Note: This is a very long review. If you'd just like my overall impressions, please read the introduction and the closing comments. If you are interested in why I feel so strongly about this game, feel free to read the details.
Game Box
An unfortunate element of having board games as ones hobby is that it becomes increasingly difficult to find unique gaming experiences. For example, A Game of Thrones can be viewed as an evolution of Diplomacy, Attack! an evolution of Risk and Axis and Allies, Hammer of the Scotts an evolution of Stratego, and even Bang! can be viewed as an evolution of Magic: The Gathering and Werewolf . While many of these games bring improvements and new elements to the games they were inspired by, one cannot help but feel that the game is familiar, even when it is still brand new. These games lack the thrill that comes from discovering a completely new style of gameplay; the excitement that comes from learning a mechanic unlike anything you have ever tried before. To some, these new mechanics are daunting. These individuals are usually the players who are happy playing Monopoly for the rest of their lives because it is comfortable. However, for those players like myself that are constantly on the lookout for a new, fresh gaming experience, few things can compare with the moment you first experience a new game mechanic and realize that you have just been exposed to a completely new world of gaming. For me, Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery joins the likes of Diplomacy, Cosmic Encounter, Acquire, and Settlers of Catan as gaming experiences quite unlike anything I have ever tried before.
When I first heard an “Age of Empires” boardgame was going to be made, I expected some sort of blend between “Axis and Allies” and “Civilization.” Because the Age of Empires games are a popular series of Real Time Strategy wargames on the PC, it seemed a perfect candidate for a “conquer the world” style boardgame that allows players to spend their afternoons pushing plastic soldiers around a giant world map and rolling lots of dice to simulate combat and develop new technologies. Instead of taking this obvious route, Glenn Drover has turned Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery into a game that has more to do with efficiently managing a limited pool of workers than fighting over the new world. When I read the rules for the game online, I was left scratching my head. The gameplay is so radically different from what I have played in the past, I just couldn’t see the game in the rules. The game has players spending more time loading colonists onto a dock and sailing them to the new world than fighting giant naval battles, battling pirates and Indians, or bombing forts with cannons. It was all so different from what I’ve tried before that I just couldn’t visualize how it could possibly be that fun. In fact, I was so unsure about the game that despite receiving it as a birthday gift, I waited almost half a year before bringing it onto the table to be played.
Having tried the game several times now (with two very different gaming groups), I am convinced that Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery not only offers some of the freshest and most unique gameplay that I have ever experienced, it is also the most entertaining game that I have played in years.
Now at this point in the review, I imagine some readers might be scratching their heads. From what I have read online, Age of Empires III isn’t “revolutionary” at all, and seems to have been heavily influenced by the likes of Puerto Rico and Caylus. Fans of these games are probably questioning how one can say that an evolutionary game like Age of Empires III can offer such “revolutionary” gameplay, and why I felt the experience was so unique. The answer is simple. My exposure to European style “efficiency” gaming has been limited to the likes of Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne. Most of my gaming has been through war themed board games or family games like Ticket to Ride. I enjoyed the light Euros that I had tried, but frankly, I was never drawn to Eurogames simply because I’d rather conquer the world than build a plantation in Puerto Rico. However, Age of Empires III’s “Age of Discovery” theme represented a Eurogame with a theme that I could get excited about! My guess is that I am not alone and that there are other wargame fans sitting on the fence about Age of Empires III.
This review is written for anyone that has been hesitant to play a Eurogame simply because you would rather blow things up or conquer the world than play a boring “efficiency” game. If theme is what has been holding you back from trying a Euro, or if you enjoy the Age of Empires III theme, but are worried about the Eurogame mechanics, stop worrying and get the game. I can without hesitation recommend the game to anyone that enjoys boardgames, regardless of their gaming background. Here’s why:
Quality of Components
Game contents
The components in Age of Empires III are among the best of any game that I have ever played. The overall art and visual style seems to be pulled directly from the art found in the PC Age of Empires III game (in fact, the cover for the box and manual looks almost identical to the PC game box) and does an excellent job of invoking an “Age of Discovery” feel, not unlike what I experienced when playing the old Microprose classic “Sid Meier’s Colonization.” The artwork in Age of Empires III is certainly more “realistic” and “aged” looking than the almost cartoony graphics of Colonization, but they are similar in that they both manage to create the illusion that players are discovering and colonizing the new world, not pushing plastic, cardboard, or pixels around a game board. The overall visual look of Age of Empires III matches both the theme and gameplay quite effectively.
