Caesars & Satraps
History
Map
Black Sea Zoom in of Map
Italy Zoom in of Map
Map Legend

Conquest of the Empire is a game from the Milton Bradley Gamesmaster series.  It was produced in limited quantities in the 1980's.  It was designed by Harry Lawrence who also designed Axis&Allies and LionHeart.

The game was also known as Six Caesars.  It is a game for 2 to 6 players and each takes on the role of a new Roman Caesar out to become the sole Caesar of the Empire.  Each player has a home (fortified) city, six Generals, and four Infantry.  During the game the players will purchase Infantry, Cavalry, Catapults and Galleys.  They will also build more cities and link them with roads.

The original map by Milton Bradley has 42 provinces and each territory is worth 5 or 10 Talents of income.  This expansion has many more territories and all are still worth 5 or 10 Talents.

The size of the new map and the politics involved allow for different types of game play.

We have the normal Six Caesar scenario where two to six players try to eliminate their opponents in the Roman provinces.  To this we add the barbarians and the special forces of the Huns and Parthians.
We have a special Six Caesars where one Caesar gets to play the Parthian Emperor.

We have the Parthian vs Rome war.  Where we have two or three players battling it out.  The Parthian controls the Huns and faces two Caesars.  Other scenarios include a five player game where we have three Macedonian generals fighting for Alexander's Empire while the Punic war rages between Rome and Carthage.

We also have a Roman Civil war where we can have the Eastern Empire vs the Western Empire.  The Parthians and Huns play a part in this war.

And lastly I included some rules to use Axis & Allies pieces.  (What else would Generals of Waterloo do?)  What would Rome have been like if the Empire lasted for two thousand years?   Just some fun to see what the Romans could have done with W.W.II era weapons.

History

This map shows the real Roman Empire from 100 to 200 AD.  It also shows some of the Parthian Empire to the east.

Rome was a Republic with Senators controlling the government.  Around 100 BC the first of the strong men began to become the leading citizens and would gain power at the expense of the Senate.  These men like Sulla and Pompey were generals that became semi-dictators.  Then came Julius Caesar, he was a politician and general and took near absolute power.  After he was murdered by the Senate his nephew Octavian (known as Augustus) became the first of the 'Caesars' to have absolute power.  Hereditary dictatorship became the norm for the government.  However different families would have an era and then someone else would take over.  For the next 200 years after Octavian some men were tyrants while others were good leaders.  A power vacuum occurred around 68 AD when Nero died.  Within the next year four men tried being Emperor. Vespasian and family ruled for 20 or so years. For the next 100 years adoptive hereditary Emperors ruled until Marcus Aurelius's son Commodus again started the family connection.  Commodus died in 192 and in 193 we again had four Emperors in one year.  Starting in about 235 many generals attempted to seize power and at times there would be multiple generals all trying to take power in Rome.  In some cases one was declared Caesar in Britain while another would be declared by his troops in Dalmatia and yet a third held power in Rome until an army advanced.  These were the soldier Emperors.

The Persian Empire is centered around modern Iran.  The area was part of the empire of Assyria and then of the Medes, from earliest history parts of it were in one empire or other.  Persia was a mighty empire for a few hundred years before Alexander the Great.  Alexander conquered it (330 BC) and his general Seleucus received it as his domain and the Empire of the Selucids lasted for 400 years.  But by 120 AD the empire had fallen to new invaders called the Parthians.  Their empire also lasted for over a hundred years until the Sassanids started the new Persian Empire around 220.  Provinces in the Persian Empire were known as Satrapies and the governors were knows as Satraps.

The game Six Caesars developed out of the times when Rome had no clear leadership.  The years of  four Emperors and the Soldier Emperors.
Six Caesars was renamed Conquest of the Empire was released by Milton Bradley in the mid 1980's.

Other eras of Roman history are used in the Generals of Waterloo map scenarios. 
During the time of Alexander's conquest of Persia we had the Romans fighting the Carthaginians in the Punic wars (330 BC). 
After Alexander's death his generals fought amongst themselves in the wars of the Diadochi (Ptolomy in Egypt, Seleucus in Persia, Antigonus in Macedonia). 
In the later Roman empire the Caesars formed teams like a father and adopted son.  One would take control of the Eastern Empire based in Byzantium and the other the Western Empire based in Rome.  And then their were two Caesares and two Augusti organized by Diocletian around 285 AD.  The west eventually fell to the Germans but the East lasted another 600 years as the Byzantine Empire.

Caesars & Satraps

The Generals of Waterloo map has 60 Roman provinces, 9 Parthian Satrapies, 32 barbarian lands and 27 sea zones.  It is three times the size of the Milton Bradley map.

This map includes geography. 
Mountains separate some lands.  Cavalry moving over mountains is slowed.  Attacking over a mountain reduces an attackers strength.
Some lands are deserts.  Moving into a desert will decimate your forces.  But sometimes you have to go there.
Waterways are used to move between some sea zones.  Galleys must stop their movement when going through these.

We see a solid red line between Greece and Italy (Dalmatia and Macedonia) that continues in Libya (Cyrenaica).  This is the line that splits the Empire into East and West.

