Dominations: Road to Civilization

Dominations: Road to Civilization looks lighter than it is. Before long it reveals itself as a broad, slightly chaotic civilisation game: Terraforming Mars in triangular domino clothing, with geometry promoted to public policy.

Its centre is the placement of those triangular tiles and the matching of their colours. That produces six resources, which feed an engine that gradually does more and does it better. Even when you have not fully parsed the shape of the game, you can place a tile, score something, and proceed with respectable optimism.

That optimism does not guarantee a close finish. Engine-building sits alongside area control, so a good placement concerns not only your own production but who gets to occupy useful territory. The interesting decision is whether a tile is merely efficient or the first link in a chain everyone else will recognise too late; you can finish 150 or 200 points behind without having had a bad time for a minute.

It is not wholly polished, and its breadth can make it feel unwieldy. The five expansions appear to be proper expansions rather than little content packs: they add a great deal and bring several good ideas with them. Even so, the base game already has enough depth, and an engine I want back on the table. It is worth a look.

Updated session

The later play was interrupted before it could finish, because colour matching in the dark is a little too literal. The conclusion did not change, though: the connection to Terraforming Mars, particularly the satisfaction of building an engine, came through even more clearly.