BTW, the title of my review comes from a legend about a creature called the Nereid who confronts Greek sailors with the title question and the title answer is the only one that will satisfy the creature (quoted from the Holt book listed at the end of this review)
Take a journey back in time, and campaign with the Great King!
Field Commander: Alexander is a solitaire game consisting of 4 operational campaigns (Granicus, Issus, Tyre, and Gaugamela) that can be combined to create a grand strategy game that tests your skills and abilities to bring Alexander the immortality through which he will be remembered throughout the ages. Each turn, the player will move/activate the enemy forces through the use of force and operation mechanisms and then move the Macedonian Army across the depicted campaign are in an effort to capture key areas, either places where significant battles took place or powerful cities that the opponents used to govern their empire. At the end of each turn, the player must decide what to do in terms of building up his military strength or undertaking projects that will increase his stature and his glory for the ages to come. But be warned! Campaigning costs money, so you must plan shrewdly when spending those hard earned talents! In the end, victory is assessed by how quickly you conclude a campaign and immortality is determined by victory points, political skill, and how much glory you have covered Alexander with for the given campaign. Victory can then be assessed either on an individual campaign basis or in terms of the four campaigns put together. The real questions becomes: can you make the memory of Alexander the Great live as long or longer than the Great King himself? Or will you fail pitifully and cause Alexander to be remembered for only a short time?
Playing Time: This will vary depending on the scenarios. In my experience of 15 plays (with at least 3 plays of each scenario) I find that the Granicus and Tyre play quite fast, about 30-35 minutes roughly, while Issus takes a bit longer (1hr roughly) and Gaugamela takes the longest given the massive armies Alexander must face (roughly 1hr to 90 minutes). All these times can be reduced by the skillful play of the skills that Alexander can acquire in a given campaign or accumulate over time if you are linking the four games together. There is no doubt in my mind that one can hammer out Granicus or Tyre for a nice, quick evening of play.
Map: The game comes with four very beautiful mounted map boards (a discreet pause for the inevitable cheers of the mounted map board crowd)
Each map is divided into regions, thus making the game one of area movement. The maps have a nice background design to them and the pivotal areas that the player needs to conquer are clear and easy to read. The maps also have various charts on them, including the turn track, operations areas for the enemy, the set up for each campaign, and variants that one can try to rack up more VP! The maps are fairly small and fold easily. There are well done and do the job without being busy and retain just the right amount of aesthetic value.Counters: The counters in the game are all the nice, juicy 5/8 size
and depict both the major armies (Macedonian, Persian, Indian) with each one depicting the unit and a single digit combat value, as well as the various sundry items that go with this historical time period such as prophecy, insight, advisors, and gold to name a few. There are also battle plan counters for the armies to utilize. The counters are very colorful and easy to read, especially the various armies. It is easy to tell from a distance which army is which and, IMO, that is always the trait of a good wargame!Rules: The rules are designed to make the player feel his campaigning right with Alexander or, for those extremely ambitious, makes the player feel like he is Alexander himself!
Each turn, the player follows a sequence of play that has the games system dictate what the enemy will do with the forces on the board as well as allow the enemy to build up forces for deployment. Some campaigns have only one area where these build up forces can arrive once they hit the launch stage while others have various strongholds that can be reinforced by these new arrivals. Once the player completes the enemy moves, it is now time to grasp the reins of Bucephalus and lead the Macedonians into glory! Each turn, the player can move the forces of Alexander a number of areas which is limited only by his ability to pay (in gold) or in forces (by taking hits). Thus, the Macedonians can march all over the board or be limited by the vicissitudes of fate and/or poor planning. As the Macedonians enter areas where the enemy is present, he can engages the forces there either in battle (and must do so for a battle area) or through intimidation using a variety of assets both personal and military in nature. If battle is joined, then both Alexander and the enemy receive battle plans to both maximize their attack (like flanking plans), keep forces in the battle (like charge plans), or help him absorb some of those vicious blows (like rally). The battle procedure is a little different than other wargames as the speed of the units is taken into account and the player applies the hit(s) of the current attacking group before he moves onto the next speed group in decending order. The player determines how to land the hit(s) on both the enemy forces as well as his own. The game also depicts the nature of cavalry in its battle procedure by having cavalry units attack every other turn, reflecting charges and time needed to reorganize the cavalry after one of those rumbling charges. Along with all this, the player can decide whether Alexander will take on the opposing leader or dish out punishment on the enemy army. Do not kid yourself: you CAN get Alexander killed in this game if you make poor decisions (trust me, I have done so twice in my 15 plays. Oh the shame! 
