"You know everything about me, I know nothing about you," Gaius nodded.
"It's fair," Timothy shrugged. "Everybody would see the legion arrive, and the word spreads. Also, legions are fairly standard, so your opponent has that advantage. You, however, have advantages he doesn't. You have a lot of money, and well-trained battle-hardened troops, and in a simple set-piece battle, the odds will favour you. There are rules on this sheet of papyrus of the possible outcomes, and the variation available to be resolved by the throw of a dice. Your opponent needs certain advantages to beat you."
"You keep saying, 'my opponent'," Gaius frowned. "That is someone else?"
"Yes. Your comment about my lack of military experience struck home. He once commanded three legions."
"I see that I am expected to lose," Gaius said softly.
"That's one way of looking at it," Timothy shrugged. "His answer would be, if you were going to lose legions through inexperience, stupidity, or whatever, it is better to lose imaginary ones on this board. Also, this is more serious than a game. Tiberius sent him. His recommendation could get you into a legion, while if he lets Tiberius know you're just plain useless, you will command nothing."
"Then I'd better not be just plain useless," Gaius muttered.
"Don't forget, in this game your winning is not the object. ."
"It isn't?" a puzzled Gaius interposed. "I would have thought. ."
"You will play a much better opponent than you would normally expect to meet, who will give you problems you wouldn't normally get. Also, things will go wrong through no fault of yours, and because the object is to educate you, much more frequently than usual, however, you mustn't start second-guessing. You must behave as if this were real, because the object is to see how you handle yourself. Now, the game is played like this. You announce your moves. Each piece can only move so far in a day, depending on where you go. The advantages of terrain are written here. For example, you can move about ten times further in a day by travelling on a road than through a forest, but of course you are more likely to be seen on a road. Your opponent's resources come from an unspecified place across the eastern desert, and either side can recruit local farmers. You have to maintain food supplies, you can only carry so much water, and so on."
"A question," Gaius interrupted. "This opponent, is he from the local people, or. ."
"Assume the locals dislike him about as much as they dislike you."
"I see," Gaius nodded.
"So, your action for day 1?"
"I try to find out what I can about the villages," Gaius replied. "I try to find out what I can from the townspeople what this opponent is like, and where he comes from. ."
"As yet you don't know you have an opponent," Timothy cautioned. "You have captured this fortified town and minor repairs have already been completed. You have arranged for food supplies to be drawn from this local region, and you have agreed the price. Assume the citizens of the city and its immediate environs have accepted your occupation, although they are probably not very happy about it."
"Then I ask about the more distant region. I try to find out what I can about the villages, and if it is likely that they have something to sell, I commission some of the locals to go and buy it for me."
"Why commission locals?" Timothy asked in a flat voice.
"Because the villagers are more likely to trust locals," Gaius said. "If I march in with a legion, they may think I'm trying to just take everything. They would be intimidated."
"Anything else?" Timothy nodded with approval.
"I try to find out who knows what about the hinterland," Gaius said. "If nobody knows anything, I commission some of the villagers to explore for me."
"Why villagers?"
"They're less likely to be trapped by my opponent, who I don't know about," Gaius replied. "Officially, I hope I can encourage the villagers by helping them to expand their farmland, and get them on my side. I'm going to need all the information I can get, and I want as much cooperation as I can get."
"I see," Timothy said. "I'll go see your opponent."
Two weeks were played, and nothing much happened, then a villager reported to Gaius that his village was under attack by a "huge" force.
"Damn!" Gaius replied.
"Oh?"
"There's something I should have done," he replied.
"That's what your opponent said," Timothy smiled. "What in particular?"
"I should have set up signalling outposts. Anyway, now I know I have an opponent, I send two cohorts to the village, together with enough cavalry that I can guarantee to receive messages. I also start setting up signal towers on these hills," he added, as he pointed to nearby high hills.
Eventually Gaius got his force to the village, to find villagers finally emerge from the forest, reporting that the enemy force had left in "that direction". He now realized his next mistake. While he was in this valley, the adjacent village was being pillaged. Then came back the message that they should start again.
This time, on his first move Gaius set up the observation posts on high hills, and sent a reasonably large force to each village. When they arrived, he paid good prices for supplies, and after constructing sound fortifications to protect the villagers and their harvest he hired labour to build a road through a pass over the hills dividing them, and built signalling posts at particularly high points. Then, while the road was under construction, he sent out scouting parties to explore the hinterland.
"Better!" came back the comment.
Nothing much happened for some time, then came the account for the costs. The citizens would have to pay additional taxes. Timothy reported murmurs of resentment amongst the citizens.
"Unfair!" Gaius muttered.
"That's what the conquered tend to say about Roman taxes," Timothy said.
"What's unfair," Gaius retorted, "is that I should know about these taxes before they do."
Timothy left the room, and shortly returned with a note saying, 'Point conceded — you have three days before word leaks.'
"I research the history of the region, with a record of pillaging and so on in mind. I want to know the size of the harvest this year compared with previous years."
"The harvests are the same as usual," Timothy reported, "but this time most of it isn't stolen."
"How much do they keep, after taxes?"
It turned out that the peasants all had more than they would normally keep, even after paying the taxes, and nobody had been killed.
"I tell them that," Gaius said. "They should see the point. And, of course," he added, "they should also see the legion."
"They'll see that," Timothy nodded. "Next problem. A message comes from the empire over there demanding you send ten thousand sacks of wheat and four hundred cattle."
"I send out scouts to see what is going on," Gaius said, "and I send back the message that Rome does not bow to intimidation."
This time the old General appeared and shook his head sadly. "You've just started a war," he said.
"I don't recall declaring war on anyone."
"You've sent a response back that leaves the other king with no choice."
"But surely you don't expect me merely to give him all that food? Rome's reputation would be in tatters if. ."
"I don't expect you to leave everyone with the opinion that Rome's a gutless wonder," the General shrugged, "but you don't want to give out the feeling it's just another stronger tyrant either. And more to the point, Rome doesn't need young inexperienced Legates starting off pointless wars which lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths, and, even more to the point, the loss of tens of millions of sesterces in taxes from the lands on which your battles will be fought."