Civilizations, galore!

I've been doing a fair amount of civilization building lately.

Through the Ages is getting regular play at the biweekly (once every two weeks version of the word) Thursday game night.

I've played a couple of games of Sid Meier's Civilization, which I'll be talking about in a bit. 7 Wonders is a nice, quick drafting game which I got as a gift this season - played someone else's copy already, which speeds up my tutorials once my copy gets opened. Finally, playing a bit of Civ 5 on the computer - outside my normal scope of game discussions...essentially as addictive as ever.

Sid Meier's Civilization is a game put out in 2010 by Fantasy Flight. They do a lot of licensed games. If it hasn't been clear in the past, there are some design differences that I wouldn't choose to do for fun. (I would do it as a job, sure.) They put a lot of bits and counters in their games, utilize a verbose rulebook, and generally have cards in the game that provide a lot of swing in the game.

The appealing part is the alleged 2 hours for a Civ game. So far there was a 6-hour game, and a 4-hour game...each time, the players thought that 'with time' they could get it down more. I really doubt that there will ever be a 2-hour game, unless someone just gets wrecked by an early rush.

I read the rulebook for the first game, and the 6-hours includes the tutorial. Some parts just weren't expressed in the rulebook, but we were lucky enough to have a person at the game store's game night who had played a bit already. (Thanks Justin!)

The cool part is the multiple paths to winning - science, military, wealth, and culture. If you're not working on military, a military player will crush you down. Everyone needs science to get the better units/buildings/gold. Wealth is a handy thing for anyone to have, but not crushing if you're behind on it. The culture track nets you crazy chance cards, as well as Great People - essentially cheap buildings.

There is a rock-paper-scissors approach to combat - basically first strike against some other type of unit...sadly, there isn't a reliable way to guarantee what units you bring into the combat. On a more difficult note, if there wasn't first strike or random units, the combat system would be just numbers against numbers. Overall, the combat is pretty crazy and random. Technology boosts are about the only reliable ally against random cards, but it will cost you.

Wealth is achieved by getting gold coins in a variety of ways - some on Great People, or parts of the map...usually by certain technology cards that give you access to gaining up to 4.

Culture is pretty straightforward - get culture chits and points of trade. Try to skimp on everything else once the engine is started. Every time you advance on the culture track, you gain either a 'chance' card or random great person - hopefully the great person nets you culture, and the chance cards misdirect attackers. If there's only one warmonger at the table, you might draw enough cards to stop them cold while you limp in from the marathon.

Science is probably the easiest one to do 'for sure'. 15 technology cards, which is 15 turns if you're getting enough tech for one each round. Each science nets you something good, with the higher-level ones being powerful in proper circumstances.

The game also includes wonders, exploring, huts and barbarian villages - it's a pretty fair representation of the computer game...I just wish it had the elegance of Through the Ages. Worth picking up if you like the Fantasy Flight game design ala Starcraft or BSG...otherwise a long investment of time to recapture the magic of playing Civ on the computer.