TDG: Cody's Top Ten Civilization Building Games

hello and welcome to the discriminating gamer the board game review show that likes Iron Man and Hulk and Captain America and Thor all well and good but how many times have you seen one of them review a board game I mean I'm super good they'd be right ladies and gentlemen today we're gonna go ahead and take a look at my top 10 favorite civilization building games of all time [Music] all right ladies gentlemen my top ten civilization building games of all time just gonna jump right into it with my honorable mentions first of all tiny epic kingdoms from gameland games was a rather a fantastic little mini game about building civilizations check that one out if you get a chance and also I don't know if it's in print anymore but rise of Empires by was main fare I think Fallon's did it originally there was Mayfair I don't know if it's out there right now but that was a pretty cool little euro game where you you'd have to take actions and then you have to take actions in reverse order and that was pretty fun and as well really liked that one but let's get into the list number 10 is from Eagle Gryphon games it is clockwork Wars clockwork Wars is a fun steampunk adventure where you've got crazy like chimpanzee people and dog people and rhinoceros people it's it's really good you had all these sorts of people except people people but it was really a lot of fun you know you had to of course you had like science research but you also had sorcery you the board almost kind of look like a Catan board and but you were kind of moving these disks you know around we had these disks around it and then you also had minis that came in it that were that what you would use you use these big minis that would represent kind of super weapons but it was just it was a really good and fun and it was a it was a unique I I think spin on the civilization building game but it still had a big epic feel to it so I really enjoyed that that is number 10 clockwork wars from regal mEagle Griffon games number 9 was a game that took place in the Mediterranean Empire was a pretty good solid civilization building game from Academy games this is Mare Nostrum empires Mironov sums empires was you were all around the the mediterranean and of course you're building buildings you're building temples you're you have military units you're trying to dominate the region's you're at it was a very good and fun game you were also trying to build wonders and other goodies there are different avenues to victory you could pursue different paths to get victory points and that one was a lot of fun as well I actually just played that maybe a year or so ago for the first time and really got a kick out of it that's Mare Nostrum Empire's number 9 from Academy games my number 8 was a game I played several years ago really enjoyed it it was a little more fiddly than I would have liked otherwise it might have been higher on the list and I only played the base game I heard the expansion just blows it out of the water makes it a much better game but I never played with the expansion and I always wanted to this is clash of cultures from z-man games now this is great you had of course there's kind of a fog of exploration here there's kind of a Forex idea here of trying to flip over tiles and then you kind of reveal you know the landscape and that was a pretty cool system as well but you also had kind of these big charts where you put cubes next to certain kind of civics or technologies or whatever that you had that would kind of contribute to your civilization of course you had some combat you would have barbarians it'll come up you'd have to fight but it was just a very good and fun civilization building game and it was about the right length that's long not too short but I really enjoyed it I only played it a couple of times I'd like to hit it again sometime with that expansion but that is clash of cultures from z-man games my number seven is a game I just played recently that I really enjoyed now I only played this game two one time I do want to play it some more and I want to play it with six players which made it a very long game so you want to make sure going into it you know it's gonna be very longer play at a lower player account but this is ancient civilizations of the inner see from GMT games this is a game that is a whole lot of fun because it's so mean you're playing these cards against each other that are taking your disks away or adding barbarian disks or moving disks around you're kind of setting up your strategy and the people are playing these cards and you kind of don't know what's gonna happen and who's gonna play one on whom and it's a very mean game but it's a game you're laughing at throughout the card phase there because you're going back and forth trying to kind of screw each other over but it's there's not so much randomness that it actually completely mitigates a strategy and there's a lot more going on here you again you're building wonders the way the disks work they're both your units on the board but they are also currency you can spend the cards you have or resources they're also a currency it's all around us are very good and very fun and I think is somewhat innovative game I really enjoyed it that is ancient civilizations of the inner sea by GMT games and that is my number seven my number six is another one from it was recently released by z-man games it has been around for a while in various guises it's got two reprints and changes and and rebooting and what-have-you but this is history of the world history of the world is great because you don't just play one civilization you kind of build up a civilization and then you know that one kind of goes into a decline kind of a thing and then you build up another civilization as well and it's it's really fun kind of watching the the Empire's rise and fall throughout the course of history and each civilization that comes up has its own unique kind of powers and what have you very fun game very good solid civilization building game a little bit different than other civilization building games but I really like the way it portrays kind of the history of the rise and fall of Empires and it's just a lot of fun to play that is a history of the world from z-man games and that is my number six my number five is a game that came out I once it was last year or maybe is the year before but it is civilization a new dawn from Fantasy Flight Games civilization a new dawn is kind of a streamlining of their previous sid meier's civilization board games which were little fiddly a little bulky and this one's pretty smooth now I'll tell you right now the combat in it the military aspect of it is ok I'm not wild about it I don't hate it like I've heard some people say but it's not the best I think it could be improved upon and I do hope they come out with expansions for it at some point but the base game is very cool it's got this card system where you as soon as you play a card you put it back to the first place and the other cards slide up but where the cards are along that track determines how powerful they are so you can play you know what card you need here but it's not very powerful or you can play a card here that is very powerful and the way you do that you rotate through the cards is very cool again innovative system there I really liked it and I just I'm a sucker for that kind of forest Couric's expansion idea of a game like this so Sid Meier's Civilization a new dawn an amazing game that of course is my number 5 from Fantasy Flight Games my number 4 is it kind of straddles the line I think between war game and civilization building game because it scratches both itches