Blocks!: Julius Caesar

Blocks!: Julius Caesar
N/A
Metacritic
57
Steam
36
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$24.99
Release date
11 December 2019
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
57 (45 votes)

Blocks!: Julius Caesar is an epic two-player wargame that brings the drama of the Roman Civil War (49-45 BC) to life. Take control of the legions of Caesar or Pompey against AI or in online Multiplayer. Fight to determine the future of Rome: Republic or Empire.

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Blocks!: Julius Caesar system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 7/8
  • Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Dual Core
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600 or equivalent
  • Storage: 750 MB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
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Reviews
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TartanArmy
TartanArmy

Been a fan of these tabletop games for years, very nice to see them come to digital. Played my fair share of Julius Caesar at the table, I don't consider myself the greatest player. Played first game as Pompeii on easiest level and destroyed the AI handily. Played second game as Caesar on medium difficulty and won fairly easily. Will play my next game on the hardest level, hopefully more challenging. Regardless, i'm more interested in online play and don't mind the easier games vs AI to keep me fresh.

Also picked up Richard III.....a game i've never played yet but look forward to learning. Praying Hammer of the Scots (one of my favs all-time) is in the works.

Great to see these in digital format Avalon Digital! Job well done. :)

pons
pons

Fun game, visually pleasing, quick to learn but also different every time. Best to play as Caesar early on, or Pompey in the later game, since that offers more challenge

truep
truep

Interface is pretty nice, even if it is a little difficult to see what region exactly blocks are sitting in. The computer opponent makes some very silly and stupid moves. But...there are some bugs that they need to be aware of. Some games, it will put units that are attacking from the same road into reserve. I figured out that you have to right click and then hold down left click to multi-select units before moving them. This wasn't anywhere I could find in the rulebook. The bug I found made me have to quit a game though is that I had no more than 2 blocks in each city, yet it was telling me to disband, and froze on that message. I dragged every single one of my blocks completely off the map back into the pool, just to see what would happen, but the message never disappeared, and the "Done" button never became available. I'm sure they'll fix it up as the game just came out.

ibn fuzzayd
ibn fuzzayd

I want to highlight the tutorial and UI in this game as being excellent. Too often in boardgames or wargames (or both) one or the other is lacking - here both are good. The gameplay is smooth, fast, and interesting. Happy I picked this up.

kenray12
kenray12

Adapting a boardgame to digital format is admittedly an art. Columbia Games' Julius Caesar is a very well-regarded wargame, accessible enough for a beginner to pick up. However, it loses something in this version.

Although the in-game Tutorial hints do provide excellent insight on the mechanisms and rules of the boardgame, the interface is lacking. The 23-page manual provided is basically a rewrite of the original 8-page (!) Columbia Games rules, with some misspellings ("Appolo" on the card shown in the manual), and, critically, without any information on the user interface.

One of the key mechanisms in the game is "Levying" troops, or bringing them from off the board and/or increasing their power. The manual and the game interface had no instructions on how to increase their strength, so it's possible to proceed in the game without having a unit at its desired strength. I eventually stumbled on how to do it, but it was not straightforward like it is in the VASSAL adaptation of this game (right-click on the block and select the action). Additionally, it's not clear how to obtain the effects of some of the Event/god cards, and it's not described in the game's rulebook.

Also, the AI seemed a bit clueless at times. The "fog of war" effect of block wargames prevents an opponent from seeing what the pieces are, but, when I was playing as Pompey, Caesar was shuffling his armies around Gaul to no apparent effect. In one game, it appeared that the AI moved units from Narbo to either Cenabum or Treveri by way of Mare Tyrrhenum (the way the arrows were depicted during the move), although this is just how the units are levied from off the board. Also, as I recall, Caesar won a naval battle and then returned his Navis to port, leaving the sea undefended, which made no sense. I have also seen the Caesar AI abandon Rome, which to me is not good strategy in this game, especially for Caesar.

I'd really like to see a way to log the moves during the game so that they can be reviewed afterwards (for both accuracy and proof of adherence to the rules and for studying AARs). The game can move very fast for a beginner in spite of some of the tutorial explanations, so it would be better to have a way to slow it down (like during the battles or during an opponent's move, maybe by introducing an option to click when ready).

If you're not highly experienced with this game already, you may find the digital implementation frustrating. I hope some improvements are on tap; otherwise, VASSAL may be a better way to explore the game.

Major Kamper
Major Kamper

To start off with, "Julius Caesar" is an amazing game from Columbia Games. It ranks high in my game collection. When it was released by Avalon Digital, I had to have it. I have played six games, three first as Pompey and three playing Caesar. I played the games in all AI settings. I am quite sad to tell you that I beat the AI six times in a row. It wasn't bad enough that I won the six games, I won the six games quite easily. At this point I will even say that it was a "cakewalk". So if you are planning to buy this game to be challenged don't bother. If you like to beat your computer opponent quite easily then this is a must buy for you.
A quick note to my good friends at STEAM. With a game like this you need more than two hours of play test time to figure out if a game is good or not. For the record I asked STEAM to refund my money after three hours of playing which was rejected by STEAM. I have not bothered to count the number of games that are in my STEAM library but I can say it is substantial and this was my first attempt to return a game.

