Last weekend I played my second game of Clash of Spears, and it was every bit as enjoyable as the first despite the fact that I got slaughtered. As I mentioned to my opponent, the mark of a good game is when you can still have fun even when everything goes wrong, and this is a very good game.

The game play is quick and intuitive. Once you grasp the basic concepts of spending command points, taking actions and managing fatigue, it flows quickly and smoothly. There are no hidden paths to automatic success. Winning requires proper management of your troops' fatigue levels, and understanding just when to push them beyond their limits to achieve your desired results.

As far as the book itself, it is flat out gorgeous. It is an extremely high-quality hardback volume with a beautiful color illustration on the cover and consists of more than 150 full-color pages. The book is graphics-heavy, and most pages have a photo, illustration or diagram on them. And the price point is well below what similar books from other publishers cost. In fact, I was comparing the Clash rulebook to a similarly-priced book from another company, and the other book was about a third the size and paperback.

The rules are figure agnostic, so you can use your existing Ancients forces or buy them from any of a multitude of manufacturers to match your taste and budget.  The "official" starter armies come with Victric plastic miniatures, which are affordable and beautifully detailed, but you are by no means limited to those. However, for myself, since I did not have any Ancients figures, they provided an excellent entry into the era.

If you are looking for a great value in Ancients wargaming, Clash of Spears is a terrific option!

(Disclaimer - I am a friend of the author, Alvaro, but the opinions expressed in this review are genuine.)