it does I think both things very very well this is space empires 4x from GMT games space empires 4x from GMT games is a great grand epic space adventure it's as it's a space Empire building game but it also fundamentally is a war game because you've got all these different flee you know and you gotta push you've got to be aggressive in this game I played it all player accounts plays wonderful I played it with all player accounts I think my favorite is the two-player game I think it works best as a two-player game it's still fun with other player accounts but it works best as a two-player game but I love that you are building infrastructure you're building resources you're colonizing planets you're you're studying tech you're upgrading your ships I just really get a kick out of this game it's a very fun game that space empires forex that is my number four from GMT games my number three is another science fiction game this is a game that it's a very economic game it's almost a euro game in space with the veneer of kind of a merit crash game but this is eclipse now this is eclipse the the first edition I've actually kick-started the second edition still waiting on it but Eclipse is a great game like I say it's an economic game it was billed as kind of a ti4 killer which it wasn't but it is a very fun game you're you're you're exploring the galaxy you are of course investing in in these resources you've got those cubes that are on your like player eight you take the cubes your you put the cubes on or take them off and it's gonna reveal different things that become open to you as you reveal those those cube slots and so you you gain more abilities you get stronger as the game goes on as you of course are manipulating those cubes it's a very fun game it's got space combat in it which is fun you can upgrade ships and stuff like that so there is kind of that Ameri trashy element there there is some direct conflict with dice which is a lot of fun but it still feels like it's a very much an economic development game and I really like Eclipse quite a bit haven't played it in a while and it probably won't play the first edition again I'm waiting for the second edition to come out but it's a fantastic game that is eclipse that is my number three and that's from whatever to game another science fiction game and this one surprised me because it's an IP game but it surprised me just how much I liked it the first time I played it and how much I think I would have liked it even without the IP I think it's that good and solid a game it's that good and solid as a civilization building game this is Star Trek ascendancy from gale force nine Star Trek ascendancy is a it is so much fun that you're the the bass game you're the federation's of the clean the Federation the Klingons or the Romulans and there are a lot of different expansion packs where you play like the Ferengi and the Vulcans and Cardassians what have you I haven't played with any of the expansion packs I'd like to at some point but essentially you have your your home system you're building fleets and sending fleets out you're colonizing new planets you are building star vases which can building ships you are of course researching new things but every time you go to a new place you are experiencing kind of things that happen from the Star Trek TV show or movies it's really interesting it's really well done and again it surprised me how much I liked it even how much I'd like it even without the IP Star Trek ascendency is phenomenal I highly recommend it that is my number two game from gale force nine and my number one civilization building game of all time is no surprise my favorite game of all time and this is Twilight Imperium fourth edition Twilight Imperium fourth edition is the ultimate science fiction civilization building game in my opinion it is the ultimate science fiction civilization building game because it's got it all you've got of course a war game aspect to it with ice rolling you have got the tech tree you have got trade you have got politics and diplomacy you've got manufacturing you've got all these things that come together that create just this brilliant experience again this is a long game this is you know you play with six players this game can go several hours we did a livestream of this game I think in January and it was about a six-hour game which is about average but it can go longer it can go eight hours plus so I was happy that it was only about six hours but it's so much fun and it's so there's an aspect of role-playing here's your the different races the different alien races that can have different variable player powers and different things going on it's so much fun I love ti4 for so many reasons and if you don't like Ti for there is something wrong with you you need help really I love Twilight Imperium fourth edition I am just I'm so upset they have not yet come out with expansions for particularly the distance Sun expansion which was to me the only way to play ti3 I sincerely hope they come out the distance Suns 40i4 as well some other expansion goodies before that game it needs it I love that game so much I want to see them run with it Andrew Navarro recently had a life streaming through where they asked him about ti4 he said it sold very well and they asked him if there's gonna be expansions and he was kind of home on it which makes me think maybe there will be he talked I think about like Eldridge hard some other games he said they're dead they're not gonna produce any more content for him and he didn't say that how about ti4 so I'm hopeful there's stuff in the works for ti4 I really really hope so I love ti4 so very much it's such a fantastic game and I love it so that is my number one civilization building game of all time that is Twilight Imperium fourth edition from Fantasy Flight Games well thank you once again for joining us today ladies and gentlemen I hope you liked my list please feel free to comment here in the YouTube comments or on our website or on Facebook or Twitter wherever you see this video please comment let me know do you like my pics do you not like them why do you like them or don't you like them let me know I'm always eager to engage with people over what their favorites are here what their favorites are as well so please as I said leave me a comment also please subscribe to us on YouTube like us on Facebook and all that good jazz and we are the discriminating gamer and I got to tell you ladies and gentlemen I really would like to take this opportunity to say to Marvel comic books it's time you've come up with a board game review superhero app or game reviewing superhero I think I think the world's ready for its first board game reviewing superhero and maybe maybe his secret identity could be a PhD history student it's me would you make me a comic book character [Music] the ground [Music] [Music] go to you fool who played with giving you a recommendation I grabbed the last parachute we're in a building on the first floor and that's a backpack if you like this with you like us on Facebook and subscribe to us on YouTube the discriminating gamer I'll see you in Hell Cody

Channel: The Discriminating Gamer

Views: 20,700

Keywords: twilight imperium 4th edition, eclipse, star trek ascendancy, clash of cultures, mare nostrum empires, ancient civilizations of the inner sea, clockwork wars, space empires 4x, tiny epic kingdoms, rise of empires, history of the world, civilization a new dawn, gmt games, fantasy flight games, academy games, gale force nine, z-man games, eagle-gryphon games, best civilization building games, baord game review

Id: xOFaW75irIE

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 21 2019