The game’s 16 page rulebook is attractive, easy to read, and printed on glossy paper that gives the rules the appearance of being made with quality materials. Unfortunately, the paper is quite thin, almost like what one might find in an expensive magazine. After several plays the rule book has become a bit worn looking. It is certainly still readable (and I don’t need to refer to it often because the rules are easy to learn), but I am concerned with how well the rulebook will hold up after many years of use.
The gameboard on the other hand is quite sturdy and seems to be made of quality materials. I expect that it should easily stand up to years of repeated use. From a design standpoint, it is unlike any game board that I have seen before. In most “conquer the world” games the board is simply a map, with a few markers to assist with bookkeeping. The Age of Empires III board does have a “conquer the world” style map, but this only covers one half of the board, and in reality this map is almost the “bookkeeping” portion of the board. The majority of Age of Empires III’s gameplay takes place on the right hand half of the board which consists of a series of “event boxes” that allow players to perform various actions. The artwork on the board is fantastic; Age of Empires III has one of the most beautiful boards that I have ever played on. Unfortunately, some of this beauty came at the expense of the Victory Point track that is on the very outer edges of the board. Several decorations (particularly in the corners of the board) have a graphical effect that obscures the victory point track completely, covering the markings that indicate where your scoring markers should be placed. Additionally, the track is simply too small for large numbers of score markers to share a single space. These factors make it almost impossible to place your scoring marker on the correct score without guessing from time to time. After several frustrating attempts with the Victory Point track, I just quit using it entirely and kept score on a piece of paper.
Note how the game board is divided into two parts
The core of Age of Empire’s gameplay is about efficiently using the game’s limited amount of workers to perform various tasks that help to control the New World. There are five types of workers, each of which have their own plastic miniature sculpt. While these plastic miniatures cannot compete with the miniatures found in dedicated miniatures games, they are very high quality for a boardgame and every bit as good as what you might find in game such as Axis and Allies, BattleLore, or Descent. The miniatures are made of plastic and use very bright colors that slightly increase the “toy” look of the game, but at the same time it is practical as the colors make it easy to identify which piece belongs to which player. On the down side, a few of the miniatures look quite similar to each other, so it can definitely speed gameplay to separate the miniatures into categories before playing so that you don’t waste time searching amongst similar looking pieces for the specific miniature that you need. Age of Empires III also includes 10 plastic “merchant ships” which act as markers in the game. These are quite possibly the best looking plastic “age of sail” ship pieces that I have seen in any game.
In addition to the plastic miniatures, several cardboard pieces and “playing card” sized cards are used to keep track of events, trade goods, upgrades, etc. These components are sturdy, functional and attractive, but aren’t anything remarkable. The plastic coins used to keep track of funds on the other hand are outstanding. Each coin looks remarkably similar to the Spanish coins used during this time period and even have a satisfying “clink” when stacked together. All of the components in Age of Empires III are of good quality, but the quality of these coins is just amazing.
Overall, if one were to judge the quality of a game based completely on the components themselves, Age of Empires III would score very high. Its board and miniatures are of equal or greater value to what one would find in a “conquer the world” style game, and the “bookkeeping” components such as the various markers and especially the game’s plastic coins are far superior to what I’ve seen in any other game. Besides the almost useless scoring track and the flimsy rule book, the game’s components are of outstanding quality and value.
Miniatures and Merchant Ship
Gameplay
As a player whose background comes primarily from dice heavy war games with lots of rules and exceptions, I found the rules in Age of Empires to be quite straightforward. Mechanically, the game is slightly more complicated than Settlers of Catan (without expansions) or Carcassonne, but significantly less complicated than wargames like Axis and Allies or Attack!. The rulebook provides a very broad overview of how the game is played in a step by step format at the front of the rulebook, and then provides more detailed information to support each gameplay step in a reference format later on in the document. This not only makes it easy to see the big picture without getting caught up in the details unless you need them; it also makes it easy to quickly find answers to any questions that might arise during gameplay. There are very few exceptions that need to be memorized, so once players learn the basic gameplay steps it is quite easy to play. A new player can easily sit down with the rulebook and immediately start playing the game, following each step of the game and only looking in the reference portion of the rulebook as needed.
