Continuing the series of 2-player light games (dare I call this one a filler game, though some of them do), here I'm with Caesar & Cleopatra, perhaps a highly debated game- Do I like or Not?
If you have read my previous reviews say Lost Cities, Balloon Cup etc. This game is definitely deeper than those, however why is it that it is not highly ranked by people and lot of people want to trade it? Answers lie below!
I saw this game for the 1st time durng my visit to the game store 'Games People Play'- Harvard Square. I got interested, but did not venture out to buy this one. However after almost an year and having played Lost Cities and Balloon Cup to death decided to read about this game on the Boardgame geek and then asked a friend of mine to get it for me from the States :-)
After having played this game for more than 60 times, I started asking myself- Do I really like this game as much as I used to when I got it? The frank answer to that was a "No", but I still play it occasionally. I don't play it as often as I used to play just because I go games that are better than this. However let me take you through this interesting game and leave the final verdict to you guys :-)
Caesar & Cleopatra- by Wolfgang Lüdtke
Lüdtke is a banker by training and profession and started collecting and reviewing games and moved on to creating games now (something that I aspire to do- the creating part).
The game says this is a game of influence and politics. In this game a player can either choose to take Cleopatra or Caesar. Each one comes with a set of cards, though the nomenclature is different both sets are the same with same functionalities. Like with any other Rio Grande games the quality of cards are excellent, though the size seems very odd and makes it a little hard to shuffle. The art work is neat and very thematic with the Caesar and Cleopatra age. However this in itself is its downside as the game fizzles out on the theme. Though we are talking about politicians, winning them on your side to gain a majority, all that transaltes to having a larger sum on your side compared to your opponent(smaller sum in case of a 'Philosoper' card).
The objective of the game is to win as many Roman particians on your side using your cards, tact and skill so that the winner gets to keep Egypt!
There is definite tactical depth and variety, but the randomness seems to take away a large portion of the tactics (More about this in the next section). This game will appeal to a lot of people who would want to try out a slightly more complicated game than say Lost Cities and seek more variety. It by no means is a game that is bad or somthing that you'll absolutely detest owning (though few people have that opinion ;-)..) Not me though!
What do you get in the Box?
Cards, cards and cards. This game is all about bunch of cards:
- You get 37 influence cards for each player (Caesar & Cleopatra)
- 13 Action cards for each player- don't worry about the names, they are all the same
- 6 influence bonus cards
- 8 vote of confidence cards
- 21 patrician divided into 5 groups (3 groups of 5 cards and 2 groups of 3 cards)
How does it Play?
There are a few things that you do right at the beginning:- Each person takes the influence cards for his charecter i.e. Caesar or Cleopatra and seperates out 2 sets of cards numbered 1-5. One set he places face down in front of the partcians and the other in his hand
- Each person arranges the 13 action cards in an order that he wants to use them throughout the game (this btw is a very good mechanic and gives players some tactical advantage)
- Each player also takes one influence bonus card, which tells him which group he needs to win a majority to score the bonus
- He then shuffles the vote of confidence cards and keeps them in a different stack and shuffles the rest of his influence cards
- On your turn, you can choose to be either active or passive (though I've not seen many being passive)
- If you are active then you can play 2 cards face up in front of any of the patrician groups or play a single card face down
- He may with the influence cards play an action card anytime during his turn
- If there are a total of 8 cards both sides put together, you count the toal and the higest total gains a patrician card from that particualr group (remember that you can have only a maximum of 5 cards on your side- if that is the case your opponent can have only 3!)
- There is a special influnce card called the philosopher card which reveres this rule and give a patrician card to the player with the lowest total.
- Once you place your cards on your turn, irrespective of the number of cards you draw one of the vote of confidence cards and see which group needs to be scored (this btw is a spoiler and wI'll tell you why in just a bit)
- 1 point for each patrician
- 1 extra point if you have a majority in a group (3 cards for a 5 member group and 2 cards for a 3 member group)
- 1 extra point if you have won all the cards in a particular group
- 2 extra points for winning a majority in a group that matches your infuence bonus card
How long does this play?
As it is printed on the box, thi takes about 30-40 minutes. The game plays fast and keeps you occupied with very little downtime. With 13 actioncards that you can arrange it the way you want allows for a fair bit of tactics and variety. However this game is definitely not deep enough for keeping you engaged for long periods of time. This is no brain burner, but at the same time not a dud that you play it blindfolded. I would say this game is liht-medium in its weight and lies somewhere betwen a filler and a full fledged game. Requires a little bit of learning to get used to the ction cards and how to stack them.
Who would I recommend it to?
Definitely not to everyone. This is a game that people who do not want very heavy games like. It can be entertaining and exercising your grey cells a little bit. I would say this game is suitable for people to play it once in a hile, if they don;t want to play very light games. You play this and then perhaps move onto something more serious (just to se the mood right hahahaha). This game can be a good get away game as it is just a set of cards and hence good to carry along- though you have to like it first.
People who play a lot of 2 player games may find this a nice change and addition to their collection as simpler to 'Hera and Zeus" (Don't quote on me as this is what people say, I don't have Herta and Zeus so can't take a stab at that one)
Any Downsides?
Apart from the odd sized cards and funny names, the game has some serious shortcomings:
- The vote of confidence can absolutely annoy you as it is completely random and can screw up your plans (mind you for people liking randomness this is great). The great idea of having action cards that adds so much variety is in a way lost out due to the vote of confidence cards
- There is no theme and you end up using just the numbers, so the entire artwork goes waste
- Requires some learning as the action needs to be arranged smartly, else you can pay quaite a hefty price as you cannot have more than 5 cards in your hands and having an action inappropriate to the game situation can really hurt you (say having a scout right at the end)
This game is another one which blows hot and cold for me. Up until recently I used to like this game a lot, but after playing Battle Line and some other games that I'll talk about in the coming weeks the interest level has gone down. But I don't see myself getting rid of this game any time in the near future as this keeps hitting the table once every couple of months!
For more detailed reviews please visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/63/thing/132
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