Through the Ages - Playthru With Friends!

[@PauloRenato23]

This is my favorite game of all time, it's as close to perfection that you can get!! Now I only play the app because it does all the upkeep and all the calculations AND it makes it so easy for the player to test out several different ways to play each turn by just resetting the turn to the previous move or all the way to the last time you revealed any new information, being able to do this is GOLD! (This is a thing you can do in the physical game too but it's so much more difficult... So, the App killed the physical game for me, it's the best implementation I've ever seen and that makes me extremely happy! So John, if you want to play this Async I would be down to play it with you and Matt! Notes for the Subtitles: 1:03:57 You forgot to get 1 resource from the Roman Roads 2:00:50 You say you had 3 more Ore but you didn't, that triggers at the Start of your Action Phase and at the Start of your Action Phase Maria Theresa was still in your hand 2:51:42 You play Reserves to get 4 resources and instead you give yourself 6 2:55:53 Matt forgot his discount of 2 Resources from Architecture, so he only needed to spend 9 resources instead of 11

[@JonGetsGames]

I'm glad you enjoyed this one, and thanks for all the notes. I've added corrections for all of them.

[@BlueZaki400]

I am really loving the playthrus with Matt!! :) Thank you and keep em coming!! :)

[@Wildhorn666]

I agree. It allows us to have back these full playthrou videos, without having John losing his mind playing against himself ;)

[@HerbJon]

Man.. I love this design so much. Played like 250 games of 2nd edition and I'm getting this version soon. One of my favourite games of all times. Thank you Vlaada.

[@samwise222]

I love the way you film and edit these playthroughs. It's so much more engaging and easy to follow than just a single camera shot of all the components from above. Great stuff!

[@JonGetsGames]

Thanks for the kind words, it's been interesting experimenting with the multi-camera setup vs the single camera style I've done for the past 9 years. Glad you've been enjoying them!

[@AhJong0]

Fantastic! I love the in person play through and especially for such a stone cold classic as TTA! As a long time fan of these play throughs, it is really odd to hear Jon’s disembodied voice talking through his tactical considerations as usual but then all of a sudden another voice pierces the expectations! 😂

[@JonGetsGames]

Ha, yeah I can imagine that'd be strange after such a long time of just me being here :) Really glad you are enjoying these, we have more coming!

[@timoseppa9124]

Yeeeessssss! Fantastic. So happy to see one of my favorite games, with new expansions I don't have, with a full playthrough. Awesome.

[@Jindorek]

Wow, i learnt a LOT from this. been playing this for years but we have made so many tiny errors that I never knew about till now. Thank you for this.

[@JonGetsGames]

CORRECTIONS: 55:07 - Matt forgot to spend 1 civil action when playing the Knights card. 1:03:54 - I forgot to gain 1 ore from my Roman Roads. 2:00:45 - This free ore only happens at the start of the action phase, and because Maria was still in my hand at that point I shouldn't have gained these resources. 2:51:16 - I accidentally spent 5 resources instead of 3. 2:51:41 - I accidentally took 6 resources instead of 4. 2:55:44 - Matt forgot to use his Architecture discount, so this should have only cost 9 resources instead of 11.

[@undterred]

2:29:20 can’t take a yellow card and use it the same turn. I always see big plays like this then remember that I can’t use them the same turn and get sorely disappointed.

[@JonGetsGames]

I used the effect from Harvard which lets me use one yellow card I took on the same turn.

[@undterred]

Damn. I completely forgot about that one. Haven’t played with it yet, so I guess it was easy to forget.

[@darrensmith8487]

I love this game. I know the length bothers some people, but I think it is one of the things that makes it. It gives time for things to change. You can have an early game where you are resource poor and a late game where it isn't an issue at all… and like have some new problem.

[@joshuaallen7685]

Watching you both pass up monarchy hurt my soul. To be fair, I’m not very good at this game but I would have had to take that. Loved the playthrough with a friend. Thank you both for doing it!

[@JonGetsGames]

Yeah, I'm kinda in disbelief I let that happen (and also didn't grab any science techs all game.... yikes).

