Apr
21
Session report: Advanced Civilization plus Haggis
Filed Under Advanced Civilization, Haggis, Session | Leave a Comment
Last weekend was huge gaming-wise as it always is when 7-8 people sit 11 hours playing the same game. Nowadays one might think that one has to be crazy to willingly participate in such event but for me playing Advanced Civilization once in a while is pure joy. This time we played in Tampere and there were 7 enthusiasts (of which 3 had not played the game before) to populate the ancient Europe.
Image by Emile de Maat / BGG
I draw Egypt as my civilization which was great after two games with Crete. Egypt offers a bit different challenge and is definitely less challenging in the beginning of the game. My initial strategy was to expand rapidly and secure a position which would be sufficient for the rest of the game. My strategy worked rather nicely partly because I had newbies on both sides and they didn’t quite grasp the importance of expanding the land area immediately.
After getting the areas I wanted I went for Engineering Civ card since Egypt lies on the Nile delta and flood would have been devastating. Getting a set of trade cards was easier that I expected but this was also due to the fact that newbies could be exploited in the trade process. Trading is the most important part of a game of Advanced Civilization and you learn the tricks of trade by playing the game.
We had quite peaceful game which happens when you play with Western Expansion with only seven players. Obviously there were a few devastating catastrophes for some of the civilizations but Egyptians survived without worst disasters (famine – epidemic combo was nasty though). I was leading the game three rounds before the end but didn’t have the maritime power to conquer cities in the last few rounds and suffered a few attacks on my shores as well (which meant that I lost trade cards in the process). Second place after 11 hours of playing was satisfying and the emotion was stronger when I learned that the winner won with a high margin.
Image by Antti Koskinen
Advanced Civilization is a great game, and while there are many issues with the mechanics and playing time compared with the modern games, I really enjoy spending the time to play this epic game once in a while. Adv Civ is one of those games you enjoy playing even if you know that you’ll probably not be able to win the game anymore.
Second interesting, while totally different, game I had a chance to try was Haggis. Haggis is a climbing game played with 54 cards (2-10 in five suits plus 3 J,Q,K each as jokers) and I had read from the BGG that the game would be more of less Tichu for 2-3 players. I love Tichu and finding a solution to fix the need for Tichu with less than 4 players would be great. Unfortunately Haggis is not Tichu even though the game itself seemed to be interesting.
Image by Travis Worthington / BGG
Gameplay of Haggis is as in most of the climbing games and is thus relative close to Tichu or Gang of Four. The most interesting and innovative mechanic of the game is that each player gets three jokers which can be used as bombs and they are dealt face up in front of each player. Players can use these cards as a part of set or sequence as well but doing so means that players looses the opportunity to play bombs. First player to go out scores 5 points for each card the player with the most cards has in his/her hand at the moment plus the points in the tricks won. Scoring is thus a combination of Gang of Four and Tichu.
I liked the game and am willing to play more but Haggis is not Tichu. For me Tichu is a partnership game and there isn’t partnership involved in Haggis. But Haggis is great choice if you want to introduce someone to climbing games or you have only 2-3 players to play a climbing game.
Haggis is at the moment out of print but you can find the rules from BGG and modify Sticheln deck to fit your needs
Oct
5
Saturday game session: Advanced Civilization
Filed Under Advanced Civilization, General, Session | 2 Comments
There are some games which are true classics and Advanced Civilization from Avalon Hill has definitely place among them. Is the grand daddy of all civilization games and is a beast: 3-8 players and playing time easily 11 hours or more. When the opportunity came I really had to reserve a seat to play the game eventhough it ment that I had to wake up 7am on Saturday morning and spend 3 hours in train during the day.
There were seven of us of which 3 had not played the game before. Advanced Civilization is not too complex from the rules point of view. Sure there’s a lot nitty gritty details but rounds are similar to each other and if there’s someone, who knows the rules well, there’s absolutely no problems with the game. The first major issue in the game was who got what civilization and we ended up draw lots on it. There are some civs that have worse starting positions than the others but none has superior position in the beginning – one should not waste time in this phase although if you get some civilization you don’t like you have to suffer with it 12 hours.
The game itself is rather simple: you move, build cities, collect income, collect resource cards and calamities, trade, suffer from the calamities you have in your hand and buy technological advances. The first few rounds don’t take too long but after a while players have lots of troops and cities and cards to trade and calamities take a lot of time to resolve i.e. there’s lots of downtime in the game no matter what. I’d say the game is bast with 7 or 8 players but obviously it also takes the most time with more players involved.
There’s also some other problems with the game. Firstly, it’s really vunerable to AP and if there are several players suffering from it turns take ages. Secondly, if you are left behind either by bad luck or inexperience you don’t have much of a chance to bounce back into the game later on: others will have better technological advances which makes them superior in most cases. In a game that lasts for an hour it’s not too bad to know that you’re left behind but when the game lasts still for another five or six the situation if much different.
I have mixed feelings – there’s elements in the game which are disturbing but still the game is interesting. It’s thematic and probably the best civilization game you can buy. Gaming experience is intense and time flies when you play the game. There is also a strange feel of youth in the game while Sid Mayer’s Civilization was the first computer game I played a lot and the game looks like early nineties.
It would be cool to own the game but the price of the game is more or less 150 euros and that’s a lot of money for any game. With the reprints of old games coming to the market all the time there might be a possibility to see Advanced Civilization reprinted but somehow I not sure that’s going to happen because people are too busy to play games of this magnitude.
I enjoyed the game and have to thank Tuomas and Hannu for organizing the event. I hope will be able to play the game sooner than later again.