The Wars of Marcus Aurelius

A solitaire, CDG-flavoured, strategic-level game set during the Marcomannic Wars, 170CE-180CE. Playing from the perspective of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, your goal is to defeat and pacify three different tribes while managing off-map wars and rebellions, troop shortages, limited resources, and the effects of plague-all while maintaining your standing with the Senate and people of Rome.

The Marcomannic Wars were a series of conflicts fought by the Romans against a loose coalition of German and Sarmatian tribes along the Danube from 166CE to 180CE. After crushing a Roman army and killing as many as 20,000 Roman soldiers near Carnuntum, German barbarians ravaged the Danube provinces and besieged Aquileia, marking the first time a hostile force had entered Italy in nearly 300 years. Meanwhile, Sarmatians invaded Dacia and Costoboci descended deep into the Balkans and Greece as far as Athens. It took Rome more than a decade to restore peace, with war and plague extracting a terrible cost of human and material resources.

The game covers the war from the disastrous Battle of Carnuntum in 170CE to Marcus Aurelius' death in 180CE. Each turn (lasting one year) is divided into four rounds: early campaign, late campaign, winter and an attrition/house keeping round.

At the start of each round, the player draws three barbarian cards and resolves their effects. Barbarian cards activate enemy tribes (restoring their morale or causing them to advance), trigger off-map conflicts, or cause special events such as plague, mutiny, or rebellions.