Game: History of the World

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-08T03:00:53+00:00

And Moshe Wins!

whac3 has submitted the highest bid.

Thanks a lot everyone!

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-07T23:56:18+00:00

Ok, tell me your highest bids, plus:
- pay through paypal with $ from paypal account (yes/no)
- want plastic container (top pic) (yes/no)
- any other offers (GG, games, etc)

I'll then decide which offer I want.

Geekmail me, so your bids are hidden.

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-07T23:10:36+00:00

Ok, are you guys going to pay with paypal? If so, if you use money already in the account, I can cut out the ~5% paypal percentage. See here:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-fees-outside
Just tell me how you are paying.

This will factor it in your favor as well. Obviously you'll be paying for shipping.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/352877
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/306659
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/306634
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/305989
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/305962

Here are some pics of my version/game. The box top has all 4 corners broken too. I'll throw in the plastic container if you want (top pic).

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

whac3 — 2008-08-07T20:50:11+00:00

martimer wrote:
I'll go $50. Shipping to MO should not be as bad.

I checked what I can find on ebay and think going substantiually higher is not worthwhile but I'll make this counter offer $50 AFTER BGG gets its 3% plus I'll pay shipping which is probably between $25 and $30. The additional 3% just makes it $51.55 by my math.

Let me know what you decide.

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

martimer — 2008-08-07T18:57:08+00:00

I'll go $50. Shipping to MO should not be as bad.

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-07T14:49:14+00:00

whac3 wrote:
Yes. What's your best price? I don't like to haggle.

Ok, what about $50. It's a used game, but I believe everything is there (I'll check). The box is a bit beat up too.

Shipping to Israel is going to be a mite expensive, and I don't know how high that'll run.

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

martimer — 2008-08-07T13:05:08+00:00

Or at least let me know what condition your copy is in so I can make an offer. I know you wanted to trade, and I respect that, but I have no trade bait for you at this time.

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

whac3 — 2008-08-07T11:04:11+00:00

Yes. What's your best price? I don't like to haggle.

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-07T03:06:34+00:00

martimer wrote:
Howitzer_120mm wrote:
Yeah you do! You have [GAMEID=10630], [GAMEID=35910] and [GAMEID=6752]

Okay, you caught me - I MEANT "Games that I am willing to trade". I LIKE those, and plan on keeping/playing them for years.

Yeah, I understood what you meant. I was just teasing! :D

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

martimer — 2008-08-07T02:55:19+00:00

Howitzer_120mm wrote:
Yeah you do! You have [GAMEID=10630], [GAMEID=35910] and [GAMEID=6752]

Okay, you caught me - I MEANT "Games that I am willing to trade". I LIKE those, and plan on keeping/playing them for years.

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-07T00:46:27+00:00

whac3 wrote:
Howitzer_120mm wrote:
Yeah you do! You have [GAMEID=10630], [GAMEID=35910] and [GAMEID=6752]

I only have one game of your want in trade list and it's one of my favorites so that I shan't part with it. Are you insistent that you want it in TRADE?

Well, do you want to pay $ for it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

whac3 — 2008-08-06T22:20:28+00:00

Howitzer_120mm wrote:
Yeah you do! You have [GAMEID=10630], [GAMEID=35910] and [GAMEID=6752]

I only have one game of your want in trade list and it's one of my favorites so that I shan't part with it. Are you insistent that you want it in TRADE?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-06T21:49:52+00:00

Yeah you do! You have [GAMEID=10630], [GAMEID=35910] and [GAMEID=6752]

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

martimer — 2008-08-06T21:01:23+00:00

I am interested, but have none of the games on your want list.

Let me know if you do not find any other serious takers...

Thanks and good luck,

Marty

Thread: Closed Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-06T06:10:22+00:00

Look at what I want in trade if you are.

Or does everyone want the newer editions?

Thread: Re: First Impression Session Report - Fun despite myself.

Stormparkiet — 2008-08-05T18:52:17+00:00

Thanks for the comments, Mogli!

mogli43 wrote:
Nice review, two comments:

1) Your previous empires are actually quite important. If you can
spread your empires out around the world you can be assured of at least
a few points for presence every epoch - and that can go a long way towards the final score. Not to mention cases where you played last in one epoch and first in the next, and then essentially score the same empire twice.
Awww, you have to go and spoil the illusion for me! :(

Just kidding, I do realise there is worth in the 'passive' civilizations, but the most points are scored by the active ones. And even if you're losing potential points, I got the feeling that you don't mind that much as you kinda expected to lose them anyway. It's absolutely a great thing to take 2 turns in a row - you do need some luck to pull it off though. Which brings me to your 2nd comment...

2) There is a bidding variant for empire selection that reduces the luck element there you might want to try out.
That is very interesting, thanks a lot for pointing it out! The next time we play, I'll be sure to suggest this. I don't own this game though, so no telling when that next time'll be.

Thread: Re: First Impression Session Report - Fun despite myself.

mogli43 — 2008-08-05T17:27:39+00:00

Nice review, two comments:

1) Your previous empires are actually quite important. If you can
spread your empires out around the world you can be assured of at least
a few points for presence every epoch - and that can go a long way towards the final score. Not to mention cases where you played last in one epoch and first in the next, and then essentially score the same empire twice.

