Board game Sid Meier's Civilization: New Dawn. A short review of Sid Meier's Civilization Board Game

Unlike the vast majority of computer games, all three masterpieces in the Civilization series are distinguished by their unique ability to provoke creativity and creativity in the soul of the gamer.

« Civilization"is a gaming encyclopedia of historically recognizable images.
In short, a textbook of recognition. The graphic design of the units ensures that a pacifist player will never confuse a tank with motorized infantry, or a multi-gun battleship with an ironclad. Moving closer to the modern era, the detail on combat units becomes frighteningly real. A motorized infantry unit moves its turret in search of a potential target. The slight shaking of modern armored vehicles evokes a feeling of respect for the inner power of the steel giant. After a salvo from one of the sides, the battleships sway so much that you feel an attack of seasickness.
To put it more clearly, Civilization is an encyclopedia of wonder.

I don’t know about the whole world, but in Russia and the CIS “Civilization” spread simultaneously with the fashion for alternative history. Did the Japanese take over Rome? A spearman defeated a knocked out tank? Hanging Gardens Built by the Aztecs? For a normal person, these theses will be perceived as complete nonsense, but who said that we - the army of fans of the programmer Sid Meier - are normal people? Sorry, but for us the theory of Academician Fomenko is not a bold enough refutation of the official history textbooks!

In Civilization-3, artificial intelligence is manifested not only in the equal ability of a computer to resist along all lines of civilizational development. First of all, in an impeccably designed system of diplomatic contacts. Of course, the computer has perfect memory. Therefore, if you are counting on a diplomatic victory, do not deceive anyone from the very beginning of the game, observe the letter of the agreement. The downside of this behavior is that you have to wait until war is declared on you. But no one will ever blame you for a mistake. And you are almost promised the position of chairman of the UN. The best examples of a gamer's confrontation with artificial intelligence: let's say your country divides the continent into two parts, then the warriors of one state will always strive to pass through your lands in order to besiege a foreign city on the other end of the continent. The Japanese are especially intrusive, regularly making excuses by saying that they “came for a bowl of rice.” Second example: if you control almost all the lands, then by some miracle the enemy will be able to drop a settler into the tiniest free piece of space. Here, be prepared for the fact that in violation of restrictions and rules, an enemy trireme with a settler will be able to swim across the dark ocean, inaccessible to your naval units.

By the way, about cards. Whenever you visit the negotiation window on any issue, demand gold for each turn. This is triggered when someone is interested in exchanging world cards or begins peace negotiations. If you are not given gold per turn, agree to one-time payments. Make it a rule to agree to any exchange of cards. We must assume that your card is not a secret to the computer. In this game, this is an option for “left” earnings. It's funny, but you can trade world cards without building a single trireme and without sailing far from your only island.

It's fun to build a lonely world as a learning game to familiarize yourself with the capabilities of units. And it’s even more interesting to choose the “ferocious barbarians” option and measure your strength with the computer, which since the days of the first Civilization has shown demonic ingenuity in supporting aggressive savages.

The landscape, units and cities are presented significantly better than in previous Civilization games. Units are represented not by square icons, but by entire cartoon frames. Instead of an awkward shield, a mercury column of the unit’s “health” appeared. Units have an individual style of movement and, more importantly, each unit rests differently. It's funny when shooters on vacation spit towards an imaginary target. The attack is represented by a sequence of pictures. For example, the visual representation of the impact of a shot from musketeers, riflemen and infantry is impressive. The only solid C is for the palace. Is it needed at all?

More about the differences. In the first two games, it was a hassle to deal with caravans. Especially if a large map was chosen. The gamer barely had time to keep track of the engineering workers or military personnel, and then another dozen caravans asked to go to the most distant city. heard the prayers of gamers. From now on, in Civilization-3, trading begins and ends by clicking on the product icon in the trading advisor window. Almost every dialog box asks you to start trading. Accordingly, the convenience of the interface is ensured by the removal of the “diplomat” unit (I remember there were such graceful men in tails and prim top hats.

