Rise of Rome reviewed by The General's Tent

Rise of Rome is the first companion for Osprey and Slitherine’s Field of Glory wargame. The companion focuses mainly on army lists, with enough potted history to break up the large number of lists for the various forces covered in the book. Interestingly, there are more enemies of Rome than Roman army lists in the book.

The book claims that it is complete with Army Lists, Historical Overviews and Maps. I wouldn’t call the selection of maps complete by any stretch, most notably a map of the kingdoms the book covers. There are two maps: the Siege of Alesia and the Battle of Trebbia. Neither are explained in the surrounding text or captioned. The Siege of Alesia is mentioned simply as the culmination of Gaius Julius Caesar’s conquest of the Gauls. The Battle of Trebbia is noteworthy because the book says Hannibal’s elephants all died following it.

Let it not be said that the book fails in its goal, which is to provide army lists for use with the Field of Glory wargame. It does this well. I mentioned that it contains more lists of enemies than it does for Rome. This is a very good thing, as the authors focuses more on a time frame and geography rather than a single nation. If you want to fight a battle around the Mediterranean in the time of Republican Rome you will find an army list to help you out. The lists are clear by Field of Glory standards and are organized by the game line’s signature sidebar.

Like the main rulebook, the companion features many pictures of painted miniatures as well as reprinted plates from past Osprey titles in full colour throughout. There is also an index which performs a similar function to the table of contents in the front, due to each army taking up only 3-6 pages. However, the maps and illustrations are included in the index, if they were ever needed for reference.

The lack of actual historical information is the book’s main failing, though completely excusable and expected. Undoubtedly there are many references available for gamers looking for more information. To pad the book with more detail would have diluted its purpose. However, a better direction may have been to include more details about the troops and less condensed histories. Realistically, for the intents and purposes of fielding a Pontic army, I care more about what a Thureophoroi looked and fought like - the better to find suitable miniatures - than I do about the history of the Pontic people. Personally, I find it much easier to find histories than descriptions of soldiers and equipment.

Weighed objectively, this is a minor quibble over a book which fulfils its stated purpose with style. It is very easy to fill the book with descriptions of soldiers, their equipment, tactics, histories, battles until the point where the book is so bloated it no longer provides an easy reference and must be split into separate volumes each costing $22.95 CAN MSRP. I would rather have all the lists I need for a specific period in a single book rather than a library of books which each merely amount to a page or two of tables.

I say the book is well worth purchasing for all Field of Glory players interested in the period. It gives comprehensive lists for Rome, its allies and enemies.

I am not an expert in this period, but based on the Themed Tournaments appendix, the following lists are missing from the book: Thracian, Syracusan, Galatian, Hellenistic Greek, Ancient British and Early German. I imagine that this is because they are better covered in other books, notably Immortal Fire: The Ancient Greeks at War and Legions Triumphant: Imperial Rome at War. The Field of Glory website lists which armies each book covers.
 
From: The General's Tent