Philip Newman
United States
Richardson
Texas
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MATCH 20
Tichu vs. Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization
Through the Ages was nominated by Jimmy and Chris, with an average placement value of 3.35.
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Jonathan Harrison
United States
Fisher
Illinois
South Quarter Independent Games
Firp! ding! blast!
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This is a game of engine-building, not civilization-building. It has a strong civ-building veneer, but unless you're prepared to see the theocracy of Robespierre leading modern-era tanks and planes into combat against the Soviet of Elvis, don't approach this as a civ-building game. In fact, it works better if you assume that it's very, very abstracted. They might not be tanks; they're just some very advanced technology.
Because it is very abstracted. TtA is much more a game about running a great, interlocking victory point–producing machine than it is about building a civilization. You'll develop science, but only to buy technologies that produce either (a) resources or (b) victory points. You'll use your resources to pump up (place a worker on) your victory point–producing technologies.
That said, it's a fantastic engine-building game. Slightly unwieldy, and defined each game by what cards come up in the common technology draw chute first, but for all that it does give you a strong sense of accomplishment when you start churning out culture points, discovering better techs, and boosting workers ever higher through those tech chains. But if you're expecting a true civ game, this isn't it.
The game is necessarily quite complex for a euro. Some of its mechanics take some mental reseating to adapt to (they're not unintuitive, but are unexpected), and learning it will take a good forty-five minutes. Actual play will last four hours, give or take.
As for conflict, TtA is in a strange class of its own. The game is as much of an arms race as anything else. If you don't have military, you'll be absolutely crush. But unless you have near to two-to-one odds against your opponent, you'll be unable to do much crushing. Few games, in my experience, feature much in the way of crushing, and perhaps just a skirmish or two during the course of the game. Wars are rare. So in practice, conflict is much threat and little actual altercation. Your military can feel like a necessary waste of resources.
But despite that, TtA is a great engine-building game, with a constant struggle to put yourself in a position to get done everything you want, whether through having enough civil actions, enough military actions, enough resources, enough food, and enough science. Trying to maintain equilibrium while stepping things up another notch is a constant theme in this game, and for those who like that, it's a great choice.
Plays 2 to 4.
See user comments.
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Melissa Rohs
United States
Saint Paul
Minnesota
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I have no idea what it is about this game that we just don't get. I think I understand then I go to make a move and a hundred new questions pop up. We waded through Arkham Horror without a problem, you'd think this would be easier.
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Mark Embley
United States
Gaithersburg
Maryland
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Owners / Plays / Plays Per Owner
8023 / 29970 / 3.74
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Dave Heberer
United States
Woodinville
Washington
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This is the first English printing from Eagle Games. I've got the fix pack, and applied the stickers to the board to correct the point track error.
The box lid has a bit of wear along the edges and the corners are worn as well. The game is in good to great condition, with the cards showing little wear.
Minimum bid is 10 dollars.
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Tom Verdonck
Belgium
Edegem
Antwerp
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Ranking : from 4 to 4 = 0
Highest Ever : 2 (diff. to current = -2)
Rating : from 8.159 to 8.158 = -0.001
Highest Ever : 8.173 (diff. to current = -0.015)
Votes : from 7711 to 7838 = +127
Owners : from 7882 to 8023 = +141
Plays : from 29162 to 29970 = +808
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Tim Seitz
United States
Glen Allen
VA
Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him. 2 Sam 14:14
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It's fiddly
It's got crappy components
The art is terrible
It's fiddly
It can be long if played by more than 2
I would never be able to bring myself to design a game like this
But holy cow is it fun!
I know this someone put on the other list, but this is pure fun for me.
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Chris B
United States
Oxford
Mississippi
Lets go Blues!
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I always try to do too much, and make a great civilization. What I end up with, I'm always proud of, but I never make that switch to culture. And as such, never win the game.
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Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
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The more I played this game, the less I enjoyed it. I still think it's rather well done and I like the way it's abstracted, but my cup of tea? Nope.
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Ben Ross
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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Edition: Eagle Games
Condition: Very Good (some slight wear.)
Starting Price: $35
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scott M
Australia
Ridgewood
West Australia
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oh you just got Michelangelo with the basilica?
#assassinate#
partner: ffffffuuuu
Yea this game can get pretty vicious with two players
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Skaboy Green
United States
livonia
Michigan
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not bearly enough purple
and i fear if i play again i may lose out my unbeaten streak
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William Snider
United States
Midlothian
Virginia
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Happened recently where my friend was just warming up to my games and then he split after just age 1. I knew we should have played Stone Age or Dominion.
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David Siskin
United States
Playa Del Rey
California
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2006
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Gleb Semenjuk
Estonia
Tallinn
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Upgrades shouldn't be too easy to implement
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Jay LaFountain
United States
Coldwater
Michigan
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Just like Eclipse, lots of little things to put on little circles... if you're lucky, your pieces won't roll away. Then, shuffle all the cards. It takes a lot longer if you're the only one doing it.
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Greg Hacker
United States
Cheyenne
Wyoming
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Eagle Third Printing. Complete and in Excellent Condition
Free Shipping to the continental U.S only
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Raymond Swain
United States
Kent
Washington
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Box has minor scuffing cards are still in great shape.
2007 First printing.
Will ship in US no charge.
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Joe Eckroth
United States
Littleton
Colorado
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Eagle English Thrid Printing
Very good condition, only played a couple times. Very minor shelf wear on box.
