Going with the idea that a subgame should ideally be fun and interesting right off the bat, rather than merely providing a mechanism for being made interesting, I'm currently working on a draft set of rules for Fall of the Republic. (Naturally, I'm trying to make them fun and interesting right off the bat.)
The ideal I'm aiming for is pretty much "nomic chess": simple pieces that interact in complicated ways, with lots of opportunity for legal wrangling. For what it's worth, here's the map I've come up with (A. Minor and Med. Af. being Asia Minor and Mediterranean Africa): Region Connections ------------------------------------------- Greece Italy, A. Minor A. Minor Greece, Syria Syria A. Minor, Med. Af. Med. Af. Syria, Carthage, Spain Spain Med. Af., Sardinia, Corsica, Gaul Gaul Spain, Italy Italy Gaul, Corsica, Sicily, Greece Sicily Italy, Carthage Carthage Sicily, Med. Af., Sardinia Sardinia Carthage, Spain, Corsica Corsica Sardinia, Spain, Italy A half-decent visual map is currently at http://naga.s.zbasu.net/~tswett/FotR.png. I don't intend to keep this map up for an extended period of time. —Aru