Tick
Tick

Excellent game. Unforgiving (no backsies) and somewhat quirky at first, but you're always engaged. Relaxing, at least vs AI. I have yet to challenge RL human beings (yikes!). Plays just like the RL game, so....

wannabe-stragegist
wannabe-stragegist

Nice and interesting game, good graphics. AI is weak, even in the strongest level. User interface could be improved in details (e.g. a log function of past actions is missing, not all aspects can be inspected all the time, e.g. the VP numbers of cities might be covered by blocks and cannot be made visible).
I like that game and hope for future improvement of user interface details.

tylermfake
tylermfake

Every time I play multiplayer the game loses connection and won't continue past the battle phase.

dubs
dubs

Please fix the bugs and make the multiplayer game playable. I have not been able to complete a multiplayer game, and I bought the game specifically to play multiplayer.

SolpacWarrior
SolpacWarrior

You have to understand, this is a serious wargame. You put your hand on a piece, you move it -- like chess. You have to think through your moves. Now there's a slight glitch in the way the game plays, so this is a fair warning. When you move a group into a territory to attack, all the units coming down one road have to be selected together, otherwise, if you send them in one at a time, one will attack in round one and the rest will arrive as reserves. For those who know this game, that's not right. You just have to remember to group your units to avoid the glitch. I know they're all coming down the same road, but the program cannot tell unless you move them together, as a group. Okay. Do that and everything works great. Perfect. Just like the game. It's a class game, by the way. You gotta love it.

Bruiser
Bruiser

Very fun game, I can't stop playing it. Always a different outcome, so very replayable. AI is as dumb as a rock, though, so you can grab a beer and expect a win. If you're playing Pompey the Great, expect to win in the first or second campaign (out of 5), if you're Caesar it will take the full game. But you'll win, trust me.
I always enjoy, but it would be a more fulfilling experience if the AI didn't commit ritual suicide every game. Smarten up the AI and you've got a 5-star beer-and-pretzel winner!

vonDorffy
vonDorffy

The game is not ready for prime time.

FaithlessBerserker
FaithlessBerserker

fun game but too full of bugs to play multiplayer all the way through

Alex
Alex

As with physical Columbia Games, this is a great game in the concept but is overpriced and production feels cheap.

AI is practically a random move generator that has no real plans.
There are still bugs and, as I understand it, online play is not working at all.

Vince
Vince

Easy to learn, tough to master, fun to play and you can play against the computer in less than an hour.

Birddog62
Birddog62

Based on actual PvP "game play" and review of forum responses by the developers, I do not recommend this game. It has some value as a solitaire version of a great board game, it is not worth $25. I, personally, will not buy or recommend any of Avalon Digital's versions of great Columbia games until this one works PvP online as represented

tonygarry1
tonygarry1

Just bought this unfortunately without reading many of the reviews, intention was to play against my friend online, but the bugs in the combat phase cause the game to crash and happen frequently enough to make it difficult to commit to trying to play PvP. Also as has been previously pointed out the AI is particularly weak and does not provide much of a challenge.

I hope patches will be forthcoming as I would really like to play and enjoy this game, but in it's present state it is very disapointing

Always Learning
Always Learning

There are bugs to this game and they don't seem to be fixing them. I stopped buying "Blocks" games because of this game.

pettineof
pettineof

Summary: Fun light war game with a low barrier to entry both in terms of the interface as well as the ease of grasping the rules. Recommended for fans of light war games or those who enjoy games with "fog of war" such as the Columbia blocks system games.

So far, I am enjoying this game with 3 campaigns played. This is the conversion for the Columbia Blocks system game "Julius Caesar" which is highly rated on Board Game Geek. This game simulates the Caesar vs. Pompey Roman Civil War campaign.

The rules are easy to grasp. You play a card each turn that allows some combination of moving and levying units, with a handful of cards that "break" the rules in some way. Initiative is determined by the movement value of the card played, whether or not a "special" card was played, then finally Caesar as the tie break. The variety and strategy comes into play with playing the cards at the right time and experimenting with unit combinations.

The blocks system simulates "fog of war" since you can't see your opponent's units, and each block is used to mark the damage by turning 1/4. Visually here, the blocks just have "notches" that shows damage marked off, which works well. There are special blocks like leaders and Cleopatra.

The PDF they include with the game is well laid out and clear, and the in-game tutorials are nice. Columbia has a PDF of the physical game rules which might help as well. The only thing I need to read through again is the part about levying units, since it seems like you are restricted as to what you can levy where but I am sure I can find this out easily enough after a re-read.

Overall, the interface is nice and smooth and intuitive which lowers the barrier to entry. The controls are easy to use, and the board is nice and clear. You can zoom in so that it is easy to see the roads and how much damage is on each block.

Joviel
Joviel

Please don't waste your money, the game is incomplete and abandoned by the developers and publishers. Check out the discussions

Anonymous
Anonymous

Easy to play. Simple rules. Decent AI.