2008 Woodie Awards
A "Civilization" on its own
Same world, new twist
Paul Davis
Issue date: 10/24/02 Section: Arts & Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
At this year's Gen Con, the world's largest gaming convention, I saw a very interesting toy. It was a limited edition "Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game," signed by three of the main designers, including Sid Meier, for $50.
The instructions for the advanced game are fairly complicated, though if you have played this game on the computer, you would not want it any other way. For those who are not familiar with the basics of this board game, here they are: Meier, creator of dozens of historical games, made a game for Micropose almost a decade ago. He has published five such titles, the latest being "Civilization III," which was published by Infogrames (Micropose has sold out.) Meier is also known for such famous titles as "Gettysburg" and "Pirate's Cove."
In "Civ II," which is how the game is known, you get to trade the resources you find scattered over the malformed earth with other players; you send out military units and settlers to claim more land, and you don't have to win the world with force as technology and economy are the means to win the game in the end. Getting use to the fact that most of the points came from technology, cities, and wonders of the world took some time, and will if you're used to such games as RISK. You do find resources in regions (you fight for and settle entire regions instead of just random land) but you can also find plagues which wipe out larger areas as the game goes on through the eras. You buy technology and units instead of building up or studying over time, and there aren't many military units. With units there are specific dice, so it's more like a table top RPG as they level up for more dice through the eras.
For the most part, this game mimics the video game very closely. It's most fun due to the fact you play with other people and make and break promises and alliances as you please. In fact, I was "Paul, the Silver-Tongued" by the end of the game (we made up Civ ratings like you get in the actual game.) The only real problem I found with actual game play was that some rules really needed modifying, but since it's a board game, modify away.
The instructions for the advanced game are fairly complicated, though if you have played this game on the computer, you would not want it any other way. For those who are not familiar with the basics of this board game, here they are: Meier, creator of dozens of historical games, made a game for Micropose almost a decade ago. He has published five such titles, the latest being "Civilization III," which was published by Infogrames (Micropose has sold out.) Meier is also known for such famous titles as "Gettysburg" and "Pirate's Cove."
In "Civ II," which is how the game is known, you get to trade the resources you find scattered over the malformed earth with other players; you send out military units and settlers to claim more land, and you don't have to win the world with force as technology and economy are the means to win the game in the end. Getting use to the fact that most of the points came from technology, cities, and wonders of the world took some time, and will if you're used to such games as RISK. You do find resources in regions (you fight for and settle entire regions instead of just random land) but you can also find plagues which wipe out larger areas as the game goes on through the eras. You buy technology and units instead of building up or studying over time, and there aren't many military units. With units there are specific dice, so it's more like a table top RPG as they level up for more dice through the eras.
For the most part, this game mimics the video game very closely. It's most fun due to the fact you play with other people and make and break promises and alliances as you please. In fact, I was "Paul, the Silver-Tongued" by the end of the game (we made up Civ ratings like you get in the actual game.) The only real problem I found with actual game play was that some rules really needed modifying, but since it's a board game, modify away.