Civilization Building Theme in Board Games
Civilization building genre became popular with one of the most influential video games of all time - Civilization by Sid Meier, released in 1991. It is a 4x (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) turn-based historical strategy game. Civilization got several sequels and spinoffs over the years. If you are a fan or want to try some of them, take a look at latest Humble Bundle.
The player's role in Civilization building games is to guide the development of a civilization over the course of history. In doing that, players must gather resources, research technologies, build monuments to their technological advancement called the wonders, use leaders to inspire their people, get into battles and wars with other civilizations, and so on. All of that is usually done on some kind of a map.
Some of the most well-known board games in the Civilization category are Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game, which is an official implementation of the video game, Clash of Cultures, Nations, and of course Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization by Vlaada Chvátil which is currently #2 in BGG overall list.
Other notable games that are implementing some of the Civilization mechanics are Terra Mystica, 7 Wonders, Twilight Imperium (Third Edition), Imperial Settlers and Eclipse.
News
The board hoard: your guide to the best new board games
The Guardian's Owen Duffy does a monthly guide to the best new board games, this time looking at Between Two Cities, Raise Your Goblets and Belle of the Ball.
Games News! 27/02/17
Quintin Smith of Shut Up & Sit Down gives us a round-up of board gaming news for this week.
What's Next Feb 27th through Mar 12th 2017
David Waybright and Jeremy Salinas of Man vs Meeple are highlighting what's coming in the weeks of Feb 27th through Mar 12th, 2017.
Golden Geek Predictions 2016
The Golden Geek Awards 2016 have just had their lists of nominees published. Matt from Creaking Shelves is trying to predict how the votes will fall.
Board Games coming to Kickstarter March 2017
Kevin from Tantrum House shares a bunch of games launching on Kickstarter in March 2017. BTW, check out Kickstarter for Tantrum House season 4.
New & Upcoming Board Games in March 2017
Geek Dad & BoardGamePrices.com bring us the list of new board game releases for March 2017.
Articles and Videos
Designer Diary: Gloomhaven, or Trying to Fit a Full RPG World into a Board Game Box
Isaac Childres is writing about designing Gloomhaven, design choices he made, other games he drew inspiration from, etc. An excellent read.
Her Place at the Table
Not many industries are immune to sexism. Our wonderful hobby of board and tabletop games has been dominated by males for a long time. You can walk into most local game shops and see that tables are filled with men.
12 Best Star Wars Board Games: Battle through the galaxy!
Tim Thompson sums up best Star Wars board games. With one new Star Wars film every year for the foreseeable future and Fantasy Flight Games pumping out great Star Wars board games, the future looks bright for Star Wars board gaming.
Games of Emotion: Interview with Game Designer, Matt Leacock
Matt Leacock is one of the rare individuals who has been able to fulfill his life-long dream of becoming a professional board game designer. Buoyed by the success of his mega-hit game, Pandemic, which has sold over a million copies, Matt was able to transition from being the Chief Designer at Sococo to being a full-time board game designer in 2014.
Board Games Longer Than 3 Hours That Are Worth Playing
There’s a lot of board games in the world, and only a limited amount of time to try to play them. It is often a bit of a feat of scheduling and playing a game that lasts longer than 3 hours. But there are some games that are so worth it. Here are a few of Caylie Sadin favorites.
5 great board games for utter novices
Louisa Mellor of Den of Geek writes about 5 board games for novices. Have you heard about these board games they have now? They’re ace. A novice takes her first steps in tabletop gaming.
Crowdfunding
Empires of the Void II by Ryan Laukat
Control the distant fringe of the galaxy using might or diplomacy in this 120-minute board game for 2-5 players.
Raiders of the North Sea: Two Expansions by Shem Phillips
Take down Jarls, complete quests and find fame on the battlefield in these two epic expansions for Raiders of the North Sea.
Dinosaur Island by Pandasaurus Games
From the designers of Dead of Winter and Titans of Industry: A board game about creating the world’s greatest dinosaur theme park.
Village Attacks by Grimlord Games
An epic 1-4 player co-op game where you play as infamous creatures of folklore, defending your castle from the local villagers!
Long Live The Queen by LudiCreations
Plot to seize the throne in this dynamic game for 2 players. Choose anime or dieselpunk and help us republish this japanese gem!
Relic Knights: 2nd Edition by Soda Pop Miniatures
Relic Knights is an anime-themed miniature skirmish game featuring diceless game mechanics and gorgeous miniatures.
Reviews and Playthroughs
TableTop: Wil Wheaton Plays The Fury of Dracula w/ Grant Imihara, Amy Okuda, & Ify Nwadiwe! Pt. 1
In part one of this two-part edition of TableTop, Wil Wheaton gets to play Dracula as guests Amy Okuda, Grant Imahara, and Ify Nwadiwe try their best to hunt him, in Fury of Dracula!
Great Western Trail Review
Matt of Creaking Shelves gives us a review of Great Western Trail, one of the greatest hits of last year from Alex Pfister, a designer of Mombasa, Isle of Skye, Broom Service, Oh My Goods, and Port Royal.
The Others Game Review - Damned. Good?
Actualol review of The Others, a board game about the end of the world, with a plethora of tentacled miniatures, designed by Eric Lang, published by Cool Mini or Not.
Board game review: New Angeles is the capitalist dystopia we need
Welcome to a world of unimaginable wealth and rampant inequality, a world where monolithic corporations act as a law unto themselves, where automation and technological progress threaten to undermine the very foundations of society, and where frightened, forgotten, and furious citizens turn in droves towards political extremism.
Scythe - Shut Up & Sit Down Review
Shut Up & Sit Down are finally reviewing Scythe a game that was funded on Kickstarter a year and a half ago, collecting more than $1.8 million. It's currently #6 overall on BGG.
Review: Citadels (2016 Edition)
If you’re not familiar with Faidutti’s original cutthroat minimalist design of intrigue, Citadels is a role-selection and city-building game. But really it’s a role-selection game. You are one of the kingdom’s great builders working with others to erect a new city.
Week in Review - February 27, 2017
The Dice Tower crew and friends are going through all of the reviews they did the last week.
Influencers
Jamey Stegmaier
If you are interested in Kickstarter as a creator, Jamey is THE person to follow. He has a series of Kickstarter lessons on his company blog and he also wrote a book about it - A Crowdfunder's Strategy Guide. After reading that, It might come as a surprise to learn that Charterstone, his upcoming project, won't be Kickstarted.
Scythe is Jamey's most successful project so far. It raised $1.8 million on Kickstarter and is #6 overall on BGG at the moment. Other notable games are Viticulture, Tuscany and Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia.
If you want to find out more, check out the about page on his company blog. You can also find Jamey on Facebook, Twitter and BGG.