I am devoted fan of the greatest design by Matt Calkins – Sekigahara. Thus when I heard he is planning a new title, this time about my favorite historical period – Rome, I was intrigued. My curiosity increased when we learned about the topic – chariot races! Normally, I am not a big fan of “races genre” but something told me – mainly due to the author – that I should pay attention here and check this title.

Below I am presenting more information about game mechanics, some of my sessions – we played pretty intensively in my boardgame group – as well as first impressions on the title. Enjoy!

The game

Beautiful Charioteer box cover

The ground trembles under a thousand angry hoofbeats. Wheels creak and reins pull as racers drive their horses forward in a panic. You are a charioteer in the Circus Maximus, the greatest raceway in the ancient world. A crescendo of noise builds with each lap. Chariots collide, whips crack. The crowd cheers for a surprising breakaway, rumbles as a favorite is damaged and falls behind. From the imperial box, the emperor laughs and shouts. Clouds of dust obscure the bright banners of the four factions.

Three hundred thousand fans are on their feet as you turn the final corner. This is not the finish they expected. You lead by a length, and only one rival remains; each throws the last of their energy into one final sprint. Many thousands are despondent, other thousands exultant and joyous. Their shouts become a roar, a long scream, as you surge for the finish line. Another hundred yards will make you a hero.

GMT Page

After this climatic beginning, let us now talk about the game and its mechanics. Charioteer is a strategic racing game that plays in one hour. Each player controls a chariot in the Circus Maximus of ancient Rome. There’s lots of action, and it happens quickly, with simultaneous move selection (that I want to stress, as even with 6 players there are no lags).

Movement is determined by melding sets from a hand of cards – initially that might be a bit mind-blowing, but after 2-3 turns all is clear. Every card does more than one thing, and it takes multiple matching cards to make a move. Moves come in four colors, and each has a special advantage. Play a red move to attack your opponents, yellow to recover from disruption, black to turn a sharp corner, and green to sprint.

Each racer begins the game with different abilities, and they improve their skills as the race progresses, leading to big bonuses in their favorite types of moves – really like this, as that adds variety to each game. Show the emperor the kind of move he prefers, and a racer’s skills will increase even faster.

It’s not always clear who’s winning the race. Being in front of the pack may not be as important as developing a critical skill, collecting powerful tokens, or keeping damage low. Whip icons allow those who have fallen behind to surge back into competition. I have seen last lap (there are 3 in total) sprints which completely changed the order at finish.

Session reports

Now, couple of comments from our games – in total we played almost 10 times and I think this is good enough sample to draw some conclusions.

PS. Feel free to click any of below images to expand them in new window for more details.

In our first session we played with four chariots / players – the competition was pretty fierce, we were just learnign the tactics and strategies and everybody passed finish in the same round – victory being decided who is farther after finish.
The second attempt was with three players and that was probably the most “static” and “uneventful” play – it was hard to overtake as pretty quickly all chariots were separated and we kept the order almost till the end.
Now, the “full house” race with six players was definitely the most fun and my preferred way to play Charioteer. Tons of interaction, overtaking, negative interactions as well as emotions – with minimal downtime. Definitely, the most fun from all variants!

First Impressions

As said, I had chance to play pretty extensively and these will be my impressions which I would like to share:

  • The game supports from 2 to 6 players. However, the larger numbers (5 and 6) gives the most fun, interaction and joy. I appreciate it is possible to play a duel or 3-chariot games; still, the title shines with sa many competitors as possible.
  • No downtimes – now, you might think that with many players we would have a lot of breaks and waiting time? No way! The game has fast but not simplistic method of deciding the moves by all players (simultaneously) and then their execution (sequentially)
  • Negative interaction – ha, that is a must for me in chariot races; here you can not only harm one but all opponents when using red cards. Do it wisely and you should benefit a lot!
  • Time to play – the game is fast, easily played in one hour. The set-up is simple and with proper storage solution (check one here) also very quick.

Charioteer was definitely a game for the whole group, which we played with our wives and kids. This is by no means wargame, it is not complicated, is fast and gives fun. Check it out!