Unfortunately, while the game mechanics are easy to grasp, the actual gameplay is so radically different from any other style of game that I have tried before that I was clueless about the impact my actions were having during my very first game. It took me about three turns of blindly executing mechanics before I started to recognize any strategy at all, and it really took a complete game before I felt like I had enough of an understanding about the game to compete. The other players I learned the game with agreed that you pretty much have to play one complete game before you can begin to appreciate the game’s strategy. Because our games took at least two hours, I could envision this as a potential challenge for players that want to be able to immediately compete during their first game. That being said, the gameplay doesn’t feel long and so far, every new player that I have tried the game with *immediately* wanted to play a second game, so I haven’t found this to be an issue for anyone.
Management 101
The core of Age of Empires III’s gameplay involves managing a limited pool of workers and using them to perform actions that can potentially score victory points. Each round, players take turns queuing up actions by placing a limited amount of workers into various sections of the board called “event boxes.” Each event box has a different effect. For example, one event box might allow a player to colonize the new world, another might allow a player to attack another player with his soldiers, yet another might allow a player to purchase trade goods or discover new territories in the new world. Each worker allows players to execute an action one time (although players are sometimes allowed to place multiple workers in the same event box to perform the same action multiple times). After all of the workers have been queued, their actions are resolved and players either gain points, new abilities, or income (which can help them purchase new abilities later in the game) depending on how they used their workers. This is repeated 8 times, and at the end of the game, the winner is the player who managed to score the most victory points.
The beauty of this system is that despite its incredibly simple mechanics (it doesn’t get much easier than taking turns to place workers in event boxes), there are some very difficult strategic choices that must be made each turn. For example, many event boxes have limited spaces, so it’s a real advantage to be the first player to place a worker in one of these event boxes to ensure you are able to take that specific action that turn. However, in order to ensure that you have the first turn, you have to spend one of your workers in the “initiative” event box, which means you have one less worker available to use in other event boxes on that turn. Players must decide if it is more valuable to “invest” a worker in the initiative event box to ensure they go first on the following turn, or if it is better to spend that “extra” worker immediately to perform some other action that can get you something you can use right now. Another example is the “Merchant Shipping” event box. Anyone can put workers in the event box, but only the player with the most workers in the box at the end of a round gets to use the merchant ship ability. Because only one player can win, any workers spent by players who don’t win are essentially wasted. Anyone that chooses to place a worker in the “Merchant Shipping” event box must decide exactly how many workers the Merchant Ship ability is worth to them. Each event box has similarly unique and difficult (but fun!) choices associated with it. Players can rarely do everything they wish each turn, forcing some agonizing decisions each time a worker is placed on the board.
Sample Event Box
So Special
In and of itself, the worker management system is fun, but it would probably get repetitive pretty quickly. To help make things a bit more interesting, and to encourage players to concentrate on specific strategies, rather than just randomly filling event boxes, Age of Empires III uses a special kind of worker called a “specialist.” A “specialist” is sort of like a super worker that can do the same things all of the other generic workers (called colonists) can do, but is really good at performing a specific task. For example, the Missionary Specialist “converts” the native population into “good Christian citizens.” As a result, if a player places a Missionary in the colonization event box, when they arrive in the new world you can add an extra colonist in the territory they were sent to. Missionaries can still go on expeditions, purchase trade goods, and any other task a normal colonist would be able to do, but because the Missionary’s special ability gives you double the effectiveness of a regular colonist when used in the colonist event box, it is most efficient to use Missionaries to help colonize the new world. Naturally, players seeking to win the game by colonizing the new world tend to use a lot of Missionary specialists. Likewise, the soldier specialist can be used to attack enemy colonists in the new world, or can be sent on discovery missions to plunder the native villages they find (Age of Empires III isn’t exactly politically correct). You could use the soldier to purchase a Capital Building, but he is much more effective attacking other players or gaining money for a player by plundering on discovery missions.
There are four kinds of specialists, a Missionary, a Soldier, a Merchant, and a Captain. Each type of specialist has a single space on the “Specialist” event box. Players can recruit specialists by placing a colonist on the space in the specialist event box that represents the specialist they would like to recruit. For example, by placing a colonist on the “Merchant” specialist box, a player could recruit a Merchant specialist to be used on the following turn. Once a box has been filled, it cannot be used again that turn, so one of the major sources of player interaction in Age of Empires III comes from players jockeying for position on the initiative track in order to ensure they are able to select the exact specialist they need to execute their strategy (or to keep another player from getting the specialist they want).
