Rome at War - Hannibal at Bay

This is a game I bought from a member from BGG. I like Roman wargames, so this title was a must. It looks really good and resembles Panzer Grenadier but in Roman times.

Teutoburger Wald from Battles of the Ancient World by Decision Games

Teutoburger Wald depicts the battle which took place between three Roman Legions under the command of Govenor Varus, and a confederation of Germanic tribes.

Varus was en-route to winter quarters when he and his three Legions were caught in a cunning trap. Surrounded on all sides, this was to be a battle of pure survival.

The outcome for Varus was not good. He and his three Legions were destroyed, leaving this to be the worst (or very close to) defeat for Rome.

In this game, the victory conditions are quite simple. The Germanic tribes win if they destroy all Roman units by the end of turn 6. Rome wins if there is at least 1 unit left on the map by the end of turn 6 or if at least one unit manages to exit the West side of the map by turn 6.

Romans set up first, then the Germanic tribes, and this is my setup:

White, Yellow, Red and Black units are the Romans. The Germanic tribe start the game.

The biggest tactical issue the Romans faced was space. Their units needed to keep a certain amount of space free behind them to allow for retreat results, as there is no stacking allowed or retreating into EZOC (they would be eliminated otherwise). So counter-attacks were needed even if it just meant forcing the enemy to retreat, as the Romans needed the breathing space.

For the Germanic tribe, it was just a case of "get in tae them" (sorry, my old Scottish phrases coming out) or "get into the bastards!". They just had to attack every Roman unit. Force them back, make them retreat, and hopefully eliminate them when they could not retreat. They also had to make sure no gaps appeared, which would allow any Roman units to make a run for it.

I started the battle, and really, the Romans held their own pretty well for the first two turns, even though they were taking losses.However, the break through for the Germanic tribe came when they more or less destroyed the white XIX Legion, which exposed the Yellow XVIII, causing the Romans to be squeezed into an ever decreasing battle area.

From here on in, the Romans were stuffed. Maybe.

To cut a long AAR short (I like short AAR's), a chink appeared in the Germanic lines, and on the second last turn, after the Germanic tribe had made their moves and attacks, there remained one Roman unit, which decided to make a run for it. And run it did.

In the last turn, the Germanic units which were left were unable to destroy this unit and the Roman unit survived, and snatched victory out of the hands of the Germanic tribe. 

And if that was not an odd twist of fate, the unit that survived was bloody Varus himself! Ha ha ha ha haaaaa.

My Opinion of the game.

I thought it was a good game to play, as it did give you that sense of it was a battle of survival for the Romans, but also it is not a walk in the park for the Germanic tribe either.

Basic standard type rules (move, attack and rally), clean and well presented map, the counters are clean and pretty standard, and the rules were well written and quite clear to understand without having any question marks or queries.

This is classed as a low level of complexity Quad game, and it is, which is nice, as it played really well, and I really enjoyed it. I have no gripes about this game, i played it for what it is and got my enjoyment out of it!