01-14-2002, 03:46 PM
Anyone had a look at the information about the two board games from antiquity? Petteia from the Greeks and Latrunculi from the Romans.<br>
<br>
Some of the reconstructions are quite awful, with rules that require a leap of faith. eg dux's that jump, etc.<br>
<br>
To rebuild these games I approached the problem from various directions, eventually I found that I had to immerse myself into the mind of the people from that era to understand what the game was, and how they would play it.<br>
<br>
To the 20th century mind the concept of "family" is subtly different to the "familia" known to a Roman of 100bc. Also the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" conjures up a different visual image when compared with "a precipice in front, wolves behind".<br>
<br>
If you have some figurines and are interested, I will explain how these games were played. You will also require two boards....one with 8 X 8 squares and the other 8 X 12.<br>
<br>
For Petteia 2 sets of 8 Hoplites and Latruniculi 2 sets of<br>
12 Legionaires and 1 Signifer. Without the use of figurines, concepts will be difficult to visualize or understand.<br>
<br>
Petteia is the simpler game. It is a wargame of manouver, mass, momentum and capture by enclosure.<br>
<br>
Latrunculi is a game of Civil War between equals. It involves the use of cohorts, walls, forts, manouver, mass, momentum and capture by enclosure.<br>
<br>
With the figurines, understanding the game becomes intuative and every battle you have read from Livy, Caesar, Tacitus, etc can be seen.<br>
<br>
Let me know if anyone is interested.<br>
<br>
Gil<br>
<br>
[email protected] <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=gil>Gil</A> at: 1/14/02 4:49:06 pm<br></i>
<br>
Some of the reconstructions are quite awful, with rules that require a leap of faith. eg dux's that jump, etc.<br>
<br>
To rebuild these games I approached the problem from various directions, eventually I found that I had to immerse myself into the mind of the people from that era to understand what the game was, and how they would play it.<br>
<br>
To the 20th century mind the concept of "family" is subtly different to the "familia" known to a Roman of 100bc. Also the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" conjures up a different visual image when compared with "a precipice in front, wolves behind".<br>
<br>
If you have some figurines and are interested, I will explain how these games were played. You will also require two boards....one with 8 X 8 squares and the other 8 X 12.<br>
<br>
For Petteia 2 sets of 8 Hoplites and Latruniculi 2 sets of<br>
12 Legionaires and 1 Signifer. Without the use of figurines, concepts will be difficult to visualize or understand.<br>
<br>
Petteia is the simpler game. It is a wargame of manouver, mass, momentum and capture by enclosure.<br>
<br>
Latrunculi is a game of Civil War between equals. It involves the use of cohorts, walls, forts, manouver, mass, momentum and capture by enclosure.<br>
<br>
With the figurines, understanding the game becomes intuative and every battle you have read from Livy, Caesar, Tacitus, etc can be seen.<br>
<br>
Let me know if anyone is interested.<br>
<br>
Gil<br>
<br>
[email protected] <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=gil>Gil</A> at: 1/14/02 4:49:06 pm<br></i>
