Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have now played twenty or so games of Pocket Battles: Celts vs. Romans, and I absolutely love it, but I didn't at first. It has a moderate learning curve, as the rules are not often immediately clear, and needs a little patience. In my case, I had read the manual several times and was still baffled, so I needed another person---my brother---to play the game with me and help sort out the rules.
He and I played several practice games (which all came to screeching halts and led to furious re-readings of the rules) before we got the hang of things. Once we understood whichever particular rule was in question, we reset the game back to the beginning and tried again. Checking the rules discussions on [...] helped a lot in a few instances, too. The creator of Pocket Battles (Paolo Mori) seems very invested in improving the game, leaving helpful comments and rules clarifications in the BGG forums.
After four or five of those start-stop practice games, we were comfortable enough with the rules to attempt a full game, and we immediately started to enjoy it. A full game usually only lasts a few minutes (it plays very quickly---almost ending TOO quickly at times), but it was fun enough that we wanted to play again right away. We still had to check the rules from time to time, but our thoughts quickly shifted from rules questions to the surprisingly deep strategy elements in the game. This really IS a tiny, fast-playing wargame!
I've been playing strategy-heavy board games for 25 years now (Axis & Allies, Tigris & Euphrates, and everything in between---so I'm not averse to intricate gameplay), and I can honestly say that I now LOVE this game, even though it is occasionally skewed by poor dice rolls (the games never last long enough to worry about that too much). The more you play, it becomes much easier (and more fun) to apply specific (and sometimes oddball) strategies to assembling your armies. The portability of the game is a total bonus.
The manual isn't great, but the answers are there---it's just clunky and hard to follow. It would have been nice to have a full description of each type of unit and maybe have a sample game transcribed, but you'll get it after a few plays. Figuring out the rules may require more patience than some gamers are willing to give, but I'm very glad I stuck with it.
Expansions to this game (a fantasy-themed set, Pocket Battles: Orcs vs. Elves, just came out) will be fully compatible with this one, meaning you can pit the Celts and Romans against armies from other sets without changing the mechanics of the game.
Don't let the initial difficulty deter you---this is a GREAT game that gets better each time you play it.
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A war game that fits in the pocket! When pressed for time and table space and the hankering for battle hits, this is the perfect remedy - and it is portable! Tiles represent troops and troops make up units in your army: just determine the size of the battle and create your own army from a pool of existing troops. Each tile hits on certain rolls, and some can only melee while others can shoot. Some tiles also have special traits which can affect their whole unit or their whole army. Armies fight in three sectors - the battlefield. The goal is to eliminate at least half the value of your opponent's army. Celts vs. Romans is the first in the Ancients line and also the first in the Pocket Battle series. Each Pocket Battles game will feature two armies from a particular era or genre (yes, fantasy and sci-fi, we are looking at you).
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