films
music
health
fiction
games
science
relating
websites
postcards
wargames
The game covers the slave revolt made famous by the film. It uses an area based map, showing Italy and the eastern coast of the Adriatic. The slaves start in southern Italy, with a small force of very ineffective liberated slaves, one good unit of ex-gladiators, and Spartacus, who is one of the 3 best generals in the game (the other 2 are Roman, but don’t enter the game until at least turn 10). The Romans have a small force in Rome, and 2 good legions in the North, but the latter are scattered and can’t concentrate quickly, as troops cannot move unless accompanied by a leader.
Every time a rebel leader enters a province, there is a (very good) chance that the slaves there will rebel and join Spartacus, bringing a rapid initial growth for the rebel army. However, slaves are very poor soldiers, with a combat strength of 2. At the beginning of each season (every 4th turn), every rebel leader can train up to 2 slave units into infantry units. There is also a chance of training archers or cavalry. Rebel infantry averages strength 4, while Roman legions are mostly strength 6. Combat is on the same lines as Axis and Allies—each unit needs to roll below its combat strength to score a hit. There are some frills, such as one initial round of missile fire, flanking if one side can break through the other’s main line, and the chance of rout when trying to break off the battle.
Spartacus needs to expand as quickly as possible at the beginning while the Romans are weak and scattered—the first Roman reinforcements arrive on turn 5. He gets points for enemy losses, for provinces in rebellion at the end of the game (turn 17), for exiting infantry units from various points on the map, and for surviving. The Romans get points only for enemy battle losses. They can pacify rebel provinces by moving troops in, but at the start of the game will find that difficult because if they leave their fortified cities they will be vulnerable to attack by Spartacus’s growing army. After turn 5 it’s likely to turn into a cat-and-mouse game, as the two sides will be probably roughly equal in strength. On turn 10 and 13 the Romans can choose (at cost in VPs) to bring on additional reinforcements, which combined with the fact that the rebels may well have exited some units from the map by then will tilt the balance strongly against Spartacus.
The end game is likely to see the rebels avoiding battle where possible, and falling back on their sanctuary in the south of Italy, while the Romans roll around crushing rebellious provinces and trying to bottle up the slaves and bring them to battle.
We receive a commission—at no extra cost to you—from the businesses we refer you to. If you decide to purchase something that we have recommended, please do so by following the links from our website. Thank you!
back to index