2) There is a bidding variant for empire selection that reduces the luck element there you might want to try out.

Thread: First Impression Session Report - Fun despite myself.

Stormparkiet — 2008-08-05T13:55:37+00:00

Preface: I've committed myself to writing a 'first impression' session report for every 'new-to-me' game I play, then if feeling inclined to do so, follow up with a review. This one for History of the World is number 7 in line.

Our last Sunday afternoon gaming session featured only one game, but that doesn’t have to mean it was a short session. After all, we were working through the entire History of the World no less! Having read up on it before the session made me doubt whether this game would be ‘for me’: numerous comparisons to Risk and Britannia were ominous omens in my eyes. But I will play any game at least once, and I gladly gave HotW a shot. A four-and-a-half hour shot.

The funny part is that I think that the comparisons with both Risk and Britannia are largely justified. It’s like Risk, in the way combat is oversimplified; but unlike Risk, what happens to your civilization after you scored your points is largely irrelevant. This goes a long way towards enjoying the ride, as you can actually sit back and watch Attila the Hun rampage across Europe, slaughtering your Mongols/Chinese/whatever along the way. You knew they weren’t going to last, and the points are in the bag already. It can of course still be annoying; in our game, one player saw his entire assault peter out after a number of lousy rolls, planting him firmly in last place that round because of it. Not fun. Comparisons to Britannia are obvious too, with the rise and fall of civilizations, but strangely enough I can’t really pinpoint why Britannia was a total miss for me, while I rather enjoyed History of the World. It’s not because I won, because I didn’t, landing squarely in the middle of the pack. Then why?...

Maybe it has something to do with the way the civilizations are divided? I don’t really think so – since the difference in power between the different cultures can be substantial, which directly correlates to the scoring of points, I think this system is a bit too random to my liking. The player with the most points invariably gets the short end of the stick that round, but sometimes you can get unlucky here too: in our game, the same guy getting the lousy rolls before, having last place at that moment, also got the second worst civ simply because he chose not to keep the one he drew and got an even worse one in return. It really wasn’t his day, and he never managed to escape the last place - but he still had fun! Also, a dominating civilization not being drawn can have a big effect on the balance of that age – in our game, there was no Roman empire. This was huge. There definitely is room for improvement here to make this mechanism less luck-based. I think.

So my first impression is: History of the World takes a long time to play, is quite fiddly, is also quite luck-based – but it’s fun. And I suppose that’s why we play games, right?

Oh, one more thing: that contorted world map. It’s nauseating. Just wanted that off my chest! Have a nice day y’all.

Thread: Re: 8th Epoch?

ROUS — 2008-07-29T17:59:52+00:00

I like it, i would add a rule variation for the pacific ocean to add in the values of all the small islands there that were fought over.

Pacific ocean Value is 2 or 3 and has a maximum capacity of 6 navies. If you have 3 navies, you would get the normal "double" and if you eliminate all other nations there, you get the "triple".

I would suggest a minor empire in sub-Saharan Africa as well, making that region worth 3 and tossing in a kingdom card - all this and make the Sahara passable in some fashion.

Image

Howitzer_120mm — 2008-07-17T01:43:01+00:00

The old AH version - stored in a single plastic storage container

Thread: Re: Scan or pdf of the Early 90s Avalon Hill version's rules?

ralpher — 2008-07-13T18:08:02+00:00

If someone could go to the trouble to scan, it would be great, I've misplaced my AH rules.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Bubslug — 2008-07-08T21:46:24+00:00

Good catch! The description is indeed wrong and yours is the correct one...

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Seangreyson — 2008-07-08T19:43:01+00:00

A player can only pass an Empire to someone else if they do not already have an Empire Card. Once they pass a card they can then draw a 2nd Empire Card but they must keep this Empire, regardless of whether they like it or not. This can of course mean that on occasion a player feels compelled to keep their first choice as the potential for disaster is too great on the 2nd draw

It's possible I've been playing with an incorrect rule for years, but the way I believe this actually works: Starting with the player with the least points each player draws an empire card and either keeps it or passes it. If they choose to pass, they don't get a second draw, instead one of the other players will be compelled to pass them a card. Therefore every player gets to draw an empire and decide where it goes to (the last player obviously only has one choice, but still gets to see the empire in question).

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Bubslug — 2008-07-06T20:15:09+00:00

The older versions of the game also featured the "wide-open naval system" you mention once ocean navigation comes into play in the later epochs. Oceans did not involve competition (but neither did they yield VPs)...

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Tiger VI — 2008-07-05T11:09:38+00:00

Excellent review!

Always interesting to see the comments comparing the old AH version to the new AH/Hasbro version.

So the new version isn't perfect? I agree. There is some major downtime for inactive players, the system used to assign empires annoys some people, and the navigation rules allow players to sail all over the world.

Think about it...

-- The game is beautiful.

-- The game can be learned in a few minutes.

-- The game can be enjoyed by non-wargamers.

-- The game actually offers some insight into historical events.

-- The game has good replay value.

Conclusion: Wow! This is a great game!

