Session - Through The Ages

1st of July 2012 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
Through The Ages

Session – Through The Ages

Player(s):
Mo (Grey)
Hayen (Purple)

When Mo & I are the only ones available for gaming, our default go to game seems to be Through The Ages. Mostly because it already takes 2 Players (fairly experienced) approximately 3 hours to complete a full game and I can’t imagine the patience it would take to play AND teach this game to Da Panda and Milo. So at least for the foreseeable future, our games of Through The Ages will probably remain 2 Player at this point in time.

Every game of Through The Ages is always a heated and engaging experience (particularly so if Mo is winning) and today’s session was no exception. Wanting to engage an early leader I opted for Homer who gives a nice resource bonus for military units and on top of that provides a nice culture boost for warriors, this gave me an early start in culture despite not needing to build any Temples. Mo’s strategy has become quite predictable in recent plays, going with Aristotle to bump his science points and quickly taking the Pyramids as his first wonder to give him extra actions.

Things were more aggressive this round with more skirmishes happening due to the number of Territories that were up for grabs. We managed to snag three a piece although some of the later victories were due to either one of us not even having a single unit to send out and colonize these new frontiers. I went with my favourite midgame strategy of having James Cook as my new leader which gave me some very serious culture points with my three colonies.

I did notice Mo building up his Printing Press, Operas and the Eiffel Tower which made his culture gains nearly on par with me. What I didn’t see coming was his Assassinate Aggression card which I could not defend against and so James Cook met his end at the hands of an assassin sent by Maximillien Robespierre of all people. My civilization, headless without a leader, kinda fell into a state of anarchy with my culture plummeting like a rock. Wanting to get one back, I played the Ravages Of Time Event card giving up my Colossus wonder to it, whilst Mo chose the Pyramids over The Great Wall (both oh so dear to him) to be consumed by the sands of Egypt.

You can see his Pyramids upside down

I had to get things quickly under control and opted for Alex Randolph to be my new leader who turns labs into culture generating machines which I pumped my resources into having recently acquired the highest level of labs – Computers. Mo managed to catch up to my accumulated culture lead by finishing Hollywood and started pulling away with his slight edge in culture points per turn. In the end it was the Event card Impact of Architecture that gave me a huge boost due to my Computers and Movies but it wasn’t enough to cancel out the lead that Mo had built leaving me short by exactly 4 points and Mo winning this round of Through The Ages.

R.I.P. Alex Randolph, you’ve brought me through more than once in this game

Time Taken: 180 minutes

Results Of Game
Winna – Mo (129 Points)
2nd – Hayen (125 Points)

FOUR POINTS!?!?!

Comments:
Nitsuj
"It is always hard to figure out where you went wrong in a game that lasts 3 hours long."

Rating: 9/10