Age of Empires 3 The Boardgame

Players: 2 to 5 (6 player expansion available).
Ages: 10 and up
Duration:90-120mins.

By Ken Hay

This adaptation of the computer game comes with 400 plastic miniatures. Players take on the role of one of the great nations of Europe as they explore the New World in the 15th century. Discover and explore the Americas, gather trade goods to increase your income to advance your nation.

The game consists of 8 turns, broken up into three ages. Each turn players start with five colonists plus any bonus specialist they may have. Players place their miniatures down one at a time in the turn action table. The turn actions possible are Initiative, Colonist dock, Trade goods, Merchant shipping, Capital buildings, Discovery, Specialists recruiting & Warfare.

Each action is resolved in descending order, and income is gathered after all actions have been completed.

In the iniative action phase players may place a colonist for turn order in the next round.

The colonist dock phase involves moving players counters out into discovered regions of the New World.

In the trade goods phase those players who have placed counters in this area collect the trade counters available this round. Sets of trade goods give the player income.

In the merchant ship phase the player with the most votes in this box collects the merchant ship (in case of a draw the player who started earliest wins). The merchant ship can be used as a wild card in a trade good set.

Capital buildings give the player bonuses in either income, specialist, and victory points.

In the Discovery phase players may discover unexplored areas.

During the specialist phase players collect the specialist they have bid for. In the warfare phase players may conduct battles if they wish. And the end of each age victory points are award for discovered territories.

The game playing pieces are of a good quaility, though telling some of the specialists apart can be a bit hard at times (and can get harder as the night gets longer).

The game is about picking a path to victory, and having a reserve plan for when your fine opponents screw up your main plan for you. Concentrating on one thing is not a good idea (having all the merchant ships and no trade goods won't do you any good in the end), balance is all important.

This would be one of my favourite games. The game mechanics are straightforward and are not hard to pick up. The rules are well laid out, with only a few minor conflicting details. Combat is quick and there are no dice involved. On a good night we have managed three games, and still want more.

90%

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