TDG: Sid Meier's Civilization: A New Dawn

Hey kids! Looks like Fantasy Flight Games reached into your PC, pulled out the classic video game, and placed it on your tabletop! Will this board game translation stand like a new Colossus of Rhodes? Or will it sink like some sort of cardboard Atlantis? Cody investigates!
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[@jarvbricks7422]

I love this game. Your spot on with your review. Looking forward to the new expansion.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Thank you, sir.

[@nicolajohnson1887]

I've just ordered this for Xmas, I love the pc game series, I hope it's fun.

[@Demiarioch]

Thanks for the review. I have not played this one yet (always too busy) but I too LOVE civilizations games. I also own the FF version from 2010 and the expansions. That too is an epic great game. Glad you're off the NBC network.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Danke. This one is great a more streamlined than the 2010 one. If you pick this up make sure you also grab the expansion.

[@Demiarioch]

@@TheDiscriminatingGamer I've been thinking about adding it to my collection for a while. You have pushed me over. On another note, played the DC Card game last week for the first time in about a year. There were four of us - two gals abd two guys. We were, um... all distracted by Power Girl (who I played).

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

@@Demiarioch Ha!

[@obsidiansiriusblackheart]

That intro is hilarious

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Obsidian Sirius Blackheart Thank you!

[@braidenlynch2737]

The nobody but Cody network 😂🤣

[@francescomeucci5278]

And yes, an expansion has been announced. Dreams come true!

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

When? I haven't heard about this.

[@francescomeucci5278]

@@TheDiscriminatingGamer There is a video about it on FFG channel

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

@@francescomeucci5278 Just saw it. Thanks.

[@NickJacksonusa]

Wow I can't believe it!

[@jonreed6548]

Good to hear your perspective on this! I'd written it off but now I really want to try it. Sorry, I mean...BUY IT!

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Ha! I think you'll get a kick out of it. Great game!

[@Diabolik771]

I like the idea of this, the compacting down of it all but that map reminds me of Smallworld. "That's not France!"

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Much, much better game than Small World!

[@rogerst-arneault1877]

Like your style! ;)

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Roger St-Arneault and I like your comment!

[@antiussentiment]

It's worth trying Avalon Hills' Civilisation if you can. It is very long. But sometimes that's what you and your folk want? The trading mechanic is the best I've played in any game. The "war mechanic" is very simple attritional, but I think this is actually pretty reflective of how wars turn out on a massively strategic scale. Give it a try if you have 8 hours and 4-5 players. It was certainly ahead of it's time.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

That's one I'd like to try at some point. I do like long, epic games.

[@kersago]

I am big fan of Civ games on PC and I was looking for a Civ-like board game but the previous one was like 4+ hours (which I can take), but I know my gaming group and they will fear such a long and complex game, so this was a great solution although a bit abstracted but keeps the theme and fast flow in around 2 hours of play I like the comment about this being 'the ticket to ride of civ games', I think this is an great gateway game for a 4x / Civ-like games, but some hardcore gamers might want something more robust to play. I highly recommend it.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Indeed. Great game!

[@jamielehn6926]

The expansion really does this game a service - would love to hear Cody’s thoughts on it soon? 😏

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Stay tuned!

[@jamielehn6926]

Did you see what I did there? I played it yesterday and I thought it fixed (somewhat / but a good somewhat) many of the deficiencies of the base game. Looking forward to playing this more!!

[@monomundo]

Thanks Cody - I like your reviews as there is passion in them. I am a big fan of Civ games as well - happily wasted thousands of hours in them. Unfortunately, I have to accept the fact that the series don't appeal to me as much after the introduction of City States and many other things in Civ V - and incedentally getting married and having a kid :) As for Civ - a New Dawn, the main problem is that it would be too light to appeal to hardcore Civ fans or Dudes-on-a-Map-type-of-games players. On the other hand, I don't think that the theme would be as much interesting for family-weight-games players. As you have said, we should abstract the computer game while approaching it - but that is rather difficult as the game is still titled Sid Meier's Civilization.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

You make some good points. As for myself- I loved it!