The cult of trade colonies is the most important feature of Civilization-3. Remember that enemy units treat colonies as independent cities without a sphere of influence. Therefore, in the initial stage of a military conflict, artificial intelligence will show an unreasonably great interest in your colonies. The sign “Colonies must be protected” will be a well-deserved reproach to the player. Here you need to remember that no matter how wonderful your relationship with your neighbor is, no matter what compliments he says to you, no matter how much he swears eternal friendship for 20 turns, the nearest resource near the borders of your city will definitely be covered by a neighboring colony. And later, a detachment of a military unit and a settler will land near the enemy colony, looking for a piece of land to found a new city. Why deliver spices from a distant colony if the resource can end up within the boundaries of a new city?

On the other hand, the disappearance of civilian units from the game (caravanners on camels and diplomats with canes) predetermined the greater militaristic orientation of the game. Instead of city building and diplomacy, from now on you are required to become a military politician. Because you can try to play the game without declaring war on your neighbors, but then sooner or later you will definitely find yourself a victim. You will be attacked or have a trade embargo imposed on you. Or you will be drawn into an alliance against a third party under the threat of a break in relations. It is this distinct presence of a “third player” that distinguishes the third game from the first two options. For the first time in the history of strategy games, the computer offers the player dramatic intrigue.

With the new gameplay, the development of tactics involves some balance between mandatory militaristic expansion, cultural onslaught and delicacy in diplomacy. What good are diplomatic victories or cultural recognition if you don't control strategic defense resources? In any version of the game, resources such as saltpeter, oil and aluminum play a major role. If you control most of the land or your cities span the mountain ranges of the planet, the trading system loses any appeal for you.

In Civilization-3, the capture of an enemy capital is accompanied by its automatic transfer to another city. This is a fundamental difference from the first “Civilization,” where the loss of the capital was equated with a planetary catastrophe. Therefore, the player had an incentive to select paths and keys to the enemy’s capital. Alas, in the third version, capturing an enemy city does not bring you new technologies. But in negotiations, you have the right to demand whatever you want. This is the case if the enemy is tired of the war and comes out to negotiate with you.

The choice of Wonders of the World has become noticeably more complicated. If you decide to win the capture, you need the Military Academy, the Pentagon and Leonardo's Workshop. If you're on the path of cultural expansion, you can't do without scientific wonders (the Great Library, Newton College, etc.). A diplomatic victory is impossible without possession of the UN building. Etc. The exchange of technologies that promises a breakthrough in the field of weapons remains problematic. Why give up tanks for sewerage? Here we can see some advantage of the gamer over artificial intelligence: your opponents are not able to grasp your benefit in the exchange. Be sure to agree if someone offers you “iron processing” in exchange for the alphabet. Unfortunately, the graphic embodiment of the Wonders of the World is presented extremely fadedly. The heroic poem of the Lilliputians, written in the city of the Gullivers, does not cause delight. A city in a foggy haze is beautiful, but why are all the buildings so small and inconspicuous? Sometimes they are difficult to notice at first glance. The Hoover Dam has some grace, but it is the exception to the rule.

In Civilization 3 you will be amused by the change of clothes of the heads of state that appear in the dialog box. For the benefit of teenagers, cynicism has been added to the dialogue on the “deal board”. But the widely advertised military units with a national link (Russian Cossacks, Indian elephants, Chinese horsemen and American fighters) in fact turned out to be a “soap” bubble. An unsuccessful repetition of a marketing trick that was first tested on exotic units from fantasy worlds that came with Civilization 2. Perhaps the Indian elephant should be recognized as the most beautiful unit, but nothing more. The advantage in weapons turns out to be too insignificant. For example, the difference between a Cossack and cavalry in defense is 4 instead of 3. But in an open confrontation, a veteran Cossack will definitely lose to an elite Chinese horseman. Therefore, you should not believe stories about some kind of unit comparable to a magic wand. Like, I will reach the “military traditions” and conquer the whole world with a Cossack horde. Victory is achieved by clever strategy and tactical cunning, not by Persian swordsmen or Greek spearmen.

