| Game
Overview
In Caesar and Cleopatra (C&C)
each player fights to influence 21 Patricians
(political members of the Roman Assembly),
each of which is worth a victory point at
the end of the game. The most victory points
will determine who will rule Egypt, Caesar
or Cleopatra. The Patricians are assembled
into 5 political factions and they are assembled
in the middle of the playing area. There
are 5 Senators, Praetors & Quaestors
and 3 Aedilis & Censors. Both players
have 2 decks which they can draw cards from
to further their cause. The influence deck
is the larger of the two and it contains
a variety of cards numbered from 1-5. On
a player's turn they can play these cards
to any of the patrician groups (on their
side only) to try and influence them to
their cause. The other deck contains action
cards which have no influence value, but
they can alter the play in a number of ways.
These cards include Spies, Assassins, Scouts
etc. I'll stop short of outlining each one
but they can alter the game dramatically
if timed correctly. They also help to keep
the play balanced as well laid plans can
be turned upside down. Each player starts
the game with 5 cards and on their turn
they can declare an active or passive turn.
A passive turn allows a player to discard
any number of cards and draw the same number
of new ones - the turn is then over. Taking
an active turn allows a player to play 1
action card if they wish. They must then
play 1 or 2 influence cards to their side
of the patrician groups. Playing 1 card
to a particular group allows it to be placed
face-down, keeping its value a secret. If
2 cards are played then they must be played
face-up. Once cards are played, the player
draws new cards to return their hand to
5 cards and then the top card of the 'Vote
of Confidence' deck is drawn. This deck
determines if a vote will take place or
not. There is a patrician card for each
of the groups and 3 orgy cards which result
in a 'no vote'. The drawing of a patrician
card will result in a vote taking place.
It is now that both sides reveal all influence
cards in that group and the highest total
wins. The winner takes 1 of the patricians
from the group and must discard the influence
card of highest value. The loser must discard
an influence card of lowest value. All remaining
influence cards remain in play but face-up.
Play continues in this way until all of
the patrician cards have been won or both
players can no longer force a vote. Scoring
is resolved by adding bonus points (earned
by influencing whole groups or a majority
of patricians in a group) to the 1 point
awarded for each patrician won.
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