The Arena. The site of some of history’s greatest battles. Gladiators and slaves alike ventured into the ring to determine who would be able to rise from it victorious. These ancient athletes scrapped and fought for their very lives, using whatever means necessary to achieve their victories. Often they fought other men, occasionally they battled against fiercesome beasts of nature. In the end, the winner is the last one to survive the onslaught and stand in the ring with some of life still intact, adored by the audience and crowds for his bravado and strength.
In the game Carthage, you are one of these warriors ready to battle any number of combatants in this arena skirmish slammed together with a deckbuilder.
Components:
Carthage is designed by Luke Seinen with art by Luke Seinen and Sheena Seinen. It is published by SAS Creative and plays 1-5 players with an average playtime of 30-60 mins. Components include:
-5 Gladiator miniatures
-Gameboard
-5 player boards
-8 beast cards
-10 card starting deck x5
-20 Theater cards
-5 wooden cubes x5
-35 Arena tokens
-80 card basic action deck
-15 Theater legend cards
-15 Equipment cards
-16 Modular rulesets
-starting player token
Gameplay:
To set up the game, you will need to give each player a starting deck that matches their player board. You will also take the mini that matches your character and start them on the edge of the arena in any space except for directly next to another placed figure. Your player board is set to 15 armor and 0 favor to begin. There are multiple setup recommendations for the arena tokens, but you should follow the first game set up for at least the first few games you play. The Theater deck is shuffled and 3 cards are placed directly into the discards of that deck to begin the game.
Your objective is simple-each player has 15 armor, and you need to reduce that armor to 0 and that player becomes eliminated from the arena. If you are the last Gladiator in the arena, you win!
Each Round consists of 3 phases. They are:
1-Theater Phase
2-Action Phase
3-Favor Phase
In Theater Phase all arena tokens that have been used the previous round are flipped face up. The top Theater card is drawn from the deck and placed face up in the discard pile as the active Theater for the round. Any actions that must be resolved immediately from it are taken, otherwise the actions are resolved at the end of the Action phase.
In the Action Phase each player will draw 5 cards from their deck and play one card at a time in turn order and take the effect. Each card must be played and all actions on the card must be resolved if able. The actions you can take include:
Movement-allows you to move your Gladiator around the board X hex spots at a time
Damage-Inflict X damage to another Gladiator that is adjacent to the hex you currently stand on. If there are no characters in adjacent spaces, no damage is done.
Armor-Add X armor to your current board. You may not have more than 20 armor at any time.
Favor-Move the favor cube on your player board up X spots
Damage with a Strike Bonus-If you inflict damage, you may take the bonus listed as well. If there is no damage done than the bonus is not taken that turn.
Knockback-If damage occurs, you move that player directly back from you X spaces away. If a player cannot be knocked back because they are on the edge of the board they take one damage.
Once all Action cards are played you resolve any Theater card actions that may need to be played.
Finally in the Favor Phase you can use the favor points you gained in the Action Phase to purchase new cards to add to your deck or to take one of the favor actions on the game board. Starting with the last player one purchase can be made at a time per player until they run out of favor to spend and everyone has had a chance to purchase. If you pass or your favor goes to 0, you are done for the round.
Other than purchasing a new action card from the market, you may also do one of the following four favor actions on the board:
Initiate-for 1 favor you can claim the first player token
Focus-For 3 favor you can remove a card from your discard pile and place it in the Focus pile. This is a great way to cull your deck of some basic cards as you add cards in to it.
Evaluate-For 2 favor you may sweep the action row and add 5 new cards. You may then immediately purchase one of those cards if you have enough favor left to do so.
Lobby-For 2 favor you can chose one of the discarded Theater deck cards to place on top of the Theater deck draw pile. Everyone may do this as much as they want, so you can get a stack going of previous cards quickly. You can show your opponents which card you picked or you may keep it secret.
Once you have completed all three phases, a new round begins!
Advanced Modes: There are additional rules that add more arena action tokens of different types to the board to vary up gameplay for the Gladiators in the arena. There are also Arena Beasts you may add for eliminated players to remain part of the game. Modular Rulesets allow for depth, complexity and play time variants to come out in gameplay as well.
The game also comes with two mini-expansions adding Theater Legends to the action deck that will add depth and elevated gameplay into the arena. They are added into the action deck and drawn into the action card row for purchase during gameplay.
Impressions
Things that could be better:
-The art. If I have to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the art. I don’t think it takes away from the gameplay, but it isn’t my favorite. Some online have compared it to the styles of comic artists like Frank Miller-the gritty type of style he produces. Those comics were never my favorites, which is probably why the art isn’t the part that stands out for me.
-The minis. I would love to have seen some bigger minis and possibly a bigger board to go along with it. The size everything is works, but in a gaming age where miniatures are anything but “mini”, some bulk to these really would have made them pop. Also adding minis for the arena beasts would be great.
Things I liked:
-The gameplay. Despite my feelings on the minis or the art, it doesn’t take away from the gameplay here. Deckbuilding is still one of my favorite game mechanics, and the addition of an arena skirmish is such a cool change from normal deckbuilders. Clank! does “deckbuilder+” well with the dungeon crawl but the combat system here makes for a unique experience.
-Variety. This game provides straight out of the box different ways to play, adjust rules and gameplay options like complexity, intensity of combat and length of play. That is rare is some games to be so flexible with all these categories. The addition of 2v2 and Arena Beasts for KO’d players is great also, really changing up the direction of elimination this game has.
-Combat. I enjoy games with direct combat that is well balanced, and this game allows for that to happen between mutliple players. The setup of the board allows you to go head first or regroup, figuring out how to heal up and rethink your attack strategies. Being able to gang up on another person or form temporary alliances to eliminate another player are very thematic and play out well here.
Overall:
Carthage brings two of my favorite types of gameplay-deckbuilding and combat-and smashes them together into a seamless experience for multiple players. The gameplay is easy to learn and jump right into the experience-it is accessible for a variety of players and is a great entry point for those looking to introduce these mechanics to a new player. I have enjoyed my arena matches and look forward to getting this to the table more often with other friends and family. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a skirmish battle and deckbuilder style game to add to their table!
