Arena: Roma II

A Roman card duel where dice become action points and your city of characters and buildings decides the winner.

Designer: Stefan Feld
Published by: Queen Games

Arena: Roma II is a two-player card duel set in ancient Rome, a standalone game that also mixes with the original Roma. Each turn you roll dice and spend them as action points to play character and building cards into your own city, then use those cards to attack, defend and score. You can lean on strong cards like Arena or Ballista, or build up victory points with Templarius and Triremis, as the rules put it. Hand management, a little dice luck and some take-that decide who rules Rome. You can also mix the Roma and Arena cards or give each player a set. Around forty-five minutes for two, from age eight.

Dice as action pointsStandalone, but combinable with RomaRoman characters and buildings with distinct effects

Who it's for

You and one opponent want a compact card duel with Roman flavor, and perhaps you already know Roma and would like more cards for it.

Not for you if…

You want a game for more than two or a lot of long-term planning. The dice rolls steer each turn.

Vibe's take

Quick and tactical. Each roll gives you a handful of options, and the fun is in squeezing the best play out of the dice and the cards in your hand.