Civilisation games usually mean clearing the calendar and writing off a whole day. Epochs: Course of Cultures wants to give you that empire-spanning feeling in a single evening, and the UK Games Expo judges have just handed it the Best Board Game (Strategic) award at the 20th-anniversary show.
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See how it worksThe game comes from designer Jeffrey CCH and Ice Makes, a studio out of Hong Kong. It is a 4X game in the classic sense (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) for two to four players aged 12 and up, running two to three hours across three historical epochs from the ancient world to the modern age.
A deck of around 90 invention cards drives everything. Each turn you draw from the coming epoch and play a card from the current one, either cashing it in for an immediate reward or keeping it for a lasting bonus, then take an action: expand your territory, found cities, set up trade routes or research. The board is modular and reshuffles between games, and you pick your tone, peaceful growth or open war that sweeps rivals' trading posts off the map. Ice Makes reckons that packs the strategic heft of an all-day civ game into a single sitting.
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Start organising for freeThat shorter footprint is the headline. A meaty 4X you can realistically finish on a weeknight is a rare thing, and the UKGE judges' nod suggests this one earns its table time. If you have been hunting for a heavier game to anchor your group, it is worth finding a strategy crowd to play it with.
Sources: UK Games Expo Awards | Tabletopping | Kickstarter
