Nations

Great game that allows for deep strategy but also a lot of fun for those who may not be into deep games. The mechanics are straightforward (worker placement, card drafting, variable player powers, etc.) but balance the game nicely among all of the players so that more experienced players aren't runaway leaders too early in the game. The only problem is that when playing with more than 3 neophyte players, the game can take upwards of 5 hours to play (due to people learning the game, referring to the rulebook and pretty much over-thinking their turns). In that case, however, you can just end the game after 2 or 3 ages instead of playing all 4. The solo variant that comes with the game is ingenious and fun (it adds a nicely implemented die roll mechanic), don't forget to try it. The theme of the game is interesting and can lead to some interesting historical discussions and internet searches, and should appeal to any world history buff, but don't expect this to be a realistic historical simulation or reenactment of nation-building–the anachronism factor in this historical game is high. The artwork on the box is great, but the cards themselves are nowhere near the artistic caliber of the box, but with hundreds of unique cards, that would be a tall order and would probably add substantially to this already expensive game. The quality of the materials, however, are mostly first-rate (a wooden die for the solo players!). I only wish that the player dashboard cards were thicker stock.

I'm a pretty gung-ho boardgamer, and this game has gotten high acclaim, plus I've enjoyed "Civilization" types of games on the computer, so that motivated me to try it. We played our first game (3-player) this weekend and all agreed that it was extremely fun.The game mechanics are actually pretty similar to Agricola, a game which I actually don't care for at all. But Nations is deeper because there are a lot more choices and there is a lot more randomness to the game setup. They really did an outstanding job of selling the whole civilization-building theme, but making it familiar to board game players. After spending an hour or so watching youtube videos, and then skimming over the instructions, I felt comfortable running a game of it.After playing it, I wouldn't want to play it with less than 3 players, and 4 would probably be the most fun. The duration of the game is governed by a fixed number of turns, so how long it takes will vary depending on how many players there are. Our first game took 4-5 hours, but we were going slow/learning/looking things up as we went. I expect subsequent games to maybe take an hour less or so.I look forward to many more game nights with this, and buying expansions in the coming months/years.

Really wanted to like this more than I do.I purchased this both as a lover of civ games and as a frequent solo gamer. With that said, let me also make clear that I’ve not yet played multiplayer, and that the “shadow player” via solo rules provided differs greatly from true human opponents.The art is little annoying if that kinda thing irks you. I would’ve preferred a completely-abstract design to the ho-hum, occasionally distracting artwork provided.A few things were not clear initially upon starting play, but folks on bbg (including one of the designers) helped clear all of these up.On a truly positive note, gameplay is very fast, significantly so versus other civ games. There are tons of choices to make but only limited time/resources to bring to bear on them. This forces players to develop a specific strategy rather than waffling/fence riding. If the player fails to specialize, he risks getting left in the dust by other players who are already engaged in this behavior. Diversity sounds fun - and it can certainly help players get a feel for different options - but it tends not to pay out as well in the end.It does share some resemblance to Through the Ages, but is much simpler, faster and diverges significantly in terms of card types, etc. I’m definitely not getting rid of TtA any time soon, though Nations will surely get a bit of play going forward.

My gaming group is heavy into deep strategic wargames, but once in a while, we'll play something quick to change the pace a little. When we played Nations, everyone both enjoyed it, and wanted to play again. It is a competitive game, it is fun, and while some of the cards don't make sense historically, we really found the game easy to pick up, difficult to master.Also, from a solo perspective, the game plays quite well. There are definite decisions to be made (as opposed to simply dealing with outcomes of randomness like most solitaire games). You feel as though your decisions made a difference in the overall outcome each time.Finally, it plays well as a family game, as well. My 9 year old enjoyed it. When it comes to games, she's a little ahead of the curve than the average 9-year-old. And, while she wasn't competitive at the level my gaming group would be, she enjoyed herself, and asked some questions about the various cards, which represent various people, advancements, battles, wars, etc., throughout history.

When we played it for the first time we didnt really enjoy it, second time around was a little better, it just kept getting better from there. We are all at the point new that we love it! For new players it has an AWESOME "catchup" mechanic when playing with experienced ones. Also love that it can be played solo. After playing it solo I thought it would be cool in a 2 player game to get 1 point for balance after each round and 3 point for books after each age, so you dont only run for books and only score 1 point at the end of the age. We tried it can really loved it. but for more then 2 players we went back to just score books at the end of an age.

Interesting game. Played it with 3 people and had a good time, but thought it kind of dragged at the end a little bit. The game uses cards to represent buildings, soldiers, wars, and other things, all of which are part of pool of cards which players can purchase. Managing your resources can be difficult, especially if someone else buys a card that you needed. Some concepts, such as wars, are frustrating depending on the strategy that you're going for. If someone starts a war every round, you can potentially lose a lot of points or resources trying to deal with the consequences.As for the physical game itself, the pieces are rather underwhelming. When I pay $100 or more for a game, I expect to see quality components. However, in this case, the pieces are nearly all cheap cardboard. The only exceptions are your workers and a few 'architect' cubes which are made of wood.For all the praise the game gets on sites like boardgamegeek.com, I was kind of disappointed with this game.

By far my favorite Civilization style board game, I play it constantly with my friends. We would really like to get the expansion, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere anymore, which is really a shame. Infinite replayability, although some new Event cards might be nifty, especially Event cards that give more direct catch up chances for those that fall behind. With the current Event deck eventually you start being able to predict what Events are associated with what ages and be able to forecast what you're going to need later on, and a lot of them can be unfairly punishing for those already behind.

Love the game. Interesting mechanics with a streamline game play.