AGEOD's New Game - ALEA JACTA EST

[Baris]

Aegean Sea(Though not generally windy) should feel like Atlantic Ocean for poor ships in that time. And If Athena by luck reach the shore should have difficulties invading. Wooden horse full of soldiers will suffice.
But generally from literature of Iliás of Homeros it is told naval warfare&landing were difficult due to nature or Gods that they created difficulties.
And how are the leaders portrayed in game ? similar to ROP or RUS format ?

[ERISS]

War, war, war; war never changes. Won't you ever make a wargame without war?

[yellow ribbon]

War, war, war; war never changes. Won't you ever make a wargame without war?

remembers me on the quote about "forbidden rule" about special aiming on officers, for soldiers on the battle field on their own would be a too risky mess...

but they tried it with PON, didnt they, and ended up with players of China, having African colonies 150 years before due

[Quirk]

Btw, I wanted to give kudos to the artist who created the game cover. Very, very nice and appealing!

[PhilThib]

Btw, I wanted to give kudos to the artist who created the game cover. Very, very nice and appealing!

Gpepper, who is the artist who has worked and done already a lot of our games.... excellent indeed

[Leibst]

I agree, really good cover Gpepper. And in general all your work with AGEOD gives the games an special touch imo.

[NefariousKoel]

I've been craving more ancients wargames.

Glad this is being addressed.

[Robert E. Lee]

I am very very happy. This is the most appealing game to me from AGEOD so far, and by far. This is the kind of game i will still be playing 15 years from now!

I just hope it will not be linked to steam (not only). But even then, i may make an exception just for that game.

[DarthMath]

Just a little question : some political features proper to the Roman history, like the ones we could find in Res Publica Romana/Pax Romana ( i.e. Senate's role, cursus honorum, political decisions regarding the Plebs, the City of Rome or the governance of provinces ) are planned to be implemented in AJE or the game will only be focused on the military campaigns, like NCP for exemple ?

[Pocus]

This is not Pax Romana, so military campaigns, production, a lot of historical events and multi choice events to alter the course of the campaigns, plus regional decisions to develop some regions. But no Senate per se if this is what you mean. The game derives from the AGE engine.

[DarthMath]

Ok, thanks Philippe ... that's what I wanted to know !!

[ribaluigi]

I'm very happy for the news and I'm looking forward for this new game.

About that, does anybody has some suggestions on book to read on the topic (in english or italian)?

[Hobbes]

This is a good introduction with nice images and maps.



Cheers,
Chris

[Franciscus]

This is a good introduction with nice images and maps.



Cheers,
Chris

Thanks. Where did you get it ?

[Hobbes]

I found it in the local library - but then got a copy from Amazon.
If you look at the UK Amazon site you can see some pages from the book to get an idea of content.

[yellow ribbon]

I'm very happy for the news and I'm looking forward for this new game.

About that, does anybody has some suggestions on book to read on the topic (in english or italian)?

well, no one might cross this line, without HIM and his strategical retreats...




De bello gallico

Caesar's Gallic war, with a treatise on the Roman art of war and the geography and history of Gaul; historical and grammatical notes and special vocabularies on the inductive plan; and a general vocabulary

Julius Caesar; Corneluis Marshall Lowe; J T Ewing

Chicago, Albert, Scott and Co., 1891.


or simply other translations, italians are available too, anyway


always love the idea how frightened Romans got when Germans copied the digging of trenches and building just higher towers...

also, Titus Pullo et Lucius Vorenus, will become more known to you than by HBO mini series

[Cindel5]

Another fascinating choice from Aegod - Ceasar's Legions meets Athena? Definitely on my wish list.

[Ebbingford]

This is a good introduction with nice images and maps.



Cheers,
Chris

I managed to get hold of a copy of this, and have nearly finished reading it.
Thanks for recommending it Chris, it is a good "beginners guide to Roman warfare".

[Polimar]

About that, does anybody has some suggestions on book to read on the topic (in english or italian)?

If you want a very detailed history of the Roman Empire take a look at these books:
"The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire" (vol 1-6) by Gibbon (about € 3 on Kindle).

One of the best books as a whole is:
"The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians" by Heather.

Finally you can find the previous recommended "Roman Warfare" in Italian: Storia completa dell'esercito romano on Amazon, anyhow there are the following books on the same subject too:
"L'esercito romano. Armamento e organizzazione" (vol 1-3) by Cascarino


Hope it helps!

[H Gilmer3]

You can get Gibbon free as an ebook.

