With this new My Favorite Wargame Cards Series, I hope to take a look at a specific card from the various wargames that I have played and share how it is used in the game. I am not a strategist and frankly I am not that good at games but I do understand how things should work and be used in games. With that being said, here is the next entry in this series.

Card #20: Triumph from Time of Crisis: The Age of Iron and Rust Expansion from GMT Games

I really love Time of Crisis from GMT Games. This is a very light, introductory wargame that is just plain fun to play. I have been playing it a ton on the Rally the Troops! online platform and really enjoy it no matter what the outcome of those games are. One card that I enjoy using is called Triumph, which is a 4 value Senate Card that really gives a neat benefit when you are fighting against barbarians as it adds victory points. This card was added to the game in The Age of Iron and Rust Expansion and is one of those cards that I just can’t imagine playing the game without.

I love the attention that the designers paid to the historical details of the Roman Empire and the background of the Triumph card is no different. A triumph is a ritualized public celebration to acknowledge the victory of a Roman commander. The victorious commander would be regaled in the toga picta, usually colored red as shown in the picture on the card, and would lead a procession of his army on a four wheeled chariot, leading captives taken in battle and any captured spoils of war through the streets of Rome to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill where he would offer sacrifice and the tokens of his victory to the god Jupiter. Republican morality required that, despite these extraordinary honors, the general conduct himself with some dignified humility, as a mortal citizen who triumphed on behalf of Rome’s Senate, the people, and the gods. The Triumph card follows this celebration in its theme and application in the game.

Battles in Time of Crisis only last one round and a winner is determined by the side that inflicts the most hits on the enemy while surviving. The winner is then awarded 2 Legacy or VP for the victory. If the victory was against Barbarian armies, the victor is also awarded one additional Legacy for each defeated Barbarian counter.

The advantage to the use of Triumph is that if you have just won a victory against a Barbarian army you can play the card to gain an additional Legacy for each Barbarian counter removed in the battle. So using the example shown in the picture above, if you played Triumph in this battle you would gain a grand total of 8 Legacy! (2 for the victory + 3 for the 3 removed Barbarian counters and + an additional 3 for the 3 removed Barbarian counters from the play of the event). Talk about a major jump in your Legacy! If you are near several Barbarian armies and have a few of these Triumph cards in your deck you could easily gain a significant lead over your competing Emperors through a targeted campaign to defeat the invading Barbarians. I didn’t even mention that the Triumph card provides 4 Senate influence points that can be used to place your Governors or recruit new Governors to be placed in the future. A very nice card indeed and a good addition to a heavily Military focused strategy.

If you are interested, I wrote a full review for Time of Crisis and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2017/09/04/the-most-recent-fruits-of-wargame-hybridization-a-review-of-time-of-crisis-the-roman-empire-in-turmoil-235-284-ad-from-gmt-games/

We also posted a full review video and you can watch that at the following link:

In the next entry in this series, we will take a look at General Strike from 1989: Dawn of Freedom from GMT Games.

-Grant