Last night we (George, Steve and I) played Through the Ages. George brought the game (it’s one of his favorites) and he was happy to teach Steve and I as we had never played. This one’s a keeper.

A civilization-building game, this first time through was rather long, at about 4 hours. I was enjoying myself so much it really didn’t feel like 4 hours! The game has, I believe, 4 “Ages”: Ancient, I, II, III. As it was, we didn’t get to finish the game (it was close to 1AM); we stopped at the end of the Age II. George won by a wide margin (89 Culture points vs. my 54 and Steve’s 51). We will definitely be playing this one again as all of us enjoyed it.

George did mention that the first game is usually long as everyone is learning the rules – and the 2nd game is just as long due to players refining their strategy, etc. So by the 3rd or 4th game we’ll get a whole game in at one sitting I assume. By then I think I will at least have an idea of what cards are in each Age, so I will be better able to decide on which Leader to grab, etc. George was using James Cook – who was actually quite useful for accumulating Culture (Victory points), especially if you grabbed Territory.

I did like my Joan of Arc (see pix), as she minimized the number of times I was attacked: I got 5 Culture any time that happened. She also gave me a Military strength for each Smiley I had in a Temple. But George was able to increase his per-turn yield of Culture, and this is critical for winning the game. It’s hard to pass someone who gets 15 Culture per turn when you only get 5. I’ll change focus next time around.

This is one I’ll definitely get a copy of, and hopefully play more often. I’d put this in my top 3 –I like it even more than War of the Ring.

Rating: 8.5/10. Keeper.