Regarding navigation: Even when "Britannia ruled the waves" in the Age of Imperialism (1870-1914, or the last epoch in this game) Germany, France, and the USA all established colonies in lands across the sea. No major naval actions were fought between the great European powers, and the expanding nations (Japan, USA) trounced the older empires (Russia, Spain) as they expanded. The wide open naval system works just fine.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

PAYDIRT — 2008-07-04T20:44:59+00:00

Ice X wrote:
I own both versions (AH & Hasbro) and I much prefer the old rules (especially the event cards & the way navigation is handled). So we play on the old board with the old rules, but use the armies from the Hasbro version.

Nice. Have both versions too.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Ice X — 2008-07-03T22:45:53+00:00

I own both versions (AH & Hasbro) and I much prefer the old rules (especially the event cards & the way navigation is handled). So we play on the old board with the old rules, but use the armies from the Hasbro version.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Bubslug — 2008-07-03T21:58:12+00:00

Strictly speaking perhaps. I can't remember whether the Ragnars published their game before the Gibson's edition or whether they were one and the same thing (the original original).* However, other than cosmetics there were few substantive differences between those and the "original" Avalon Hill release which gave the game the standard (for the period) AH component treatment and mainly a "cleaned up" set of rules.

On the other hand, the Hasbro/AH version introduces quite a number of significant changes from the original(s): highly upgraded components (especially figs vs counters), different map (different projection, graphics and content), different cards (in form as well as substance); and, quite a number of subtle through significant rules changes.

So, I would argue that the versions which preceeded the Hasbro/AH release could well be lumped together and referred to as "original" when making comparisons of major structure.

* Edit note: they were different with the Ragnar Bros version preceeding Gibson's.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

andyl — 2008-07-03T19:03:34+00:00

I would probably say earlier AH version. 'Original', for me at least, does imply original release. Namely that original in this context means "Preceding all others in time; first".

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2008-07-03T13:12:07+00:00

andyl wrote:
wifwendell wrote:
Great review Neil. I found it very informative and useful. I think I will stick with my original Avalon Hill version!

Why is everyone saying original Avalon Hill version?

Surely the original version was the Ragnar Brothers one. I think Gibsons had their version out before AH as well.

I'm happy to be corrected here but I think the term 'Original Avalon Hill' is in reference to the 1st release of the game under the AH brand.

This is different from the Hasbro release, even though they officially still used the Ah brand name.

This is different to saying the 'Original Release', which is I think, what you are referring to.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

andyl — 2008-07-03T11:29:54+00:00

wifwendell wrote:
Great review Neil. I found it very informative and useful. I think I will stick with my original Avalon Hill version!

Why is everyone saying original Avalon Hill version?

Surely the original version was the Ragnar Brothers one. I think Gibsons had their version out before AH as well.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2008-07-03T09:54:24+00:00

Nice summary Richard - I had forgotten many of these points.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Bubslug — 2008-07-03T08:14:36+00:00

Excellent review of a great game! There were a number of subtle changes between the first and second AH versions and some not so subtle. The biggest change and the one fans of the original deride the most is the way the turn order for drawing new empires is determined. As stated in this review, the order for drawing (after the random first epoch) is dependent on your position on the VP track (last drawing first). Sounds straight forward and not unfamiliar to the way a number of Euros work as a means of "levelling the playing field" (as if ganging up on the leader wasn't already enough).

The earlier edition tracked the cumulative total of units assigned as you cycle through your empires from epoch to epoch. At the start of the 2nd Epoch onward, the player with the fewest units draws first (regardless of VP position) and so on. This added a "third dimension" to the decision making matrix. There you could well see a player deliberately "keeping" a modest empire to keep his unit total low so as to maintain a good draw position. This also tended to make being handed the Romans (the empire with the largest number of units), relatively early in the game, the "kiss of death" as you never seemed to have a decent draw position thereafter. So score big or go home! How to handle the Romans was one of the key elements of the older game (still is but perhaps not to the same extent). The way units could stack and the extra level of forification in the older version could tempt the Roman empire to "turtle" to try and hang on longer through the game, but as this wouldn't necessarily maximize VPs that you could have scored by spreading out as far as possible, it was generally viewed as a losing proposition (still tempting though!).

The way naval units are handled is quite different as well and many again prefer the original approach. Here, any empire with "navigation" places "coins" described in the review in each sea zone that the empire can navigate. This is simpler and much better for the active empire than the older way. In the older version a player had to "fight his way in" to any of the zones that he potentially could enter (assuming the zone had a unit from a previous empire in it). Each such attempt took away one of the empire's assigned unit stock thus subtracting from the armies available for land conquest. The earlier game required you to make at least one attempt to place a naval unit somewhere you were allowed to go. Often your plan for an empire had to carefully consider how to handle the naval aspect. While you can opt to play the old way, the number of units assigned to each empire (which is quite changed from the earlier version) is based on using the coins and will change the way the empires play, but how drastically I've not yet been able to determine. YMMV!

Finally, the event cards were quite drastically changed. In the older version there were eight or nine stacks of related cards (some were military benefits, others gave more units, some were disasters to poke at your opponents and yet others had minor kingdoms etc.). The key however was that each "stack" was shuffled and dealt individually so the distribution of card "types" was fairly uniform among all the players. In the current version, the number of cards was reduced but retaining all the original "type" of cards - but now separated into only two overall categories: Major and Minor events. Cards are shuffled and dealt from the two thus creating the potential for an uneven distribution of card types among players. This is a fairly subtle change and you'd have to have played both ways to notice the difference, but it can be significant. As stated in the review this can be mitigated (only slightly) by dividing up the minor kingdoms (in effect subdividing the Major event category). There is no practical way to handle the cards in the manner of the older version.