The naval units, which previously almost wiped out cities from the face of the earth, have lost their former power. Now “the failure of the artillery bombardment” is announced almost every two or three salvos. But the greatest difficulty for a beginner mastering the art of battles is to understand how difficult it was to transport an army across the sea before the invention of transport. There are tough “scissors” in the proportionality of sea vessels and the size of your army. A regular army consists of four units (three soldiers are led by a leader with a flag in his hands and urged on the enemy). Therefore, the army does not end up in a trireme, a caravel or a galleon. Advice: when a leader appears, do not put any troops under his arm. It is advisable to wait for a more progressive unit (for example, shooters) to appear. This is how armies made up of horsemen become obsolete very quickly.

Civilization 3 starts with several units: the settler, scout and worker can only acquire a military unit by visiting an accessible village. But useful villages became a rare blessing for expansionist civilizations (Russian or American). For other nations, hunting for knowledge and gold in villages became a waste of time. Those who have a scout moving two squares have some advantage. I find it very useful to mark the boundaries of the future city around the moving settler. For this, the creators of the game need to say a special “thank you.” Previously, real borders of states could only be seen in color in the final report. For the first time in Civilization 3, the boundaries around your cities increase not only depending on the number of citizens, but also the presence of cultural buildings (the most important are the temple, library and university).

With minimal boundaries, there is a high probability that someday the townspeople will betray you in favor of a prosperous neighbor. A relevant question is: how can you quickly achieve the predominance of citizens of your nationality in the city you just conquered? Create settlers in other cities and send them to the rebellious city! When merging, a settler turns into two citizens of your nationality. These guys will work silently and will not cause you any trouble as you continue hostilities against other cities on the warring side.

It should be remembered that when captured, an enemy settler turns into two workers. You can destroy the city (I do not recommend doing this). In every city you destroy, the townspeople are reincarnated as workers with enviable work enthusiasm. Is war a profitable business? The impasse in the national differences between units is most clearly manifested in the helplessness of the workers. There is such a pattern of the program. Before your decisive assault on the last enemy city of an almost defeated country, enemy horsemen and ships become nervous. They will run and swim through all your lands where workers of their nationality may remain. Groups of these workers in orderly columns are rushing to get into the doomed city. The fun begins when you are ready to capture the last city and destroy civilization before the workers are brought home. So their nation was almost destroyed. What fate awaits the workers? Moments before death, they lose the incentive to work. They will stand in droves under the walls of your cities. They will wait until you agree to take them prisoner! Not captivating them means showing yourself to be a sadistic gamer.

A strict tie between most of the 60 types of military units and natural resources can initially make your civilization an outsider. This happens with the largest number of countries (16) and a very large map. In the case where all your cities are built on plains without access to potentially rich mountains and hills. For example, all other nations divided the continent and built roads, and you had to develop the green island. In such an area, you can count on horses (with the invention of horse riding) or oil deposits (refining). Other important strategic resources gravitate towards mountainous areas.

Until now, Sid loves the cumbersome and primitive so much that after it he seems to have lost interest in scientific knowledge. IN Civilization-3 true breakthroughs in scientific technology are impossible due to the block system of knowledge distribution. Until you discover the latest invention of the ancient world, you will not jump into the Middle Ages. Until you achieve the “knighthood” you don’t need at all, the industrial age will not come. Therefore, the enthusiasm for new technologies is not entirely understandable. Of course, I am ready to give credit to the author of the game for the “Heroic Poem”. It can be built after the emergence of the next leader and on the wave of a successful military campaign. On the other hand, you may have five leaders, but you still won’t receive an offer to write a “Heroic Poem”. This is a neat playing combination. But in general, the phenomenon of new technologies is limited to “Miniaturization”, which allows the construction of a “floating platform”. That is, without your participation, the townspeople will learn to “irrigate” the sea squares near the city. When we talk further about the shortcomings of Civilization-3, there is a feeling that Sid Meier will delight us with the perfect product in Alpha Centauri-2!

It is customary to say about the entire Civilization game that it provides the opportunity to “build an empire.” I have always believed that the game gives an illusory opportunity to feel like a genius. A player obsessed with Civilization meets minimally any formal definition of a “genius.” The phenomenon of the demiurge. You are not so much creating a new world as you are making those adjustments in your toy world that, in your opinion, are lacking in the surrounding reality. The planetary original is bad, but you have the opportunity to edit it to your whim. So I've often wondered: Why was Civilization invented by Sid Meier? Either he played enough with tin soldiers as a child, or, on the contrary, he didn’t have any at all. Bringing the world of tin soldiers to the monitor is an innovative solution.

