MayFair Games Catan
Mayfair Games Catan Histories Struggle for Rome From Mayfair Games

Product Description

The Romans rule over an enormous empire. But now, Rome holds its imperial breath. The empire is weak. Wild barbarian hordes surge across the frontier. You rule one of those Barbarian hordes. Your noble tribe is strong, but rival princes stand in your way. Are you wily enough to outmaneuver them? Will you have enough wealth from plundering to found your own kingdom? Your fate is in your hands: civilization is ripe for conquest. Will you forge a mighty new kingdom? Will you be the one to inherit the storied glory of Rome? For 3 to 4 players.

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• Brand: MayFair Games
• Model: 4102624
• Dimensions: 2.88" h x 11.63" w x 11.63" l, 3.31 pounds

From the Manufacturer
The Romans rule over an enormous empire. But now, Rome holds its imperial breath. The empire is weak. Wild barbarian hordes surge across the frontier. You rule one of those Barbarian hordes. Your noble tribe is strong, but rival princes stand in your way Are you wily enough to outmaneuver them? Will you have enough wealth from plundering to found your own kingdom? Your fate is in your hands civilization is ripe for conquest Will you forge a mighty new kingdom? Will you be the one to inherit the storied glory of Rome? It can be used from 3 to 4 players and children above 10 years.

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Customer Reviews

Catan Histories - not a bad variant
Not a bad variant of Settlers of Catan, and has some historical educational value. But it's more complicated and based on luck than the original, leading to fewer negotiations with the other players, thus making it not quite as fun.

I'll play it again, but I'll always prefer the classic Settlers of Catan.

A decent game
When I went to the gaming shop I selected this game over a great number of others because I enjoy the original Settlers of Catan and am a big fan of Roman history. The board is a nice rendering of Southwestern Europe, with attention paid to actual geographic features in the various mountain, plain, forest and pasture hexes. The pieces are composed of light plastic in the shape of warriors, horseman and wagons; this I like in war games, I want my warriors to look like little warriors, not abstract shapes! The "gold" coins are replicas of two varieties of actual Roman coins which I also thought was a nice touch.

In gameplay you and your barbarian hordes plunder cities until you are ready to set up your own kingdom, at which point you settle down and start conquering nearby cities. I felt like some opportunity was missed by the fact that the warrior and horseman tribes act in exactly the same manner. The crux of the gameplay is based on calculating your tribes movements in order to accomplish your goals in the most efficient manner while leaving yourself in the best position to harvest resources. The plundering or conquering of a town is a little simple for my taste: each town has a number of towers, the invading army must be equal to or greater than this number. For me this is the greatest drawback, as I feel a game of conquest should put more focus on the combat rather than just the movement, although any military historian will tell you, amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics. The designer did make one great improvement over the original Catan by rolling for resources in bursts in a way that does not allow players to roll the same number more than once thus making it less streak prone.

Overall a mildly enjoyable game for me which is more calculation heavy than the original Catan with some nice historical content.

Fun varient
I discovered Mayfair Games at Gen Con 2008 and have thoroughly enjoyed every game of theirs I've played.

Struggle for Rome was probably my favorite game out of the ones I demoed including classic Catan. It is a tad more complicated but I enjoy complicated games. And due to rolling the dice 4 times on every turn the pace of the game works a little better for 2 player. And I usually play board games with only 1 other person. It does rely a little more on luck than classic but all in all a great varient.