ccrdan@ucdavis.UUCP (Dan Gold) (09/08/85)
Here is a review that I found in book called "The complete Book of Wargames," by The Editors of Consumer Guide with Jon Freeman. PUBLISHER: Battleline Publications SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $12.95 (boxed) [Ed: this was in 1978] SUBJECT: This is a power politics game of Renaissance Italy, divided into scenarios covering the period 1385-1530. Land and sea combat are abstractly represented. PLAYING TIME: This games takes a few hours to forever, depending on player stamina. SCALE: This is a grand-strategic game using army, fleet, and garrison units. Movement is by area, and each turn represents a season. SIZE: The 22" X 27" game board is divided into irregular area according to political boundaries (like Diplomacy). BALANCE: The balance is quite good--almost to good, in some scenarios. KEY FEATURES: Machiavelli is, essentially, a very fancy version of Diplomacy set in and around Renaissance Italy. The "basic game" is almost indistinguishable from the older game: movement is plannd and simultaneous, and combat is resolved by sheer power of numbers. The slight difference is a product of the change in geography; the Italian peninsula places some restraints on movement withou naval support, and naval operations assume a premuium position. However, where Diplomacy remained abstract, Machiavelli aspires to historicity. To what end the Advanced Games adds plague, famine, rebellions, assassination, garrisons, loans, bribery--all those rules your've come know and love with power-politics games. Up to eight people can play, but each of the four scenarios lists the best configurations for use. In all cases, the objective is to unify a splintered and diffuse Italy under your control. COMMENTS: Machiavelli is one of the most atractive games available; color is rampant, and the counters, each with the particular emblem of the country involved, are spectacular. After that, however, it's somewhat downhill. Most of the additional rules aded the basica Diplomacy system are quite good and impart a good deal of needed flavor. The ony major lack is a system for handling religion, a prime motivating factor of the times. Players can take the part of the Vatican or the (Islamic) Turks, buth there is no special "feel" for it--the only exception to a treatment that generally gets good marks in that area. The military and political situation is evenly matched; since may of the natural disasters are random, no one can ever be really sure where he will stand. However, a curious result of all this is that in most of the scenarios--especially those with fewer players--an initial period of land-grabbing is followed by endless turns of stalemate, as most countries assue positions of unmovable strength. In essence, the game is too well balanced, and only an unusual change in fortune can move it. To a great extent, this was the problem in actuality, but for a games it can be annoying. Yet Machiavelli is still good fun.