QUICK FACTS

About Board Game:Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization is the new edition of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization, with many changes small and large to the game’s cards over its three ages and extensive changes to how military works. In essence and at its core, Through the Ages is a civilization building game. Each player attempts to build the best civilization through careful resource management, discovering new technologies, electing the right leaders, building wonders and maintaining a strong military. Weakness in any area can be exploited by your opponents.

The game takes place throughout the ages beginning in the age of antiquity and ending in the modern age. One of the primary mechanisms in TTA is card drafting. Technologies, wonders, and leaders come into play and become easier to draft the longer they are in play. In order to use a technology you will need enough science to discover it, enough food to create a population to man it and enough resources (ore) to build the building to use it.

While balancing the resources needed to advance your technology you also need to build a military. Military is built in the same way as civilian buildings. Players that have a weak military will be preyed upon by other players. There is no map in the game so you cannot lose territory, but players with higher military will steal resources, science, kill leaders, take population or culture. It is very difficult to win with a large military, but it is very easy to lose because of a weak one.

Victory is achieved by the player whose nation has the most culture at the end of the modern age. PS. Did I mention this is one of my top favorite boardgames ever published? Yes, it is!
Number of players:1-4
Playing time:30-60 min (depends on number of players)
Platforms:Android & iOS
Game PublisherCzech Games Edition
App Developer@czechgames
What I like:– great gameplay modes: we are getting possibility to play solo, a lot of interesting and difficult challenges, pass-and-play, asynchronous & online multiplayer; in essence you will get all possible ways of playing this application.

– detailed rules implementation, with zero errors – this I cannot stress more; in many cases the Game Publisher and Application Developer are completely two, different companies, one know not so much about the other product. Not here – we had great cooperation of digital and boardgame parts of Czech Games.

– various card versions – so you can use what was in original boardgame, in the updated version plus what new add-ons bring; you can see more details in deep dive

– beautiful graphics – the digital implementation preserved the beautiful look & feel of the refreshed Through The Ages game; the cards are easily readable, most of the elements can be enlarged and it is real pleasure to play.

– very functional and intuitive interface. It scales pretty well on all phones and tablets, allows for easy access to icons, cards or actions. It is not too crowded and provides great experience.

– statistics, graphs & Replay option – I am fan of such summaries and one of the latest updates brings such a fantastic summary after the game. Additionally, you can use Replay option to re-live your great game again!
What I do not like:– On small phones screens the game might not be perfectly readable

– Really, not much more as this is by far the best digital implementation of the boardgame

DEEP DIVE

With the series of screenshots from the game let me now present the application itself and its main functionalities:

The menu is very intuitive; you have access to solo and multiplayer games both online and local (Pass-and-Play)
Main game interface nicely fits the all critical elements: card row, your buildings, government, cards in hand, status of workers and production.
With one click you have quick comparison of competing civilizations in all critical dimensions.
Each and every game component – including cards – can be enlarged and analysed.
I really like the summary screen – it shows all your leaders from the beginning of the game plus built wonders; above one of the closes games which I played (and lost) with my wife.
One of the things which kept me to the game were challenges – you can explore completely new, different modes of play and some of these are really difficult!
In order to speed up the game you can choose Digital rules but should you be willing to experience regular conditions – just choose Tabletop.
In regular games, you will have two (base game) or four (with expansion) possible sets of cards to be used. That really allows for variable play.
Last but not least, should you be willing to even more prolong the fun from the game, just get the expansion – you will have access to the new leaders, new wonders, new cards and even more possible combinations.

VERDICT

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This is by far the best digital port of board game I have ever seen or played. The level of details reflected in the application, attention to detail, zero errors, many additional modes of play – all of this makes me to come back to this position time and time again. The application – let us be honest – saves so much time with this title, which otherwise can easily take up to four-five hours with 4 players.

Should you be wondering if those digital implementation of boardgames will be to your liking and where to start – I will not hesitate – if you know Through the Ages, get its digital incarnation as a first step. And if you played various Boardgame Apps and are fed-up of half-products or error-rich designs, this is definitely a refreshing change. Highly recommended!

See you in another app review!