Nations

Nations has always been the difficult question for me next to Through the Ages. On our first encounter, especially with five players, it did not sit well with me at all; it improved with fewer players, but the new Through sent it to the shelf. Dynasties, however, was the excuse I needed to bring it back out, and it ultimately proved to be far more than a simple package of extra material.

At its core, it remains a card-driven civilization game in which you build your civilization from the available cards, trying to exploit your faction's particular strengths while staying competitive on the military and stability tracks. The heart of the interaction lies in the shared available material: I am not just looking at what benefits me, but also at what I need to deny the player opposite me. In our first game with the expansion, Romans, Chinese, and Mali created exactly the right mix: Rome opened strongly, China applied pressure through zero wars, and I, playing Mali, found room to make the most of its ability and turn the race around.

Dynasties adds 120 new cards and events, 12 new civilizations, and two dynasty cards per civilization, with a simple turmoil mechanism for bringing them into play. The new cards are the big success: armies with low strength but high raiding, conditional advisors, and other ideas that make decisions sharper. Dynasties remain the part on which I have not settled. In our game, I could easily have played one in a way that would have effectively knocked China out, and I chose not to so the contest would retain its point. They feel rather like win-more or lose-more tools, although perhaps that very harshness forces players to become more adaptable and more interactive.

Despite my reservation about that element, Dynasties gets Nations back on its feet. Through the Ages still feels more mechanically cohesive and more ruthless to me, but its downtime irritates me. After those first renewed plays, I would say Through for two or three players, and Nations without a second thought for four.

Updated session

The later reports were all of the same, repeatedly recorded game, with every extra and rule enabled: Vikings, Koreans, and Greeks. There, my impression was not merely confirmed; it shifted clearly in Nations' favour. The Vikings applied pressure from the first round through raiding and a military advantage, forcing us into turmoil, while Koreans and Greeks reached a one-point photo finish. At under two hours with zero downtime, we all agreed that, in its current form, we like Nations much more than Through the Ages. Nothing but love.