Civilization: The Board Game
Civilization: The Board Game
|
| Players |
2-4 (2-5 with Fame and Fortune expansion) |
| Age range |
13+ |
| Playing time |
2-4 hours |
| Skill(s) required |
Tactics, Strategy |
Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game is a 2010 board game created by Kevin Wilson based on the Sid Meier's Civilization series of video games and published by Fantasy Flight Games. While the previous board game based on Sid Meier's Civilization, published by Eagle Games in 2002, was based on Civilization III, the 2010 version takes its inspiration from Civilization IV and its various expansions.[1]
Gameplay
In Civilization: The Board Game, players take on one of six different civilizations. The game board consists of a number of modular map tiles, which, with the exception of each civilization's unique starting map tile, are placed face-down on the board. At the start of the game, each player begins with a capital city in the centre of their own map tile, and an army and scout unit that begins in a space bordering their capital city. Each player also has a specific national power and a starting technology, depending on the civilization chosen.
Each turn in the game consists of five phases, during which players take turns performing the actions permitted in each phase:
- In the Start of Turn Phase, players may build cities, change governments, and perform start-of-turn upkeep. Players may have up to two cities (three with a technology), which are built at the present location of any of their scout units, subject to building restrictions. The tiles immediately surrounding the city is known as the "outskirts". When a technology is researched that unlocks a new form of government, players may immediately switch to the new form of government for free; in any other scenario, players must switch to the anarchy government before switching again to their desired form of government the following turn.
- In the Trade Phase, each player collects trade that is generated by their cities. The city space itself does not generate any trade; trade is only generated by the spaces that surround the spaces. Players may hold a maximum of 27 trade points at a time. Players may also negotiate on trade deals between each other during this phase. This phase is typically conducted between all players simultaneously. Trade may also be generated by scout units, and the presence of opposing army units negates trade production from a space.
- In the City Management Phase, each player may take an action for each of their cities. Each city may either produce a unit or building, gain culture points, or harvest resources. Cities may produce any unit or building costing an amount less than or equal to the number of production points in the spaces surrounding their city. Production points may not be pooled between cities, and any production points in excess of the number of points needed is lost. Like trade, scout units may also gather production for a city, and enemy units may prevent a city from accessing production points. Trade points may also be exchanged for production points. Cities devoting to the arts generate culture points rather than production, and like trade points, culture points are pooled so that they may be spent advancing a civilization's culture levels. Advancing culture levels allows players to gain culture event cards, which provide certain one-time bonuses, or Great People, which act as improved versions of buildings that may be moved between cities. Cities harvesting resources gain the resource that they harvest, which may then be spent on resource-based abilities granted by technologies. As with other forms of production, scouts may harvest on behalf of a city, and the harvesting of resources may be blockaded by enemy units.
- In the Movement Phase, players may move their armies and scouts a number of spaces on the board. The number of spaces that may be travelled is based on the technologies the players have researched. Movement may be constrained by the presence of water, depending on the technologies researched, and there is a limit on the number of units that may occupy a single space on the board. Units may also move onto a face-down map tile, turning it face up. Certain spaces on the map contain huts and villages, which represent passive and aggressive barbarians, which grant resources on discovery. Players may also engage in military conflicts with another player during this phase, with the winner of the battle being able to take assets belonging to the loser as a reward.
- In the Research Phase, players may spend trade points to research new technologies. This phase is performed simultaneously by all players. Each technology is organized into a number of ages, and technology research is governed by the "tech pyramid": new "Age I" technologies may be researched at any time, and the number of advanced technologies that the player may have at any given time is always one less than the number of technologies of the previous age that has been researched. Researching a technology of a particular age requires that the player has a minimum number of trade points, all of which are spent upon performing the research. Players with coins, gained from buildings or technologies, may retain some trade when discovering new technologies over the course of the game.
The game ends if a player reaches the last culture level, possesses 15 coins, researches a technology in the fifth level of the technology pyramid, or conquers the capital city of another player.
Fame and Fortune
In November 2011, Fantasy Flight Games released an expansion to Civilization: The Board Game titled Fame and Fortune. This expansion adds four new civilizations to the game, as well as rule revisions, new map tiles that depict relics, which grant one-time bonuses for the first player to move an army to its space. The game also adds the parts necessary for a fifth player[2]. Several new optional game mechanics have also been introduced to the game:
- Players may voluntarily remove armies and scouts from the board to form a fortress or trade caravan, respectively. Fortresses give cities a one-time bonus in defending against armies, while caravans produce a one-time production point bonus.
- A new technology permits players to expand their capital city into a metropolis. Metropolis take up two spaces instead of one, and a metropolis may be expanded into water. Metropolises also gain a token defensive bonus over regular cities, and generally produce more resources due to there being 10 spaces around the metropolis rather than 8 around the city.
- A new "Great Person" deck allows players to recruit Great Persons of a specific type rather than drawing Great Persons at random. The powers granted by Great Persons are also greatly expanded by the deck.
- A new "Investment" deck allows players to invest their accumulated coins in one of four main investments. These coins no longer count towards the 15 coins needed to win the game, but coins invested grant additional bonuses to players.
Reception
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