The military units in the game cover the whole range of ancient warfare forces from cavalry to archers to siege engines to walls to the vaunted Macedonian phalanx which has its own special battle rules. Players of Field Commander: Rommel will also find the superscript combat rule here allowing a unit to land two hits with one mighty assault. Once combat ends, Alexander must choose to govern or raze and can then continue on if he is capable. Once this part of the turn is complete, Alexander collects his income and can then build things, like forces, cities, and temples as well as use the glory he accumulated from this and other turns to gain insights which can help with future operations and battles or gain the assistance of key advisors and use their abilities to augment his own. One of the key parts of rules deals with the prophecies. Each campaign set up details how many of these are to be placed on the map. Alexander can then either accept or reject them. If he accepts, he then must fulfill that prophecy to gain glory, but if he fails, there can be dire consequences including losing the campaign! And Alexander will need this glorification not only to help you reach the highest level possible to guarantee that Alexander will be remembered long after he has died, but also to strengthen Alexander so he can survive the rigors of the campaign and the punishment of battle. Unlike other wargames, getting Alexander immortality is the key to victory so you can kill dozens of the enemy, but if you do not fulfill prophecies and watch your political status and prestige, you can win the battle and lose the war (so to speak
)In other words, Alexander really operates at two levels, the military where you use strategy to win battles and capture key points, the political/PR level where you try to gain immortality so your name will echo across the ages to come!
Things I like about the game:
● The layered decision making. You really have to think about a variety of elements, both political and military in order to do well.
● The 5/8 counters and area movement. In a game like this, they both work very well!
● The feel. You really feel like Alexander as you march through these campaigns, conquering everything in sight, making key decisions, and holding your army altogether at once.
● The clear and concise rules. In 15 plays, I have only had a few questions regarding the rules. Most issues can be cleared up with common sense or a careful reading of the rules. Whoever proofread the rules did excellent work, IMO.
● The challenge. Can you make Alexander’s memory last as long as he himself did?
● Flexibility. Each campaign game is a game in itself so you either just whip out Tyre and see how quick you can lay that city low or string them altogether to test your strategic ability. The other nice thing is that, with the log and specific campaign set up, you can easily play one scenario, record a few key facts on the log, put the game away and set up the next campaign the next night no sweat!
● The prophecy mechanism. This lends an air of mystery to each game thus increasing replay value.
● The combat sequence. This does a nice job of depicting ancient warfare with its speed and hits elements. So you can decide to use the Companion Cavalry to hit the enemy infantry after the enemy cavalry just blew it! To me, this simulates the various ways one can deploy their army, and allows the player to increase the difficulty if he likes by having his hits strike the weakest enemy forces first or allows him to hammer the enemy strength if he likes as well. This is again an element that allows for increased replay value.
Things that can be annoying:
● The enemy armies never move. While I do understand the logistics of moving massive forces in the ancient world, the enemy did move against Alexander from time to time. The Issus Campaign is a good example where Darius came down behind Alexander on his supply lines. Perhaps a one area move when Alexander comes adjacent could have been used? Or maybe a rule that kept the enemy army off the board until Alexander entered the space, giving some degree of uncertainty? It just doesn’t feel right to have the enemy just stand there, IMO.
● The rules with the walls. While the majority of the rules are well done, the walls are a little murky. They are forces, but cannot attack so Alexander could kill the enemy units in the same space with the walls and then ignore the walls so they don’t really force you to build siege engines unless there get to be more than one of them.
● The Tyre Campaign seems a little too easy to me. Of the four, it is the one I have had to make the least decisions and had the least trouble winning. Perhaps there could have been two repair walls result????
Overall Evaluation:
=wargamer heaven! 
=I’d rather staple my tongue to the wall for a month! Map=
Simply put, the maps are brilliant and works of art, and yes, mounted! Which means little to me, but I know some of you out there just salivate like Pavlov’s Dog at the thought! 
Counters=
Very colorful, easy to tell armies apart. Rules=
Despite the slight issue with the walls, the rules remain concise, conceptually sound for ancient warfare, IMO, and easy to understand. A careful read of the rule(s) in question can clear up most questions with no need to resort to other resources. Playing Time:
(Granicus, Tyre) (Issus, Gaugamela). Compared to most wargames the playing time is very short, but I like to give as precise guesstimates as possible since I know many gamers are pressed for time.Deployment of Forces=
Takes only a matter of minutes to do this. 5 max, IMO. Order of Battle is easy to read and counter clarity does the rest.Overall=
In the final analysis, this game is a blast! First, you get to feel just like Alexander and many, many a gamer has dreamed of doing just that and this game will satisfy that urge. Second, the clear and logical rules make it a joy to play. Third, the multiple layers make replay value very high. So many decisions to make and the clock is constantly ticking! And each decision can have grave consequences if one is not careful, especially those prophecy ones. Fourth, the game can be simple (play one campaign) or elaborate (link them). There is a big difference, IMO, in the ability to link the scenarios in this game as opposed to Field Commander: Rommel. Alexander just seems to fit snugly, while Rommel has always felt a little forced to me. Finally, the quality of the components is superb! Bottom line: this is a game that will reward both the gamer interested in Alexander and the die hard Alexander enthusiasts like me (truth be told: Alexander the Great has been one of my heroes since I read a book about him at roughly the age of 8). The thrill of following Alexander on campaign and the challenging decisions to made in a variety of areas makes this game a winner and keeper!BTW, for those interested in Alexander, here are some titles from my personal library that one may want to check out!
The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian
Plutarch’s Lives
Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C. by Peter Green
Alexander the Great by Lane Fox
Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge
Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions by Frank Holt
The Generalship of Alexander the Great by J.F.C. Fuller
I highly recommend the Fuller book. Very detailed with lots of meaty analysis. Excellent read!
Posted Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:45 am
