Tabletop board games are one of the most interesting and fun hobbies you can play with friends. There are certain levels of complexity and cunning required in order to win in these games, and they can be thrilling.
Recently I’ve had the chance to speak with Powee Celdran, a young Filipino entrepreneur who has a passion in the games industry and in history. We talked about his newly launched board game, “Battle for Byzantium,” and played a game as he walked me though on how to play it.
Up to four players take on the board to conquer the Byzantine Empire. Players first choose their characters. Each one of them has a special ability that can be used once throughout the game. Then players begin to select turn orders among them. Each turn the player first draws an action card and rolls a dice to move their characters across the board. Action cards are typically discarded after drawing them, except for “Gain an Army” and “Gain Gold,” which can be saved for strategic uses later.
The objective of the game is to capture all cities on the board. The game ends when all cities have been occupied and whichever player has the most successful number of conquests wins the game.
Each game can be played roughly around an hour or two. In my one-on-one experience with Celdran, it took us almost an hour to conclude. Though Celdran has assured me that with more players, the game can extend longer, as there are action cards that allow players to take a city from other players.
Even cards that are meant to penalize players can have strategic effects, such as the Plague and the Greek Fire cards, both of which send players to a different location on the map–and during the right circumstances, can actually be beneficial to the player.
During our game, Celdran shared that the idea originated around three years ago, but it wasn’t until last year where development of the game went on full-throttle. Working on the game, Celdran has collaborated with the artist based in Athens, Chryssa Sakel, and Italy-based book illustrator, Alessia Valastro.
Celdran has also had help from Byzantine history artist and video creator, Byzansimp, along with the game’s lead history and design consultant Nilay Tokaoglu, and game’s storyteller Franco Gallardo.
When asked why choose this time period and why the Byzantine itself, Celdran simply stated how it was interesting. The Byzantine after all has had centuries worth of histories, full of conflict and conquest, which is the perfect setting for a board game about dominating opponents.
Celdran said he attends conventions such as the recently concluded ToyCon to promote and sell “The Battle for Byzantium,” which is available now in retailers Neutral Grounds and Guava Sketches for P2,450. Celdran has also confirmed they ship internationally for those interested in the game.
You can check out more of Powee Celdran's Battle for Byzantine through his Instagram Byzantine Time Traveler, where he continues to post historical trivia and artworks related to the game. You can also check out a video trailer of Battle of Byzantine from No Budget Films.
