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Sell me on or talk me out of Through The Ages
- Stonecutter
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- D6
My interest basically stems from the following things I believe to be true about the game
1) It's meaty
2) It plays well with two
3) It's a Vlaada Chvátil game which means it's probably got some brilliant design
My worries are the following
1) It's not thematically deep enough to justify the meat
2) It doesn't play as well with 2 as it does with 3 or 4 (with 3 or 4 I'll break out clash of cultures to scratch the Civ itch or one of a dozen other games to get something deeper/longer)
3) It's a Vlaada Chvátil game, which means it might be so difficult to pick up as to not be worth it in the long run
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- Black Barney
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It plays really well at 2. Best at 3 I think. At 4, it's WAY too long.
I got burned out on it after 6 months but those first three months were a blast. The design just FEELS so cool.
I don't think it has longevity at all but you will have a great time for 3-6 months if that's what you want.
Hope this helps
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#1 from worries, also true.
#2 worry I don't think is true. It plays differently with 3 than it does with 2 (4 is the bottom, IMO - extra player beyond 3 doesn't add much other than down time). Mainly, you can be A LOT more aggressive in a 2p game than in a 3p game because there isn't a third person to swoop in and pick you off after you've blown your wad destroying someone else. But the pact cards have some cool elements to them and the jockeying for position on different tracks is more nuanced with a third player.
Also don't think #3 is a worry. The game is fairly straight forward. The complexity comes from figuring out when to pull the trigger on things rather than in the rules.
So unless 1 is a deal-breaker (and it is REALLY dry), I'd give it a shot.
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- Matt Thrower
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- Shiny Balls
- Number Of Fence
www.boardgaming-online.com/
TTA is a brilliant game in my opinion, one of the best. The black marks against it are:
* It's a long (3-4 hour) game.
* It's fiddly as hell, with tons of irritating little discs that need shifting around.
* While it's definately interactive, there's a lot more "head down concentrating" than "heads up chatting".
If those don't put you off, you should totally play it. It's great.
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I've only played with 3p once; 2p probably a dozen times and it's a "game with cubes" that I'm always happy to see come out on the table, which is something I just can't say much these days.
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- Legomancer
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- Dave Lartigue
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I have mainly played it with two. And with two, it is a great little knife fight. The gameplay does not suffer at all with two and there's a LOT of game there.
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Thematically i think it is dry. It does feel civish, but i don't think it really nails the civ theme, hence i see it as a euro. I wouldnt say its themeless either. I'd put it next to Glory to Rome on theme. theres nothing very roman about Glory to Rome but it still manages to be an engaging game.
I like it with 2. I agree with the above, good with 2, great with 3, lame with 4.
What really makes the game is the card variety and the strategic options they create. There are many paths to victory and they aren't all just efficiency and aren't that easy either.
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It's one of my top games. The only real negative is that some of the cards are a little weak and don't get taken hardly at all (I'm looking at you, Shakespeare and Bach), and warfare can make the end game a little swingy - or a lot swingy if you neglected military.
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SaMoKo wrote: It's great if you want a long game with 2-3 players. For a short abstract civ game for 2-3 players, go with Innovation. My negative with Through the Ages is that it can often become a rush for a few key cards, like Napoleon. Everything else starts to surround preparing for and countering these cards.
That is exactly right.
I'd love to have a set of "2nd edition" cards that alter certain out of whack cards like Napoleon which is far too powerful and make the dogs like Bach.
On the whole I think it is a great "once in a great while" game but I get burned out if I play it too often.
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- Black Barney
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The other leader that I think is overpowered is the one that gives vp's for each colony you own. (Magellan?) You get three or four colonies with that guy as your leader...8 vps per turn is pretty hard to beat. (unless the other guy has Napoleon and is kicking your ass and taking your colonies)
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- Black Barney
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Maybe the meta has changed but when I used to play, Moses, Michaelangelo all seemed really strong.
Our military games have been really small and shallow though since my wife always picks Joan of Arc and Ghandi
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