It is known that since 1991, just under five million boxes featuring blue skyscrapers and a girl with flowing hair have been officially sold under the Civilization brand. Moreover, at first it was so ahead of its time that it lingered on store shelves for a long time. The game sold with difficulty, not in the quantities its creators had hoped for, and only in the last two years before the release of the third version did the buyer suddenly appreciate the high-quality product with a delay. All of the above characterizes the “inhibition” of consumers of the official product. But we will never know how many “pirated” copies were distributed among gamers in Russia, the CIS, China and Eastern Europe. In these circles, Sid Meier's authority is unquestionable. Although we remained indifferent to “Pirates!”, forgave him for the failure with “Alpha Centauri”, felt sorry for the Indians in “Colonization” and smiled skeptically at the sight of the patriotic smoke from the guns of “Gettysburg”, we recognize Meyer’s kind of Balzacian approach to creating the best computer games of our time.

It seemed to me that in the history of computer games 's will not be included in the third part of the long-running “Civilization.” No, such a perception requires historical associations and artistic reminiscences of the times of “vegas” graphics and five-inch floppy disks. For us intellectuals of the early 90s, the name of Sid Meier stood somewhere between Vladimir Propp and Carl Jung. In 2002, some kind of cultural revelation is likely to happen for teenagers who grew up in the age of home-based MS. Because it is called to become an outpost of intelligence.

I became acquainted with the “Civilization” series of games by Sid Meier back in the late 90s, having already caught the first part, and even then I fell in love with this turn-based strategy, which gives the opportunity to control the historical process, changing it in my own way. The beauty of this game is not only in the possibilities "change the past", defeating fascism in its infancy or leading the Aztecs to world domination, but also in "real" a chance to touch history, an attempt to resolve the difficulties that faced the leaders of countries in different eras. "Civilization" is a wonderful, although certainly simplified, simulator of managing humanity.

Needless to say, the tabletop version of Civilization has been tempting me for a long time? I tried not to look at her, rationalizing my desires and telling myself "Why do you also need a board game? It's the same game", weighed the pros and cons, tried to convince himself that for the same money you could buy something new and no less worthy. But, as they say, you can’t escape fate. On a beautiful January day, my good friend gave it to me as a New Year's gift.

Briefly about the main thing
The tabletop "Civilization" models the development of world powers, their cultural and scientific achievements. There was also a place for wars, great people and wonders of the world. Accordingly, you can win in several ways. This is either the capture of the capital of one of the opponents, or cultural/scientific/economic dominance.

The game features six civilizations that have different characteristics and are prone to certain types of victories: Russians, Germans, Romans, Chinese, Americans and Egyptians. So, for example, the Russians from the start have an additional army, a bonus to production and the ability to obtain enemy technology by invading their cities, which makes them strong in both military and scientific aspects.

The main game elements are cities, armies and scouts. Cities bring profit: points of production, trade, culture and resources. Manufacturing is needed to create units and buildings, including wonders. Trade is responsible for the scientific development of civilization and can also be converted into production. Culture is necessary to obtain cards of cultural events that have a strong impact on gameplay, and great people. Armies conquer enemy cities and fight the natives, while scouts work to provide their homeland with the necessary resources and found new cities. By the way, the number of cities in the desktop version is limited to three. Moreover, to establish the third one, you will need to study a certain technology. However, rapid colonization is the key to successful economic development.

Perhaps the main difference from the computer version is the less significant connection between different aspects of the development of civilizations. In other words, here you can tune in to a certain type of victory from the start and go towards it, almost completely ignoring other paths. True, this is fraught with attacks from opponents. And, what’s most offensive, if the chosen path to victory for some reason turns out to be difficult to achieve, it will be difficult to change it from the middle of the game.

