Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization

Today brings us to the heaviest and most lengthy game thus far as we play Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization. Through the Ages is a deep, involved strategy game where you complete against opposing civilizations from early history through the modern age, and clocking in at a minimum of 2 and a half hours, certainly feels like making history.

The components of Through the Ages are of the type that may not stand out particularly well when you look at the table, but are extremely functional for gameplay. There is probably no better game that shows how important it is to have a good graphic designer for a board game. The symbology is clear, simple and doesn’t require looking up and each card or board is very clear in what it’s purpose is, how to use it and in what order to do so. There are a couple wooden markers that are bland looking, but apart from that I wouldn’t change a thing. A few bland markers and cards are a small sacrifice to make for the amount of time saved by having good graphic design, as a big part of making a long game enjoyable is making sure it isn’t filled with dead time as one player has to look up what a symbol means.

At it’s heart I suppose I could call the game a combination between action selection and engine building, but that is almost doing it a disservice, there is a whole lot more to it than that. Players get a number of civil and military actions per turn, with which they build their civilization. A player can build buildings, train troops, take cards, select bonus actions for the next turn, develop technologies and many other options depending on what cards they have taken from the general supply and what technologies they have developed.

The actual act of taking actions is very simple but the vast number of options available to the player make it a very demanding game both in terms of tactics and strategy. Because one can count on more or less the same cards showing up each game but not when they will show up, it makes it possible to choose any strategy one wants but also requires a sense of tactical flexibility. You can take one of many different routes to victory, although one needs to keep a general balance between building one’s economic engine and military so as not to be overrun by an aggressive player. (Hector’s Tip: Do not build 6 iron mines in the early game with nothing to spend it on).

The game is much deeper than I can explain here without quadrupling the length of this blog post and unfortunately the rule book is not nearly as well written as the graphics are designed. It will certainly take players a few plays to really get a handle on the game as a whole, which may be a turn off to people not willing to invest a “learning play” into a 3 hour game. However for me, this is by far the best game to capture the feel of a civilization building game by far, and it manages to do it without a map.

The 2 player game is quite a bit different than a larger player count, for reasons both relating to the game and those tangential. In terms of gameplay alone, there are no pacts between players, and wars feel a great deal more personal. Aggression actions and negative events turn into a “take that” sort of thing as opposed to a matter of striking out at the leading player in a multiplayer game. There is also a more ability to strategically plan your moves with less players able to snag the cards you might want before you get the chance. In terms of the metagame, when playing a game of this magnitude, it is a lot easier to schedule 2 players for an afternoon, and agree to a dinner or washroom break between turns than it is with 4.

All that being said, I highly recommend Through the Ages to any player who is willing to take the time to play a game of this length, there is something in here for everyone. You can expand, you can exploit, you can exterminate or do a balance of three of the four x’s. The only person who is going to have a bad day is someone who feels the need to chuck dice to resolve battles, there is none of that to be found here. Anyone who appreciates a long strategy game however, is in for a great time.

Note: Amanda here, and I adore this game for two players. I actually don’t find it as fun when you have more, not only because of the constant changing strategy involved with the rotating cards, but there’s so much downtime between your turn, so the game itself seems to drag when you have more people. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy strategy games and as a longer game this is one of my favourites, but it’s hard to stay engaged in a game that you have to sit and do nothing for so much time in between turns. That being said, with two players it generally doesn’t take quite as long to decide what you want to do, whereas if there are three other people before your turn, between cards cycling, being purchased, and military actions being taken whatever you thought you wanted to do might have stopped being an option two people before you.

The Teal Dear

Game: Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
Designer: Vlaada Chvátil
Price: $65
Players: 2-4
2 player Scaling: My preferred way to play the game.
Playtime: 90 – 120 minutes + 30 minutes per player
Estimated Lifespan: Till the fall of civilization
Average Play Frequency: Quarterly
Complexity: 4.5
Components: 5
Bang for Buck: 5
Value for Time: 5
Fun Factor: 5
Overall: 5