Recs.
Updated
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization is a civilization building game. Through resource management, discovering technologies, electing leaders, and maintaining a strong military, players will compete to build the best civilization. The game spans a large time frame and takes place beginning in the age of antiquity and ending in the modern age.
This game is the new edition of the original game, Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization. This edition features many changes to the cards in the game, as well as greatly revamps how the military works.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Very strategic
Figuring out the best way to manage and balance your resources leads to many important and deep strategic decisions. You'll have to determine which areas of your civilization need to be improved, decide what resources to spend, and ultimately how to grow your civilization stronger and faster than your opponents. Carefully weighing the pros and cons of each decision you make results in a game that allows for many different strategies.
Pro A brilliant civilization-building game
Beginning in the age of antiquity, players will spend the next four ages competing with one another to build the best civilization. To accomplish this, you'll be building improvements and wonders, researching and developing technologies, electing leaders, implementing a political system, and forming a powerful military. For each one of those areas of civilization expansion, there are so many different choices and decisions to make, that the possibilities are almost endless. The end result is a game that feels unique, deep, and expansive every time you play.
Pro Tense thanks to the card row mechanic
During gameplay, there is a row of cards that can be purchased by players for use in building their civilization. Every turn, the cards shift a row and become cheaper to purchase while the newer cards being added are more expensive. Since all players have access to the same cards, deciding whether or not to purchase a card (and keep your opponent from using it) can lead to some pretty tense decision making. Waiting too long might cause your opponent to snatch it, but by buying it early you are paying more for it. Additionally, if a card isn't chosen after a certain number of turns, it can disappear from play permanently. All of this adds up to a very thrilling system that creates anticipation among all players.
Pro Removes the complexity out of resource tracking
Each player has their own game board with cubes that represent their resources/points and where they are allocated. As you play the game, the cubes are moved around into different areas (for example, military strength, science etc), but you'll always be aware of where everything is and how many resources/points you have with a quick glance. The design is great, takes the edge off of learning, and makes keeping track of everything a very intuitive and easy process.
Cons
Con Lots of maintenance work each turn
Each round, you will have to manually adjust and change a lot of various stats such as your score, how many points/resources you have in various areas such as science or your military, etc. Having to wait for every players to calculate and shift pieces around the board every turn can quickly turn into a chore. It is a very hands-on game with a lot of moving parts.
Con Games tend to last a very long time
Games can take up to two hours, even when playing with only two players. The more players you add to the game, the longer it generally takes. On the high end, playing with four players may take several hours or more. This makes it a very long experience when compared to other similar board games.