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On the Ides of March 44 BCE; Julius Caesar was assassinated. In the power vacuum, you vie for control of the Roman Republic. With no clear leader in place, the Senate awards Imperium Maius to one of your rivals. You must scheme, conspire and backstab to increase your Imperium. The Senate will observe the shifts in power and grant Imperium Maius to the most powerful leader. At last, the Senate will be forced to concede, one leader has an insurmountable amount of Imperium! The Roman Empire will be born and a new Caesar will be crowned! Will it be you?
44 BCE is a rotating all-on-one strategy game for 2-5 players aged 14 and up.
In this dramatic, emotion provoked, immersive gameplay, you are one of five suitors, Agrippa, Brutus, Cleopatra, Mark Antony, or Octavian, competing to become the first Emperor of Rome. Each year the Imperium Maius will compete against the Suitors to maintain control of the republic.
To succeed, you must collaborate with the other suitors but remain on the lookout for every opportunity to gain an advantage over your fellow competitors and slash them down. If you succeed, the Senate will declare you Imperium Maius for the next year.
After clashing it out over six years (rounds), the player with the most Imperium will be anointed the first Roman Emperor!
- Intrigue and challenge come from player interaction and negotiation.
- Cooperation is actively rewarded among suitors.
- Euro-style engine-building with varied specialization and scoring objectives.
- Scoring across six rounds rewards buildings, cards, and tiles.
- political power struggle in the late Roman Republic
- final years of the Roman Republic after Julius Caesar's death
- asymmetric, negotiation-driven political intrigue with one player as Imperium against multiple suitors
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- battle field resolution with fields — Each round includes fields of battle (political, military, social) with asymmetric victory conditions.
- building engine-building — Building upfront provides engine-building and scoring objectives.
- Engine Building — Building upfront provides engine-building and scoring objectives.
- enlist recruit cards — Players spend influence to enlist recruit cards.
- Hand Management — Players manage a hand as a core mechanics element.
- imperium vs suitors dynamic — One player acts as Imperium vs the group of suitors in a one-versus-many dynamic.
- Negotiation — Players negotiate with others; cooperation is rewarded.
- Resource Management — Influence cubes and coins are used to build and recruit.
- resource/influence management — Influence cubes and coins are used to build and recruit.
- round-based phase structure — Each round has multiple phases, including build, production, enlist, discard, and battle resolution.
- Variable Phase Order — Each round has multiple phases, including build, production, enlist, discard, and battle resolution.
- Worker Placement — A worker placement mechanic is part of the action economy.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- 44 bce is set in the final years of the roman republic after the death of julius caesar
- it's a political struggle so keep your friends close and your enemies closer
- the game is all about negotiation among the suitors because cooperation is actively rewarded
- there's also euro style engine building with building giving you different specialization and scoring objectives
- each round has nine phases
- if you give someone a cube you might be giving them the authority they need to win high scoring tiles