Let us continue discovering the magnificent world of the Mediterranean Sea in the Sound of Drums beautiful History of the Ancient Seas (HOTAS) series. We shall remind everybody what this game is about, describe its three parts, present one of them in details based on recent session with my fellow boardgamers (Part II: Dies Irae) and share the impressions we were left with after playing it.

If you would like to see previous materials which I created – mainly on the Part I (HELLAS) of the series – please check my First Impressions article as well as How to Play video. They are also a good introduction into the world of HOTAS and its driving principles.

Enjoy!

About the Game Series

For those preferring video introduction to the series, please check material above.

So imagine you are moved to the Mediterranean Sea during the ancient times – magnificent coasts to be explored and legendary civilizations that rose to power to meet. The game series History of the Ancient Seas is the journey through these exciting times – loosely referring to actual historical events. You will be building new fleets & armies in your cities in order to explore unknown lands, conquer islands and build a great economy and empire.

The campaign will cover three parts to the series:

In HELLAS, the first instalment in the History of the Ancient Seas game series, you will lead one of the great City States – Athens or Sparta. That will be up to 2 players title.
DIES IRAE, the second installment to the series, is a three player game. The Persian Empire, the Greek city states and the mighty Pharaonic Empire of Egypt fought for dominance in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.
In MARE NOSTRUM, the third and final installment in the “History of the Ancient Seas” game series, you will lead one of the great Empire: The Roman Empire, the Mighty Seafarers of Carthage, the Greek City States, Egypt or Persia. That will be an ultimate, 5 player experience.

All actions will be driven by a very clever mechanics, in form of rondel, where only 3 actions of particular type per turn are allowed, no possibility to repeat what opponent just did and maximum 2 actions of same type per player. That really create some very interesting strategic choices!

Looks like a fun? Yup, it was!

Session Reports

We decided with Kuba J and Kuba G to test this time the Part II: Dies Irae. As briefly mentioned above, this is game which places three great civilizations against each other:

  • Persian Empire – Kuba G
  • Greek city states – Michal
  • Pharaonic Empire of Egypt – Kuba J

We have some flexibility as to the set-up – three locations to place capital and then its trading posts. That would of course define the direction we would like to develop to. The victory points are mainly scored for control of Islands and Regions, but there are also other ways to gain them. The full game last till somebody scores 10 VPs, but there are shorter games to 9 and 8 points.

What drives a nice asymmetry in the game is the composition as well as number of armies and fleets, the path each faction takes in on the technology tree or resources they are able to control. You very quickly feel like playing a completely different civilizations -as it should be!

Initial set-up of DIES IRAE. As you can see the full game allows all sides for time to develop peacefully before it will inevitably reach limits to its development by meeting another civilizations… There are also scenarios where the clash is much quicker and much more inevitable.
Who would have fought that the most aggressive and blood thirsty civilization of all will be Egypt, led by usually peacefully inclined Jakub J? Above he obliterates my Trading Post on island of Crete, effectively ceasing all the Greek presence there for the rest of the game.
But that was not the end of the Pharaoh conquests. Very quickly Phoenika was overrun and the true battle – this time with Persia – started. There were some bloody battles there and the province stayed as contested till the end of the game.
This is when we called off the game for a day. As you can see, the whole map and each area has “an owner” – no independent terrains left! My Greeks accumulated a lot of points for control of Regions and Islands but who would know where the game would turn now when we all were at each other throats?

First Impressions

That was a really fun playing Dies Irae. We focused a lot on economical development but some clashes were inevitable. What we took from the play are the following impressions:

  • I love how the asymmetry was achieved in this game – by different composition of forces, starting positions and multiple possibilities to pursue on the technology tree. On one hand, the differences are subtle, on the other – significant enough to have a feeling like leading completely different civilization. This is good!
  • Definitely the action mechanic is very cleverly designed – do not be confused, this is definitely not the regular roundel 🙂 Only 3 actions of particular type per turn, no possibility to repeat what previous player just did and maximum 2 actions of same type per player. That creates fantastic strategic dilemmas, tension and ability to influence what other can do.
  • The components are astonishingly beautiful; the wooden cubes, armies, fleets are simply gorgeous. I also appreciate the map graphics – they are not only great but very clear and crisp – so there is no ambiguity as to what terrain is where, what resource, etc.
  • You need to be aware that there is also an element of bookkeeping here – your income, number of particular resources you have, provinces, islands, etc. You really need to keep this up to date in every moment of the game as it impacts many elements of it. Still, I think this is just as much as I can take so I am fine with it.
  • We felt that the game might be a bit too long – we definitely were inclined to play to 8 VPs but even with this, before you developed the economy and actually clashed with opponents, it was a lengthy process. We saw couple of scenarios which are added to the game (like Alexander the Great) and it seems that they might allow to jump into action almost immediately – we should try them!

To sum up, I enjoyed game very much. It is beautiful, asymmetric, allows both for peaceful and violent development and each time plays differently. Definitely you should try it!