The rules of the game are not too complicated, but have many nuances. And knowledge of the game mechanics gives a significant bonus to experienced players. The quality of the components is at the highest level, however, as always with FFG. The colors are bright and vibrant, and the illustrations are pleasing to the eye. Two expansions have already been released for the game, adding the ability to play with five players, new civilizations, wonders and cultural events, as well as optionally changing the combat system.

Combat system
The combat mechanics are implemented in an unusual way. Colored flags of the players' armies move across the map, and the troops themselves are presented not as individual figures, but as unit cards in the hands of the participants. Moreover, it doesn’t matter where each of the armies available to you is located, the reserve of units will be the same for everyone. The battles themselves take place according to the “rock-paper-scissors” principle, where a unit of one type prevails over another. Infantry is more effective against cavalry, cavalry easily defeats artillery (or archers), and artillery, in turn, is most effective against infantry. Also in the game there is a special class of units that opens in modern times - aviation. Aviation does not have bonuses when fighting with other branches of the military, but has the highest strength indicators.
Strength indicators indicate both the attack of units and the amount of health. For example, strength 2 means that the warrior will inflict 2 units of damage on the enemy, but he himself will die, receiving the same amount. Opponents' attacks are played simultaneously, but the trump bonus allows you to deal damage before the opponent responds. All units in the game can be improved with the development of technology. Antique spearmen turn into medieval pikemen, riflemen of the 17th-19th centuries and modern motorized infantry. Moreover, unlike the computer version, stages of development can be skipped, immediately moving on to a stronger one.

But not all units of the same type are the same. The same troops can differ in strength parameter by +/- 1 unit. I've heard a lot of complaints about this, boiling down to the typical "Your catapult defeated my superior cannon!". But such accidents have always existed in “Civilization” and, as a rule, reflect such historical realities as cohesion, fortitude or skillful command of a commander. Although, as Sid Meier himself says "Realism is something that should be sacrificed without hesitation if in a game realism hinders playability".

Randomness and replayability
Randomness in the game is represented not only by the parameters of military units, as described above, but also by maps of cultural events, parameters of great people, and finds in aboriginal huts and villages. The playing field is also formed from random fields that open during the game. Territories differ in the presence of certain resources and the presence of indigenous people.
As culture develops, each player will receive cultural event cards, which can bring a certain resource, cancel any of the opponent's actions, or unlock technologies. At certain stages of development, a civilization will receive great people who give significant bonuses, but are determined randomly.
There are also two types of resources in the game that can only be obtained from the natives. This is uranium and, oddly enough, spies. Spies are supposed to allow you to sabotage the actions of your opponents. And uranium has enormous potential, but is extremely rare. With the discovery of the necessary technology, uranium can be used both to double the production of all one's cities, and to launch a nuclear strike that completely destroys another city, the buildings located in it, troops, great people and even miracles. So finding uranium could be a fatal accident in every sense of the expression.

Results
Advantages:

• The game is not just a high-quality adaptation of its computer predecessor, but also an addictive board game with original mechanics.


• Fairly accessible rules for this type of game.


• Four paths to victory. You can win without fighting a single battle.


• Excellent design and quality components.

• The winning options are somewhat unbalanced. Scientific and cultural victories are achieved clearly faster than economic ones. Military victory may be easily achieved only thanks to an early rush in a successful scenario.


• A sharp acceleration of gameplay in the finale, when cities begin to bring in huge amounts of resources, and miracles make victory even more inevitable.


• Impossibility of changing the path of development. If you initially chose one path of development, then from the middle of the game an attempt to achieve a different type of victory will slow down your development for several turns, ultimately leaving you behind.


• 3-4 hours per batch.


• There are many omissions in both the Russian and English versions of the rules. It helps to study the FAQ and forum on the official website.

In rendering my verdict, I want to note that I liked the game not only as an avid Civilomaniac who has played hundreds of hours in the PC version, but also as a fan of board games. And while the experience of the PC version provides a distinct advantage for novice players, there are several significant differences between the desktop and computer versions. And, in my opinion, the main and only disadvantage of the game is the accelerated ending, which does not allow you to properly enjoy the gameplay. So, you can win a technological victory by launching a space shuttle without studying writing, and with an army consisting of ancient spearmen.

