Originally posted by VinManAgent11
be a good investment fo a GEEK-A-THON.
LOL. Thankfully, my brother and father live nearby, and have both played Civ and the Axis and Allies board game. We're either all geeks or all the rare non-geeks who play dorky boardgames. Take your choice, though I have to say, in comparision I actually felt cool when i went into the game store to buy it.
Anyway, I played the game. Here are my thoughts. Note that there are two levels - basic and advanced. We played basic for our first game. Advanced adds a lot more from the computer game, but basic is a really fun, well thought out challenge.
I'm not going to go into too many details with the rules - you can pick them up at the eaglegames site (there's a link somewhere on this site too). But a few things to note - in the basic game, techs are "generic" - that is, each has the same effect. However, they are crucial, because every two techs you own increase the strength of your attacks (a die roll), by one. Also, one way gold is generated at the end of a turn is to multiply the number of techs you own by the number of unique resources you control. So techs are quite valuable!
Also, in the basic game, there are no city improvements, and no "happiness" concept (these concepts are added in the advanced game). Resources exist, and are crucial for getting gold. There are no shields or science - only gold, and you use it to build units, grow cities, and build settlers, "buy" techs, etc.
Finally, you place a face-down marker on every space of the board to start. These are essentially a combo of stuff - some are "goody hut" type items, like free cities, free tech, or gold. Some are resources (which give you more gold in a few ways if you have a city on them), and some are bad things, like desert, mountain, and jungle (which limit city size),the dreaded "nothing," and, worst of all, plague (which kills units.) Anyway, the fact that the "stuff" will change each game you play makes the "exploration" portion of the game a lot of fun and makes it so it will vary each game.
Anyway, the game is, in a word, GREAT. It combines the best aspects of many games I've enjoyed - Civ (of course), Axis and Allies, Diplomacy, Monopoly, and others. And, at the basic level, the game is not complicated at all. Most of all, it's tons of fun.
When we started, the three of us immediately set up rites of passages, agreed on peace, traded stuff, and were generally friendly. However, one player kept getting closer to my key cities and inisting that he was being "defensive" and telling me "you better not move your guys south or I'll attack." (The ability to negotiate is one of the highlights - it's 500X better than the computer game. You wouldn't believe the stuff we came up with.) Needless to say, I did a sneak attack when he irritated me, and plunged our world into war. I did get the other player to agree to help me with this war and not attack me. But that agreement eventually broke apart. It was essentially two against one for most of the war, with the one getting pretty much pummelled. But then, the two stronger powers worried about each other, and desperately tried to get the smaller player on our side to tip the scales in our favor. The result was a fascinating and very fun ebb and flow of power as we're all jockeying for position. And, it's incredible how mad you get when a real person breaks a complex trade deal or stabs your back and you're in the same room!
Anyway, the trading aspects, as well as the complex diplomacy (do I trust him not to attack and should I grow my cities and explore, or do I build an army "just in case he attacks", or do I go on the offensive) make for a very engaging, interesting, and FUN game. I have a feeling we'll be playing this when possible instead of PTW.
Should you buy it? I'd say the answer is defininitely yes if five things fit:
1) You have at least two other nearby playing colleagues (I think a four-person game would be even better).
2) You enjoy boardgames. Truly, any type of boardgames (as I said, Axis and Allies, Monopoly, Risk, Diplomacy, etc.). This game takes the best of many great boardgames and forms them into a cohesive and addictive game.
3) You don't mind a
slightly more complex game than a typical family game. (And truly only slightly. It's easier than Axis and Allies, but more complex than Monopoly.)
4) You don't hold grudges for sneak attacks and breaking deals! I'm telling you, this is the highlight of the game. And, best of all, these grudges are going to stick around next game...
5) You can afford the price. (If I could only afford one, I'd choose the boardgame over PTW. Really!)
Next game we play, we're going to try the advanced rules (where techs actually do stuff, and lots more "civ" stuff is added in. When that occurs (probably in about a month), I'll give another game report.
Oh, and, as far as the map, it's incredibly well thought out. I like the look (kind of an "ancient" map view). And the spaces have just the right chokepoints and such. I was concerned when I saw the map originally, but it really plays amazingly well. Trust me on this...
Oh, well...)
well that was something new....