The Missionary and the Soldier
O Brave New World
Tightly integrated with the worker management system are two sub-systems; the “discovery” subsystem, and the “colonization” subsystem. At the start of the game, only a single territory of the game’s “conquer the world” style map on the left hand side of the board is “discovered” (the Caribbean). Every other territory on the game board has a random “discovery tile” placed face down on that territory to show that no one has discovered it yet. At the end of each turn, any colonists or specialists placed in the discovery event box may be sent on an “expedition of discovery.” Essentially, a risk/reward system, players select the number of their colonists and specialists they wish to send on the discovery mission, choose a territory that has not yet been discovered, and flip that territory’s discovery tile. On each tile is a random number of natives. If the number of colonists on the expedition equal or exceed the number of natives, the colonists succeed in discovering the territory. If the number of natives exceeds the number in the expedition, all of those colonists are lost and their actions are wasted. Each discovery tile has a random number of natives (between 1 and 5), a cash reward for making the discovery, a small number of victory points, and bonus cash if the territory is plundered. Generally speaking, the higher the number of natives in a territory, the higher the associated reward. Players can increase the odds of making a successful discovery by sending a Captain specialist, and each soldier that is sent may “plunder” that territory generating more income for the discovering player than missions without soldiers. Because each discovery tile has between one and five natives, players can never be sure just how large an expedition they should send. This means they must balance their desire to discover a territory (and gain the associated rewards) before another player with the risk of not sending enough colonists. The random element of these discovery missions provides a lot of fun tension, and really helps to create the feel that you are actually discovering something. Players with a background of dice heavy wargames should be quite familiar with managing the odds and enjoy the slight uncertainty and constant second guessing that comes when you are about to send a discovery mission.
Once a territory has been discovered, it may be colonized. Colonization is essentially an area control system, and is the primary way that the “conquer the world” style map on the left hand side of the board is used. At the end of each turn, players take turns moving colonists from the “Colonize the New World” event box into discovered territories on the game board. Any player can send their colonists into any discovered territory; you don’t “own” territories like you would in a game like Risk or Diplomacy. Once a territory has at least three colonists in it, it is considered “colonized” (or developed) and it begins to score points. At the end of each age (usually every 3 turns), the player who has the most colonists in a territory scores victory points. The player in second place also scores, but gets a much smaller amount of points. Any other players with colonists in that territory don’t score at all. Because there are so many potential points in the colonization strategy, there is usually quite a lot of competition for control of each territory. Generally, you will typically see at least two (and sometimes more) players make colonization their primary focus in the game.
Sometimes you can be too cautious
War, What Is It Good For?
For a game with the Age of Empires name, there is a surprisingly small amount of actual combat in Age of Empires III. Soldier specialists are powerful tools, but war is more of a supplementary strategy than the primary method of winning the game. Besides the abstracted “plundering” done when sent on discovery expeditions, soldiers have one other primary use; attacking enemy colonists to help players gain control of territories in the new world. Because soldiers can kill off enemy colonists, soldiers are often used to kill just enough of an enemy’s colonists to ensure that the attacking player has the most (or second most) colonists in a territory and as a result will earn those associated victory points at the end of an age. However, there is no reward for fighting itself, and you can’t eliminate another player from the game, so while warfare can definitely aid the player seeking to win the game by using the “colonize the new world” strategy, warfare is not an essential part of the game. It is entirely possible (and even likely) that many players will ignore soldiers entirely.
Another aspect that weakens the effectiveness of a military based strategy is that you cannot normally move colonists from one territory to another (including soldiers). This means that unlike most “conquer the world” games, you cannot take the soldiers in one territory to attack the colonists in another territory. Instead, you may only attack enemy colonists in the territories the soldiers currently occupy. If the enemy is defeated, your forces are left as a deterrent, but cannot be used offensively. This means that soldiers are frequently used to discourage opponents from colonizing a territory more often than they are used to actually do any sort of attacking.
Warfare can be an effective strategy, but it is not the focus of the game. Players expecting a “conquer the world” style game like Axis and Allies will be disappointed if they go in expecting to use their military power to win the game. However, I can honestly say that I don’t feel that Age of Empires III is less enjoyable with its “war is a supporting strategy” approach. I really think that even wargame fans will enjoy Age of Empires III. Players who want to fight may do so and so long as they support it with some other strategy as well, they can succeed. Personally, as a wargame fan myself I’d love to see an expansion that added some mechanics to make warfare a viable primary strategy, rather than just a supplementary strategy, but overall I think there is just enough warfare in the game to keep things interesting for fans of the wargame genre.
