Empires: Age of Discovery

EvEvanstar5,9

Worker Placement and area control fused. Players lay their pawns into action spaces on the big table to the right, and then when everyone is done the board is resolved from top to bottom, left to right. One element of the game that initially really excited me was that there are actions that, for the cost of a worker this round give you a worker for the next round that has some special ability or function for one or two specific action spaces. I tend to like games where not all workers are treated equally. The game starts out where everything seems possible, and then you realize as the colonist dock fills up, and as people grab the trade goods, and as the player ahead of you in turn order drops his captain in the merchant ship box, that you'll have to do better to get what you want. The game includes rules for the players to have variable player powers that are really strong, and really detract from the generally enjoyable core experience of the game. Many of the powers have strong unmitigatable take-that effects. Thankfully playing with them is optional. It doesn't help that this game has one or two really frustrating building tiles that can be built that tend to warp games in similar ways every time they come out. In particular, the building that lets you force trade good swaps, effectively giving you lots of money and one or more players no money; and yet it's rare the player who spends the resources to take this wins. Component wise, the building tiles can be a little difficult as they have text but often require looking up their full use in the rulebook. The meeples are plastic and dinky. Prone to falling over, and hard to tell apart from each other. Overall, the game isn't bad, but the luck is a little high, the components aren't wonderful, and it's similar enough to Dominant Species that I'd rather be playing that game. It has none of these little issues, but a similar feel, and is generally more enjoyable, if harsher. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ★ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ★ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★☆☆☆ Raw enjoyment