I’m always looking for good solo and cooperative wargames, so when I saw Hispania was just that—albeit more of a euro than a wargame—I was eager to give it a try. A while back I looked at another little game from Draco Ideas called 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa which I enjoyed pretty well, and I especially appreciate the small box size and few, but elegant, components this line of games utilizes.
Hispania itself builds upon the system of a previous game, Tetrarchia, from the same designer. It is a solo and cooperative war-themed strategy game for 1-3 players cooperatively, or as a 1 vs. all in a 2-4 player game. Playtime is 30-60 minutes.
Gameplay Overview:
The players take on the role of various Roman praetors and consuls, represented by three meeples. The game lasts several rounds covering an abstracted span of 200 years during which Rome fought to incorporate Hispania into its empire.
In a solo game, one player controls all three of the Roman meeples (referred to as “generals”), but control is divided among more players. In the competitive variant, one player will control Hispania and the others Rome. For this explanation, we’ll discuss the standard 1-3 player game rules.
The game board is a map of Hispania divided into six regions. The object is to have a Roman garrison built in the capital city of each region before the end of the 11th round. The three player-meeples in the game will have one turn every round, with an enemy turn between each.
On their turn, a player will spend coins as action points to move between connected regions, attack Hispanic armies, and stop revolts. To resolve an attack, the player can pay 1-3 of their coins and then roll two six-sided dice. The result on the Roman die is added to coins spent, plus garrisons adjacent to the piece making the attack, with a possible x2 multiplier if a friendly meeple is adjacent to the target. The Hispanic die result is added to the number of revolts connected to the location, with a potential x2 multiplier if one of their armies is adjacent to the space. Targeting a revolt is similar, except that instead of rolling a die for the Hispania side, the result is compared to the shield value of the target city with a potential x2 modifier for adjacent armies.
A player can also spend a coin to build a garrison in any city that doesn’t contain a revolt or enemy army, but if they wish to build in a capital city, the entire region must be free of revolts.
Between each player’s turn, the Hispania side will take a turn. This is accomplished by rolling two dice and adding a revolt to the location matching the result or potentially adding an army if one is off the map. Then one of the Hispanic armies will attempt to move and spread revolts or possibly attack the Romans.
The game ends in victory when the Romans have built a garrison in each of the six capital cities, or in defeat if they have failed to do so by the end of the 11th round. Players also lose if they are required to place a revolt toke, but there are none left in the supply.
Game Experience:
Hispania packs a lot of game in a very small box with very few, nice quality components, and a surprising amount of variability. The rules allow players to set their level of difficulty, which will influence factors like how many coins they have to spend per turn and how many enemy armies start on the map. There are also various modes of play and mini modules that add pieces to the board. Yet, each of these variants is summed up with one small paragraph in the rulebook and is simple to implement.
More than that, this game is a lot of fun to play. Because the rules pack so much into a small booklet, getting started was slightly rocky at first and I got some rules wrong in the first couple of plays, not because the information wasn’t in the book, but because you must pay attention. Once I got it down, however, the flow of the game was smooth, and transitions felt seamless thanks to a very simple and useful turn track.
Hispania definitely has a slight Pandemic flavor as you are trying to stop revolts from spreading and they can get out of hand if you’re not careful, but it didn’t feel trite, and I think it stands on its own as a unique game with a distinct experience. I enjoyed sitting down to a solo play in the evenings and trying out the available variants, but it also works really well as a cooperative game. You simply spend your coins as you take actions, go through the enemy phase, then move the turn marker and pass the coins to the next player.
The luck factor is not overly strong or punishing in this game. I always felt like I had control and could influence my successes by making smart choices, but that little pinch of luck and not always knowing what the outcome would be adds exactly the uncertainty of success I want in a game. Nor does the game feel like it outstays its welcome. I’m engaged and often on the edge of my seat the entire time. My plays typically took around an hour.
While I believe alpha gaming is a player problem and not a game problem, it might be worth mentioning that there is no hidden information in this game, so it would be possible for a single player to “quarterback” and dictate the turns. Players should also be aware that, as mentioned above, the standard game plays 1-3, with the rules for 4 players being a variant where one player controls the Hispanic side, which is nice to have there, but also not quite the same as the co-op game. As such, the game will be a different experience at 4, so just know that if you’re planning to play exclusively at that count.
Final Thoughts:
I have very few complaints about Hispania. It’s an elegant game with strategically meaningful decisions, excellent components, great variability, and a small dash of luck. I like that the gameplay is the same for solo and cooperative play—either one player controls all the Roman pieces, or control is divided. I like that it’s easy to adjust your difficulty and to add in the modules. Even when I was scared to add something I thought would make the game harder, I found that it just made it more interesting or added a slight tweak that gave me a new aspect to explore. I admit, sometimes when I hear a co-op game is like Pandemic I think “Oh, that again,” but this one rose above many of the others for me to stand out as an impressive design.
Final rating: 4 stars – A small game that packs a big punch!
Hits:
• Elegant gameplay
• Nice component quality (metal coins!)
• Lots of variability without being convoluted
Misses:
• Frequent need to check the rules in early games
• Reuses the perhaps overdone, Pandemic mechanism
Looks like a fun little strategy game. Great review!