Pandemic: Fall of Rome Game

A delightfully historical take on the classic cooperative game, this alternate version doesn't see a disease taking the Empire down - rather, corruption and barbarian tribes seek to do Rome in. In a manner similar to the original pandemic game, players embody different role cards and attempt to “cure" all opposing forces and clear them from the map. While many of the gameplay mechanics are simply repurposed for the theme, such as cubes representing barbarian tribes instead of diseases and “invading" rather than “infecting", this game does have some twists. Some smaller examples are the way players and cubes can move. There are no “flights" in this game - the closest you can get is chartering a ship from one port city to another. Invasions are not random; rather, each invasion card has a “migration path" of cities the barbarians (cubes) follow to invade cities. Barbarian tribes can be “cured" (you can forge an alliance), but they cannot be eradicated even if all cubes are removed from the board and, as such, will continue to invade throughout the game. Adding a new level of strategy is the ability to stock cities with legions, which means players can battle invasions. How well these battles go, however, is affected by die rolls. Legions can either be left stationary in cities, preventing barbarian tribes from invading that particular city, or they can march with a player's pawn to clear a city of barbarians. Legions are limited, so which cities are most important to defend? When is the most opportune time to attack? My favorite difference from the original, is that event cards have a “corrupt" option which makes their advantageous effect more powerful, but sends the Roman Empire farther down the path of decline. As in the original, players can lose in multiple ways…the Empire hitting ultimate Decline, running out of cubes to place, running out of player cards, or the city of Roma being sacked. Game is for 1-5 players and takes 45-60 minutes to play. Game includes 5 barbarian/alliance tokens, 1 invasion rate marker, 1 decline rate marker, 6 forts, 7 pawns, 7 role cards, 49 city cards, 14 event cards, 7 revolt cards, game board, and instructions for play. ~ Janine