Caesar's Legions (board game)
Caesar's Legions is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1975 that simulates various Roman campaigns in Gaul and Germany. Description. "Caesar's Legions" is a two-person game in which one player controls Roman Legions mounting incursions beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, and the other player controls opposing Gallic or Germanic tribes. Components. The game includes: Gameplay. Combat is resolved with a die roll that is cross-indexed on a Combat Results Table. However, the use of Tactical Cards may have an effect on the outcome. Scenarios. The game comes  with five historical scenarios: Publication history. Loren Wiseman designed a game about the Battle of Idistaviso titled "Eagles", which was published by Game Designer's Workshop in 1974. The following year, Avalon Hill acquired the rights to "Eagles" and Don Greenwood expanded the game to include four more scenarios. This expanded game was titled "Caesar's Legions", and was published in 1975. Keith Poulter expanded "Caesar's Legions" to include 32 scenarios and retitled the game "Barbarians: 70 BC - 260 AD". It was published by KP Games in 1994. In 2010, Camelot Games published an expansion to the original "Caesar 's Legions" designed by Craig Johnson and titled "Caesar in Gaul". Reception. Richard Berg reviewed "Eagles", the predecessor of "Caesar's Legions", and called it "an interesting failure" that "has no playability to speak of." Berg chiefly objected to the game mechanics that allowed the German chieftains to avoid combat by hiding in the forest; if discovered by the Romans, they could simply flee to a different part of the forest. Berg did admit that the production values of the game were "heads above most" with "excellent clear graphics and well made counters [...] signs of the care and preparation put  into this game." But he concluded with a thumbs down, saying, ""Eagles" is less of an eagle and more of a turkey." In his 1977 book "The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming", Nicholas Palmer acknowledged that the first two scenarios of "Caesar's Legions" were easy enough to allow new players to learn the rules, but "Unfortunately the early scenarios are too simple for most tastes, and unbalanced in favour of the Romans. The later [scenarios], however, are absorbing and varied." He warned that "German play is always tricky, involving hit-and-run guerilla tactics." Palmer concluded that "it should  appeal to anyone interested in the period, even if the Latin names are a trifle distorted at times!"