Will ship free to USA lower 48 only
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Luke Stirling
Australia
Southbank
Victoria
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Has a quite a few purple components, including one of the player boards (and associated cubes for tracking values on the main board).
As well as the wonder cards.
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Maarten D. de Jong
Netherlands
Zaandam
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What I've been playing ... I think I didn't add my plays to Lee's list, so I'm doing two weeks in one go.
Alexandros — Part of the Alphabet Challenge. (At my friend's place, we're still at the A. At my place we've moved to C already.) It has been a long time since I played Alexandros, and from what I remember is that the game didn't work that well. The main reason: when I score, everyone else does, too, so you don't want to score in a turn which nets you less points than the competition. But while explaining the rules it sort of struck me that I may have been playing with a rules error: you are not allowed to move Alexander to an 'occupied' triangle, and 'occupied' in this case means that all borders must be free of walls. This forces Alexander out into the big world, with the consequence that at some point areas become 'safe' because they can no longer be reached. The only way to take them away is by hostile takeover, which is really not that hard, and very profitable to boot (your relative point position with respect to the player you kick out is double the province's value.) I cannot recall a game of Alexandros finishing with the three winning players ending within 10 points of each other.
Perhaps.... I made an error in selling this off, although I'm not sure the game is good enough to warrant a repurchase.
Alhambra — I dislike this game, and wish it didn't arrive on the table. But AC rules dictate that everything has to be played... I didn't do too bad, but the winner had huge walls from round 1 onward, providing a massive point boost. The reason I dislike Alhambra is that as the player count goes up, unintentional market screwage simply becomes a pain. With 4 players I could already see the first signs: it is tolerable, but just.
The good thing is that I won't be playing Alhambra for quite some time.
The Hobbit — Children's game meant to cash in on the popularity of the LotR franchise back in 2001 or thereabouts. The game appeared too early... and the makers could have used that time to refine the game. Seriously, it's boring roll and move with bells and whistles which do nothing but add 'stuff', making the game more complex for its target audience.
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization — I had no idea what to expect from this title, but I was eager to give it a go. When I discovered that it was really nothing but a Ve. Ry. Long. Snowball game with two interdependent brakes on the various resources used in the game, I gritted my teeth and held on until the end. In a cynical mood, I'd think that the civilization setting is just there to provide sufficient believable development material to support the long road the players have to walk down. Plus that it sounds infinitely more glitzy than 'the bustling harbour of Le Havre' or 'monks in a monastery'. We didn't even play to completion: we'd been playing for 5 hours already, and the rules explainer needed to go home.
Basically, the game's basic structure explains very well why it is so popular. No complex patterns to divine, no simple rules with insidious consequences: just get stuff, buy a card, transform food and people into other stuff (slowly), discard stuff because the game doesn't want you to grow that fast, and repeat for like a hundred times. Boring, unimaginative, devoid of creativity, taking far too long for what it essentially is. Our explainer assured us that with experience the game would go a lot quicker; I do not doubt him, but why would I want to spend two hours struggling to get my economy going, fiddling with small tokens to represent resources, and then in the last hour finally starting to get somewhere, when in the same time I can play two to three games of Glen More or St Petersburg? Granted, those are less involved, with a shorter story arc, and likely less replayability, but they are done in a normal time frame.
Good to have met its acquaintance, but renewed contact is not planned.
The Manhattan Project + The Manhattan Project: Nations Expansion — With 5 and the nations expansion. No, I don't think that TMP with 5 is a pleasant experience. You spend a godawful time waiting, and in the end you basically build one to two bombs. That's not a lot to show for. Also, we were unfortunate to include Japan, and that country is extremely agressive. You need to spend money just keep the potential relative damage in check. I didn't, and suffered a massive attack (eleven damage points!) at the end which basically ended the game for me right there and then. I would have finished first or second; now someone else simply won.
I had it coming, yes, and the game was due to end in two turns at most, true. But there really is no proper defense against Japan unless you happen to have England (or possibly the USA). It is simply too expensive to build up a large air fleet; and only lengthens the game for no reason other than that resources must be diverted into airplanes which just sit there as a deterrent.
Not going to play the game at 5 with the expansion in place. It's not worth the gritted teeth.
Discworld: Ankh-Morpork — A friendly game of card draws and asymmetrical victory conditions. I see why people would complain that it is 'all luck', but they'd be wrong. There is definitely an opportunity for clever card manipulation to prevent certain end conditions from occurring... At the same time you have to accept that at times you have little choice in the matter. Friendly and highly recognisable material for Pratchett fans; and even for those who don't know any of his books, it sure beats the truly random mess that is Rattus. Fun to have played, will undoubtedly play again in the future, although I am not seeking out the game.
Mundus Novus — 5 players. Not a whole lot to say as cards enter the game nearly at random. I won due to building up a collection of cards which gave me a lot of money every turn, a strategy players can do very little against save give each other good cards in the hope that the collecting player is caught.
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Mike Pratt
United States
London
Kentucky
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Played for the first time yesterday. A little bumpy in that I kept forgetting the victory conditions, but I think I would like to give it a second try.
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Jeff Koenig
United States
Eden Prairie
Minnesota
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Paul Lister
United Kingdom
London
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Its my favourite game so its gotta be on the list....
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Frederic Bush
United States
San Antonio
Texas
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