The bottom line however is that the game by and large plays out quite similarly and is still a lot of fun. If you've never played the original, there is nothing to prevent you from embracing this classic game wholeheartedly. Aging fans will likely hang on to their older version (if it isn't too late), but personally, I'm happy to play either. I have to admit the "bits" in the newer version are light years ahead of the old cardboard counters, but I think I preferred the older map...

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2008-07-03T06:47:39+00:00

The map was perhaps less gaudy than the Hasborg version for sure. It doesn't worry me too much though.

Thanks for reading.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

wifwendell — 2008-07-03T06:43:55+00:00

Great review Neil. I found it very informative and useful. I think I will stick with my original Avalon Hill version!

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

historyguy71 — 2008-07-02T16:23:44+00:00

We've expounded on Yoper's idea even further by using dividers in the plano boxes...between the 6 or 7 trays, we are able to fit all the components for the game, and have a tray for each color. We've also added 3 small dice with colors corresponding to the component colors.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

waddball — 2008-07-02T16:21:15+00:00

rubberchicken wrote:
The game is fairly light in terms of decision making and is fairly fun. Counting the points is kind of slow and not fun.

But the highlight of the game is assigning the empires to the various players. What a great mechanic. The fact that you have to balance the region of the card, the strength of the empire and how early it appears in the turn means that the decision is often very far from obvious. Delicious decision to make.
Completely agree. You can zip along with your turns, and that's all interesting and fun, even for the uninvolved. But the pauses for point counting are dull, and of course there are a lot of them.

The empire assignment is so fun that I wish there were twice as many epochs. It could almost be a game all on its own.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Yoper — 2008-07-02T14:58:37+00:00

The best way to handle the parts is this:

http://www.planomolding.com/tackle/products.asp

Each color gets one container. Put the first and second epoch in the left most slot and then the third through seventh epochs in the following slots.

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The six containers still fit within the big box (along with the other game equipment). Just remove/pitch the cardboard divider.

It is a small expense that goes a long way towards keeping the parts separated and eliminates the time-wasting effort of sorting the parts at the beginning of each game.

Craig

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

rubberchicken — 2008-07-02T14:47:22+00:00

The game is fairly light in terms of decision making and is fairly fun. Counting the points is kind of slow and not fun.

But the highlight of the game is assigning the empires to the various players. What a great mechanic. The fact that you have to balance the region of the card, the strength of the empire and how early it appears in the turn means that the decision is often very far from obvious. Delicious decision to make.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

jonjac — 2008-07-02T14:13:04+00:00

Excellent review!

I have the old AH version which is also the only version I've tried. It's an awesome game, but the city/capital/fortress bits looks amazing in the newer version!

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

mcbeth — 2008-07-02T14:02:13+00:00

Totally and horribly missorted in the box though. Each compartment should have all the pieces of an age in them, not all of one color. Makes it much much easier to play with.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

kvn299 — 2008-07-02T12:09:15+00:00

A great review of one of my favorites!

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2008-07-02T10:47:49+00:00

Rastak wrote:
Wow! I never realized how cool the components were. I bought the Avalon Hill computer version the day it came out and quite enjoyed it, never realizing there was such a cool physical version out there.

I would guess this would be great fun with 5 FTF.

Yep totally awesome.

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Rastak — 2008-07-02T10:43:39+00:00

Wow! I never realized how cool the components were. I bought the Avalon Hill computer version the day it came out and quite enjoyed it, never realizing there was such a cool physical version out there.

I would guess this would be great fun with 5 FTF.

Thread: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Neil Thomson — 2008-07-02T09:59:31+00:00

This review continues my series of detailed reviews. I have tried to cover every aspect of the game and as such you may prefer to skip to the sections of most interest.

Summary

Game Type - Board Game (Conflict Game)
Play Time: 2-3 Hours
Number of Players: 3-6 (Best 5+)
Mechanics – Combat Based Dice Rolling + Area Control
Difficulty – Moderate (Can be learned in under 30 minutes)
Components - Excellent +

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Image Courtesy of rvinyard

Every now and again we get the chance to play an old classic and re-ignite the passion for a game genre that once burned for us in our youth. For me that genre was the full blooded conflict game of world or country domination. My friends and I had a blast playing History of the World last weekend and although now out of print, I felt I needed to review this little gem in greater depth, out of respect if nothing else.

Overview and Theme

History of the World (HotW) is a rethink on the classic Risk style of game where the combat based rolls come think and fast and world domination is the key objective. But it is more than that too. HotW plays more like a civilisation building game, only with the economic, technological and political elements stripped out - leaving combat and area control at its core.

What makes HotW work though is the fact that each player will control 7 different Empires famous in the history of this planet and they will be played over time periods known as Epochs. The challenge is to expand each of your Empires in such a way so that they remain in existence for as long as possible. This reflects a truly great civilisation and therefore is rewarded with points when each and every Epoch is scored (player by player).

