Creative Assembly today announced Total War: Rome 2‘s next expansion – Rise Of The Republic. A prequel campaign set 127 years before Rome 2’s campaign, it promises a more focused game of grand ambition as nine playable factions set their eyes on a detailed, zoomed-in map of Italy. In the real world this era of conflict led to the Second Founding of Rome, but with Gallic tribes and Syracuse playable, the history books seem due for a rewrite on August 9th.