[@icemanvids9447]

Great review. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the expansion.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I picked it the expansion but haven’t played it yet.

[@krzysztofwegrzyn4343]

Jesus Christ Rest In Peace headphone users at the end… the hell was that..

[@immeathome]

I really like your vid! Spicy and to the point! :) Question: have you played (the hyped ;) Tapestry yet? How do the games compare? I see some recurring elements, advancing on tracks and building a landscape, although Tapestry doesn't seem a civ game pur sang. (From vids, I must add. Own neither yet.) How would you compare the gameplay? And how do they rank on your Ticket to Ride-scale? :D (Btw. Hubby likes his games with less rules. Daughter and myself are real engine builders... Brugge irritates her immensely f.i. for the lack of engine and too much go with the flow.)

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I haven't played Tapestry. I don't think Civ is terribly complicated - so I think everybody in your crew might get a kick out of it.

[@sorinpopescu1139]

Help me please to understand how gaining resourses works. Once you place a control token on a resourse, you take that resourse, but do you gain it constantly, or it's just one time gain?

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I don't recall off the top of my head. You may want to post your rules questions on Board Game Geek.

[@Thesussysuscat]

If you gain a resource off the board you keep it till you spend it . If it's a trade token it sits on one of your focus cards until you choose to spend them stack limit 3. If it's a recorded from a city state you csn spend one of thay resource per turn and keep the recourse token identified by taking the city state token and placing it by your Player board. It can be taken back if another play conquers the city state or liberates it. Hope that helps.

[@user-hk5fo1nm9h]

I feel like they could have boosted the gameplay by letting you choose between multiple new cards when you upgrade tech. Like you can either choose “capitalism” for better caravans or “communism” for getting trade tokens from the culture and tech cards.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Good point. I was hoping they'd come out with an expansion or something at Gen Con. It was not to be.

[@user-hk5fo1nm9h]

The Discriminating Gamer you should try the FF game. It takes a long time if it’s your first time (my 3 player game too 7 hours) but has a lot in it, from city building to deep tech trees. It’s interesting to have a game that sacrifices so little.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

This is a Fantasy Flight game. Do you mean the earlier one? I owned it but never got it to the table.

[@user-hk5fo1nm9h]

The Discriminating Gamer Right sorry. I know, it’s just worth a try if you get the chance.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Maybe sometime down the line.

[@Kili121416]

Top 5 Civilisation Building Games ?

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Hard to say- except that TI4 would be #1. I'd probably throw Clash of Cultures in there as well somewhere. Maybe Eclipse? Civilization: A New Dawn would be in there as well. I'm playing another one shortly, so look for my review.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

The Discriminating Gamer But what about Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game? This is the video where you looked at Sid Meier’s Civilization: A New Dawn. But you like this version of a board game of Sid Meier’s Civ more than the other game - which is supposed to more closely simulate the video game? Or have you just not played that one? It plays closer to Clash Of Cultures, except I like SMC: TBG better, because although it requires the expansion - war is deterministic - using a card system, as opposed to the randomness CoC adds with rolling dice to attack people... But that is just me. Ireally do not find anything interesting about the “roll to resolve” mechanic and would rather find newer / more original mechanics in games.

[@ReadyAimFire_]

I think im gonna buy it. I always wanted to have good Civ like game, but the one i played twice (TTA) was just too long and too complicated for my gaming group, and i really disliked book-keeping. I need something streamlined and faster, with aspect of Civ building. Seems like this is the way to go. Thanks for review, you convinced me :)

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I think you'll really enjoy it. You definitely get that civilization-building feel from the game, but it is not a very heavy game at all. (Incidentally, as I'm typing this I'm playing Civ VI on my PC).

