Zama 202 B.C. - Hannibal vs. Scipio Africanus

Please note that this is a DTP (Desk Top Publishing) game designed on a desktop computer and all components, including the counters which will have to be cut and mounted, are printed on paper. These are designed by some very well-known designers and are a low cost alternative to today's professionally produced games. On rare occasions, some of these games are reproduced by other companies with higher quality components including die-cut counters but most of them are not. If you believe this game to have a professionally produced version, please contact us with your inquiry and we will help you to locate it if it does indeed exist.

Here is something almost completely different from any battle game you have ever seen: no dice, no hexes, no CRT … a totally new approach to gaming battles that can be learned in 5 minutes and played in 2 hours.

It's Zama, a game covering the classic battle between Hannibal and his Carthaginians and the Roman army of Scipio Africanus, presented in a way you've not seen before (unless you have played Phalanx's Waterloo, of which system this game is a descendent.)

The game uses cards, one deck for each player (whose cards are somewhat different from those of the other player) to drive the game. Each player gets a certain number of cards each turn but never his full deck. The cards are used to determine movement, combat, and special items, such as Pila attacks, Counter-Attack, Elephant Rampages, and Cavalry Charges and Pursuit, among others. Players may play as many cards as they wish (up to 5) when it's their turn, using each card for only one of the possible three purposes. Play passes back and forth between players, until both players have used all their cards … and the Turn is over.

Zama is thus a game of card play and management, which unfolds on the map - it uses squares, rather than hexes - of the flat featureless plain near Zama, Carthage, and some beautiful, super-size counters. You're still moving units, trying to outflank, attacking with what you hope are better odds (since you don't know what cards your opponent will play, if any, and you never know what his final strength will be), and using your cards, and wits, to outplay your opponent.

Playing time for Zama has averaged 2 hours, sometimes less, and the rules are only 6 pages! Balance has been remarkable, and because of the use of cards, and their random distribution each turn, no game is the same as any other.

Each game of Zama includes rules, two sheets of Mike Lemick's, extra-large colorful cut-and-paste counters, 2 decks of cards, and a very bland, featureless map (in several sections).