Colosseum



Cost: 2/1/3

Gain an extra happy face and one military action.

You develop infantry an cavalry technologies with a science discount equal to their level. Whenever you do, score 2 culture.

Colosseum in History
During every major celebration, the citizens of old Rome would gather in huge crowds at the great amphitheater that was the Colosseum, and prepare for a day off full of revelry and spectacle. To start the day off, dire animals from all across the Empire would be brought to the arena, and trained men would fight them in an unmatched demonstration of Roman might. Then, at noon, prisoners would be executed in a grandiose fashion, reconstructing the myth of Prometheus where a man was chained to a rock and an eagle pecked at his liver. After a bloody morning, the people went to have lunch and discuss the gruesome shows, while the entirety of the arena floor was filled with water from the nearby aqueduct and battleships were prepared for the main event of the day, a full-on naval combat right in the centre of Rome.

The dark sport that took place in the Colosseum would be considered most vile and barbaric today, but the Children of Mars saw it as the main event of the year. The carnage that happened within the arena was the centre of all Roman folk culture, and you could easily bet on who will die today, who will live, how many innocents will be slaughtered, or how many species would be driven closer to extinction. Such fun!

Designer's Note
'''The idea of the Colosseum card originates from a similar fan made card at www. boardgamingonline.com.''' We liked the idea – a wonder that gives a military action was clearly missing in the early ages, and thematically, it fits nicely.

The smiley is obvious - bread and circuses. But Colosseum was more than that, it was a demonstration of power and glory of the Roman empire, hence the military action to stress the nation’s influence in the ancient world.

The playtesting proved this alone is not enough, so we added some military and athletic tradition in form of a discount to unit technologies. Originally, it was just a small bonus to all units, but then, we made it stronger and limited it to infantry and cavalry. It had a good balance reasons – high level infantry and cavalry were rather weak technologies, while artillery or Air Forces didn’t need a boost. And you can imagine the physical prowess of your infantry or cavalry is affected by combative sports, games and competitions more than, say, the firepower of your artillery.