Therein lies the challenge of HotW and this makes it feel like 'Risk on Steroids' or 'Risk with brains'.

Components

I have owned both the older Avalon Hill version and the newer Hasborg version. This review will focus on the newer Hasborg version as I sold my old edition off some time ago.

:d10-1: The Board - The board depicts the world in a slightly distorted fashion, perhaps to fit it all in or perhaps to reflect the changing continents over time. In all there are 13 key areas of land (Regions) that are distinguished from each other with the use of a particular colour. The areas include Egypt, Middle East, India, China, Eurasia, Japan, South East Asia, Australia, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Africa, North America and South America.

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Image Courtesy of Aarontu

These Regions largely depict key areas of the globe that have been vitally important to the rise of major empires over the course of the Earth's history.

Each area is outlined with a dark black border and within each Region lay numerous lands that must be conquered individually.

The board contains numerous seas and oceans and some wilderness (barren) regions used to represent deserts. Many lands also contain natural barriers such as mountains and forests, but more on that later.

Finally the board offers a neat chart for scoring purposes (outlines the value of each Region in each of the 7 Epochs). This is really neat as the varied scoring conditions help reflect the importance of various Regions in the world's history. The board is also flanked by a 100 point scoring track.

:d10-2: Units - Every good conflict game needs units and in this new version of the game, the old counters are replaced with 10mm plastic pieces. Each player gets their own set, which are differentiated by colour. What makes these really cool though is that the figures used for each Epoch are made from a different sculpt. What makes them even cooler is that the sculpts for each Epoch are based on the dominant Empire of that time. Epoch 1 uses an Egyptian Warrior, Epoch 2 features a Persian Spearman, Epoch 3 a Roman Legionnaire, Epoch 4 a Byzantine Axeman, Epoch 5 a Mongolian Archer on horseback, Epoch 6 a Spanish Conquistador and Epoch 7 a British Officer.

Some will argue that counters are all that is needed but I personally love these figures.

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Image Courtesy of Aarontu

:d10-3: Epoch Cards - These cards act as the central mechanic that make HotW truly work so thankfully these are well presented. There are 7 cards for each Epoch, representing the 7 key Empires of each time period. The back of each card outlines all 7 Empires and they are listed in the order that they will be played for that round. This information is critically important as you will see below in the 'Game Play' section.

The front of the card is then used to display the particular Empire that a person has drawn. Features such as the strength of the Empire, whether it has a Capital City and any Navigation ability is all listed here. A small map is also illustrated to highlight the location of your starting land to help find it easily on the board. An image of the figure you should be using for this Empire is also shown, so the players know which style of figures to use.

These cards are really classy for their time (7-9 years ago) as computer based graphic design was still developing back in those days.

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Image Courtesy of petersjs - Card Backs

:d10-4: Event Cards - What helps set HotW apart from its predecessors like RISK, is the introduction of Event Cards. In HotW these come in the form of Greater and Lesser Events. Each player receives 10 in total and they allow a player to enhance their Empire or diminish a rival Empire. Many of these cards have a time frame in which they must be used (Epoch III-VII for example) and they can also feature Minor Empires and Kingdoms. These can be good little point earners for a short period of time.

It's interesting to note that after the Ragnar Brothers designed HotW, games like Risk 2210 A.D. and later Nexus Ops appeared and also included the use of cards to enhance the tired model of basic RISK.

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Image Courtesy of petersjs

:d10-5: Infrastructure - The game also includes Capital Cities, Cities, Forts and Monuments. Numerous empires will start with a Capital City , may have them reduced to a city and can build Monuments (think Wonders of the World) that stand the test of time. These components are 3D plastic too and are well designed. The Capital Cities and City pieces are the one unit, which can be flipped to represent either. The difference is that the Capital has a gold painted top, reinforcing its magnificence! Whilst the City side is just plain grey. The Forts too are neat as a Capital or City fits neatly inside the Fort Base to visually display an imposing City Fortress!

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Image Courtesy of Borja Lopez

:d10-6: CoinsFleets - The game allows for Fleets to be placed and Coins to be earned by some Empires. These are round cardboard tokens and are double sided to show Coins on one side and a Fleet on the other. Functional and effective.

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Image Courtesy of henk.rolleman

:d10-7: Pre-eminence Tokens - This are slightly larger in size than the coin/fleet tokens and there are 8 in all. These feature a value from 3 to 6 and the player leading the scoring at the end of an Epoch (total score) gets to draw one of these tokens. They cannot look at the token until the end of the game but the value of all tokens is added to their final score.

:d10-8: Scoring Charts - These are not really necessary (I've never used them) but they are a nice touch. These small rectangular charts outline what a particular region is worth in a given Epoch. By placing them on the corresponding region during play, the players can, at a glance, identify which regions are worth conquering and how many points are on offer. Of course this information is in the scoring chart, also depicted on the board, but these Charts are larger and stand out more easily.

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Image Courtesy of petersjs

:d10-9: Storage Tray - This is simple and not all that functional as it allows for 6 large areas to store all the components in. Once the game is 'baggied' though it works quite well.

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Image Courtesy of Debate

:d10-1: :d10-0: Dice - There are 5 dice in all, 3 white and 2 red. The white dice are used by the attacker and the red dice by the defender in each battle. The number of dice rolled will be modified by card play and geographical features and forts on the board.

