The other week I saw advertised a new edition of the classic boardgame 'History of the World' made famous by Avalon Hill. I snuck it into the house like a seventeen year old returning from a night on the beers and let it blend into its surroundings until the time was right to unwrap it and get it to table.
Sunday last was that night.
With the den to myself and the cricket on, I decided to give it a try.
The Sumerians were the first empire to establish themselves. Getting on their asses they spread from Tigris into Zagros and the Levant. Dominance of the Middle East along with a capital and a monument entered twelve points into the ledger for the blue team. History had begun!
The second empire to emerge was that of the Minoans. Avoiding conflict, these hardy seafarers settled Mauretania and Anatolia. At home they built a palace at Knossos. Some chroniclers considered this to have been a minor tear, but others thought it was bull. At any rate, the gold team had points on the board.
The Hittites then arose, pouring forth with their iron weapons to wipe the Sumerians from the face of the earth and they almost succeeded.
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| Hittites get to build forts! Cool (unless you're not a Hittite). |
In China the Zhou asserted their supremacy and cultivated a satellite kingdom on the banks of the Indus.
And so ended the first epoch of recorded history, and in a neat touch of verisimilitude, I forgot to record the scores.
Era the second commenced with the rise of the Persians. Alongside their white team legacy Hittites, they dominated India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East to win masses of points. Sadly for the Zhou, their erstwhile satellite kingdom became just another satrapy.
Next it was the turn of the Celts to rampage their way across Europe, Eurasia and Persia. It looked impressive, but with Eurasia terra incognita at this stage of the History, they did not get as impressive a pay-off in points.
The Mauryans subdued India and ventured into Southeast Asia. Two crucial battles were lost, but team red have control of the east.
What is the last Empire modeled?
ReplyDeleteThe last empire, in Epoch V (ending 1912), is the Japanese. I'll put up the rest of the game in another post.
DeleteCheers,
Aaron
Interesting reading . . .
ReplyDeleteBrought to mind two things, quite at opposite ends of the spectrum, or a spectrum anyway.
First, I have recently read Cline's book (2014) titled "1177 BC, The Year Civilization Collapsed." Your references to the Summerians and then the Minoans made me think of that.
Second, I could not help but think of Mel Brooks and his classic routine about or featuring the world's oldest man.
Back on topic, it certainly looks like a very pretty or attractive game.
Cheers,
Chris
Dude I cracked up.. “I snuck it into the house like a seventeen year old returning from a night on the beers”
ReplyDeleteHow many of us hobbyist/collectors have not done this at least once to get it past the Old Guard;) hahaha
Cheers
Kevin
This looks very much up my alley. When playing with other humans, does each player manage successive empires?
ReplyDeleteYes, that's right. Each each player controls one empire per era. Points are scored after each empire's move for things such as territoral control, monuments built, rival monuments destroyed, and so on. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins. Simple but effective!
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