Historical Background
The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was the decisive event of the First Jewish-Roman War. The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been occupied by its Jewish defenders in 66.
Despite early successes in repelling the Roman sieges, the Zealots fought amongst themselves, lacking proper leadership. They lacked discipline, training, and preparation for the battles that were to follow.
Titus surrounded the city, with three legions (V Macedonica, XII Fulminata, XV Apollinaris) on the western side and a fourth (X Fretensis) on the Mount of Olives to the east.[1] He put pressure on the food and water supplies of the inhabitants by allowing pilgrims to enter the city to celebrate Passover, and then refusing to allow them to go out. After Jewish sallies killed a number of Roman soldiers, Titus sent Josephus, the Jewish historian, to negotiate with the defenders; this ended with Jews wounding the negotiator with an arrow, and another sally was launched shortly after. Titus was almost captured during this sudden attack, but escaped.
In mid-May Titus set to destroying the newly built Third Wall with a ram, breaching it as well as the Second Wall, and turning his attention to the Fortress of Antonia just north of the Temple Mount. The Romans were then drawn into street fighting with the Zealots, who were then ordered to retreat to the temple to avoid heavy losses. Josephus failed in another attempt at negotiations, and Jewish attacks prevented the construction of siege towers at the Fortress of Antonia. Food, water, and other provisions were dwindling inside the city, but small foraging parties managed to sneak supplies into the city, harrying Roman forces in the process. To put an end to the foragers, orders were issued to build a new wall, and siege tower construction was restarted as well.
After several failed attempts to breach or scale the walls of the Antonia Fortress, the Romans finally launched a secret attack, overwhelming sleeping Zealot guards and taking the Fortress. Overlooking the Temple compound, the fortress provided a perfect point from which to attack the Temple itself. Battering rams made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire, when a Roman soldier threw a burning stick onto one of the Temple's walls. Destroying the Temple was not among Titus' goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by Herod the Great mere decades earlier. Most likely, Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a temple, dedicated to the Roman Emperor and to the Roman pantheon. But the fire spread quickly and was soon out of control. The Temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av, in the beginning of August, and the flames spread into the residential sections of the city.[1]
The Roman legions quickly crushed the remaining Jewish resistance. Part of the remaining Jews escaped through hidden underground tunnels, while others made a final stand in the Upper City. This defence halted the Roman advance as they had to construct siege towers to assail the remaining Jews. The city was completely under Roman control by September 7 and the Romans continued to hunt down the Jews that had fled the city.
The stage is set. The battle lines are drawn and you are in command. The rest is history.
War Council
Judean Resistance (use Eastern blocks):
• Leader:
• 4 Command Cards 
Rome (use Roman blocks):
• Leader: Titus Vespasian
• 6 Command Cards
• Move First 
Victory
6 Banners
Special Rules:
The Kidron Valley is a fordable river for game purposes. In reality it is a deep ravine, a formidable military obstacle.
No Judean unit may move from a rampart hex to a river or rocky terrain hex. In effect, this limits Judean movement from the ramparts to the four open terrain hexes in the center. Roman
units are not so restricted. Design Note: This simulates the presence of the Eastern Gate in the center of the Temple fortification complex. That the Romans can move to/from rampart to/from river or stony terrain hexes reflects the presence of Roman siege engines, namely, the towers.
The Roman war machines have a LOS to all rampart hexes (within 6-hex range) so long as they remain on a hill hex. No unit or terrain can block this LOS. Roman war machines no positioned on a hill hex follow normal rules (can have their LOS blocked).
The three Judean Zealots are special units. Place a special unit block in the same hex as the Zealots. Zealots may conduct ranged fire as though they were slingers.
The Roman First Cohort is a special unit. Place a special unit block in the same hex as the First Cohort. The First Cohort will score a hit for each leader symbol rolled in close combat (even when a leader is not attached or adjacent), may ignore one flag, and may conduct momentum attacks as though a leader were present.
The three fortified camp hexes represent the complex of the Jewish Temple. The Roman player gains one victory block for entering into and remaining in Jewish Temple hex (there are 3 victory blocks possible here, though the game will usually be decided before all three hexes are occupied by the Romans). The Roman player loses a victory block if he vacates a Jewish Temple hex.