:d10-1: :d10-1: Rules - The rules are very well laid out and leave no room for ambiguity. This is partly due to the fact that this version of the game took out some of the more advanced rules of the original. That said, these omitted rules have been included as optional extras, which is excellent.

Overall I can't speak highly enough of the components and dare I say it but Hasborg actually produced a quality game that surpasses the quality of the original. This may seem harsh but I wish I had picked up their older edition of Acquire before they released the newer one, which looks totally bland to me.

The Set-up

In truth this is a fairly simple affair. Each player takes the coloured units that they will use for the game. The Epoch Cards need to be split into their 7 stacks and the Event Cards are separated into Major and Lesser Events. Each player then receives 3 Major Events and 7 Lesser Events, which represent all the cards they will get for the game.

Each player places an Epoch 7 unit on the Score Track and the Score Charts can be placed on the board if they are being used. The game is ready for play.

The Game Play

Like any good light conflict game, HotW offers a simple phase based approach. They are -

:d10-1: Draw Empire Cards - This phase is a group phase whereby each player takes turns to draw 1 Empire Card for the current Epoch. The key point here is that the order of drawing is all important. The reason for this is that a player has the ability to look at the Empire they have drawn and consider its strength (units it will receive), its location and its timing (the order in which it will be played, relative to the other Empires) before deciding if they will keep it or not. If they do not wish to keep it, a player can choose to give it to someone else!

In the 1st Epoch, each player must roll dice to determine the drawing order. But in all subsequent Epoch's the drawing order is determined by each player's position on the Score Track. The player with the lowest points draws first and the player currently leading will draw last. This is vital as it allows the group to effectively 'cripple' the leader by handing them a poor or lowly Empire in an effort to drag them back to the field, as well as give a losing player a better chance of receiving a better Empire and therefore staying in the fight.

These outcomes are not always guaranteed of course but it happens 90% of the time.

A player can only pass an Empire to someone else if they do not already have an Empire Card. Once they pass a card they can then draw a 2nd Empire Card but they must keep this Empire, regardless of whether they like it or not. This can of course mean that on occasion a player feels compelled to keep their first choice as the potential for disaster is too great on the 2nd draw.

A player that is passed a card must accept it but they are not allowed to look at it until all players have an Empire Card. The reason for this is that they must still draw an Empire Card and give it to someone else if their turn in the drawing phase is reached and 1 or more players still don't have an Empire Card of their own. They are allowed to look at this card before they pass it on.

The beauty of this mechanic is that the game will most often throw up very close finishes and all the players will have a strong interest in the game, for this reason, right up until the end. This is something that earlier conflict games struggled to achieve.

:d10-2: Playing Event Cards - Once all players possess an Empire Card for the current Epoch, the play shifts to an individual player basis, whereby the Empires must be played out in their turn order as denoted on the back of the Epoch Cards.

One player announces the 1st Empire and waits to see if anyone reveals they have it. If no-one does then the 2nd Empire is called and so on. Quite often this is an extremely intense period in the game as each player is eager to see who got what Empire and in what turn order the Epoch will be played out. Timing has series implications on the scoring, which I will address later.

Once the 1st Empire in play is identified, the controlling player can get ready to expand. However before they do that they must consider if they will play any Event Cards. A maximum of 2 cards can be played in each Epoch and no 2 cards of the same name may be played together.

The important thing to note here is that many Event Cards have criteria for the Epoch(s) that they can be played in. Therefore it is important to pre-plan their use to a degree to ensure that you don't hit Epoch 6 or 7 and have more cards than you can play.

Of course it is important to be flexible in when you use your cards (within the timing guidelines) as it is best to use your most powerful cards in conjunction with powerful Empires that can spread far and wide.

The effects of any cards last for the entire Epoch unless stated otherwise or a situation arises in which a card is cancelled (losing a fight, rolling triples etc).

:d10-3: Expansion - After cards have been played, the active player can take any coins they are entitled to as outlined on Event Cards they played. Then they can now set about expanding their Empire. This starts by placing a fleet in every sea and ocean listed on the Empire Card. Then a unit is placed on the Empire's listed starting location along with any Capital City or City they are entitled to.

This is where the strength of an Empire (the value listed on the Empire Card) is crucial. This denotes how many units they have to conquer the world with.

Starting with the initial unit placement, which is mandatory, the rules for expansion are as follows -

Adjacent - Further units can only be deployed into a land that is adjacent to a previously controlled territory. A player can deploy as many units as their Empire Strength allows.

Barren Lands - A unit can never enter Barren Lands on the board.

Land Limit - There can not be more than 1 unit per land (in the base game - see advanced rules).

Combat - If a land is occupied by an enemy unit, combat will result. The attacker gets to roll 2D6 before adding modifiers for Event Cards played earlier and the defender rolls 1D6 before any modifiers are applied. Each side uses their highest value rolled as their combat value and the higher number wins. The losing side must remove their unit from the board and a tie results in both sides losing their unit.

If the attacker eliminates the last defending unit, they have conquered the land and can continue their expansion if they have further units. If the defender wins, the attacker must decide if they will commit another unit to this land or attack somewhere else.