The Canadian arms race begins!
Money, Money, Money!
Besides the previously mentioned income gained from discovering (and optionally plundering) territories in the new world, players may also generate income a few other ways, the most common of which is by collecting trade goods. Trade Goods join discovery and colonization as a 3rd tightly integrated sub-system, and represents another common path for winning the game. The Trade Goods sub-system uses a set collection mechanic that rewards players for collecting large amounts of matching goods. For example, three sugar resources are more valuable than one sugar, one gold, and one fur resource. At the start of each turn, four random trade goods are placed face up where everyone can see them. These goods are collected by placing a colonist on one of four squares in the “Trade Goods” event box. At the end of each turn, the player with a colonist on the first square in the “trade goods” event box may select the trade good of his choice from the four goods that are face up on the table. The player with a colonist in the second square in the trade gods event box may select from the three remaining face up goods, and so on until none remain. At the start of the next turn, these goods are refreshed so there are always four goods to choose from at the start of each turn. The random nature of these trade goods makes this strategy a bit more risky than the colonization strategy, but it is certainly less risky than a heavy discovery strategy. Trade goods generate income at the end of every turn and are not “consumed.” Thus, the more trade goods that a player accumulates, the more likely their income will increase.
Because it can sometimes be difficult to get complete sets of trade goods, a single “Merchant Ship” is made available to players each turn. The merchant ship acts as a “wild card” and can be used to help create sets. For example, a player with 2 sugar trade goods could use a merchant ship to create a set of 3; a player with 3 silver trade goods could use a merchant ship to create a set of 4, and so on. At the end of each turn, the player with the most colonists in the “Merchant Shipping” event box gets to take the merchant ship. Because only the player with the most colonists wins the ship, any colonists spent by players that do not win the merchant ship are essentially wasted. While this makes the merchant shipping event box a bit risky, a player’s income increases dramatically as sets get larger in size, so it isn’t unusual to see several players trying hard to win the merchant ship each turn. One way that players can increase their odds of winning the merchant ship is by using either a “Merchant” or a “Captain” specialist as these specialists are worth two colonists when played in the Merchant Shipping event box.
The Merchant specialists can also be sent to the new world via the “colonize the new world” event box. If a merchant is sent to the new world, he counts as a colonist for area control purposes just like any other colonist, but he has the added advantage of providing a small amount of income on the turn he arrives in the new world. It isn’t a huge amount of money, but as a supporting strategy for players using a “colonization” strategy it can be quite useful.
At the end of the game, the income generated from trade goods is converted into victory points. As a result, while players using the colonization strategy earn victory points at the end of each age and the discovery player earns victory points each time they have a successful expedition, the player using the trade goods strategy gets the majority of their victory points in one large lump sum at the end of the game. Thus, increasing income not only helps to purchase abilities, it directly converts into points at the end of the game as well. New players are advised to keep an eye on the player collecting trade goods because while they might seem to have little in the way of victory points for the majority of the game, they are very capable of “come from behind” victories that can take players off guard.
Trade Goods
A Capital Idea
While trade good income is useful at the end of the game for generating victory points, the real power of income comes from its ability to purchase new abilities in the form of capital buildings. In the PC version of Age of Empires III, capital buildings represent the buildings and units produced in Europe that were sent to help out in the new world. Similarly, in the board game version of Age of Empires III, capital buildings provide a wide variety of abilities to players after they have been purchased. For example, the “Settlers” building provides a bonus colonist each turn, so a player with that capital building will be able to take an extra action each turn. Another capital building might provide a free specialist each turn, or bonus income for each merchant ship that you own, or a large one-time cash bonus. The most powerful capital buildings come at the end of the game and can be used to do everything from converting wealth into victory points, to giving bonus victory points to the player with the most soldiers in the new world. More than any other element in the game, Capital buildings tend to be what shape a player’s strategy. As players purchase capital buildings, they tend to become more and more specialized. For example, a player with both Monastery (+1 Missionary per turn) and Cathedral (Missionaries provide 2 free colonists instead of 1) will obviously be quite effective at colonizing the new world, but might not be as effective discovering new territories or gathering trade goods. As a result, other players can either use an opponent’s specialization as an opportunity to have less competition in another area of the game, or they can try to hamper their opponent at what he does best to force him to make less efficient choices. Without the Capital buildings, this encouragement to focus on a specific strategy simply would not be possible.
