Through The Ages

I played Through the Ages for the first time last weekend. I am a big fan of the Sid Meier's Civilisation game and Through the Ages runs in a pretty similar way to that game. There are some games that are a bit more like the computer game is some respects but this plays out the experience of civilization development better than the others. I am not going to do a full fledged review of the game but I will make a couple of observations.

Firstly, this is not a game where you can afford to fall behind in any area  of the game other than in culture (the benchmark for winning at the end). If you do, you will either fail to produce enough resources (food and ore) or fail to develop a big enough army (which was my failing). It is a game where you don't really get eliminated but you might become someones punchbag and source of free resources in which case you can retire with good grace.

It takes a good hour per player to finish plus a substantial learning experience at the beginning to get up to speed. There are a lot of variables to keep in mid and a consequently large number of dishes to keep spinning. You will have to pay attention when you for the duration of the game as taking your eye off the ball will let the opposition take a swipe.

Not sure I am going to buy it bit it is a game worth playing and a lot of fun.