Reviewed by Michael Peck
The Military Book Review

Empires come and empires go. That's the flow of history — and the reason why 7 Ages is so fun. A board game spanning the period from the dawn of civilization to the Space Age, it's extremely clever and addictive.

This strategy game consists of a 46-inch by 32-inch world map divided into provinces. The game begins with each player drawing cards, most of which are marked with a historical empire. Whoever plays the highest-value card gets to lay down the first empire. The kicker is that while every empire belongs to one of seven historical Ages, the first empire determines in which Age the game begins.

Savoring your mighty Roman Empire card (Age 2)? Caesar salad will never be invented if the first empire is Napoleon's (Age 5).

The core of the game is choosing from a menu of eight possible actions ranging from starting an empire, to moving your existing troops, to producing new units. You can perform one action per empire, yet only one of each action can be played on each turn.

Are the other players ganging up on you? If you have four empires, you'll want to move all your troops. Only one empire can perform a movement action in a round, while the others are stuck doing things like trade. As with all good strategy games, the fundamental dilemma of 7 Ages is that you can never do all the things you need to do at the same time.

Playing 7 Ages is like watching the tide roll in and out. When an empire begins, it often has special advantages like extra troops and leaders (Alexander, Napoleon, etc.). As it expands, its armies become spread out, leaving it vulnerable to the next empire. Just to shake things up, the designers added special event cards. In one game my opponent built a huge Macedonian empire that dominated Southern Europe — until I played the Byzantine Empire card that converted most of the Macedonian army in Italy into Byzantine warriors.

Other ingenious touches abound in 7 Ages. For example, the playing pieces come in seven colors, and each color has two sets of counters in light and dark shades. The darker pieces are stronger, but there are fewer of them. The lighter ones are weaker but more numerous. Players choose a color and shade when they start an empire, thus making a choice between quantity and quality.

As befitting a game that encompasses all of civilized history, there are a wide variety of troops, from chariots and archers to tanks and jet fighters. Units are only available at certain technology levels within each Age. Empires progress along the tech track at different rates, so it's very possible to have tanks mowing down spearmen.

Yet if there's a weak spot to 7 Ages, it's combat. Battles are drawn-out affairs that require armies to be divided into front-line and support formations. It's an interesting concept that rewards prudence and bluff, but it's cumbersome.

7 Ages is primarily a game of military conquest rather than diplomacy, though as with any multiplayer game, players will form alliances (the game can accommodate up to seven players). There are trade rules, which help small empires that may not have troops but get bonuses for trading.

Victory is determined by accumulating glory points. In another clever touch, empires score points differently. Small empires might get points for successful trading, while big empires like Rome or Britain might get points for building cities or for conquering overseas colonies. Empires such as the Incans score points for being the largest empire on their home continent. With players controlling up to five empires, it's common to have a mix of big and small powers.

7 Ages is not a simple strategy game like Risk. Neither is it extremely complex, but it does reward patience, timing and shrewdness. It's a fun game that teaches history in the bargain.