HANNIBAL & HAMILCAR
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Valley Games had already produced a 2nd edition of the original Avalon Hill game. This was primarily a visual upgrade or retread, depending on your point of view. A larger box, with more dramatic art work, hexagonal shapes rather than circles for both the military units and the point to point locations on the map, redesigned Battle Cards and a few limited changes to the rules. I've played with both, but didn't feel the need to buy the new edition.
Their intentions of producing Hamilcar on the first Punic War, however, did grab my attention. This promised to be a whole new design with a more focused map appropriate to the more limited geographical scope of the 1st Punic war and much more attention to the importance of the naval conflict. But little seemed to happen. So, when news came that the Polish company Phalanx, producers of Race To The Rhine, had acquired the rights to both Hannibal and Hamilcar, I was all agog and fired with enthusiasm for what might be.
Would they get it right? Would it be more than another attractive cosmetic job? Would Hamilcar just use the same map with some minor rule changes and a few different generals, as The General magazine had done? Consequently, this opportunity to receive for review the final product was like manna from heaven and a very big thank you to Phalanx for giving me this opportunity. So, shoulder your pilum and, with elephants at the ready, come with me to journey back to the Mediterranean world of Hannibal and his father, Hamilcar Barca.
If you want drama, there it is immediately staring out at you from the cover of the box lid - a grizzled, one-eyed veteran, Hannibal himself. Open the box and there's plenty more drama to come. I've no hesitation in stating that Phalanx would have had every right to have DELUXE in large capital letters emblazoned below the title words. Everything about the production values is first class - none more so than the generals. The originals were cardboard standees. These - all 24 of them - are in very durable plastic. On the plinth that each stands on are the Strategy and Battle ratings in relief sculpting. Admittedly at the moment it's pretty difficult to read these numbers without picking the model up and peering closely at the base.
Once I've painted them, which these figures absolutely beg you to do, there won't be any problems. Until I do, the accompanying full-colour card and accompanying octagonal counter are more than enough to keep off board and make sure that I know instantly what these two essential stats are. These overwhelming generals, colossi of the game board, may occasionally teeter and fall; no more so than when crossing the alps precariously balanced, not on a crumbling icy ledge, but hopefully atop a maximum tower of 10 cardboard units.
I like the decision to vary the images on the unit counters, but do be careful not to confuse some of the cavalry pictures as they can easily be confused [OK, I admit - I can easily confuse them] for elephants. Also note that there aren't any actual cavalry rules in the game, despite the images and the fact that cavalry symbols are used on some of the new dice - more about the dice later.
Having started with what is perhaps the icing on the cake, let's look at the all important map boards. First of all, the one for Hannibal.
If you compare this with the original board or the 2nd edition one, the colours are more muted with a matte finish instead of high gloss. Gone too are the variety of images superimposed on the sea areas. My reaction is mixed - some elements I prefer in the original, some in this new version. I like the return to circles rather than hexagons, but prefer the more intense colours and gloss of the original, especially in Africa, What I do find very strange, as did my opponent when we sat down to our first face to face game, is the contorted geographical orientation. Or is that disorientation? It's certainly what we both felt as we struggled to adjust to it.
For both of us, accommodating the various useful charts seemed to underlie this strange distortion of the geography. Distinctly odd was the final verdict. I shall truly have to leave that to your personal taste and judgement as to how acceptable you find it. Still, no reservations at all on all the many cardboard components.
All are of very good quality and thickness. PC [Political Control] markers are significantly larger - a point I like, as are the square ones for the walled cities and full marks for the single inland walled city of Capua and the trouble taken to make sure that it did not have one edge depicting a coastal strip in blue. Just as the map's point-to-point markings have returned to circles so have the PC counters that you place on them. I'm sorry to see the familiar and far more military image of the eagle and SPQR standard gone from the Roman PC markers. In their place comes another long-standing image, the she-wolf of Rome. Still looks good, but I know which I prefer.
New to the mix are supply train markers, some much improved triangular siege point markers along with square ones bearing an illustration of a siege engine and, boding well for my anticipations and expectations of Hamilcar, warships! All together there are four large sheets of counters.
Just as the counters have gone up a notch so too have the cards. First of all there are lots more. As mentioned, an individual card for each General and these I greatly appreciate, especially as they serve, in practical terms, as very helpful play aids. They contain full-colour pictures of each general with details of their specific attributes. I tend to keep these cards and counters on a separate display with each figure currently not in play located on the card. Then when it comes time in the Reinforcement Phase of each turn to draw for new consuls, the counters go in to a cup to be drawn from and the general cards of those drawn are placed by me to be easily referred to. No more peering at what was printed in very small letters on the board or producing your own play aid to read from.
However, the heart of the game as with any CDG is the deck of Strategy cards. The 2nd edition had already made some artistic improvements and yet again these latest ones have maintained the deluxe feel to this whole ensemble.