[@brianmccarty3615]

One of the few games I prefer online -- while the steam app is awesome, the BGA implementation is also quite good

[@Wildhorn666]

Same here. The irl version is too fiddly and the card setup based on player count is annoying too.

[@Nuvrin]

Great showcase of the game. I appreciated that you took the time to speed up sliding cards around, moving cubes etc.

[@desertgamers6065]

Always enjoy your teach and playthroughs. You are my game teacher of choice. Matt was a nice addition here. Thx guys.

[@Avyncentia]

I just finished playing a 3-player game of this against myself. Forgot how much I love this game. Looking forward to watching this playthrough!

[@jackskellingtonsora]

I LOVE this game. As an app. Running it on the table is awful, but running it with a computer doing the calculations for you in the background is great. I guess that's why video games were invented.

[@Skycroft1000]

I love this game. I play the app very frequently. I don't have it real life, though, and my experiences with the app spoiled me. I find it very fiddly whenever I do play it IRL. My usual tendency is to just accept that I'm losing every military conflict and to win anyway. It works about... a 3rd of the time I reckon. Lol. I will say I prioritize getting more civil actions way more than you guys seemed to. I can't imagine letting governments or Civil Blue Tech go by like that.

[@JonGetsGames]

Honestly, I don't know how I ended up playing this one the way I did! My focus is usually all about extra civil actions and all about urban buildings and I somehow didn't do either. It was funny how code of laws and justice system came out back to back, so I think that's a big reason why we were both low on civil actions. Either way, not my best showing for a game I've played so many times :P

[@brazillb2]

Having absolutely no experience in this game, I felt like Jon was in it to the very end. This was a very neat one to watch, definitely gonna grab the app

[@JonGetsGames]

:) I hope you enjoy it!

[@michaeldarling7169]

Wow. This was a really great playthrough. Thank you for the expert commentary and the solid overview of the game. Really interesting in buying this one now!

[@JonGetsGames]

I'm glad you enjoyed this one :)

[@Wolfy766]

Nice playthrough lads.

[@bazzkrycek7982]

@34.40 LOL Matt, did you say a naughty word? :)

[@JonGetsGames]

Ha, well that's what I get for editing while listening to music. I definitely didn't notice that, whoops!

[@GabrielDFbhz]

Cant believe you played this! Best game ever!

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

Never played this and always wondered about it. I can see why it's so highly rated.

[@bushibayushi]

Looove these playthroughs guys, GREAT job!

[@davidko9289]

I love the idea of cavalry with nuclear bombs.

[@sharond5854]

Such an awesome game. Thank you for this, super fun to watch. 🙂Would really love to see a Clash of Cultures (ME) "Playthru with Friends" one day.

[@JonGetsGames]

I'm glad you enjoyed this! Unfortunately, I think it's unlikely I'll be making a CoC playthru video since I no longer have a copy of that game.

[@sharond5854]

Ah, that's too bad. I really love the fun playthrough with friends.

[@sharond5854]

@@JonGetsGames Ah, well... that's too bad. But it never hurts to ask. :)

[@michaelblank9597]

Thanks again for yet another great detailled playthrough. :-)

[@redeyedghost1406]

I love Through the Ages. Played it so often on the app, that it was weird seeing the physical version of it again. Matt plays it 2-3 times per - I think I average 2-3 times per day. Acropolis and Hanging Gardens are probably my favorite wonders, with Shakespeare as my favorite leader.

[@ilqrd.6608]

OMG yes!!! The hobby needed this video!

[@JonGetsGames]

:D Thanks!

[@brianmccarty3615]

At 2:13:13, I thought Matt may have cheated by exceeding his urban limit, but Acropolis allowed him to build a 3rd Alchemy

[@zlyntudteam2394]

wouldn't he need to spend 5 resources since he built an alchemy using architecture instead of upgrading it, but he paid 2 anyway, correct me if im wrong

[@Wylaryzel]

55:07: Matt didn't pay a civil action to develop the knights - surely would make his turn even more difficult

[@JonGetsGames]

Good catch! I've added corrections to the video, thanks.