Modifiers for the defender include the following -

Difficult Terrain - If the land being attacked features difficult terrain such as a mountain range, forest or the Great Wall of China and the attacker crossed that terrain within the borders of the land in question, the defender is entitled to an additional dice. This means they get to roll 2D6 in defence.

Attacking over a Straight - Some sections of the board feature straights which link some regions (continents) together and don't require the use of a fleet to cross. The penalty however is that the defender gets 2D6 in defence.

Attacking by Sea - If an attacker uses a fleet to transfer a unit to battle, the defender gets 3D6.

Forts - If a defender has a fort in their territory, the defender gets +1 to their highest combat result.

At any point during the active player's turn, they can sacrifice a unit to build a Fort. There can never be more than a single Fort in a given land.

Coins - Coins can be used to replace any unit lost in combat. So essentially they allow a single unit to fight again instead of being discarded (should they lose).

Implications of Victory - If the attacker manages to win a land there may be several consequences. When a battle is won featuring a Capital City, it is immediately reduced (turned over) to a City. This represents the ravages of war on infrastructure. Likewise a City would be totally destroyed if the attacker wins.

In this way the board is constantly changing as the effects of war take their toll, which is really neat. Monuments are never affected by war and serve to act as tantalising enticements to neighbouring Empires.

Monuments - In all there are 18 lands that feature a 'resources icon'. These locations represent historically important sites where the raw materials existed to build great wonders of the world. For every 2 resource locations that a single Empire controls, the active player can build a Monument. These are placed first in an Empire's Capital City but there can never be 2 Monuments in the same location.

If required they can then be placed in a City location and finally in a resource location. If none of these locations are viable, then no Monument can be built.

:d10-4: Scoring - Once a player has exhausted their last unit, their current Empire's time is up and it can be scored.

The following guide outlines all means of scoring in the base game -

Capital City = 2 Points

City = 1 Point

Monument = 1 Point

Presence in a Region = The points outlined for that Region x1.

NB - Note that presence is defined as having at least 1 unit in a Region.

Dominance in a Region = The points outlined for that Region x2.

NB - Note that domination is defined as having at least 2 units in a Region and more than any other player.

Control in a Region = The points outlined for that Region x3.

NB - Note that control is defined as occupying every land within a Region.

:d10-5: Additional Scoring - What sets HotW apart from other conflict games though is that a player is rewarded for managing to keep their older Empires in play as well as their current Empire. These also earn points if they remain on the board and follow the exact same scoring criteria as outlined above.

Therefore a player is actually scoring all of their holdings at once and not creating separate scoring steps. I have just listed them as such for the purposes of explanation.

When scoring I recommend scoring all Cities and Monuments first and then calculating the points for each Region in order.

:d10-7: Clean Up - Once scoring is complete the active player must remove all Fleets used by their Empire from the board under the base rules (see advanced rules below). Any unused Coins are also returned to the stockpile.

:d10-6: Ending an Epoch - As outlined above each player gets the opportunity to play their Empire at the appropriate time (outlined on the back of the Epoch Cards).

Once the last Empire in an Epoch has finished their turn, the Epoch is declared over.

This is a crucial moment of the game as each player can now assess the Scoring Track and see each player's relative position. The leader on the Score Track randomly draws a Pre-eminence Token.

The next Epoch can now begin and the VP's of each player will determine who gets to draw 1st, 2nd and so on and have the option to pass a weak Empire onto the lead player or someone else.

The game plays out using the above phases and processes and the player with the most VP's at the end of the 7th Epoch (after revealing their Pre-eminence Tokens and adding them to their score) is declared the winner.

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Image Courtesy of mogli43

The Strategy

Apart from the Event Cards which add much variability to the play, what sets HotW apart from other conflict games and makes it totally unique is the 'Selection of Empires' mechanic.

Essentially, this mechanic works because it gives the players a strong element of control over proceedings. It can be used to ensure that no one player gets too far ahead of the pack and therefore it allows for tense and exciting end games.

It also works because no one player should be in a totally useless or irretrievable position. This helps the game zing along over the 2-3 hours and players are rarely looking at the clock, hoping for the game to end.

The other reason why the Empire Selection Mechanic is so good is that it regularly throws up difficult decisions. The 3 key considerations to consider when deciding whether to keep or pass an Empire include -

:d10-1: Timing - The last thing you want to do is pass the leader or 2nd position player an Empire that is 1st, 2nd or 3rd to have their turn. Getting an early Empire can be very rewarding as there is a better chance for those players to still have older Empires in play (there's less time to wipe them from the face of the Earth before they have their turn). This means they may score big points.

There is nothing worse than drawing a weak Empire that is early in the turn order - these decisions are agonising.

:d10-2: Strength of the Empire - If you pull the greatest Empire then you are likely to take it. Occasionally you may choose to keep a 'weakish' Empire because it is 1st or 2nd in the order of play and it will allow you to earn big points for older Empires still in play. But drawing a mid strength Empire (say the 4th or 5th strongest out of 7) is a real conundrum. If you pass it on, you may pull a weaker Empire. Keep it and you won't have the chance to draw one of the real powers for that Epoch. Diabolical I tells ya! :devil:

:d10-3: Empire Location - This consideration is just as important as the other two. It is generally undesirable to draw a Region that contains past Empires that you controlled. The reason for this is that you will already score points for those units, so in effect the gain to be made is minimal. Conversely of course it can be brilliant to pass another player an Empire in China if they just finished conquering China with their last Empire.

