Danny Holte - 10:05am Oct 26, 2002 PST (#14629 of 14639) "If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning" - Catherine Aird I picked up Civilization: The Boardgame yesterday too. Al Carpenter and I played it last night. We played the Standard game to get the ball rolling. We both thought it was a pretty fair representation of the PC game, even at the "Standard" level and we both really liked it a lot. Without going into excruciating detail... You begin the game with 20 gold, 2 settlers, 2 soldiers and 2 villages. You place in the 'Settlers of Cataan' style - Place 1 of each type in a single area clockwise around the table; the last player places both of his groups then go back around counter-clockwise. Settlers can build villages after movement and exploration. Chits are placed inverted each area at the beginning of the game which can be various things, good and bad. Resources, terrain markers, plagues, villages, gold etc. Combat is a blend of Risk and rock-scissors-paper; Cavalry get an advantage over Infantry, Inf over Artillery, Arty over Cav. Each player picks one unit at a time in secret (behind screen) then you reveal. "C'mon, SEVEN!" We were a little aggressive with our initial village placements so were in conflict relatively quickly, and it was over before we got into the 2nd age. This left us questioning the feasibility of a "long" 2-player game, but heck - it was only our first shot. The Advanced game adds more detailed production and morale factors as well as a lot more, seemingly without adding a ton of complication or excessive play time. I have only glanced through these rules however, and haven't played then yet. I am pretty excited about trying it though - it looks great. Again, as a 2-player game I'm not sure you get all the game has to offer, though we had a lot of fun playing and that is really the bottom line. As a 4-6 player game I think it will shine. Eagle Games has a hit here!