There are two identical full-color Player Aids. They are made of light card stock. The writing on them is not large, but it is also not really small as some I have seen. The fact that some of the parts/tables are in different colors helps you find what you are looking for. The two decks come together in cellophane, but they are also in a cardboard holder. That is a nice touch so that you do not have to find something yourself to keep them from sliding around the box. The decks are different colors on the back; red and blue is the game's theme. The front of the cards is done in a gold coloring, and each has a very nice piece of artwork as the background. The cards' covering makes them pretty slick and they do try to get away from you. The information size is comparable to any others. The Rulebook is only twelve pages long. It is easy to read and understand. It comes in full color and has a great many examples of play. That is pretty great for only twelve pages. The components are very well done as a whole.
The Sequence of Play is:
Each turn the following sequence is performed:
A. Draw Phase: The Roman and Judean players draw
enough cards to fill their hands. If a player has more cards in
hand than their hand size, they must discard down to their
hand size. The Game Turn track indicates the hand size of
cards each player has for that turn. Note that there is one value
for the Roman player and another for the Judean player. Control of Area 19 (Tyropoeon South) or Area 30 (Lower City) with
no enemy units in the area provides one additional card to the
controlling player (see 5.1) for each area.
B. Impulse Phase: Both players perform alternating impulses (see 6.0). The Roman player takes the first impulse on each
turn.
A player may pass if he does not wish to perform any actions
for their impulse. If a player has no units that can perform
actions and does not have any cards remaining in their hand,
they automatically pass.
If the Roman player passes the turn enters the end phase,
unless the Judean player immediately discards one of their
tactical cards (the card is not played, just placed in the discard
pile). Exception: Judean card #54 (Romani ite domum) can be
immediately played after the Roman player has passed, it does
not require another card to be discarded. If a card is discarded, the game turn continues normally, with the Judean player
taking their impulse, and then the Roman player taking their
impulse, and so on.
C. End Phase: Both players perform the following sequence
listed below.
• Cards may be discarded (see 5.3), with the Roman player
discarding first.
• Remove any Out of Supply markers from the map.
• If the Roman player controls areas 1 through 11, the Roman player rolls a die to see if the Judean Supply Restrictions will increase on this turn (13.3).
Then the Judean player must check the Judean Areas Unable to Refresh (13.3) to determine how many areas containing spent Judean units will not flip to their fresh side
during this End Phase. The Judean player should mark
the affected areas with an Out of Supply (OOS) marker.
If there are not enough locations with spent Judean units,
any excess OOS locations are ignored.
• Next, players should flip all spent units and siege towers
to their face-up (“fresh”) side, other than the units in areas
that the Judean player designated as OOS in the previous
step.
• The Roman player may remove any Siege Towers from
Roman controlled areas.
• The Roman player now receives up to 6 reinforcement
units for the turn and places them on their fresh side in
any area adjacent to their Reinforcement Zone (see 11.0).
Roman reinforcements do not all have to come from the
same Reinforcement Zone. If there are no units in any of
the Reinforcement Zones, this step is skipped.
• If the Roman player controls both Area 22 (Temple Mount)
and Area 27 (Herod’s Palace) the game ends with an automatic Roman victory.
• Each player that controls Area 22 (Temple Mount) or Area
27 (Herod’s Palace) gains 1 Victory Point for each area. If
the Judean player controls all city areas (12-31), they gain
1 VP.
• The Roman player gains 1 VP for each Judean Leader that
was not placed on board this turn. After this, remove any
Judean Leaders on board so they can be placed during the
next turn.
• At this point the turn ends. If it is not turn 8, the turn
marker is advanced one space on the Game Turn Track,
and the sequence of play is repeated. If the current turn is
turn 8 (or 7 if the Judean player played Judean card #54),
the game ends. Both players must discard all cards and all
Escape the Siege cards discarded at this time will trigger
as an event.
The gameplay is great. The game actually feels like a historical siege. One of my grail games is the Art of Siege by SPI. So, it shows that I find wargaming sieges as not only viable as a wargame but very entertaining as far as gaming. Each player is situated under his own Sword of Damocles. The Romans only have at most eight turns to take the city, or to accumulate enough victory points. The Roman player also has only so many options based on the cards and game length. He has to build Siege Towers and these cost both a card and an impulse. However, the walls of Jerusalem when undamaged give the defender a +4. The Roman player also has cards, Onager, Catapult, Battering Ram, and Siege Ramps, that will help him to breach the walls. Conversely, the Judean player can repair that wall using a card to do so. The Judean player has to decide when to attack or just wait for the Romans. The game makes counter attacking a really bloody part of the game at times. That is why the player has to really think about each attack. Because if it is a failure or does not really hurt the enemy, those attacking units are placed on the backside of the counter. These leave them extremely open to the other player's counterattack.
To add to the historical side of the game, the Judean player has to deal with having two leaders and their supporters. The Roman player has no leaders, but the Judean player has both a John and Simon counter. These represent Simon Bar Giora and John of Giscala. Historically before the siege started, and a little while after, there was serious fighting between the different factions in the city and even between the zealots themselves. A player has to use them wisely. They give both defense and attack bonuses to the Judean player. However, if they are eliminated in battle each of them is worth one point to the Roman player for every subsequent turn.
So, we have a game that historically feels like a siege and is also fun and nail biting to play. What more could a grognard ask for. The short and easy to understand Rulebook, coupled with simple but innovative rules help to make this game as great as it is. This has everything that I would want in a wargame. It is about ancients and features a siege. Kudos to Multi-Man Publishing for doing an ancients game and to Scott Blanton for designing it.
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| Map close-up |
Thank you very much Multi-Man Publishing for allowing me to review this great game. It has been a long time since I played a 'Storm Over' game, and it looks like I will have to dig one or two of them out. This game is part of MMP's International Game Series. There are also Storm Over Stalingrad and Storm Over Dien Bien Phu available from MMP.
P.S. I have really warmed up to the map since I started playing. It is a piece of art that you would hang on your wall.
Robert
Multi-Man Publishing:
Storm Over Jerusalem: The Roman Siege:
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