Harrowed Halls

Last night we played Sid Meyer’s Civilization board game. In it Players are tasked with guiding an entire civilization throughout the ages, taking ownership of their people’s technology, economy, culture, and military, as well as all the choices that go along with them. There are four different paths to victory (Mike), and each is riddled with opposition (Mike). Each player plays a particular culture. I was German and I believe Mike was Chinese. I don’t remember what cultures Owen or Ben played. The game also comes with hundreds of cards and tokens.

The game begins innocently enough with each player exploring the area around his home, taking over villages, and purging the area of any natives. Each turn you get to add buildings to you city, build a new city, or add more units to your army. You also get to research technology that improves your civilization and allows you to lord of your neighbors (Mike). You can also invest in arts. It turns out that investing in the arts gets you some great cards to play against the other, not-so-artsy, cultures.

While there were no winners in our game (Mike), we each still competed against one another for valuable resources, and in some cases the domination of our neighbors (Mike). It seems the most important strategy to remember is to play to the strength of your culture, as each culture has their own special abilities. Mike did a great job of this, and so did Owen. Ben and I took other paths…mostly leading to death (from Mike) or limited resources.

All-in-all we all enjoyed the game: lots of choices and lots of ways to win the game.

Chaos Steve