Starting Position

Each player can be either a poor member of the old nobility (like Julius Caesar or Cornelius Sulla), or a rich member of the current upper class nobility (like Mettelus or Caepio), or a rich ‘new man’ (like Gaius Marius or Marcus Crassus). Roll d6.

1,2 - Old Nobility – Start with 2 talents and 20 prestige. Also, each round, receive 1 talent in income from estates.
3,4 - Current Nobility – Start with 20 talents and 10 prestige. 5 talents in income from estates.
5,6 - New Man – Start with 40 talents and 5 prestige. 10 talents in income from estates.

In addition, each player will throw a separate die to determine if he has held a special office. If the die roll is ‘6’, he was urban praetor, +10 prestige; ‘5’, foreign praetor, +15 prestige.

Finally, the player must select whether or not he was a PLEBS or PATRICIA family. PATRICIA family status adds 10 talents to the starting total. PATRICIA family status also reduces the penalty for standing for CONSUL early, by 10 prestige. PLEBs family status adds 3d10 prestige representing a shining Forum career as a noted Tribune of the Plebs.

The Round

In a round, which equates to a year unless a LEX CALENS was passed :
1) players draw for provinces and legate pairings. If a LEX PROVINCIAE is in effect, or a Consul has a CONSULTUM BELLUM in effect, this may supercede the lottery. Roman leaders decide if auxilia hired last turn follow the general and pay for them.
2) each player rolls on the Fortuna table and applies it's result.
3) players fight wars in their provinces:
-roll for the possibility of a war in the governor’s province. Wars from earlier rounds continue.
-if a war, the governor hires troops, and the enemy of Rome may add troops depending on circumstances.
-fight one or more DBA battles.
-adjust prestige and gold score, roll for peace if applicable.
-if no war in the governor’s province or under certain conditions, roll for war in the legate’s province and repeat above.
4) laws/Senatus Consultum are passed.
5) consular elections, if any.
6) roll for provincial income. Add personal income.

The first round of the campaign begins with the completion of the term of office as praetor, at which point the praetors (and that year’s consuls) draw for provinces in a lottery. Next they roll on the Fortuna table and apply the results to a province or a player. The initial mix of the lottery is one chit for each province (initially there are seven) and an equal number of chits marked ‘legate’. Each praetor will draw a chit. (In later rounds, consuls will also draw a chit but from a different pool.) A player drawing the province name is assigned as the next year’s governor of that province. A player drawing the word ‘legate’ is assigned as an assistant in a province run by one of the current consuls, or by last year’s consuls, and will play the enemy of Rome in another player’s province.

Draw for provinces by a lottery. Drawing stops when half the players have drawn provinces. If an odd number of players draw, stop when more than half the players have province chits, or when all provinces are exhausted. If half draw legate chits first, ignore any further legate chits, and continue drawing until all remaining praetors have provinces.

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