Equipment

I took it from my hands, and it turned out that some mines were apparently missing. I understand some of them, but I can’t understand the yellow ones. Yes, and maybe I’m shortchanging myself. Is there a description of the standard configuration somewhere, or can anyone tell me?

That's it, I found it on bgg. If anyone else needs it, here it is:
Components:

One 36 by 46 inch gameboard
78 technology and wonder cards:
15 ancient technologies
10 medieval technologies
10 gunpowder/industrial technologies
18 modern technologies
7 ancient wonders of the world
5 medieval wonders of the world
5 gunpowder/industrial wonders of the world
8 modern wonders of the world
2 blank cards
61 square city cards
64 square city improvement cards
3 square fertile cards
One technology flow chart
one reference card
Four dice (two red, two white)
Rule book
784 plastic pieces:
Armies
Infantry
Ancient 32 Swordmen
Medieval 32 Men-at Arms
Industrial 32 Musketmen
Modern 32 Machinegunners
Cavalry
Ancient 32 Horsemen
Medieval 24 Knights
Industrial 24 Dragoons
Modern 24 Tanks
Artillery
Ancient & Medieval 24 Catapults
Industrial 24 Cannons
Modern 24 Howitzers
Fleets
Ancient 16 Galleys
Medieval 16 Caravels
Industrial 16 Frigates
Modern 16 Battleships
Aircrafts
Modern 32 Fighters
Player Tokens (The following tokens in six colors):
8 Settlers
14 Flag Bearers
12 Villages
12 Towns
10 Cities
8 Metropolises
Coins:
18 1 dollar
12 5 dollars
15 10 dollars
10 20 dollars
10 50 dollars
7 100 dollars
90 explorer tokens:
3 fertile/productive
4 jungle/forest
4 mountains
4 desert
4 plague
4 free technology
6 treasure
6 minor civilization
5 of each of 8 resources
15 no encounter

The interesting thing is that in the Russian version there are only four (!!!) colors of nations and the rules indicate “2-4 players”. I don’t understand: either the Russian version is abridged, or I have an exclusive copy (ahaha). But those miniatures that are listed above are 32, I have 24 each, those that are listed here are 24, I have 18 each, which should be 16, I have 12. I took used ones, but there is a certain pattern. It is unlikely that the former owner completely lost all the pieces of the two nations, clearly lost an even number of miniatures, and reprinted the rules for me from “2-6” to “2-4” players (and the rules indicate “4 sprues of different colors”). Such is the magic)))

Are you joking now or are you serious? I just don’t know if this really happened (that the sprues ran out and the game was “cut down” deliberately). I took it from my hands. 2-4 players is written on the back of the box and in the rules (3rd paragraph in the “introduction”), and I quote: “This board game is designed for 2-4 players and can be played even in the kitchen.” There was no sticker. I can send you a photo if you don’t believe me. I’m curious what the...)))
Or maybe I have an exclusive super-duper-rare version? Well, do you know how numismatists collect defective coins that are worth an enormous amount of money?))) Ahaha

Oh, there were times when we played this game to death. Swearing, insults, knives in the back from “reliable allies.” People stopped smoking for the duration of the party; if you step away for a minute, everyone will immediately agree to cut up your empire. The whole essence of people stuck out in this game; the kind and honest could not see victory in it.

I bought the game a year and a half ago. Played three quarters of the time. At first we naively tried to play it in the evening, played four moves and finished. They have not come out of antiquity. I count this as a quarter. Then, wise by experience, they sat down for the whole day. We played for eight hours and reached the Middle Ages...
I still liked the game. As they say, against all odds. Random battles - we will survive. Random exploration of territories - we will survive. This is civilization! I have under my command four horse figures, two trebuchets and three infantrymen! And soon I will send a cowella overseas and will rob the cows for her. Overall, I find it very exciting.
But there is one thing that bothers me, although not as much as my girlfriend (which is why we don’t play it anymore, yes...). At some point, everyone gives up on technology research and begins an indiscriminate carnage. And then I remember the battles with cubes. That's all, guys. Move after move we rivet fifteen pikemen and kill them against each other. And most importantly, there is no way out in sight. If you buy technology instead of pikemen, you will be captured by fifteen enemy pikemen. And technology is oh so expensive! So it turns out that the game stops and enters a loop.
Someone explain to me what to do with this. If you had such a situation, how did you fix it? If it wasn’t, why do you think it wasn’t?
I honestly want to play it again, but from this experience there is only one person left, besides me, who agrees to this:/

