Player Areas in Through the Ages

As I progress through the ages in the game “Through the Ages,” I’ve come to appreciate the various player areas and the vital roles they play in my strategy. These player areas provide unique opportunities for growth and development, making them a central aspect of the game.

Civilization Deck

One player area that holds immense significance is the Civilization Deck. It acts as a gateway to the future, containing the cards that represent the technologies, leaders, and wonders that shape my civilization. It offers a vast array of possibilities, and I must carefully manage my deck to ensure a balanced and efficient progression through the ages.

City

Another crucial player area is the City, where the heart of my civilization resides. It is in the City that I construct buildings and wonders, recruit armies, and provide for the needs of my people. Each decision I make regarding my City will have lasting effects on my civilization’s growth and potential for success.

Government

The Government player area holds the power to shape the policies and direction of my civilization. It is here that I choose the form of government that will guide my actions, highlighting my strengths and providing unique abilities. Selecting the right government for my strategy is essential for maintaining a cohesive and efficient civilization.

Leaders

Leaders are individuals who can greatly influence the progress of my civilization. These charismatic figures reside in the Leader player area, and I must carefully choose which ones to recruit based on their abilities and their potential impact on my development. Leaders can be instrumental in winning wars, developing technologies, and even shaping the course of history.

Wonders

Wonders are monumental structures that leave a lasting impact on my civilization. These awe-inspiring feats of engineering are built in the Wonder player area, and each one provides unique bonuses and advantages. The decision to construct a particular wonder can greatly affect my standing in the game, elevating my civilization to new heights.

Military

To thrive in “Through the Ages,” I must also consider the Military player area. This area encompasses my armies, fortifications, and tactics, all of which are crucial to defending my civilization and conquering new territories. Balancing military strength with other aspects of my civilization is vital for maintaining stability and achieving my goals.

As I explore the depths of the player areas in “Through the Ages,” I realize the immense depth and complexity they bring to the game. Each player area requires careful consideration and planning, as they all contribute to the overall success of my civilization. With each decision I make, I am shaping the destiny of my people and striving for greatness.

When it comes to playing the game, your player board is the most important part of your player area. It’s like a canvas where you’ll create your civilization. To get started, follow these steps:

• First, choose a color that you like.
• Next, place the player board in front of you on the table, making sure you have enough space around it for your civilization to expand.

Your Pieces

Each player will get a set of 7 wooden pieces in their chosen color. If you want, before the first game, you can decorate them with the stickers that are included.

The Ins and Outs of Tactics

Hey there! Let’s dive into the tactics used by a civilization’s military forces. It’s pretty fascinating stuff!

Keep Score with Points Counters

Now, let’s talk about those octagonal counters. They come in handy when you want to keep track of your culture points and science points. Super important!

Rate Your Progress with Rating Markers

Next up, we have round markers. These little guys help you rate the different aspects of your civilization. You’ve got culture production, science production, military strength, and happiness. Make sure to keep an eye on all of them!

Speaking of happiness, start by placing your happiness rating marker on space 0 of the happiness indicator on your player board. Ready to conquer the world with joy?

Tokens Galore!

Let’s talk about tokens! You’re going to need some of these babies in your play area. We’ve got transparent cubes in blue, yellow, white, and red. Here’s what you need to do:

• Grab 16 blue tokens and place them on the squares of your blue bank. Let’s get this game started!

I’m gonna tell you exactly what to do to prepare your player board. First, grab 25 yellow tokens and place them on the spaces on your board. Put 18 in your yellow bank, then 1 in your worker pool, and the remaining 6 on the technologies. After that, get 4 white tokens and 2 red tokens and put them on the right edge of your board.

Once everyone has set up their player boards, you can either put the leftover tokens back in the box or keep them somewhere else handy. You’ll usually just move tokens around within your player area, but sometimes you might need to get new ones or put them back in the box.

Now let’s talk about workers. The yellow tokens that aren’t in your yellow bank are your workers. They represent the initial population of your civilization. At the start of the game, six of these workers will be on different cards. They’ll represent one military unit, two farms, two mines, and one lab.

Hey there! I’ve got some interesting info to share with you, so buckle up! There’s this thing called the seventh worker, and it’s a part of your worker pool. We call it the unused worker because, well, it doesn’t really do anything right now. But don’t worry, it’s ready and waiting for you to put it to work!

Let’s talk about initial technologies

Now, on your player board, you’ll find six cards. These cards are your initial technologies, and they’re pretty important. We like to call them cards, even though they’re printed on the board itself. These cards represent the knowledge and capabilities of your civilization. They show you what your civilization knows and what it can build. Pretty cool, right?

All about Military Unit Technology (red)

Now, let’s get to the exciting stuff – military units! Thanks to the Warriors technology, you can build warriors. These warriors are your military units, and they’re pretty tough. See that worker on the card? That represents one warrior unit. And check out the symbol at the bottom – that depicts the strength of each unit. So, with just one warrior, your civilization gets a strength rating of 1. That’s not too shabby!

Hey there! Do you see the icon in the upper right corner? Well, that icon means that the units on the Warriors card are infantry. Pretty cool, right? Later on, you can even come up with more powerful infantry units, like cavalry and artillery . Imagine the battles you can have!

Welcome to the Blue Bank!

