On the Ides of March (15 March) 44BC, ruler of Rome, Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate house by a small group of disaffected senators. After a brief period of confusion, three factions began to emerge to fill the vacuum left by Caesar’s death. The Tyrannicides led by Marcus Junius Brutus and assisted by Gaius Cassius Longinus left Rome and took provinces in the East to govern, there to bide their time, gather strength, and hopefully complete the restoration of the Republic. A second faction under Marcus Antonius, Senior Consul and Caesar’s chief lieutenant, and supported by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, initially attempted to come to an accommodation with the Tyrannicides with the intent securing a power-base in Cisalpine Gaul and subsequently to seize control in Rome. The third faction under Gaius Octavius, Caesar’s nephew and adopted son, was intent upon claiming his inheritance and assuming the position that was Caesar’s in the state. Initially making common cause with Decimus Brutus (a tyrannicide) and the Senate, he attempted to check Antony’s ambitions whilst pursuing a dual agenda of avenging Caesar and assuming primacy in the state. By 30BC, Octavius (later Augustus Caesar) had eliminated all competition and become the undisputed Leader of Rome.

Ides of March is a three-player simulation representing the end of the Roman Republic, with each faction vying for control of the state through both political and military means. As the Leader of one of the three major factions, you control the Leaders, forces, and political resources of your faction in a struggle to win personal control of the machinery of state and thus become “Princeps”, or undeclared Emperor of the Roman World. Rules to play the game with two-players are found at the end of this rulebook.

A shorter Rubicon Module simulates the earlier struggle between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great who was backed by the Senate that ultimately led to Caesar’s victory and assumption of the position of Dictator-for-Life. Each separate game shares a common set of Strategy Cards, with cards specific to period of civil war added the common deck for the play of that module. Players share a force pool of land and special Units, as well as factional naval forces and major Leaders/generals.

Ides of March: The End of the Roman Republic 44BC – 30BC

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