An important point to note here that I didn't cover in combat above is that a player can attack their older Empires if they wish and the units are immediately displaced without having to roll. This can sometimes be useful to gain access to resource locations and so forth. I didn't include it above for reasons of simplicity (he says after typing word 3,700). :shake:

Advanced Rules

As mentioned in the opening, a few advanced rules have also been listed as optional extras and were dropped from the original game (base rules here) to help streamline things. For experienced players though I recommend using many of these as they make for a richer experience.

:d10-1: Don't use the Pre-eminence Tokens - I have mixed feelings about these tokens. On the plus side it does encourage players to go for broke in an attempt to become the lead player at the end of each Epoch. This can be important as some players may deliberately try to fall short of the lead to avoid being passed a crummy Empire in the next Epoch. From this viewpoint the Pre-eminence markers help offset the pain of getting a crummy Empire.

On the other side of the argument, these tokens are totally random. After playing for 2-3 hours, losing a game due to a random element can be disheartening. In the end I think it's a personal decision.

:d10-2: Minor Empires - These are found in the Greater Events Deck and when being dealt 3 random cards it is possible for 1 player to receive multiple or no Minor Empires (which can be a blessing or a curse). The advanced option is to deal exactly 1 Minor Empire to each player, which I think is nicely balanced.

:d10-3: Multiple Armies - This rule allows a player to have up to 2 units in a single land plus a Fort. This can be great to defend a critical pass into your Region. I highly recommend this option as it adds another tough choice, 'Do I spread far and wide or consolidate and hope to survive for many Epochs to come?'

:d10-4: Naval Control - In the base game all fleets of an Empire are removed from play once a player has finished their turn. With this variant an Empire's Fleets remain in play until destroyed in combat and also score 1 VP if located in a Sea Zone. I like this one too although I recommend that placing a Fleet cost a unit from your Empire's unit total (strength) otherwise getting lucky and drawing a Navy capable Empire can be a little overpowered. If using this last option I suggest that the placement of Fleets be optional, otherwise some late game Empires lose almost half their total units to Fleets.

The Final Word

History of the World really is a classic title that deserves to be remembered for what it brought to the Conflict Genre. The play is sweeping and the mechanics really deliver an experience that makes you feel like you are witnessing the History of the World play out before your eyes (with minor variations).

In my opinion if it looks great and plays great then it must be great. I am very pleased to have this one (and the Hasborg edition) sitting in my collection. I look forward to many years of playing this and can't wait for my boys to hit 12 so they can enjoy it with me.

Thread: Re: Multiple defender boni?

noisycrow — 2008-06-29T23:46:26+00:00

In the H-AH version, it is always a three-dice defense if the attacker is coming from the sea. I do not believe there is any strait on the board that ends in a difficult terrain, so I think that question is moot.

Thread: Re: quicky

noisycrow — 2008-06-29T23:43:49+00:00

drakken wrote:
why only the first couple of epoches?

He is just pointing out that even with only two players, the game is still fairly long.

Thread: Re: Why? Whyyyy?!

DaveD — 2008-06-01T22:17:33+00:00

Speaking to the Ragnars at the expo this weekend I gather they're hoping to have the new edition out next year.

Thread: Re: Placements of the forts

Shane Sather — 2008-06-01T22:05:48+00:00

Yes you can place a fort anywhere on the gameboard so long as you pay for it (though it doesn't look near as cool when there's not a capital/city in it).

Thread: Re: Placements of the forts

kgm3219 — 2008-06-01T21:14:04+00:00

It was in the old Avalon Hill edition.

Thread: Placements of the forts

Drax Kramer — 2008-06-01T20:46:04+00:00

Is it allowed to place a fort in the territory without a capital or a city?

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ChipChuck — 2008-05-03T01:22:21+00:00

Game in progress

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karinto — 2008-04-21T03:43:35+00:00

Unpunched contents of early AH version.

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-03-06T02:53:43+00:00

Full Game Board

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-03-06T00:34:03+00:00

Left Side of the board (and yes, this is the way it should be facing)

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-03-05T23:30:55+00:00

The Right Side of the Board

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-02-29T07:01:47+00:00

Examples of the different event cards

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-02-29T05:56:29+00:00

All the different fronts to the Event Cards

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-02-29T04:15:14+00:00

Red pieces with ship and VP marker

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-02-27T04:58:44+00:00

3 Epoch Cards

Game: History of the World

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: *Closed* Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?

Thread: Re: First Impression Session Report - Fun despite myself.

Thread: Re: First Impression Session Report - Fun despite myself.

Thread: First Impression Session Report - Fun despite myself.

Thread: Re: 8th Epoch?

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Thread: Re: Scan or pdf of the Early 90s Avalon Hill version's rules?

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: History of the World - A Detailed Review

Thread: Re: Multiple defender boni?

Thread: Re: quicky

Thread: Re: Why? Whyyyy?!

Thread: Re: Placements of the forts

Thread: Re: Placements of the forts

Thread: Placements of the forts

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Thread: Closed Old AH version (with chits) - Any interest in it?