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Good news for you! I would highly recommend you check out Jamey Stegmaier’s new civ. game: Tapestry. It streamlines a bunch of things and can be played in 2 hours. There are 4 tracks (science, technology, exploration and military) and each turn you use your resources to go up a step on one of those tracks. Each track gives you different things / benefits. But the more you go up on a given track, the more it costs to continue going up that particular track - but also the better the benefits you receive for doing so. Each of the tracks lets you do different things. For example, science lets you roll the science die and get a resource from it; exploration lets you gain a tile which you can put on the board; technology lets you gain a technology card; and military allows you to fight others. There is a lot more to the game than I can explain now, but I would highly recommend you look it up. For example, players can have trap cards - and if someone tries to takeover you militarily, but you have a trap card, then you can show them your trap card - and you would get to take over their territory (in order for them to be able to take over your territory, they must be in an adjacent area, so you would also be in an adjacent area to them and thus capable of taking them over once you reveal your trap card). You should check it out. The name of the game is Tapestry.

[@EclecticCamel]

So how would you compare this to Nations? I have no idea offhand if you've reviewed that one, but they share a theme and general time for play.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I have not played Nations. Sorry.

[@EclecticCamel]

The Discriminating Gamer Ah no big. I think you might've sold me on this. Through the Ages is so hard to get to the table. Nations is a bit shorter but there's things about it I don't love.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I think you'll like this one.

[@PMMagro]

What about nations do you dislike? I find Nations the dicegame is almost better (even if it is bit light).

[@EclecticCamel]

My biggest problem with Nations is that, for a game with so many cards that key off of military, there are too few military cards. Because the person who is higher in military goes first (if memory serves me right), the person already ahead in military can effectively block others from taking military if a single card pops up by hate drafting it. TtA balances these things out much better.

[@hegemon3]

IMO it's way more complicated than ticket to ride

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Agree to disagree. It is more complicated, for sure, but IMO not by much.

[@waferjuice]

How is this game vs clash of culture??

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

They are very different games mechanically. I like them both. I think Clash of Culture has more depth, but it is also very fiddly. I never played it with the expansion, which I heard made it even better. What I like about Civ is that it is really easy to teach and learn, yet still gives you that epic civilization-building-game-feel. There is room for improvement, however, and I would love to see some expansions. I don't know how likely that is going to be however.

[@user-hk5fo1nm9h]

I’m surprised you liked this rendition, the reviews generally have been mediocre until now. I have it in shrink wrap and I’m still mulling over whether to unwrap it or sell it forward.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I realize a lot of people were just so-so on it, and maybe that contributed to my surprised delight. Still, I really had fun with this game. I think a lot of people just had too many expectations and wanted it to be more like the PC game. As its own game, it is fantastic!

[@ScarriorIII]

Seems like they borrowed a lot of systems from forbidden stars, which is fine.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

It didn't play like Forbidden Stars at all.

[@ScarriorIII]

The Discriminating Gamer I meant like the cards military, etc kind of like the order tokens...or more like the strategy cards in TI.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Ah, yes.

[@dddmmm21]

So good even at two players?

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I have not yet played it with two players.

[@Valcurdra]

I liked this game a lot, I feel this game suffers soo much from the IP, it really feels like Civ ultra light. If you ignore the IP its a pretty darn nice game, and its great to have a civ building game that is fast paced and easy to learn.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Indeed. The expectations around the "civ" IP didn't do this great game any favors.

[@Thesussysuscat]

What's the IP?

[@ItsJustJerFromJersey]

Posted By Shawn

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Fantastic!

[@josemartin5739]

Dont you think that 2010 edition is better

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

I used to have a copy, but I have never played it.

[@sauce773]

God this is hella complicated lol I guess I'll stick to pc.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

Wow! I thought this was a remarkably strait forward and easy to learn version. The previous edition was very complicated, and the designers did a fantastic job of streamlining it for this version. In fact, they may have done too good a job as many people complained about the combat. The forthcoming expansion is supposed to make combat better, however.

[@sauce773]

@@TheDiscriminatingGamer it will probly get less complicated once me and my friends get playing

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

@@sauce773 I'm sure it will. Give it a chance. I think you'll enjoy it.

[@Lordjunon]

Personally I didn't like the old FFG Civ, I thought combat was beyond wonky. For light civ games I like the golden ages. Artwork is awful but its a great civ game, I wouldn't mind trying this though.

[@TheDiscriminatingGamer]

This is fun- very streamlined at the expense of the PC game's complexity, but a lot of fun.