Omtimates et Populares
A game for 2 players by <PERSON>
"History may not repeat itself but it does rhyme, and every gloss by a deconstructionist need not be a loss, pushing us further into an abyss of skepticism and indeterminacy."
<PERSON> in Feminist Milton (1987)
Introduction
Optimates et Populares (O&P from here on out) is game #11 in the ongoing series of really interesting games being published by still recent enough to be called new publisher Hollandspiele.
The game is about the power struggle between two deadlocked partisan factions that are vying for power to serve their own self-interest.
The game is available as a print and play from Wargamevault.com or you can order it as a print on demand game from Hollandspiele's website.
Components
This is one of those deceptive games where you get some stuff in the box and don't realize just how much game is there. It's almost like an inverse ratio - you buy some KS game with 3000 minis and there really isn't a game there...
Photo by the designer.
... but here we have just a couple of boards to track things, a few counters, and a set of rules and then you have to play the thing and learn it.
I have the newer design of the boards which has a less busy mosaic background.
More up to date
I really like the mosaic pattern of the board. The colour contrast despite initial appearances works very well.
And completely tangentially, if you like mosaic art of the Roman era, in a church in Bari from around the the start of the 11th century in the basement they discovered this lovely work.
In a Christian church basement in Bari, Italy
The game has few enough components that it would be worthwhile making a board out of actual tile pieces and finding/crafting some nice wooden pawns for the various pieces (in their correct colours) for what would be a truly stunning coffee table display.
The rules are, as has been the case for every Hollandspiele title I've had the pleasure of reading, well written, clear, concise, and not without a deft touch of humour here and there to brighten up what could be dull text. No mean feat at the best of times.
Rules & Game Play
The heart of O&P is a political struggle between the two players, with one taking on the mantle of the Optimates, broadly the privileged elites (for some value of privileged and elite), and the other the Populares, broadly the "impoverished, hungry masses", for some value of impoverished and hungry.
The game uses a system of political will points, which are spent to perform a variety of actions, in order to tilt things your way.
You can influence, nudge, or bribe senators. You can intimidate them too with an unruly mob. You can murder senators (they were somewhat more direct back in the day).
You can give the people what they want, or what they think they want. 92
Bread and circuses (panem et circenses).
You can pass or prevent the passing of legislation to take from the poor to give to the rich and vice versa (note here that I'm taking great liberties with what the rules actually say and putting in a bit of political satire into the mix - politics is a dirty dirty business).
And then there are the elections. Elections are good! They will give your people, the right people, money and the all important victory points! Elections cover consuls (based on senate influence), tribunes (based on people of Rome), quaestor (based on legions), and the aedile (based on merchants). All of these factions have members that can be flipped to one side or the other based on other actions you take, and feed into your grand master plan which is to retain power (and earn victory points).
The beauty of this game is that there isn't any kind of simple guidepost on how to spend your points wisely nor is it readily apparent what the best next move will be.
The game ends when one of the following triggers happens. Either...
... one player has hit 50VP, or is 20VP or more ahead of their opponent, or
... one player has managed to get three of the four legislative agendas to their side of the track.
The latter is a key strategic element in the game, for while you are struggling to gain influence over and support from the people, the merchants, the military, and the senate, there are four legislative issues that are key overarching policy issues. For the sake of reference, they are the Italic Franchise (citizenship and voting rights for Rome's allies), the Grain Dole (panem et circenses), Debt Relief (we've seen this movie before, er, since), and Agrarian Reform. 237