With all the pieces sitting on my table I put together an initial version of the “Death and Taxes” deck this morning. Which was followed by punching cardboard for Civilization: New Dawn. But there was a reason for this flurry of holiday activity. I was going to be testing the Magic deck, and playing Civilization in the afternoon with Justin.

At Justin’s I had him play my R/G Dino deck. If this new deck did well against that then I would know I’m onto something. But sadly it got its butt handed to it. I just wasn’t hitting the cards I needed. So back to the drawing board, and looking into how I can be more consistent and draw the cards I need.

After being given some food for thought about the new deck. We set up a two player game of Civilization: New Dawn using the suggested tiles and layout for a first game.

I thought this worked out pretty well as a two player experience. Naturally there are elements that would work better in three or four games, such as the diplomacy cards. But combat was not an issue for me as it has been for some of those that have reviewed it. Like many similar style games, the combat isn’t the main act. It’s sharing the main headline with other mechanics. And like those other games the combat is a simple, it’s a streamlined affair. Yes in this version there is a little bit of randomness with the use of dice. Is that much different to the tides of war/battle cards that are optional in the A Game of a Thrones board game? But there is also a little bit of predetermination before you even get to the dice rolling.

I loved the focus track, and the way that works, which is the main driving mechanic of the game. The decisions you have to make, or are forced to do just so an action you want to do is more powerful, or you even have to do at that moment despite it being a lot weaker than you want.

Yeah this is a nice Civ like game or even Civ like lite to be more accurate, that gives a taste of that experience in a much shorter time span. A gateway Civ game? Possibly. Plenty of replay ability with the variable map tiles, 7 races/leaders, 5 different goal tiles (that you randomly select 3), different routes to upgrade your technology.

Despite winning I liked it as a 2 player game, and looking forward to playing it again with more players.

5 player Twilight Imperium 4 tomorrow ^_^