Piero S. P.
Italy
Florence
Tuscany
"If our gods and our hopes are nothing but scientific phenomena, then it must be said that our love is scientific as well." - L'Eve Future
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Named after the third Roman Emperor, Caligula plunges you deep in the murky halls of the powers behind the throne.
With this review I'll try to help you decide if you would like to buy this game. 
There are aspects of any game that may turn you off, lets see some of these:
CONTROVERSE THEME: in the game you assume the role of a conspirator set to negotiate with other like minded people such as you to bring down - assassinate - the Emperor in charge, to the advantage of an other one that may be more favorable to you.
The art is, in this respect, quite explicit:
even if the box cover says that it is a 14 up game, for the above reasons, it may not be completely suited to be a family game.
LONG TIME SETUP: the game can be setup in 5 minutes and explained to new people in under half an hour.
LONG TIME PLAY: when you get to come at ease with the mechanics of the game, 4 people may play within an hour.
FIDDLY RULES: the manual needs to be read at least a couple of times over to understand the game completely, it is not very clear as it presumes that you know stuff that hasn't been explained yet. In any case, there are a lot of examples, that explain the most important mechanics of the game. Once got through this part, there is little need to consult the manual during games.
DOWNTIME: there is no significant downtime to this game. Each player needs to put a token before he can pass to the next one. Turns this way are very fast.
BRAIN BURNING: the game may have a potential for analysis paralysis, in making your decisions, usually tough choices, there are sometimes too many things to keep in mind at once.
LANGUAGE DEPENDENCY: the game comes with 5 users' manuals in different languages (English, German, Italian, Spanish), and the cards have abstract symbols, so it is a non-language dependent game.
LEADER BASHING & KINGMAKING: there may be both in this game. Leader Bashing can be done but it is relatively difficult to even things out once there is a set advantage of one player. Kingmaking is far more easier.
DOES THE GAME WORK WELL IN SMALL NUMBERS OF PLAYERS: I think the game really shines in 5 or 4, I wouldn't recommend it in lower numbers.
OK, now you might have understood if you don't dislike this game, lets see if you're going to like it.
COMPONENTS: I find this game to have very high quality components, they look both sleek and durable. Nevertheless the game could have come in a smaller box.
THEME: graphically the theme is deep (one minor trivia: the characters depicted, even if historically set far apart, were all actually assassinated). As for the mechanics of the game, theme is quite thin.
GAMEPLAY: you randomly set the 5 CIVITAS decks:
these represent different aspects of the ancient Roman society. You take turns to place your markers - which are numbered from -1 to 4 on these cards. Most of these give you some sort of advantage, like the ability to draw from one of two decks: the conspiracy deck and the "pugio" (knife) deck. Other cards take something from you if you don't meet some requirements. All of this has to be evaluated in the light of the SEQUENTIA, the order - even this randomly set at the start of the game - with which the cards are going to be resolved once everyone has put their markers. So a very powerful and expensive card may be easily canceled by a cheap one before it comes to fruition. There is a lot of space here for foul play... 
PLAYER INTERACTION: during the SEQUENTIA, the conspirators get to try to kill the Emperor so that they may acquire victory points by doing so, and getting the favor of the upcoming Emperor who gives them victory points for as long as he manages to live! 
Dealing and wheeling is rife during the conspiracies that overshadow the assassination of an Emperor, and backstabbing more than common. Nevertheless I think that backstabbing is less devastating such as in games like Diplomacy. There is in fact no player elimination.
REPLAYABILITY: as the CIVITAS decks are all random, random is the SEQUENTIA of play and random is the starting order of the players, every game can have many combinations. I would rate high the replayability of this game.
DOES "SHE" LIKE IT: will your wife, girlfriend, like it? I played a couple of times so I cannot tell. I've got mixed results. For as much that I could see, as long as the game keeps to its marker placement it is all fine. When it comes to deal brokering, and betrayal, things may change. The behavior of your gaming group may be a very influential factor, more than the mechanics of the game.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: the price is very low averaging around 20$ it offers more bang for the buck than other games of the same genre.
GLOBAL ASSESSMENT: if you like political and negotiation games you'll find this game to your liking.
If you are looking for a fast, high production values and cheap game, do not look any further.
"The rest is history" 
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Damiano Ferraro
Italy
Bagno a Ripoli
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Nice to play with you @ Luccacomics
:)
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UA Darth
United States
Garwood
New Jersey
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What about luck? How much is there?
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Piero S. P.
Italy
Florence
Tuscany
"If our gods and our hopes are nothing but scientific phenomena, then it must be said that our love is scientific as well." - L'Eve Future
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I would say that there is a luck factor to this game. But it is a low luck factor.
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Piero S. P.
Italy
Florence
Tuscany
"If our gods and our hopes are nothing but scientific phenomena, then it must be said that our love is scientific as well." - L'Eve Future
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Ok, in my next reviews I'll integrate:
LUCK FACTOR
EURO OR AMERITRASH?
Thanks for the suggestions!
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0,07 Geek Gold
Italy
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Nice review! Thanks... Just a question did you play a 2players game? In case, how is it?
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Piero S. P.
Italy
Florence
Tuscany
"If our gods and our hopes are nothing but scientific phenomena, then it must be said that our love is scientific as well." - L'Eve Future
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james_bond wrote: Nice review! Thanks... Just a question did you play a 2players game? In case, how is it?
No, we played only four player games. Sorry.
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"If our gods and our hopes are nothing but scientific phenomena, then it must be said that our love is scientific as well." - L'Eve Future