Players purchase new capital buildings by placing a colonist on a square in the “Capital Buildings” event box. Like the trade goods, at the start of each turn, five random capital buildings are placed face up. At the end of each turn, the first player to place a colonist in the “Capital Buildings” event box may select the capital building of this choice from the 5 face up buildings, the next player may select from the four remaining, and so on. At the start of each turn, the capital buildings are refreshed so there are always 5 capital buildings available for purchase at the start of each turn. At the start of every age, more powerful buildings become available for purchase, but the associated cost for these buildings also rises. Generally speaking, the early buildings provide bonuses that encourage players to specialize, while the later buildings provide rewards for that specialization.
Unfortunately, while these capital buildings provide incentives for specialization and make each game feel unique and interesting, it is these capital buildings that make it almost impossible to play the game with a specific strategy in mind until after you have completed at least one game. The capital buildings are incredibly powerful and many provide bonuses for things a player that had never played Age of Empires III before would simply not know to do. For example, “Rum Distillery” provides extra income for each sugar trade good that you own. None of the other trade goods have any sort of bonus associated with them, so a new player would not know there was an advantage for taking sugar. Sure you could sit down with a new player and show them the back of the rule book which details what each capital building does, but until a player has played at least one game, most of the abilities simply don’t mean much. Fortunately, I don’t think the lack of knowledge about the capital buildings makes the game unplayable for new players. By focusing on efficiently managing their workers, most new players can at least stay competitive with more experienced players. That being said, in 100% of the games I have played with new players, the new player immediately wanted to play a second game after seeing the Age III capital buildings because after a complete game they can see how useful capital buildings can be in accomplishing their strategies. As a result, I’m not really sure if I consider this a weakness or strength; new players can’t really compete right away, but they all immediately want to play again. I guess a lot depends on who you are playing with, and whether or not they are comfortable with a slight learning curve.
The powerful Age III Capitals
Balancing Act
The real beauty of Age of Empires III’s gameplay is the way that it blends the risk/reward of the discoveries, the area control of colonization, and the set collection of the trade goods together through the brilliant worker management core gameplay mechanism. Not only do these systems allow for incredibly diverse strategies and a game that feels slightly different each time it is played, these completely separate systems all have elements that encourage players to blend them together. For example, the first player to get three colonists in a territory gets a free trade good. This means that even if a player is trying to win via a trade goods strategy and isn’t really focused on colonization, there is some incentive for him to at least stay involved in the colonization game. Likewise, players cannot colonize a territory until it has been discovered, so a discovery/colonization strategy can be effective as well. The more that one plays, the more players learn about how to make certain strategies support each other. The amazing thing about Age of Empires III is that even if players take completely different strategies, the score at the end of the game will be close. For example, in a two player game I used a heavy discovery/colonization strategy, while my opponent focused on trade goods and merchants. Even though we used completely different strategies, at the end of the game, the victor was decided by a single point. In every game that I have played so far (which includes 2, 3, 4, and 5 player games), the largest margin of victory so far was around 10 points. Every strategy seems balanced, and the fate of the game can often rest on a single mistake. This incredible balance helps everyone feel they had a chance to win, and has been another reason the demand for playing this game multiple times in a row has been so high.
End game scoring tends to be very close
Closing Thoughts
I went into Age of Empires III very unsure about the game. It represented a style of gameplay completely foreign to me, and took a wargame license with a lot of potential and turned it into a game with very little emphasis on battles at all. However, I not only found the game to be enjoyable, I found it to be one of the best games that I have ever played in my life. It is a completely different experience than the “conquer the world” game I was expecting, and wargame fans should not purchase the game expecting it to “scratch that itch.” However, I can honestly say that every wargame fan that I have played the game with (plus several players who could care less about wargames) enjoyed the game very much. It isn't a perfect game. I'd love to see warfare become a potential winning strategy, and it might be nice to have a variant in which each nation starts with a capital building or two so that there is some difference between each nation. However, as a whole, the game does a fantastic job of matching its “Age of Discovery” theme, has incredible balance, and the game’s simple mechanics are easy to learn, but offer an amazing array of difficult (but fun!) choices. It is the best game I have played in years and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Overall BGG Score: 9 out of 10
Posted Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:50 pm
