by Levi Ritchie

Created on: May 21, 2008   Last Updated: September 05, 2011

Sid Meier's Civilization games on the PC are now well known for being one of the most comprehensive and deep turn-based strategy games of all time. Along with a strong fanbase of dedicated Civilization players comes a large following of casual gamers who, rather than playing the game competitively, simply play to indulge in the pleasure of having and controlling their own Civilization. The Civilization Board Game closely resembles the PC game in many areas, but it's lack of depth and excessive dependence on luck will turn many long-time or hardcore Board Game fans away.

The game has both simple and advanced play rules. I highly recommend starting with the advanced rules, as the simple rules do little to teach you about the basics of the advanced game and end up being largely a waste of time. The simple rules just aren't as fun.

The game is most enjoyable if you have at least 3 people, preferably 4. I strongly recommend against playing a game with only 2, though it is possible to do so.

The game's setup is quite space consuming, so before buying the game, you should be prepared to spend over 20 minutes setting up for the first time you play, and over 10 minutes each time after that. The board on which you play resembles the shape of Earth partially, but not exactly. You place tokens on each territory face-down, and these tokens have certain properties that take effect when explored. Certain token cause events, like a free technology or a plague, and certain tokens permanently mark the territory with resources. These resources, unlike the PC game, are not required for specific units, but earn money, and are available to trade to other players. Having 3 or more of one resource (there are a possible 5) gives you a monopoly, and a large additional sum of income each turn. Like the PC game, settlers are required to found villages, which can grow into towns and cities (for a price) as the game progresses.

Obviously, this gives certain lucky players a large advantage early in the game, should they start with a wide variety of good resources, while others might start with plagues and uninhabitable territories.

The combat features Risk-style dice tossing with a rock-paper-scissors twist. Different units have advantages over other units, so you much choose wisely when you are deciding to attack an army or city. Units obtained via higher technology allow you to roll more dice, giving you better odds.

As the game progresses, players Civilizations will be forced close to one another. There is no "official" state of War or Peace. The players must work this out amongst themselves in real-life. In this way, the board game breaks the fourth wall and allows the personal relationships and personalities of the people playing to have a very significant impact on the game. For an advanced Board game junkie, this is potentially game-ruining. For casual players, this makes Civilization one of the most fun board games available on the Market.

The full take takes several hours to play, but there are limited rules (included in the instruction booklet) that reduce the amount of time needed to play to under 2 hours. All of this, of course, depends on the familiarity of the people playing the game.

To summarize, Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game is a rather shallow strategy game that will not appeal to hardcore Civilization PC gamers or Board gamers, but it is the perfect game to play with some friends on a boring weekend or summer afternoon. You must decide for yourself whether you fit into one category or the other.

Overall, I give Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Stars out of 5.

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