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Optimates et Populares

From Hollandspiele

Design by Tom Russell

Optimates et Populares is a game for two players about the fractious, violent political struggle that defined the last hundred years of the Roman Republic, and served as prelude to the series of civil wars that ultimately led to the establishment of Augustus's Principate. During the late Republic, almost all wealth, land, and power was concentrated in the hands of privileged elites, while the impoverished, hungry masses were crushed by insurmountable, systemic debt. Politicians who agitated and advocated on the behalf of these underclasses often found a receptive audience, and for motives both pure and cynical, these Populares ("of the people") pushed for progressive, egalitarian reforms. These were stiffly and uncompromisingly resisted by the Optimates ("best men"), and the resultant deadlock eroded the previously sacrosanct foundations of the Republic. Mob violence, corruption, intimidation, and proscription - government sanctioned murder of political opponents to confiscate their property as a means of balancing the books - became the rule rather than the exception.

In this game, each player controls one of these two factions. Each faction has two inter-related goals: first, to pass legislation that either maintains the status quo (Optimates) or moves past it (Populares), and second, to gain and keep political power. Key to this contest is the concept of Political Will (PW). Anger at Populares gains energizes the Optimates, and vice-versa; therefore every action you take has the potential to cede Political Will to your opponent, which he can use to reverse your gains.