But let's get more practical and down to earth. What's in them beside their looks? The Rulebook contains everything from the original game with only two small changes. One is that you can't Intercept into a location that contains enemy units - no big deal that - the other is far more significant. Crossing passes now has a beneficial modifier, while crossing Alpine passes no longer has an adverse modifier. Suddenly, that fabled passage of the Alps has become much easier to achieve. I'm still not sure how much I agree with this historically, but it does open up the game much more and I think has made it even more dynamic. So, for that alone, I'm happy. Illustrations and examples are in full-colour and the layout is spacious making reading a very easy task.
There are some tweaks to naval movement, but not in terms of rules. In essence, they are identical to the original, but instead of having +/- modifiers on the map, there are now red or blue dots. These are combined with a new dice that sports red diamonds or blue dots as well. Combined together they achieve exactly the same as an ordinary D6, under the old rules. In fact, Phalanx have even supplied a play aid so that you can play using purely the old tables and a D6. However, it does mean turning blue dots into negative numbers and red dots into positive numbers. The rationale is that the new system with the specialised die makes for ease of play, but I haven't played against anyone who doesn't know the original rules. So it's hard to judge the efficacy of this change.
The only other changes also involve new dice and that's for Land battles. You still use Battle cards thankfully and roll for initial casualties to both sides on the Attrition Table. But instead of the loser rolling a D6 on the Retreat Table, there are now two special dice: a large one and a small one. For forces that begin the battle with 4 or fewer units you roll the small die, for forces that start with 5 or more units you roll the large die. The faces of these dice carry different combinations of three symbols: a circle, a cavalry symbol and an infantry symbol. Sadly these in a way are purely cosmetic as there is no division of units into different types. Instead, you compare them to the instructions and identical symbols carried on the last Battle card played that ended the battle. It's cute, but I'm not sure it's an improvement on the simple throw of an ordinary D6.
What I like least about some of these new dice is the size, as I've always found that over-sized dice don't roll well and particularly can't be used in a dice-tower [unless you have a very over-sized dice-tower to match!]
All in all then, rule-wise the Rulebook is virtually identical to the original, just infinitely more attractive, easy to read and containing expanded information on the Generals' individual abilities and notes about the Strategy Cards.
The Scenario Book contains the REAL meat of what's new. 44 pages long [that's 12 more pages than in the Rulebook]. it starts with the one and only, full, original whole Second Punic War 218 - 201 B.C. scenario. What follows are 11 Scenarios of varying length playing out sections of the war and then Scenario 13 offers a modified Set-up once more for the whole Second Punic War. This part is what I would call a completist's dream. It also does mean that if you're pushed for time you can always indulge in a mini bit of Hannibal.
Then at last, to a fanfare of trumpets, we arrive at Scenario 14 Hamilcar the First Punic War 264 - 241 B.C. Hamilcar retains all the rules from Hannibal - except those for crossing mountain and Alpine passes. Reason being the more limited geography of the 1st Punic War and hence of the map. So, no Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul and therefore no passes to cross. Also no Iberia and even Africa is much truncated with only two provinces, one of which, Numidia, starts occupied by mainly neutral tribes. What markedly sets it apart from Hannibal is the inclusion of a substantial set of rules for naval movement and naval combat. Rightly, I think, the decision was made to put these in the Scenario Book. They do take some thought to get your head fully round them and this has significantly slowed play so far while making sure that we're getting it right. [Bear in mind that this is by contrast with playing Hannibal, which for me is like slipping on an old, familiar, well-worn jacket!]. They don't have the immediate clarity I associate with this game, but a very substantial example [three and a bit pages]of the whole of one Naval Combat does a very good job of easing you along the right track.
Finally, we come to the Playbook. This has become a familiar and very welcome feature of many board wargames. The normal expectation is a play-through usually of a full turn with plentiful illustrations and often followed by extensive historical and Designer's notes This one is an unusual hybrid. In the main, it attempts to be another way to teach the rules. A single page historical background is followed by first presenting some of the basic concepts accompanied by lavishly illustrated examples and then at length provides a series of tutorials where you are introduced to major rules along with a puzzle you are invited to play out in order to practice the rules you've just read.
I've already watched at least one video with a reviewer waxing lyrical about this format. I have to say I was less enthusiastic, mainly because it seems to be doing the same job as the rule book, but in a different way. Whereas the typical Playbook allowed you to see the game being played and so both helped to clarify points and, what was even more helpful, showed if you had understood the rule correctly, this simply gives you the opportunity to practise for yourself the rules in stages. In other words, it's almost like having two different types of rulebook. Considering the quality of what has been presented, it just seemed an opportunity missed to provide what would have been the most spectacular traditional Playbook.
So far I've largely written for those of you like me who have at least a reasonable background understanding of this game from one of its two prior incarnations. I tend to assume that, if you have that knowledge, then you're highly likely to start with a good and, I hope, glowing opinion. If you don't share that glow, well I could say please leave quietly now and don't slam the door, but I doubt that you ever bothered to read this in the first place.
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