[@Erril-1]

Love this game

[@crimson49er]

this video was fantastic! i've wanted to play this game, but have been scared off by the crazy high weight on BGG & it doesn't seem so bad watching the play through.

[@Jack0alltrades]

Ya it’s not that bad, particularly by modern weight standards. I think the main reason one might rate it high is that you can mess up and have everything fall apart. Which a lot of game don’t let happen.

[@Jack0alltrades]

And it’s not short

[@danmarquart1076]

The anachronisms are killing me!

[@isitmyturn9199]

Great play through. I just picked this up on the weekend so it was very timely. I noticed you didn’t use the Proxy cards for the wonders and leaders, how did you incorporate the additional cards from the expansion? Did you just shuffle them in (thereby having more cards in each civic card draw pile)?

[@JonGetsGames]

We only used the expansion cards, so all base game ones were removed. I wanted to show the proxy cards and side board but we simply ran out of room for the cameras we had.

[@isitmyturn9199]

@@JonGetsGames cool thanks for the detail. And thanks for the play through.

[@Wildhorn666]

@2:46:17 Matt spent a civil action instead of a military action to build the Air Force, but seems to have rectified it at 2:47:14

[@cornichon2580]

At 2:51:25, you spent 5 resources instead of 3, which prevented you from building the second Movies you wanted to do right after that. Edit: looks like you still built the Movies, but you would have been able to build something additional.

[@Wildhorn666]

But he took 6 ressource from his card instead of 4 @2:51:40, so it evens out.

[@JonGetsGames]

Good catch! I added a correction in, thanks.

[@Islacrusez]

I think you may have missed a trick by not playing fortifications early on, as Žižka allows your farms to act as artillery, which would’ve likely turned the game on its head - you’d have more incentive to build farms, producing more food, and avoiding many of your problems by not having the weaker military despite spending your actions improving your economy🧐

[@JonGetsGames]

Yeah, very good points. I know I biffed this one, for now I'm just trying to blame the fact that I had cameras rolling for it :P If I'd done what you say, I think that would have really helped.

[@boblachance7030]

This is both my wife and my favorite game of all time.

[@Wildhorn666]

@2:51:40 The card gave you 4 ressources but you placed a 5 and a 1 cube, totalling 6 ressources. Which in the end is ok because you overspent 2 ressources a bit earlier.

[@JonGetsGames]

Good catch, I've added a correction.

[@jedigreg4636]

"It's worth noting" :D

[@ABlackfyre1]

Thanks!

[@JonGetsGames]

Thanks for the support! I'm glad you enjoyed this :)

[@ABlackfyre1]

It’s easier this way than over Patreon for me honestly. Thanks again

[@shinjial]

The military side of this game is the main reason why I dislike this game, while there are others. I just want to build up an engine and there's this annoyance from the other player. It's fairly thematic, but still, you can't really see it coming and brace for it. In Clash of Cultures, for example, because there is a board presence, you can see the other player(s) building up their strength and moving about, so you have time to prepare a bit.

[@JonGetsGames]

Yeah, over time I've enjoyed the game less and less entirely due to the military focus. We recorded a playthru of Nations the other week, so that'll show a different card based civ game where military is somewhat less important :)

[@jankogo]

TTA! Yeah!

[@golinskyy]

do you know HexploreIT>?

[@brianmccarty3615]

27:50, doesn't Cleo let you build Philosophy for 2 instead of 3?

[@JonGetsGames]

No, I already used that 1 extra ore earlier in the turn to build a stage of my wonder.

[@brianmccarty3615]

@@JonGetsGames ah so it is either per turn, not both (I haven't played with the new leaders/wonders)

[@shortydancer]

Older favorite?! Not everyone follows the cult of the new. In actuality, even the older games are new to a person who did not know about it or even played it. I know the industry is focused on new games because money. But there are so many good games out there. Who cares when they came out.

[@JonGetsGames]

It's just a descriptor, one that I think is accurate since the core game is ~16 years old.