Now let’s talk about the blue tokens. They stand for food and resources. When you have a farm technology, the blue tokens represent food. When you have a mine technology, they represent resources. It’s like money in the bank.

When your workers produce food and resources, you take blue tokens from your blue bank and put them on the cards. Don’t forget, always take the rightmost tokens first.

But what happens when you actually want to use that food and resources? Well, you simply return the tokens back to your blue bank. That’s it! Just remember to fill in any empty spaces from left to right.

If a section of my blue bank is empty, it means my civilization has a lot of food and resources. This is not a problem if I spend them during my turn, but if I still have empty sections at the end of my turn, I will face corruption.

Yellow Bank

The yellow tokens in my yellow bank don’t represent workers. I can think of them as unused land in my territory.

When my population increases, I take the rightmost yellow token from the yellow bank and put it in my worker pool. This gives me a worker, but having fewer tokens in my yellow bank means there’s less available land in my territory. As my population density increases, my people’s demands also increase. This is shown by the sections and subsections of my yellow bank.

When you start playing the game, there’s no need to worry about your people eating up the stored food. They can provide for themselves by hunting or growing their own food. You’ll only consume stored food when you want your population to grow. The amount of food required to increase your population is displayed below each section.

As your population gets bigger, the yellow bank starts to empty. You’ll need some food to sustain your population, and the more you increase your population, the more food it will cost.

Farm And Mine Technologies (brown)

Hey there, have you ever heard of agriculture? It’s this cool farm technology that lets you create farms like this: And then there’s bronze, which is a mine technology that allows you to construct mines like this: But wait, hold up! These cards don’t actually represent real farms or mines – they symbolize the knowledge you need to create them. It’s like they’re saying, “Hey, you have the know-how to build farms and mines!” Pretty neat, huh?

Now, let’s zoom in for a closer look. On the cards, your workers will be the ones representing the farms and mines. When the game starts, you’ll have a total of two farms and two mines. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Did you notice the symbols at the bottom of these technology cards? They actually tell you how much food or resources each farm or mine produces. You see, food is really important because it helps you grow and take care of your population. On the other hand, resources are used for all sorts of things like building farms, mines, urban buildings, wonders, and even military units. It’s pretty interesting, isn’t it?

Gray Technologies for Building Cities

Hey there! Did you know that Philosophy and Religion have the power to create amazing things? Take a look at these cool images of labs and temples that they can help you build!

So, just like farms and mines, these buildings are represented by workers on the cards. The cards themselves don’t actually mean you have the buildings, they just show that you know how to build them.

At the start of the game, you’ll have one lab already, but you won’t have any temples yet. That’s because there won’t be a worker on the Religion card. But don’t worry, you can work towards getting temples as the game progresses.

Hey there! Let’s talk about the icons on the urban buildings in this game. They represent what each building produces. For example, your lab produces 1 science . Pretty cool, right?

The temples in the game produce 1 culture and 1 happy face . Unfortunately, you don’t have any temples yet. But don’t worry, you can get them later!

Now, let’s take a look at the icon in the upper right corner. It tells you the type of the card and the buildings it has. It’s pretty handy, right? And guess what? As you progress in the game, you’ll be able to invent more advanced labs, temples, and even brand new types of buildings. How exciting!

Ages and Levels

Hey there! Did you know that each technology card in the game is associated with a particular age? It’s true! Let me break it down for you:

• Age A: This represents the time of Antiquity, which includes the years before Christ and the first few centuries after Christ.
• Age I: This covers the Medieval Times, all the way up to the 16th century.
• Age II: Now we’re talking about The Age of Exploration, which took place up until the 19th century.
• Age III: Last but not least, we have The Modern Era, which encompasses the entire 20th century.

For your first game, you won’t be using Age III cards. Instead, the game will conclude once you enter the Modern Era. Pretty exciting, right?

Now, here’s something interesting: sometimes the rules or a card might refer to the level of a card. Don’t worry, it’s not too complicated! The level simply represents the age of the card, but as a number. So, cards from Age A are considered level 0, Age I cards are level 1, Age II cards are level 2, and Age III cards are level 3.

When you talk about the level or age of a farm, mine, urban building, or military unit, you’re basically referring to the level or age of the card it’s on. It’s all interconnected.

Let’s talk about Government (orange)!

The orange card actually represents your civilization’s government system. In a way, it’s like the boss of your actions each turn. It determines how effective your government is and how many things you can do.

Every civilization starts with Despotism. On the card, you’ll see 4 white cubes and 2 red cubes . These indicate that you have 4 civil actions and 2 military actions to use. Those are a bunch of tokens you’ll find next to your board.

After some time, you’ll have the option to upgrade your government. Doing so will grant you additional civil and military actions.

Measuring Happiness

Did you know that there are many things in cities that can bring joy to people’s lives? I’m talking about urban buildings, wonders, and leaders. These things are like little symbols that represent the things that make us happy, like art, religion, or entertainment.

Hi there! Let me explain how your happiness works in this game. It’s all about those happy faces you see up there. They represent your total number of happy faces. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, at the start of the game, there’s only one way to get those happy faces. It’s called Religion. Without any workers on that card, you don’t have any temples yet. And that means your happiness rating starts at zero. No worries, though. We’ll get there!