[Polimar]

You can get Gibbon free as an ebook.

You are right, there is a free version as well but without hypertext links and other simply but useful feautures, given that the size of this work I think is a worthy investment, IMHO

[gpepper]

Btw, I wanted to give kudos to the artist who created the game cover. Very, very nice and appealing!

Gpepper, who is the artist who has worked and done already a lot of our games.... excellent indeed

I agree, really good cover Gpepper. And in general all your work with AGEOD gives the games an special touch imo.

Thanks guys !
I really loved working on this game ! Reminded me my first graphic works more than 10 years ago on Pax Romana, for Philippe Thibaut's Antik Games company...

[Palpat]

Nice graphics indeed. But now, we want to see more. Way moooore!

[Florent]

"Nice graphics indeed. But now, we want to see more. Way moooore! "

Yes why not some art counters especially the Marian legion used for the Caesar-Pompée or some town/fortresses, Quinqueremes, Transport or anything you could choose ?

[Polimar]

Feauters:
Ancient Command and Supply System (based on the Wars in America system).
Someone can highlight me about that? Never played this game.

Will there be a campaign in the initially release?

[Bohémond]

A leader portrait



[url=[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/unitromsulla.png/][/url]][/URL]

[Hohenlohe]

A leader portrait



[url=[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/unitromsulla.png/][/url]][/URL]

Sulla...

greetings

Hohenlohe

[Florent]

Nice !!! The details are well shown ! Perhaps some leaders could have officers cuirass

[ribaluigi]

Thank you very much for the suggestions!

Now I know what to read waiting for the game to come.

Luigi

[Philippe]

Feauters:
Ancient Command and Supply System (based on the Wars in America system).
Someone can highlight me about that? Never played this game.

I should start by saying that I know nothing about what has gone into the game so my comments do no necessarily reflect anything in the actual game development.

Having said that, logistics in classical antiquity were a bit different from what we're used to in more modern times.

In AACW, for example, you worry about food and ammunition. In classical antiquity ammunition wasn't usually a big deal (except to Surena and Crassus), so all you really needed to worry about was food.

That's where the fun begins.

Now I have a few reservations about Don Engels' logistics model, but since we're living in a post-Hanson, post-Engels, and post-Peter Green world, his comments have to be taken into account.

The bottom line is that supply didn't really get moved around much in classical antiquity. It did sometimes move by water (as in the grain shipments from Sicily, Tunisia, and Egypt), but much of this was at a strategic level and outside of the scope of armies moving around. There is a possibility that certain navigable rivers played a role in shifting grain supplies around to support military operations, but much of this is conjectural.

The problem is that in antiquity people were interested in different things than we are, and wrote for different reasons than we do. The thing we call 'historical writing' would have been unrecognizable to someone in antiquity, and they probably would have wondered why anyone would bother to read such a thing. History, for the Greeks and Romans, was a form of literary entertainment, and that entertainment often included a fair amount of rhetoric. That's why there are so many made up speeches in Thucydides, which puzzles modern readers to no end.

But the real crux of the problem is that in antiquity people weren't really interested in reading about the nuts and bolts of how things were done, and one of the things that seems to have bored them to tears was discussions of supply and logistics.

So what it comes down to is that any modern discussion of ancient supply and logistics is by necessity conjectural, because our areas of interest were different from theirs.

The current way of thinking seems to be that armies tended to march from one well-supplied area to another, and when they did they probably weren't carrying more than a week or two of food at most. And some people will tell you that prior to more modern times they couldn't because their pack animals would have consumed their burdens after about a week (this is the part I have reservations about, but it can't be ignored -- it has to do with ancient vs. modern harnesses).

So what you did, well in advance of any campaigning, is you made arrangements for food stockpiles to be built in locations where you were likely to position your army.

The implications of all of this is that everyone's movement and campaigning was tied to the agricultural cycle.

Throughout much of the mediterranean wars were traditionally started in the late spring/early summer, because your troops had to bring in the winter harvest (if there was one) and do the spring planting. You wanted your army to arrive in enemy territory when the crops were ripe, partly because you wanted to prevent your enemy from gathering his harvest, and partly because you wanted to have something to forage.

What that means in game development terms, by the way, is that supply should not be generated in areas at an even rate but rather in spurts according to the agricultural cycle (which will be different for Western Europe, the north Mediterranean litoral, the north Mediterranean interior, North Africa, Egypt -- which needs its own special rules to reflect the flooding of the Nile --, and the Levantine coast and Palestine).