The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome can almost be described as a documentary in which you get to control the battle reenactments. The game features almost an hour of footage from The History Channel detailing the history of Rome from the viewpoint of its military engagements. You'll do more fighting than watching, though, as the game includes over 100 historical battles over the course of fourteen campaigns.
The battles in the game are more about proper planning and strategy than they are about battlefield tactics. Between battles you'll have the opportunity to use the gold in your treasury to purchase new units. You'll need to choose wisely as a balanced army is important to victory and there are decisions to make between the quality of your troops versus the quantity.
Before a battle begins you'll see an overview of the battlefield and the positions of the enemy formations. You'll have the opportunity to place your units on the field of battle and give them their initial orders. This is probably the most important phase of the battle for several reasons. First, you must take the terrain of the battlefield into account when placing your units. Ranged troops like skirmishers and archers do well from higher ground while cavalry need to avoid wooded areas. The initial orders that you give to your units are important too. The course of the battle may be decided early on in the fight and may rest on your decision whether or not to have your mounted troops charge at the onset of the battle. Also, once the battle begins you'll only have limited control over your troops and it will require expenditure of your limited command points to issue orders. This simulates the difficulty commanders had in giving their troops orders during battles during this age of history and further reinforces the need for proper planning from the outset.
After a battle your surviving troops will gain experience from the fight and you can use this to improve their capabilities. You'll be given choices as to what you'd like to improve, so you can invest in their command structure to give you more command points to spend in battle or improve their weapons to make them more effective in combat. The choice is yours to make for each unit, but once again, choosing wisely and consistently will lead to a more consistent fighting force and help you to win your battles before even taking the field.
