I would like to play the Epirote (Alexander, no not that one, his uncle or some such who invaded Italy during the Samnite wars) side on Vassal in GMT’s Ancient World: Rise of the Roman Republic.
It is a three player scenario, so I need two volunteers to play the Roman and Samnite sides.
Note this scenario is tied for the lowest complexity rating of any in the RRR book, and appears to be at least somewhat balanced. Actually, After looking at it more closely it may slightly favor the Romans most and Samnites second just on the basis of available manpower and leaders, but the balance is still close overall.
Between players who have played the system before it is probably about a three hour game face to face, better to perhaps double that between novices (I have played Thunderbolt once, although that is not quite over yet, so not a novice at least). If that kind of FtF can be scheduled that would be okay, as it is a leader activation chit pull system it can also be played in PBEM fashion but my guess is it would go on for around two or three months between three players. You have to figure about 7-12 chit pulls to resolve each turn for four turns is around 30 to 50 mini “player turns”, with files copied to both opponents and the turn around time inherent in a PBEM game.
Either ftf or pbem is fine by me and I am happy to “teach” someone the basics of the system which are used in this scenario (based on my one game of experience) who has an interest.
There are no naval or diplomacy rules used in this scenario, pretty much a three-way land military move/attrition/battle/siege hack and slash with a few neutral tribes to tackle. There is an early simpler form of the Roman magistrate system to deal with.
You will absolutely need not only the Vassal module but also the current series rules (“version 2”) from the Carthage game, as well as the updated RRR scenario book and updated charts. You can find all these free of charge in pdf files together with the Vassal module on the GMT website.
I have been burned by not having these updates - there are important changes mode to the rules between the two versions.
There is one item I dug up which does not appear in the current version but the developer posted on CSW (mind you, three years ago) and that is the Epirotes control Lucania at start as the city they have garrisoned is the only Med/Lg city in the province and they control at least one small one. I presume the reason for the oversight is that on the map and in later scenarios that city drops in size to small. I suggest tossing an IDS marker on that city as a reminder, just like the Vassal module already has all the non-existent cities marked.
The only other item I know of for this one is that the Epirote re-inforcements from the Greek colonies of South Italy do not appear from any listed city unless the Epirotes actually control that city (they only control some at start not others), or control the province in which that city is located without any other player controlling the city. The cities are not “friendly” just because the reinforcement rule says they are - this one is also three years old now but never made it into any errata or living rules.