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[craig]

Everything is on schedule for the March 2010 release of the game. We will have mounted boards and a real game box. Work on the die cutter is progressing, and will hopefully be complete later this month. Not only will we be able to die cut the counters for this game, but all the other half inch counters we print also.

A little overview of the game: There are 24 turns to each campaigning season, and there are 8 years to the campaign game. There are optional rules for supply, money, and politics. The game plays very well solitaire, and some of the key optional rules are geared for that.

The board is 22x28 but the game easily consumes a 2.5x6ft table with all the counters, charts, and reference material. There is a lot of hidden strategy in this game also. The Roman player has a lot of options, as well as the Gaul player, and sometimes the order in which these things are combined can make a real difference in the play of the game. The historical events are difficult to repeat because Gauls typically massed their troops into one large formation that the Romans could then crush all at once. Players would not usually do this, dividing up the hordes of Gauls into multiple coordinated attacks is more logical to game play. This also forces the Roman to do the same. Historically there just wasn't enough command and control on the Gaul side to do this. The terrain is sometimes important too, and a cleverly placed attack that requires the enemy to retreat can be planned to destroy them instead. The variety of strategy in the game is fun to implement, and can sometimes backfire. We've seen key leaders killed or captured, 2-1 attacks by legions sometimes have their ass handed back to them in chunks, it can be quite entertaining at times. We've seen Eagles captured on the first Gaul turn, and hordes of Germans occupy all of Belgium with the Roman having to sit and watch due to pressure from Gauls. Play testing the campaign game has been very exciting, often chomping at the bit to get back to it just to see what will happen next.

The introduction of rolling 2 dice for combat has been something we've been kicking around for some time now. Rolling a single d6 provides only 6 numbers that occur with equal frequency. 2 die added together create a statistical parabolic curve, and reduce the heavy impact that die roll modifiers can have on a combat. The Roman player can have up to a +5 for attacks and then be able to get an additional +3 from the tactical cards. We haven't seen that yet, but it is possible. The Gaul player can get up to +3 for attacks in clear terrain, plus the tactical cards. They have other advantages for wearing down legions also. The game is a lot less one sided than the historical war, which is good for play balance. There are also optional rules that affect play balance too.

Some things that are different to this game are: No stacking limitations, a combat playing aid (this is where the stacking comes into effect), morale checks, and routs. An average turn with 3 attacks per side can take half an hour, some turns can be 5 minutes. Players should be able to get through an entire campaigning season in 4-6 hours, with the winter changes taking about a half an hour.

We are looking forward to the release of the game, and to see the public reaction to it. We think it will be an instant hit. This is not a game you will want to leave on your shelf. Its a shame that the General is no longer published, there would surely be a lot of articles to write on gambits, strategies, and tactics.

[craig]

A little update on the play testing. I finally had a chance to invade Britain. Subdued the southern half of the island the first year with only 2 legions. Second year lost an eagle there and had to evacuate after recovering it. Third year got one legion across the channel and couldn't send any more due to bad weather and revolts in Belgium. Lost half of the legion before a relieving force could be sent. It was a miracle it held on so long. Like Caesar, I'll have to send 10 legions over there to pacify the 9 tribes. I've only got 8 legions right now, I need more badly. As soon as I can get the Belgian tribes in line, Vercengeterix is going to show up. This is no cake walk. The naval fleet rules are working out very nicely. The Gaul fleets actually blockaded my port in Britain until I could beef mine up, then I was able to defeat half of them and get a relieving force thru. A big gamble since I could have lost an entire legion on the water if the battle went badly. I'm very pleased with the way this game is working out.

[ghwmd1]

Okay, I just sent $100 off via paypal....what will the final price + shipping (here in the US) be? Are you still thinking March?

[craig]

We are very much on target for March, but it will probably be the last week. Everything is coming together nicely with the die press and the die for cutting the counters. I will probably be able to easily offer custom counters for people, with or without their own artwork, and have them die cut to boot. Minimum order quantity of 1. You don't see that anywhere else. I'm really looking forward to finishing this game, and I'll be in Phoenix all next week, so things are going to be tight. There has been a lot of stress involved with this project, and I'm looking forward to getting back to work on other things.

[craig]

Well......

You were all expecting this.....

Caesar in Gaul is not going to ship in March. I had to sub out the boards, boxes and counters to a printer. The boards and boxes will arrive at my factory on March 31st. The counters should follow a few days later. I do have the rules finished, just one final review left. The scenarios will be finished this week and final proofing next week.

It looks like games will actually begin shipping on April 5th. My goal is to get 5 games out each day to get caught up with the advance orders. I suspect they will all be at the post office by April 10th. They will ship in numerical order.

Sorry about the delay, but its better than some I've heard of.

[craig]

Its looking like the first 10 games are going to actually hit the Post Office Monday April 12th. Next week will be dedicated to the Japan order for 20 games, and as many more as I can get out. Some items have been delayed this week, but everything is in order now. Its taken a week longer than I thought, but implementation doesn't always go as planned. All the advanced orders should be out over the next 14 days. This has been a much larger task than I expected, and there is a lot more printed material than I thought there would be - 28 pages of rules, 18 pages of scenarios, and other game charts etc. The printed game looks really nice too. The deluxe games will come with 2x counters, plus the variant counters, and a black leather type board backing. I plan to also include a CD with some of the charts on it so players can reprint some items themselves.