Oops. Just realised this game is also in item 9 ("Rome"). Still, this is an alternative way to pick it up, if you can still find the New Games compendium. Just think of all that Roman goodness!

Yes, but how is it?

What do you mean how is it? It's the best game on this list, so far.....

Fun but too simple. It's a card driven racing game that could be placed in any era or venue (Ausgebremst).

My group used to LOVE this game back in the days before the German invasion. Now we are all helpless SpielFreaks and cannot turn back. We pulled this game out recently and realized its not as great as we once thought. The instruction book is quite amusing however, and worth reading for the humor value alone.

My friend had this one when we were kids. There is player elimination as chariots get wrecked or horses get rammed or what have you, but I think it's pretty good. I haven't tried it with a large group, but running 2 chariots each with 3 or 4 players would be pretty fun and allow you to bang each other around quite a bit before people get knocked out. There's also a campaign version that allows you to develop a driver and team more over a series of races complete with betting, bribery and sabotage.

Basically players allocate four points into four categories giving each one a 0,1 or 2. The four categories are Driver Skill, Endurance, Chariot, and Speed. Driver skill is important for whip combat with other drivers and keeping your chariot under control during a difficult manouver. Endurance is important for spurts of speed, taking corners faster than you should, and keeping your horses running fast through to the end of the race. Chariot is how well armed your chariot is and affects how much damage you will do when you ram another chariot or horse team. And speed is just how fast your horses are and how many hits they can take from a ramming chariot before you're really in bad shape.

If everyone picks a fast chariot, the game can get pretty boring though unless the slower heavier chariots manage to catch them early on. If everyone is pretty well armed, the game is a hoot! Be sure to avoid running over flipped chariots but be sure to run over another driver if he survived getting dragged by his horse team and is running for the safety of the wall.

I always have a great time with this one. The rules suffer from AvalonHill-itis (they read like a law book), but the basic principles aren't hard to grasp, and can be explained to newbies with minimal grief.

What makes this work for us is that you can win by speed or by violence. It's great to play with people who get in a funk if they feel they're not winning; they can make everybody else's life miserable by beating the !#$#@! out of them (instead of whining and grousing.)

I wouldn't recommend it to those who want to analyze each move to death. Studying the charts is an exercise in frustration. This game is best played fast and furious: make your move, toss the dice, cheer and/or groan at the results, and move it along.

Linda - I couldn't have said it any better! Thanks!

My favorite tactic is to whip the other guys horses when his chariot is in a corner to make it go so fast that it flips!!

Absolute favorite. Played at a con where each person had a light *and* heavy chariot, and we had a gamemaster to facilitate the rules. HIGHLY recommended -- if someoone knows the rules!

We started playing this game at my club just recently. If is very easy to learn (basicly 5 pgs of rules). As stated, it does not have very detailed combat, but IMHO, just right. We were able to play a race every hour with 6 people. You do need regular playing cards to play (each player requires a set (Ace to 10) for turn priority/MP determination. We are developing a campaign game for this. You do have to mount the counters. I feel this game is well worth the investment.

We started playing this game at my club just recently. If is very easy to learn (basicly 5 pgs of rules). As stated, it does not have very detailed combat, but IMHO, just right. We were able to play a race every hour with 6 people. You do need regular playing cards to play (each player requires a set (Ace to 10) for turn priority/MP determination. We are developing a campaign game for this. You do have to mount the counters. I feel this game is well worth the investment

I am tempted by this one as well, and it seems to be a good price for 3 games.

And if any of the games were ones that you would play more than twice, it would be even more tempting. Alas....

Don't waste your money on this...

I really like this game, but my group is pretty much split - some love it, others hate it. The components are top notch (except for the rather cheap cards): it has big heavy wooden chariot pieces, a thick vinyl board, and wooden movement sticks. The sticks are one of the most innovative and effective movement mechanisms I've seen in a racing game.

The clashes (whipping and ramming) between the chariots is abstracted, which makes the game very quick and easy to play.

All 6 chariots really need to be in the race, otherwise people tend to steer clear of each other. Yes, eliminations are possible, but in my experience they are more often due to driver error rather than malicious intent - although that happens too.

Of course, finding this game at a reasonable price is the tricky part.

This one gets my vote. You will enjoy the game, not get bogged down in rules, and be able to play 2-3 games in an evening no problem. I have AH Circus Maximus, which sits unplayed since no one wants to devote the time to re-learn. Just too much work for what should be easier and more enjoyable. (Others will disagree I'm sure!)
This one has a fantasy theme to it, with the ability to use some spells, etc. You can play with or without them.

But it is a race game at heart, and it is fun. You can play different chariots for variations, the tiles make each race different, and it moves right along. You can't go wrong in my book. Plus, it's not very expensive.

Hope this helps

Thanks Kevin,

I just got the opportunity to play this and was compelled to play it again a few days later.

This is a great little game. For the price you can't go wrong.

Oh, sorry- there can be players eliminated. If the chariot is wrecked twice (takes max damage per side of chariot token). Has not happend yet, but can if players are ganging up on someone, or just plain rotten luck! But as I say, has not happned yet, though there has been some close calls.
Perhaps others who have played can add what their experiences have been.

A good "beer and pretzels" second place to Circus Maximus. Easy rules (skip the optional Magic rules) but lacks the hand-to-hand combat of Circus Maximus.

Cheap if you buy the PDF print-and-play version. May be hard to get a preprinted version.

Can make a really good light entertainment -- lots of fun and silliness. Once the game got going I think that we maintained a constant high level of fun throughout gameplay (it didn't start to drag). Bribing players to play cards was getting very popular. Individual races don't need to be hugely long and saving state between plays wouldn't be hard if you wanted to do a long series of games.

Players can't be eliminated.

Picked up a packaged version quite recently, at a local game con, I think, so Morgan shouldn't have much trouble finding it.