[@spacemonkeyentertainment6413]

Well, a lot of times you see ideas develop and be polished over time and design space get influenced by whatever came before it, so i think it is objectively informative to some extent. I always have to stop myself from trying to explain what a new game does by saying things like "it's like x, but with the soandso mechanic from y" as that means little to somebody who hasn't played both or even either games i am referencing. I tend to think that "older games", especially when they implement a mechanic that was new at the time, tend to be more straightforward in their design, so i usually work backwards and go "if you like this mechanic then you would enjoy x" and point to an older game where the mechanic was more central to the gameplay. On the flipside i feel like newer games tend to mash things together a lot and it either becomes unbearably complicated or the mechanics get dumbed down a bit/lot to make up for the fact that there are just more mechanics to be aware of at any time.

[@kosady]

We love this game.. but one thing i see during your game related to the yellow action cards... An action card cannot be playd during the same action phase in whith it was taken...

[@JonGetsGames]

That is true, but I had a wonder that let me play 1 yellow action card per turn on the same turn it was taken.

[@brianmccarty3615]

At about 2:36:55 Matt upgrades to computers, shouldn't that only be 1 more science production? (even with Curie) (Never mind, Computers are 5 which IS a jump of 3)

[@ABlackfyre1]

At 2:24:19 , why does Matt spend 8 resources to upgrade 2 labs from Alchemy to computers? Shouldn’t it be 6 due to Architecture? It’s a jump of 5 resources without bonus per lab, - 2 (because of Architecture) per lab makes 3 per lab equal 6 total, right?

[@JonGetsGames]

Architecture discounts based on the age of the tech you are upgrading from. Alchemy is age 1, so only a -1 discount for each.

[@ABlackfyre1]

@@JonGetsGames thanks! That made it clear now. It was not obvious from the text on the card. 👍

[@msa4998]

I don’t believe you should have discarded the Age A military cards. Those cards are designed to give you positive effects at the beginning of the game. I believe you did the action cards correctly for A, but not the military cards.

[@JonGetsGames]

I don't understand your meaning. Can you tell me what time you are referencing?

[@msa4998]

​@@JonGetsGames It's all good. I did not see the events deck off screen where you had the Age A events from setup which came later in the video and now see it. Sorry for any confusion!

[@miks8]

2:13:12 - nooo noo, an upgrade woulda cost you 2, but a brand NEW alchemy costs you 6, you get 1 discount from architecture. It costs you 5 in total.

[@miks8]

2:24:15 - and now Matt overpaid :) Architecture gave you -2 discount for lvl 3 tech. Should have paid just 3 for upgrade, not 4.

[@JonGetsGames]

I believe we played this correctly. Architecture gives a -1 discount for the Age 1 versions, and -2 for the Age 3. So that is (11-2) - (6-1) = 4 ore to be paid.

[@miks8]

@@JonGetsGames On the Alchemy upgrade you're right! I missed the Urban Growth bonus. On Computer upgrade no, its still wrong. You are upgrading twice from Lab1 (Alchemy) to Lab3 (Computers). Lab3 costs 11. Lab1 is worth 6. Architecture gives -2 for tier3 buildings. So an upgrade costs you 3 (11 - 6 - 2). Two upgrades will cost you 6 (3 x 2). You paid 4 iron, which is 8 resources. Overpaid 2. Architecture is not a one time bonus per turn, but is applied to each upgrade.

[@Boardgame_fun]

@29:12 shouldn't you have had a discontent worker?

[@JonGetsGames]

Yeah, I have one population and it is technically discontent, I just forgot to shift it down onto the happy face to make it more obvious to myself.

[@Boardgame_fun]

@@JonGetsGames Ah, ok. Meanwhile, I watched the whole video, and it's really great, Jon! Although I've already played the game a few times, I learned a lot. And the expansion, it's on the way 😁👍🏻

[@JonGetsGames]

Awesome, I'm glad you enjoyed this one :)

[@boblachance7030]

Matts strength should have dropped by 4 at the start of the 3rd age bc his military units would of been to old to stay at the 8 level on his tactics card.

[@Jack0alltrades]

I believe it was an age 2 tactics card, and the antiquated tactics value is based of the cards age and not the game age, so I believe we played it correctly with the value not changing.

[@boblachance7030]

That makes sense. Ive never played it that way but you are probably right.