Chris had come early for a quick précis of the rules, but having done a bit of research already, he was pretty much up to speed when he arrived. The overhead is low on this one. And as the others trooped in and cracked open beers - Ian had a coffee - we were away with the briefest of catch-ups.
ACIS all happens through card-play, and it doesn't really do much in the way of increments: after everyone has deployed discs, it's a case of playing cards until everyone's noses are bloodied. Chris kicked off Epoch One, Turn One with a Bumper Crop. He gained talents for his harvest and added discs to Rome's nascent empire. I was next with Navigator, allowing me to cross the deep seas in order to stare longingly at the shores of the Mediterranean. Ian uncovered a Gold Mine which added discs to Troy and got him talents. Adam's Academy of Science was not discarded but sat in front of him, allowing him more cards in the future. Andrew noted that his Improved Plough seemed evolutionarily some way behind an academy of sceince, but it rewarded him with more map presence and some cash.
So far, so cagey. I noted our opening was remarkably peaceful and Ian recalled that the last game started that way too. Besides - we had more cards to play. But with Chris now back at the wheel he built a Wonder - The Grand Temple, which assists in combat by (seemingly) spawning extra warriors and allies to your cause. It's the only war-specific temple and he beat me to it - instead I built the Grand Gardens, which allow me to add more discs to the map at the start of a turn. Ian played The Golden Age and was rewarded with discs and talents, Adam invented Coinage and Andrew built the Stairway to God, which - I think - added more cards to his hand. A flurry of map-movement followed with Trading House, Religious Fervor and Silk Road all getting played before Adam built his own wonder - the Great Pyramid. As I was Egypt, I was slightly offended. But there was no time to dwell on the narrative idosyncrasies, because Andrew passed and Chris played Sea Pirates, adding the first Barbarians (black discs) to the board. At this point they were merely lurking around menacingly though, and there was no hint of the fire of death that was to come at the end of this turn.
At this point everyone had passed and there were no competitions to be resolved. Minimal points were scored, with Ian slightly trailing. But when we drew fresh cards, the world exploded: we pulled no less than five of the seven events from a massive deck of cards, and Ian - as player last on VP - got to assign Barbarians in the north, south, across the Mesopotamian Empire and throughout the sea. We all - bar Ian himself - suffered the consequences. Suddenly Turn 2 was looking a lot more barbaric, and Andrew kicked things off with Blasphemy as he fought them out of his home territories. Adam and I did similarly whilst Chris busied himself opening a Sea Route to Britain and Ian took advantage of our distractions to gather a lot of cash. Andrew stole cards with his Spy, Adam and I gathered coins, Chris built the Great Library and Ian the Mausoleum. A flurry of discs came and left the board as we strengthened where we could and ejected Barbarians. Chris played a series of destructive cards causing havoc: Millennial Volcanoes, Massive Volcanoes, and finally Millennial Earthquakes that raged through the Iberian peninsula and ruptured Adam, Ian and Andrew's civilisations. I escaped his censure, but then I was busy fending off massive stacks of black discs at my end of the board.
Then, the Epoch suddenly ended! Ian rocketed up the track by 11 points, I clung on far enough to be five points behind him whilst the other three were another four or so points back. And so began our campaign to get Ian, although it was a somewhat muddy campaign as Ian campaigned against me as his nearest competitor, and the others weren't above chipping in to that effect either. When I tried to invent the Improved Plough (Epoch 2, turn 1) Andrew Negated me - the first negate action of the game, and all I was doing was planting some crops!
Chris and Andrew both went after Ian with Biblical Floods and Massive Earthquakes, whereas Adam stuck to the comparatively dainty Local Plague. Chris also made my crops fail, whereas Civil Disorder worked out okay for Ian, as he removed 4 opposition discs from the map and replaced them with Barbarians. Again, he scored reasonably well, and held the lead.
Turn 2 began with the return of Millennial Volcanoes (me) Negated by Adam. Chris then played the absolutely horrid Bread and Circuses, where my notes simply say 'tonnes of shit on Adam'. Andrew played the Black Death and Adam dug a Gold Mine, possibly to hide in. Chris and I both went after Ian with Widespread Plague and Civil War, and Ian ended the round still in the lead despite being hit by Barbarians.
Turn 3, Epoch two. Literally all of us went after Ian with our opening gambits, to the point where Ian protested that now I was going to win - as if that was a bad thing. Adam hit him with Gods Demand Sacrifice - and with no Negate, Ian had now lost two cards (one to me through the somewhat erroneously-named Trade, another to Adam's demands) He retorted by hitting the man in second place (me) with Millennial Earthquakes, probably scuppering any chance I had of a big score this turn. Chris passed early, and Andrew stared at the board before announcing "I'm in last, and everything's wank". He made someone's crops fail - I can't remember whose.
Ian played Local Plague - possibly at me, notes are a bit hazy now - before everyone but Andrew passed. He improved his plough and added Pirate Raids, before passing and everyone resolving competitions. The Sudden Death step saw the second Epoch also end suddenly - and with it, the game! In scoring I dropped to fifth - Ian scored very little, but clung onto a tiny lead as the others hurtled up the track to catch us both - but! There was a twist in the tail, however - the End of Epoch event penalised everyone for their cities - a point apiece! - suddenly all Adam, Chris and Andrew's scoring was reversed as they fell back down the track, as Ian and I as the comparatively low-scorers weren't so effected. Ian's lead was back to convincing, and final scoring (most cities/wonders/sea areas) was minimal enough to make no difference.
Final scores
Ian 36
Sam 33
Chris 30
Adam 29
Andrew 28
Our three and a half hour epic had come to a conclusion! And that was with only two epochs, both ending early. As we noted, it's best played at a clip (there's not a whole lot of logic to strategising too much, considering how swingy it all is) and we mostly did that, meaning despite the playtime the game felt relatively breezy. It is the type of game where the final placings can come down to the final event - as it did here - but we all sat down kinda knowing that. I'm looking forward to playing again, but I think two epochs is definitely enough - four would take all day!
Great write up Sam and a fun evening. And this game was fun with everyone raucously laughing at each others misfortune or wincing when dealt a particularly savage blow.
ReplyDeleteI agree on the 2 Epoch timing. There's no progression within the game and so each draft of cards that I was getting started to get a little familiar and I felt that the size of peoples civs was the only game state that was changing.
It was a laugh though and didn't drag at all which isn't a bad meter for any game.
The recurring critique on BGG is that the game has no arc and I think it's accurate to say so. Hence four epochs... mmmm, too much. I like the chaos but I'd love to see a version where there is a growing sense of control or capacity to mitigate - converting barbarians to the cause a lá Time of Crisis, or forging alliances etc. But the more you go that way the more rules-heavy it becomes I suppose, and part of the appeal for me with ACIS is the simplicity.
DeleteIt's very odd how they thought it should last four epochs, especially since the reshuffling of the deck and the limited number of disks means the game isn't going to massively change. But it's fun for what it is. A lot of fun. Thanks all.
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