Justinian

About this board game

Justinian is a strategic-level board wargame for two players, with an approximately 240-minute play time, set in the early sixth century during Byzantium’s attempt to reconquer the Western Roman Empire.

One player takes the role of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, while the other coordinates the Barbarian faction—the non-Byzantine powers opposing the reconquest. The two sides are deliberately asymmetrical, giving each player a different set of decisions and uncertainties to manage.

At the start of each turn, the Byzantine player manages the empire’s finances. Controlled provinces provide tax income, which must be spent to raise and maintain armies. The Barbarian and Byzantine factions then alternate actions one at a time, choosing to raise armies, move troops, or do nothing.

Byzantine orders are certain, but many Barbarian actions depend on random results. Dice can determine how many armies join the Barbarian side and whether some of those forces instead join the Byzantines. Armies conquer territories by moving into them, while opposing forces that meet resolve combat through dice rolls and cross-referenced tables.

• Manage taxation, army costs, and military expansion.
• Use movement, combat, and naval actions to contest territory.
• Face mutinies, revolts, removed generals, and plagues through random events.
• Play the Byzantine and Barbarian factions with contrasting levels of certainty.

The game lasts up to 10 turns, unless a second plague ends the struggle sooner. The Byzantine player must control a required majority of the empire by the end, although the reconquest can also be completed early. If Byzantium cannot achieve victory when the game ends, the Barbarian faction wins. Justinian can also be played solitaire.