The game has many obvious disadvantages. And the one you named is one of them. The loser loses. This is another disadvantage of this game. if you are behind, then only a miracle can help you, at least catch up with the rest. Counting money in cities, especially in the later stages, is simply killer.
I played with my game cell from 10 am to 10 pm and went through all 4 eras. But the players knew what they were getting into and had already played trial games.
In fact, if you are looking for a civilization game, then it is better to turn to the new version, the scale there is much more modest, but everything is done wisely. The games are very different from each other.
In 2002, when this civa came out, maybe nothing. Now it’s not a cake. Although, if everyone understands what they’re going to play, then it’s quite possible to sort it out for yourself. But not often)

To trace with your own eyes the path of human development from the first settlements to space flights - what could be more exciting? Probably, just take this process into your own hands, or even completely replay world history. Once upon a time, only players of the computer strategy game Civilization from developer Sid Meier had such an opportunity, but now you can walk the road from the pyramids to the orbital satellites without leaving the table with the game laid out on it.

Nothing random

Before you is a restart of the first board game Civilization. Your task is to choose one of the six great cultures and lead it through all the thorns to the maximum point of development and your victory. Of course, competitors will interfere with you. As in real life, conflicts of interest are inevitable - but that makes it all the more interesting.

Old and new

The updated edition of the game retained everything that fans love it for, but simplified the most cumbersome designs - one might say, it moved from detail to globalization.

• So, in the new version, the map is updated with each game, which immediately adds replayability to the board,
• Navigation has been simplified: in fact, as soon as a civilization invents it, passage through water is opened to it, instead of the need to assemble a fleet each time for specific tasks,
• The battles also became more schematic, moving away from the detail of ancient toy soldiers games. Now, instead of detailed figures - catapults, horsemen, infantry - players see simple plastic flags on the table,
• It is interesting that in the new version of the game something like the concept of copyright has appeared: as soon as one person makes a discovery, everyone can immediately use it. It's a shame? It would be if game coins weren’t given to its author for every use of a discovery by opponents,
• Another innovation worth noting is the appearance of different races, as well as the simplification of the game results: instead of the rather complex winning scenario from the old version, in the new game you win by simply methodically fulfilling all the conditions for victory one after another.

Civilization in detail

What definitely remains unchanged is the quality of the tabletop. All cards are made of hard cardboard, stylishly designed and fit nicely in the hand, all plastic figures are made extremely carefully and, if desired, can be easily painted. If the old game really took up a lot of space, then the new one, due to the modified map generation system, will fit on a medium-sized table.

Progress for everyone

Sid Meier's Civilization is a strategy game of amazing depth and detail that even adults are not ashamed to play binge-watching. Good taste, however, must be instilled from childhood, and the rules of the game are quite clear, so the starting age of players is only 13 years.

The box with the destinies of the world contains:

• market tablet,
• 6 sheets of civilizations,
• 6 trade discs,
• 6 economy discs,
• 6 plastic rods for connecting the civilization sheets to the trade and economy disks,
• 6 home map areas (one per civilization),
• 14 neutral map areas (no man's land),
• 12 city markers,
• 24 plastic armies,
• 8 plastic Scouts,
• 1 plastic Russian Army white,
• 55 square battle cards,
• 4 reminders,
• 16 government cards,
• 144 technology cards,
• Space Flight Card,
• 47 cultural event cards,
• 12 miracle cards,
• 12 wonder markers (4 each ancient, medieval and modern),
• 6 culture level markers (1 per civilization),
• 18 markers of great people,
• 28 military technology markers,
• 49 building markers,
• 5 “barracks/academy” markers,
• 20 hut markers,
• 10 village markers,
• 12 distress markers,
• 16 resource tokens,
• 90 culture tokens,
• 28 wound tokens,
• 75 coin tokens,
• 4 reference sheets,
• First player marker
• Rules of the game.