Long before streaming services, smartphones, or even a decent D&D pub quiz, the people of ancient Rome sought their thrills in the grand arenas of the empire. As you can imagine, life at the time was quite hard, but the entertainment was top notch in particular when the Circus Maximus was hosting a chariot racing. Someone may say that “Panem et circenses” (bread and entertainment”) was a keen strategy devised by the Emperor to kept the empire’s spirits high but we all know the gods also had some role in making sure the entertainment was of the finest level. No matter how you looked at it, the thundering hooves of the chariot, the clamour of the crowds and the fits in the arena were surely something to behold.
In that same spirit of high-energy spectacle, Luke Melia and the team at IconiQ studios recently developed Ludicurrus, a boardgame that brings the chaotic joy of Roman chariot racing straight to your table. The game captures the excitement, danger, and sheer power of ancient entertainment, transforming it into a fast, accessible, and hilarious board game experience. The game is not “just” a race, but includes dodging wild beasts, sabotaging your rivals, invoking the divine favour of the gods (and avoid their harsh punishments), and, most important, ensuring you please the Emperor and the crowds.
I had a chance to meet the IconiQ team at their stand at UKGE and to play a few games of this fast-paced game together thus I cannot wait to summarise my impressions of Ludicurrus before the late pledge on Gamefound closes (Ludicurrus by Iconiq Studios – Gamefound) and the team moves to production. Let's start by opening the box and see what lies inside...
Components and production
Quality First things first, I should say that Ludicurrus is not yet commercially available meaning that all the pictures and comments refers to the copies available for previews and demo. Having said that, you can clearly see that the game has a very good production value and a super-captivating artwork. I think the illustration created by Feri Gonzalez are particularly hilarious and contribute to the general feeling of the game. Once the box opened, the Players will find tons of dice in different colours, a large board with the racing track, acrylic standees showing Players chariots, gladiators, wild beast and god avatars. All components are are high-quality and visually striking with the artwork on the standees being really well done and thematic. The Player boards and the general Game board supports the chaotic racing atmosphere very well while also being pretty practical.
One of the components that made me laugh the most are the Player boards. Each of the Racers the Players can control have a specific name, a clear style and (if you want) also their own personality for asymmetric games. “Fastus and Furius” are definitely my favourite one, immediately followed by “Dashius”. Ludicurrus also includes a few resin tokens to represent Ambrosia and some to use as placeholders. I quite like the idea of them being clear as they help seeing the game information beneath them although I hope their quality would be a bit better in the final product.
Overall, it is clear that Iconiq Studios aimed to create a visually engaging experience that matches the game’s tone and they designed all the components to fully support the gameplay. I cannot wait to see the final product as these preview copies are really good.
What Is Ludicurrus? A Quick Overview
At its core, Ludicurrus is a push-your-luck chariot racing board game for 1–4 players. Each Player races to complete two laps around the arena, rolling dice to move along the track based on matching symbols. So far it seems pretty simple but there are plenty of twists in a game where you need to please both the gods and the emperor.
Each of the spot on the race track is characterised by one or more symbols of the gods and some also include the symbol of the emperor. Once the players roll their dice they can decide to use all them matching one of the symbols on the race space in order to move (if they rolled any). If the do, they exhaust their dice and cannot roll them again until they reach a specific spot half way through the racing circuit. Players can also decide to roll their remaining dice a second time in order to sprint ahead. However, if they fail to roll any matching symbol, they go back to the spot where they started but they still exhaust the dice they used for the first roll. I cannot think of a better way to incarnate Caesar's famous sentence “alea iacta est” (the dice are cast)!
Together with moving around the track, Players will need to avoid or battle other Players, Gladiators and wild beasts. The Gladiators can be unleashed by the Players themselves to hinder the opponents while beast come to the board in various ways including if you fail to please one of the gods. Winning a fight versus one of these tokens will bring benefits to the racers but failing it will take away the favour of the emperor.
The favour of the emperor has a lot of value in Ludicurrus. If the emperor is pleased, you can use its symbols to move without exhausting any dice. The speed is much lower than the one obtained using the god symbols but saving dice brings massive benefit in the long run. In addition, if you win a fight when the Emperor is pleased you can retrieve one of your dice or, even better, earn and ambrosia token that can be used to increase the movement.
Fast and Fur... I mean, Accessible Gameplay
One of Ludicurrus’ greatest strengths is how quickly players can jump into the action. The rules are straightforward, and the core loop (roll dice, match symbols, move, push your luck or not) is very intuitive. In addition, there a few catch-up mechanics that help Players that fall behind to catch-up and get back in the race. Recovering one dice if you fail to roll any matching symbol is one, but there is also the Empress favour to help the Player in last position.
At the same time the game requires a good level of strategic thinking. Do you risk one more roll to overtake your rival or should you save your dice? Do you stop early to avoid losing ground? Do you place your Gladiator or you wait to see how the race unfolds? Most important, which god should you please the most? All these choices are very relevant in the game and create a nice tension that helps the players to feel engaged. The tides of the race can change swiftly and react properly and timely is important in order to secure your victory!
In addition to a solid gameplay, the game really benefits from the very clean iconography meaning all players can decide which movement to use easily. I also like the idea that the battles in the arena use the same symbols used for the movement making everything simpler and coherent. Dice exhaustion adds a clever layer of decision-making without complexity. Last but not least, the rulebook deserves a separate mention as it is a very well thought product. The rules are very well organised and include tons of examples. The comic-style introduction and closure in the rulebook really helps setting the tone and ease players into the world of Ludicurrus. I never thought the point of view of a wild beast in the arena will make me laugh so much....
Final Verdict: Fortuna audaces iuvat (luck favours the bold)
After a few games of Ludicurrus it is pretty clear that this game embraces its Roman theme fully but with a really fun twist. The artwork, the characters, and mechanics reinforce the feeling of a fast chariot race where Players need all their focus and nerve to come out on top. However, the tone of the game is more playful, resulting in a chaotic mix of dice rolling, wild animals, gladiators, with the gods and the Emperor meddling around constantly. It's still a race in a ancient arena, but turned into something more ludicrous (and appropriately so!).
The best part is that if you embrace the chaos, Ludicurrus will reward you with tons of fun and memorable comical moments. I finished my first game thinking that I was one dice roll away from winning and eager to try my luck again in the Circus Maximus. And of course the next race I finished last as I kept rolling the wrong symbols. It was definitely a sign I lost the favour of the gods and I had to sacrifice more chips to them! However, I really enjoyed all these games and I wanted to play more!
Overall, if you like to take your chances and push-your-luck games, as well as player to player interaction with the possibility to interfere with each other plans, Ludicurrus is definitely the game for you and you are still on time to secure your copy on Gamefound as the late pledge just opened (Ludicurrus by Iconiq Studios - Gamefound). Obviously, the game may be less ideal for Players who dislike randomness and that seek deep and strategic planning with low or none player interaction although it can still be a great game to have for a nice change of pace and when you are in need for an hilarious game night.
