Nations - Building a house of cards, one card at a time

I've only managed to play Nations once previously and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. My first game was with 5 players and took us 3 plus hours. But during which I was very engrossed and taken by the game and it most certainly did not feel like 3 hours. Well, I managed to get another game of it in, and this time it was also with 5 players! Was it another 3 hours? YES. Hahaha

Now, if you know me, Nations is the type of game that I don't normally enjoy. It takes too long, has too many flowing phases/parts in the game, and it requires players of similar "levels" to fully enjoy a competitive experience. So I guess it was quite a shock to Eric and the others when I suggested we play Nations with 5 right after dinner - it was already 8 close to 9pm by then.

No Wines, Much War, Wow Indians !

Last Saturday was the first time in a long time that I met the group that normally gathers at Eric's place. We haven't seen each other much since Eric left. I wonder if it's my fault or if it's Eric's. I think it's his fault. He left, not me. Haha.

Well, we ( as in myself and the host ) had wanted to play Robinson Crusoe and Dungeon Petz, but somebody's boyfriend came over uninvited. :P Haha. Totally ruined our potential thematic experience ( we ended up with 5 players ). So we had to settle for a much lesser thematic fare.

Nations : Through the Ages revised...?

My Egyptians won!

Through the Ages (TtA) has been THE civilization style game for me. Even though its mostly abstracted and played with cards and cubes, the clever streamline design and direct confrontation available in the advanced game makes it fun but not for the novice player. Indeed, while Through the Ages beats many others, it has some flaws which makes it daunting for new players to jump into it easily. Nations, an Essen 2013 release, seems to take most of the mechanisms and tries to take away the clunkiness while maintaining the essence of the game.