I have always been a little cautious about games that try and make the jump from one format to another. Monopoly, Risk, Axis & Allies are all wonderful games in their own right, but when tried to be converted to the PC or to a video game system almost surely fail. However the same phenomenon doesn't seem to occur with games that originate as a video game and then move to the board. Take for instance Doom: The Boardgame and Railroad Tycoon, both of which have had a tremendously successful run thus far as a board game. Thankfully the same trend of success continues with the newest video to board game conversion Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Age of Empires III real-time strategy (RTS) game, the premise is that you are an explorer from one of the five major European civilizations (England, France, Spain, Portugal, or Holland) between 1500 and 1800 AD. You are tasked with the exploration and colonization of the New World and sending the spoils of exploration back to the Old World. This is not an easy task however, there are indigenous people that will oppose you as well as other nations willing to fight you for control of the New World and the riches that lie within. The game is played over 8 turns spanning 3 distinct ages. But enough with the background, let's get to the game!

Box and Box Artwork: The Age of Empires III (AOE3) box is fairly large and the box artwork is nicely done. You certainly get the impression from the exterior that there is a lot of fun stuff inside. My only concern about the box is its' construction. The walls seem to be a very thin cardboard material and I am concerned about dishing (box depression from stacking other games on top of it) or gripping (crimping of the top of bottom along the edges from where someone holds the game) developing.

Components: Nothing says exploration of the New World like 300 plastic miniatures. Each civilization, color coded of course (red, blue, yellow, green, and orange respectively) comes equipped with thirty (30) colonists, ten (10) soldiers, ten (10) missionaries, five (5) captains, and five (5) merchants with which to make new friends and influence people. There are ten (10) brown plastic ships for keeping track of turn count, maximum colonist ship space, and the merchant shipping box. Fifty (50) silver and forty (40) gold plastic doubloons are used to keep track of money and an assortment of counters for trade goods, capital buildings, discovery tiles as well as an additional sixteen (16) discovery cards. All in all you are looking at over 350 individual components, quite the bargain for what you would pay for the game. All of the plastic pieces are very well made, not on trees or runners (thanks btw), and detailed to the point that you can tell that the colonists are carrying cut firewood and the doubloons look like they were stamped with the crest of a nation.

The board folds out in quarters and the artwork is very nicely done. The left side of the board contains the map of the New World with a very detailed coast line and embellishment of the interior of the continent and the sea as you might expect from cartographers of the time period. The right side of the board contains the 8 different actions that a player is allowed to take on their turn as well as the turn and turn order tracks. The colors are bright and very well suited for the time period in which this game is set with lots of browns, yellows, and reds. The lack of an insert or tray to hold the board and other components means that bagging of the components is highly recommended as to speed up setup time making it easy to find the pieces you are looking for quickly.

Rules: The rule book is very clear and concise with plenty of written and visual examples of the game and its mechanics. There is even a list of buildings that may be bought and explanations of their effects which is very helpful.

Game play and Mechanics: The initial turn order is randomly determined (coin toss, die roll, kitten eating, etc) and every player starts out with 5 colonists and $10. Players then take turns placing one of their colonists (and later colonists or specialists) in 1 of 8 different regions on the board.

Initiative: A player may place a colonist or specialist in initiative to change their turn order for the next turn. Spaces on the track fill from the left to the right and slots further down in the turn order pay more money than earlier ones. Players cannot put more than one figure on the initiative track.

Colonist Dock: Those colonists or specialists that wish to colonize the New World must do so on regularly scheduled colony ships that leave the Colonist Dock. Space is limited however (2x the number of players - 1) so it's first come first serve. Slots fill in numerical order and are resolved in order at the end of the turn. The only catch is that you are only able to move people in this fashion to discovered regions of the New World. Missionaries have a bonus in this area.

Trade Goods: There are 4 trade goods that are available every turn and are used as away to generate income for their owner every turn. A set of any three trade goods will generate $1, a three of a kind will generate $3, and a four of a kind generates $6. The order of colonists or specialists placement is from left to right and players choose from the 4 available trade goods in order. This is not the only way for players to obtain trade goods but is a highly contested and valued spot on the board.

Merchant Shipping: Every turn a merchant ship is available for players to try and win in a sort of auction. Players may place colonists of specialists in this area and at the end of the turn the player with the most points wins the merchant ship. What makes this important is that a merchant ship is a kind of wild card that can be used to complete trade good sets. Only 1 is allowed to be used per set. Captains and Merchants have a bonus in this area.

