[FaF] Arabia debuts at our table | Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game

El-ad David Amir

(IirionClaus)

United States
New York
New York

We have gathered for a three player game of Civilization on Saturday night, after missing our regular Friday game (which was replaced by multiple games of Turn the Tide, all of which were won by the usual victor...).

The Oracle seems to harbor a difficult opening for Egypt. Notice the two variants for EftA and for Arabia's special ability.

A standard opening interrupted by a surprise appearance of the School of Confuscius. I believe Pottery is a standard Arab tech; starting the investments early is too tempting to give up on.

My initial placement allows me to found a second city right on turn 2 and I decide to seize the opportunity and utilize the action for a Granary, guaranteeing a Level 2 tech next turn. America acquires the School and gets two Coin great people.

As in our previous game, Jacques Cousteau makes an early appearance for America. I start Arabia's beautiful Culture engine, and utilize my first card to trade technologies with America. Thanks to his Great People, America can start devoting to the arts with almost no investment in infrastructure. As soon as he plays William Shakespeare I decide to switch from Culture to economic victory- racing vs. Shakespeare is challenging. Egypt and America opt for Democracy while I aim for a third city as soon as possible.

More Culture oriented leaders for America, who has managed to create a powerful Culture engine without building a single building. Egypt is feeling left behind, as he does not have a clear victory condition in the bag, which means he will probably aim for military (a trend which is realized with his research of Metalworking). As always, I mess up the Village, losing two units and an Iron instead of just one unit; thankfully, Georgy Zhukov allows me to at least win the battle.

America's Animal Husbandry opens up a path for building Angkor Wat, an excessively powerful wonder with Arabia. I decide to spend my teacher researching Code of Laws, hoping for an easy Coin; in retrospect, this should have been Currency, allowing me to spend less resources setting up a Banking switch. Egypt continues the military route and I fuel him with the coin needed for next turn's Military-Industrial Complex, hoping he targets America (which are more of a threat right now).

I try to slow America down a bit by throwing them into anarchy. Egypt continues treading down the military path, I acquire all the coins possible, and America pays dearly for acquiring a Village.

Egypt's machinations are in place, and he is ready to assault America 2. Unfortunately, America is well prepared thanks to his Culture cards, buffing his hand to six units. Although Egypt does not lose any units thanks to Florence Nightingale, the lost momentum is tangible. Considering the situation on the board, and the fact I can cancel another of America's City Actions with Mark Twain, I believe I will be winning the game- leading to overconfidence and mistakes...

...which materialize this turn. I decide to harvest double Silk instead of double Incense. Taking Incense would mean that I can win next turn by researching Banking and Metalcasting, burning Incense and getting the Culture for the last Coin I need via Printing Press. Silk, on the other hand, is completely useless to me (I already have maximum trade each turn). The end game gambits are revealed: Egypt gets Steam Power, I go for Banking, and America is two turns away from Culture victory.

Due to lack of Culture, I am forced to get Communism, which will be utilized in case Egypt attempts to attack my flags or block my Banks. Mark Twain makes his faithful appearance, denying America crucial cards. I continue the economic race, beating myself (again!) for getting Silk rather than Incense. Egypt uses Galileo Galilei, Steam Power, and movement off Egypt 2 to block almost all of my resources and put himself in a position to attack my capital repeatedly next turn.

Fortunately, the Grain off Egypt 2 remained available, allowing me to activate all three Coin technologies. Furthermore, I had the Spy (which I did not need for Communism, as Egypt decided not to attack my flags despite being able to) and the Jousting Tournament to stop America's Disaster.

Arabia wins!

I'm afraid this game is meager on lessons for the future. Somewhere around turn 4, Egypt has decided his chances of victory are slim, leading to some decisions which appear far from optimal to me. With that said:

1) Arabia is an extremely potent civilization. Its three abilities complement each other marvelously, leading to a potent opening and powerful mid to late game. If they choose to, they are guaranteed to get either an investment and culture cards or a Great Person and culture cards on their second turn. We are using an EftA variant since the second game of FaF, but decided on nerfing Arabia to 1 Culture per resource even before starting this game- a variant which proved itself crucial, in my opinion.

2) As always, I neglect my military until it is almost too late. I managed to pull it off the past few games, but I did lose the ability to harass the other players. America has chosen not to utilize his military prowess; a fortunate decision for me, since he could have sent just one flag my way and seriously mess up my plans.

3) Egypt's missed attempt to attack my flags was instrumental. I was pretty surprised he decided not to attack; that would have forced me to spend a Spy, which was crucial on the last turn. A game deciding move.

As always, comments welcome and thanks for reading!