Hannibal: The Italian Campaign
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Hannibal: The Italian Campaign is a board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1983 that simulates Hannibal's eight-year campaign against Rome during the Second Punic War.
In 218 BCE, Carthaginian general Hannibal undertook a multi-year land campaign against the Republic of Rome, moving his forces from present-day Spain through Gaul to the Alps and thence into the Italian Peninsula. Roman senatorial elections during Hannibal's campaign, especially following significant victories by Hannibal, resulted in changes to Roman leadership with commensurate changes to military strategy.[1]
Description
Hannibal is a two-person wargame in which one player controls the forces of Carthage and the other player controls Roman forces. As game developer Steven Newberg wrote, "the two concepts that struck me as making the game unique were the leadership rotation system used to reflect the Roman political situation, and the movement system, which had to be stretched to allow historical actions for the time scale, but not allow things to get unreal, a problem with a lot of Hannibal games."[2]: 15
Components
The game box contains a 22" x 27" hex grid map of the Italian peninsula, 200 double-sided counters and an 8-page rulebook.[2]: 15
Gameplay
Five pages of rules cover sieges, field and siege combat, recruitment of Gauls, Carthaginian reinforcements, elephants and Roman elections. Each turn representing a year of game time, and the game lasts for eight turns.
Victory conditions
The Roman player gains Victory Points for eliminating Carthaginian units. The Carthaginian player gains Victory Points for eliminating Roman units, but also for controlling provinces and cities at the end of each turn, with special Victory Points for capturing Capua and Tarentum.[2]: 15
The winner is the player who has accumulated the most Victory Points by the end of the game.[2]: 15