Civilization - not quite a review

This is not a review. It's also not not a review. It's also not just random ramblings. But it's about the new Civilization board game from FFG - a game I do not not like, but don't like very much either.  

I was dying to try Civilization when it came out. Luckily one of the guys I game with bought it before I doled out my hard earned cash (or that is: cash I’ve earned – I really don’t work that hard) and since then we’ve played it several times. I’ve yet to try a four player game and I haven’t seen a culture victory yet, but I’ve played it enough to say that I really don’t have to play it again. I wouldn’t mind playing it again and I would most certainly have fun doing it, but if by some freak accident – possibly involving a lawn mover and a bunch of crazed midgets – all copies of Civilization ceased to be, I wouldn’t worry about it. I would worry about the existence of crazed, game destroying, lawn mover wielding midgets though, but I get the feeling that I’m already digressing a bit too much.

battles and other goodies
Back to the game. There’s a lot to like in civilization. I like the three cities cap which gives yoyu plenty to do each round without drowning you in choices, and I think Kevin Wilson’s handled exploration really well. Of course people have been whining about how all the exploration is done early in the game, but that is really the same in the PC game as well. Combat and army building are also great. As you might know, you don’t actually move your spearmen and cannons around the map, but instead you have army markers and a deck of cards representing your standing forces. When your army markers engage in battle, you then draw a certain amount of cards from your standing forces to use in the battle at hand. So you know what you might get and you might have an idea what your enemy might have, but you can’t be sure. And it works like a charm, especially since you when a tech allows you to upgrade a unit, you simply use a different part of the cards.  The battles themselves are an all card no randomness affair that plays out fast and can be very tense.

the not so goodies
And then there’s the stuff I’m not that keen on. The tech pyramid, for instance. At first glance it looks like a brilliant idea, and in many ways it really is. It’s simple to understand, easy to use, and it allows you to constantly adjust your strategy. But at the same time it feels a bit flat because there really is no sense of story to it. Basing Navigation on Masonry and Writing works from a game perspective, but feels extremely gamey after a few plays.

Another thing I dislike is the way the map is used. When you’ve built your cities and explored all huts and villages, there’s really nothing more to do. Of course you can place your dudes in a way to protect your civ and/or make ready for an attack, but there’s nothing left to fight over. So basically the middle of the board is not used for almost half the game and that’s a damn shame.


But the thing I hate the most is the victory conditions. Or some of them – the military victory is simple and means that you have to watch every player with a military force all the time. But the science victory for instance comes so quickly that you’ll only have the really cool techs for one or at most two rounds of the game. And since you don’t have to actually build the spaceship, the science victory is really a one sided, trade based affair. And the economic victory is something that happens in your own play area where you fiddle with little card board coins until you suddenly win. Doesn’t feel like you’ve just built an economic powerhouse to me. However, what really bugs me about the different paths to victory is that the boring efficiency engine ones (basically all but military) all have ways to interfere with a military oriented player, but the opposite is not the case.

This is my game and you may not interfere!
The game has a lot of techs and culture cards that can make enemies lose their turn, prevent armies from moving, make them deflect, and so on. So if I’m marching against your capital, you have a good chance of stalling me for a few crucial turn just because you’re high on the culture track and/or have lots of techs. But if you’re going for an economic victory and counting your stupid little cardboard coins, I can’t do shit against you with my military might. Oh, I can take a few resources away from you, but only if you don’t prevent my dudes from moving.

The people I’ve played with don’t agree entirely with me, but I think it’s a major problem with the game: that it in many ways favours the players that just play their own game because a lot of the interactive elements can hinder an active player, but can’t really do shit about a cube counting passive player.

It’s still a good game. It works as a game and there’s no doubt that it feels nice to see your (small) empire grow within an acceptable timeframe. But in the end I have to say that I played the new Civilization and all I got was this strange feeling that there should be more to it.