Review ANTIKE

ANTIKE

The board has nice, simple artwork. It is two-sided: East and West (although
game play doesn't seem to change much between the two sides). The cities on
the board are color-coded with what they produce, which is a plus. The
pieces are wooden and nicely sculpted. The chips are cardboard, heavy stock,
although the coins look out of place. There are four cheat sheets in English
and German. Why only four, when six people can play? Good question. Share or
photocopy.

This is billed as "Civilization for the casual gamer" which is a bit of a
misnomer. We finished our game in 3.5 hours, and that included learning the
game, then teaching it as a new player rotated in. We're guessing that once
all is said and done, a typical game would be under three hours. Turns fly
by - I was amazed at how often I thought "it's my turn already?" Unlike
Civilization, there isn't the huge math issue as you add up resources and
decide what advances you can afford. You don't need the seven or eight
people to play (yes, Civ does allow fewer players, but I don't think it
scales down well); the game seems to scale up and down nicely (although two
people is stretching it).

But, if anything, the game is less random than Civilization - no dice, no
cards. Resources are bought, and combat is handled like Civilization and
Diplomacy, where you can predict who is going to win before the battle
starts. Thinking and "looking ahead seven turns" is essential. The rondel
(one of the more interesting game mechanics) means if you don't do things in
the proper order, you have to wait a few turns, or pay extra resources.
There are multiple strategies to winning (beating up your neighbor isn't one
of them, because battle takes a lot of resources and the payoff isn't that
great). There's a lot of resource management (do I mine iron or marble this
turn, do I use coin to build a city or build troops, etc.). Diplomacy is
important, especially as you start meeting your neighbors and setting up
borders. It's a very "crunchy" game, with a lot of decisions.

Since I just got the game, I don't know about replayability. I can see the
game getting old after a while, if only because there are only a handful of
strategies that seem to really work. And the lack of randomness means you
can keep doing the same strategy over and over again; no lucky break is
going to open up, no horrible roll is going to prevent you from getting that
last iron. Each nation starts with the same resources, and no area looks
better than another. But, we still break out Civilization every so often,
and still enjoy it. I expect this to be the same. This is a solid strategic
game, if a bit too analytical.

Review by Bryan Jonker