We have barbarian lands.
Barbarians will defend their land when you attack.  And they can be used by your opponents to attack you.
A special barbarian tribe is the Huns.  These are a force that will attack Rome.  It will take them 12 moves to get there but it will bankrupt all of the players when they get there if the win.  You may stop them once but another tribe will replace them and begin to move to the heart of the Empire as well.
Barbarians vary in strength, one Infantry, two Infantry, one Cavalry, or two Infantry by sea.

We have the Parthians.
This is a new force that can be used like the Barbarians to harass your enemies in the east.  Some scenarios also allow for a player to play the Parthian Emperor on an equal footing with the other Caesars.

We have Resources.
We have Olive Oil, Wood, Metals, Grain, Wine, and Silk.  Some territories have these resources.  If you own the territory you get the resource which you can sell on the market.  Silk is worth more and only comes from the Parthian Empire.  With optional rules they reduce the costs of fighting units.
 

Comparison	Milton Bradley's COTE	GOW's Caesar&Satraps
Size	33" x 19"	60" x 35"
Provinces	42	60
Non Roman lands	0	41 (Total lands = 101)
Sea Zones	17	27
Geography	no	mountains, deserts, waterways
Resources	no	olive oil, wood, metals, grain, wine, silk
Expansion boxes	no	18
Talents chart	260 Talents	350 Talents - set as a limit.
Maximum income (total map)	280 Talents	385 Talents Rome, plus  45 Talents Parthia

Black Sea Zoom
Actual Size: 16 " x 13"

We see the Roman provinces of Bithynia, Pontus, Armenia and Armenia Inferior [AI]. 
Bithynia has a Wood resource and Pontus has a Wine resource.
AI has an expansion box for placing units.

We see the barbarian lands of the Quadi, Teutoni, Heruli, Vandals, Goths, Alani, Scythians and Caucasians.  These have either one or two Infantry (the swords), or like the Scythians, a Cavalry (horse head).  In the north we have Barbarian Infantry that can attack by sea to hit provinces like Britannia.

The Bospori is a once Roman province now under barbarian control.  It produces both a Grain and a Wine resource but has a barbarian defender.
Another pseudo province is Hibernia (Ireland) which might have been a province had Rome not had troubles elsewhere in the Empire.

In the bottom left corner we see the Dardanelles.  There is a image of a Galley there which signifies a Waterway. 
Moving a galley from the Mare Pontus Euxinus to the Dardanelles means that a ship must pause in the Dardanelles.  The ship could not have been used in landing forces on that turn and would have to wait until the next turn to do so. 
If a ship was already there in the Dardanelles it could pick up forces in Bithynia and land them in Thracia (across the straits) in one turn.

Italy
Actual Size: 11" x 13"

The small provinces of AP, AC and AM are Alpes Penninae, Alpes Cottiae, and Alpes Maritimae, and all have expansion boxes for placing units.

The Roman Eagle Standards represent fortresses.  There are only six and these only exist on the frontier with the German barbarian lands.  A Fortress is like a city in that a Legion could be stationed there without a leader (Caesar or General) but it is limited to one Legion.

Rome has a Fortified City and is a capitol for one Caesar.  It is also the end of the Hun migration (XIII).

There are two roads from the Rome province to Italia and to Neapolis.  This road is permanent.  There is also a permanent road from Asia to Susianna - The Bablyonian Royal Road.

Belgica produces Grain, Germania Superior produces Wood, Narbonensis produces Wine, Alpes Maritimae produces Olive Oil, Corsica Wine, Sardinia Metal, Rhaetia Wine, Noricum Metal, and Pannonia Wood.

Mountains block the way into Italia on all borders except via Dalmatia.

Map Legend

The map is covered in symbols.  This legend shows all of the symbols except the resources which are shown on the Resource Market Chart.
From the top down we have:

The Parthian symbol - a Gold Angel.  When playing the Parthians as a non player each symbol when attacked has 3 Infantry, when used as a proxy force it can be 3 Infantry or 2 Cavalry.

Barbarians are always used as proxy forces.
Single Sword represents one Infantry.
Double Sword represents two Infantry.
Horse Head with Lance represents one Cavalry.
Viking Helmet represents the ability to cross a sea zone when attacking.  (Not the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos Lodge).
Barbarians do not get Catapults.

The Romans have their special areas.
The Eagle Standard represents a Fortress on the barbarian frontier.  It can house one Legion without requiring a leader.  It aids in defense also.
The Fortified City can house multiple legions without a leader.  The fortification helps in defense.
The Waterways are special areas where Galleys must stop movement.  A very special waterway links the red sea to the Nile river and then to the Mediterranean Sea.  Thus a Roman Galley could make it from Scandinavia to the Black Sea and to Gedrosia (Persian Gulf) which is almost India

Geography includes:
Mountains are represented by the Twin Peaks.  Cavalry can only make a move from one territory to another territory when crossing a mountain.
Deserts are represented by the Red Scorpion.  The Sahara, Arabian and deserts of central Asia will destroy a unit from any Legion that enters them.

Resources of Olive Oil, Wood, Wine, Grain, Metals and Silk all flucuate in price.  When you have reached the selling price you can trade the resources to get Talents.

1 Laminated map - 60" x 35"
1 Rules Manual for Caesars & Satraps (includes Appendix for Rules Using Axis & Allies Pieces)