Caesar's Pleasers

Caesar’s chief military strategist has announced his retirement! In order to identify the best replacement, Caesar has devised a contest to determine who has the most strategic mind in Rome. All of the army’s generals were included in this contest, and you’ve advanced to the finals, with the winner earning Caesar’s favor and the title of Head Consul of the Roman Army.

The Perfect Gateway Game

Caesar's Pleasers uses a familiar theme to introduce non-gamers to many of today's modern gaming mechanisms such as dice drafting, hidden goals, player interaction and game variants. The dice provide a touch of luck, but as the game progresses, players choose their own path, balancing risk and reward through the patterns they choose and deciding for themselves whether they focus on their own mission or seek to disrupt those of their opponents.

The rules are few and straightforward, taking less than 5 minutes to explain. Setup is quick, and a typical game takes between 15 and 30 minutes to play.

How to Play

As you prepare for the competition, Caesar assigns a group of legionary soldiers to your command and gives you your initial orders. Your mission is to arrange your soldiers as Caesar has asked, and you will receive new orders as the competition progresses.

The competition takes place in the Colosseum! Caesar has placed further restrictions on your ability to move your soldiers, truly challenging your stategic mind.

Caesar watches the competition closely, noting when you complete his orders and sending you new ones. Success earns you favor in the eyes of Caesar. Impress him enough and he will call an end to the competition and crown you as his Head Consul!

The Centurion Variant: To really impress Caesar, you may request that he make the Centurion available to you. The Centurion can be very powerful, but his assistance comes at a cost.

Photo Credits The artwork used or seen on this page and in the actual game is taken from the Public Domain (CC0 1.0 Universal), but let's give credit where credit is due...

• Game Board: Inside Colosseum, Rome, Italy (Wikimedia Commons).
• Box Top & Shop Page Header: Unnamed photo of Colosseum and Sky (Flickr).
• Box Bottom: The Oval of the Arena of the Colosseum, View over the Underground, Rome, Italy (Wikimedia Commons).
• Formation Card Backs: Roman soldier from An Illustration of the Egyptian, Grecian and Roman Costumes by Thomas Baxter (The New York Public Library).
• Rule Book Front Page, Sky: White Oaks Park, London, Canada by Scott Webb (rawpixel).
• Horse: A Horse Head Sculpture Next to the Colosseum at Dusk (Wikimedia Commons).
• Right-Facing Roman Face: Unnamed photo of Roman sculpture by Sergeant Matt Hecht (Flickr).
• Left-Facing Roman Face: Marble Head of a Youth (A.D. 41-54) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Note: Action shots were produced using prototype materials. Final art may vary.