Chandragupta: Great Battles of the Mauryan Empire is the 13th volume in GMT Games’ long-running Great Battles of History series, designed by Stephen R. Welch under the series framework created by Richard Berg and Mark Herman. It is a hex-and-counter game that brings the ancient warfare system to India for the first time, tracing Chandragupta Maurya’s rise from a small band of mercenaries challenging the Nanda dynasty to the expulsion of Seleucus I from the Indus valley, and on to his grandson Ashoka’s brutal conquest of Kalinga.
The game leans into what made ancient Indian warfare distinct: the “four-fold” military structure, with elephants as the dominant force on the battlefield, chariots holding onto their prestige even as cavalry starts to prove more versatile, and light infantry often serving as little more than a speed bump for both. Across its eight scenarios you get everything from open-field set-piece battles to a night raid on a military camp and close-quarters street fighting in the city of Takshashila, which keeps the tactical puzzle fresh from one battle to the next even within the same historical army system.
Here is a look at the game on the table:
Enjoy!