To immediately jump to the Gamefound page of the game go here:

Michal: Let us start form short introduction. Please tell us a little about yourself Miguel, what do you do for a living, what games do you play? Also, what is your role in the design and publication of “Hispania”?

Miguel: I am a nuclear physicist working in France on basic research, who has always been attracted by boardgames in general, but in particular by the design aspect. Since my teens I have always valued the concept of elegance in games, that I see as the ability to reach an effect with as few rules and pieces as possible, sometimes even without rules! The games I’m attracted to have thus few rules and components, but must allow some strategy and above all convey the frame and feelings of the world they try to portray. The game I have played the most is Commands & Colors: Ancients, and a design I really admire is Tigris & Euphrates, despite having little opportunities to play it.

As to my role in Hispania, in my hobby time I design few games but when I do I am obsessed with all the aspects! I am the designer, but also the developer, rulebook editor, and I have contributed to the graphical design.

Michal: Where did you get inspiration for “Hispania”?

Miguel: In 2015 I published Tetrarchia with nestorgames, a cooperative light wargame about Diocletian’s Tetrachy. In 2021 a new version of the game was published by Draco Ideas and it became a big success, the game they are selling the most. Then, being a Spanish publisher, they asked me if I could think of a period in the history of Spain in which those mechanics could be applied, and my first answer was “No”. The Tetrarchy by the end of the 3rd century was a very peculiar event, in which four co-emperors fought together to defend the Roman empire from many external and internal threats. But thinking more about it I realized that the Roman conquest of Spain could be portrayed using more or less similar mechanics, and then the design process started.

Michal: What are the key components of the game?

Miguel: The game is cooperative, and can be played by 1 to 3 players using exactly the same rules (there are always two praetors and one consul in play), so it can be considered solitaire too. There are only two types of pieces, wooden discs and meeples, the colored ones represent the Roman garrisons and generals and the black ones the revolts and Hispanic armies that need to be subdued.

The rules are simple, with only a few basic actions available, but the combat system requires close cooperation that leads to many different combinations. The whole game is governed by a couple of dice, one Roman and one Hispanic, that determine combat, the arrival of revolts and armies, and the movement of those armies. Finally, 5 setup parameters can take 3 values each, leading thus to 243 (35) difficulty levels!

Michal: Can you elaborate a little about the game mechanics?

Miguel: The players have “denarii”, ancient Roman coins that represent their action points, and every turn they spend them moving through Hispania to besiege cities in revolt, place or remove their garrisons, and attack armies. In the Hispanic phase of the turn, a random threat (revolt or army) may appear in a Hispanic city, and all the armies on the board move within their province, spreading the revolt further. And at the end of each round a revolt is placed on the next space of the time track.

The initial setup (revolts and armies) is random, so games will start always differently, even at the same difficulty level. And even those with the same setup will play differently, due to the two-dice engine. Roman movement can be improved deploying Roman roads at the players choice, once the initial threats are revealed, enhancing variety even more.

The combat mechanic is the main ingredient that leads to strategy. When two armies battle, the roll of the Roman and Hispanic dice determines the winner… but there are modifiers! First, each army adds to its roll the number of own discs connected to it, which forces the Romans to think about where and when to deploy their garrisons while trying to reduce the revolt base of the opposing army, or at least cut it from its base. Then, the Romans can add up to 3 coins to their roll. Finally, if allied armies are connected to the enemy the corresponding value is multiplied x2, which requires careful planning and timing. The net result is that players that don’t cooperate will spend most of their coins fighting, and will not have time for other actions. Close cooperation will win battles without overspending your energy.

Michal: How do players determine victory?

Miguel: The board is divided in 6 areas, called “provinces” for simplicity, with 6 cities each. The Roman goal is to place garrisons in the capital city of each province, before the revolt reserve runs out or the time track reaches the change of millennium, after the 11th round. Therefore, the placing of a revolt on the time track every round gets the players closer to defeat two-fold! They will be on their toes the whole game, even when things seem to go well, as the real Romans were. The goal may look easy, but there is a twist. In order to garrison a capital, the whole province must be free of revolt, and the game starts with one (random) revolt in each province. The players will have to deal first with revolts, and thus with the armies that spread them, before being in position to win the game.

Michal: I played a lot and have real fun with Tetrarchia. What similarities and differences are between the two titles?

Miguel: You must have recognized the main abstract mechanics: point-to-point movement, generic meeples and discs, action points, Roman/Barbarian dice to govern combat and the AI behavior, huge difficulty table… However, what in Tetrarchia felt like an agonic defense against unexpected attacks, in Hispania had to feel like a daring penetration into hostile territory. I introduced sieges, removed unrest pieces, allowed for multiple discs per city, added coins to combat and to the difficulty table, changed the AI behavior of armies, complemented movement with sea links and Roman roads… As a result, despite the more uniform game area, the game has become more dynamic and strategic. And most importantly, it feels like the Roman conquest!

Michal: Now, as for “Hispania” itself, what makes this game unique?

Miguel: It is literally unique because there are no games on the Roman conquest of Spain! It spanned between two famous events, the fall of Hannibal and Carthage and the rise of Augustus and his empire, but this conquest is not well-known, even in Spain. I hope that the players will be attracted to the game but also to learn more about this period, thanks in part to the historical scenarios that will be included.

However, I think it is unique because it conveys the experience of Roman generals entering uncharted territory with very few and abstract rules, even less than in Tetrarchia. Players will keep the rulebook in the box and focus on the board, the few pieces and the couple of dice. They will not say “I place a blue disc on space II-6”, they will say “the consul occupies Numantia”. And they will tell their games as history. It is easy to force storylines with explicit rules, event cards and exceptions. In Hispania, without any explicit rule or artificial guidance, players will often find themselves fighting the last Hispanic stand to the north of the Durius by the end of the millennium, as Augustus did.

Michal: How are you going to publish the game and where the players interested in the project can get more information?

Miguel: The game is being published by Draco Ideas, and they have chosen to launch it through the Gamefound crowdfunding platform:

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/draco-ideas/hispania

There are already many pictures and videos there, as well as in the BGG game page, and players can ask any doubt they may have about the project or the game. There will be a lot of additional content as stretch goals, like special components, variants and scenarios, but we are confident to unlock all of them and make them be part of the standard version for everybody. The game is language independent because the names on the board are in Latin and there is no text on the pieces, so the only difference between editions will be the rulebook. Draco Ideas will sell a bilingual Spanish/English version, and other associated publishers will sell versions in other languages, like for example Italian and Chinese.

Those that do not enter the campaign will be able to buy it through the Draco Ideas online shop once they receive the game, in a few months, but the campaign will offer very good deals! For example, it will bring a new edition of Tetrarchia, that is almost OOP, with a special price too.

Michal: What are the future plans for you? Any new designs / games in preparation?

Miguel: Yes! I always am several ideas ahead, so there are several candidates for my next game. However, it is difficult to focus on them with all the present work around Hispania, so I will make my choice later. One thing is sure already, it will have nothing to do with Rome! Thanks!