Capital Buildings: Capital buildings enhance or boost a player during the game and there are 5 buildings available for purchase every turn. Buildings are priced differently according to the age in which the turn is set ($10 for Age I, $14 for Age II, $20 for Age III). Building effects are resolved at the end of the turn after all other phases have been completed unless the buildings effects specifically indicate it is a one time, immediately resolved effect. Players may place colonists or specialists from left to right on the Capital Buildings track and buy buildings in order.

Discovery: Discovery is the only event on the board that allows players to place colonists or specialists in and have them carry over to subsequent rounds. Discovery expeditions are required in order for colonists to begin colonizing a region. During the discovery phase players select how many units they want to use to discover a single region in the New World and then flips the corresponding discovery tile to reveal the number of indigenous people inhabiting the region. If the total number of units brought equals or exceeds the indigenous population then the discovery was a success and you place a colonist in the region, collect income accordingly, keep the tile for victory points. If your total is less than the indigenous population then the expedition failed and the discovery tile is flipped back over. In either case all units used in the exploration are removed from the board. Captains and soldiers have a bonus in this area.

Specialists: This is an event in which a lowly colonist is able to be all they can be and be turned into a specialist. Players may place their chosen colonist in any spot they wish and at the end of the turn you have a shiny new specialist of your choice. Only 1 colonist per spot please.

Warfare: FINALLY some action! Warfare is used to reduce the number of "undesirables" that may be inhabiting a region in which you control or want to control. Players may place colonists or specialists in this event from left to right and choose from the following two options: 1)Declare a single battle against a player in a region that you both inhabit and there is at least 1 soldier or 2) pay $10 and declare a war against a particular player and fight in every region that you both inhabit. Only soldiers are allowed to fight and after the gun smoke settles casualties are removed immediately.

Final Thoughts: There are only minor suggestions and corrections I would offer to this superb game. Firstly, the placement of a ship in the colonist dock box isn't necessary and could have been replaced with a counter signifying the last colonist spot. Secondly, during the discovery event instead of flipping the tile for all the players to see only allowing the player making the expedition to see it. And finally, changing the value of the gold doubloons to $5 instead of the printed $10 to make trade good calculations easier and prevent huge stacks of silver from inhabiting player areas.

An amazing adaptation of the spirit of the Age of Empires series and executed beautifully. Everything from components, the rule book, and game play feel very polished and work. You can tell there was a great deal of research and development into this game for it to be such a success on its first printing run.

Thanks....yeah, thanks! I'm sick of reading about how good this game is. I'm going to have to get one now.

Good review.

Me too! I was waiting for another review before making the purchase, and now I think I might have to!

I have to agree with you there. My first impression of the box, especially the longer side pieces, was "flimsy". This box will not survive the test of time. If you compare it to the Milton Bradley Gamemaster boxes, they had much thicker and rigid cardboard, yet they still suffered from massive sinking of the top piece, torn corners, etc.

Other than that, all of the other components are great.

I agree. I'm also thinking that I would like to have thicker stock on the cards and manual for the next print run.

Great summary of the mechanics and components. One request though - is it fun? Where does it stack up in your opinion? As a PR and Caylus fan, this sounds like a great game to me.

I throughly enjoy playing Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery, it's a wonderful blend of Puerto Rico and Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition I think. Much of the play will remind you of PR with there being buildings to buy, trade goods to collect money for, and colonists to shuffle around the board to accomplish various tasks. It also has elements of TI I think in the sense that you must expand into the New World much like you would expand and colonize other worlds in TI in order to gain victory points at the end of the game for AOE3.

Thanks for the well-written, thoughtful review.

Question for you (and everyone else): do you find that warfare plays a critical part of the strategy? It sounds like strategy depends significantly on civilization development and that warfare is just another aspect of that development. In the PC game (from the few times I played it), the only way to win was through war.

The boardgame is much more about development. Warfare plays a supporting role for sure.

I would agree that the majority of the game is about development and trade good acquisition, however warfare could be utilized as a legitimate strategy to win. I tend to use warfare more than any of the other players, but I have yet to find a way for it to win me the game.

1) Produce Soldiers via Capital Buildings and Training
2) Sprinkle them all over the New World (Place them on the colonist dock at every opportunity)
3) Take money making Capital Buldings for Income (so you can ignore Trade Goods), and Indentured Servitude and Colonization Laws to add extra colonists.
4) Fight Battles and Declare Wars often to attrite the other players in the New World.
5) Get Power, Population, and/ or Glory in Age III


You will win!

I have played it once, and had a blast. I give the game high marks for replay ability. I can't wait to play it again and try to beat my score.

It definitely has a PR feel to it, in that your always pondering which action to take next, trying to balance long-term goals with short-term resource constraints. It gives you many ways to do different things.