If you’re reading this, we’d wager that you have at least a passing interest in history. Now imagine playing a game which spans thousands of years of human history, allowing you to play as various major empires and where your goal is to expand your civilisation as far across the globe as possible. You just imagined Z-Man Games’ History of the World and right now, you can get the game at 31% off on Amazon.
The game is broken down into different epochs, which basically serve as different rounds. At the start of each epoch you draw a card and take control of a different empire that was active during that particular time. The first epoch covers 3000 – 1400 BC and gives you empires like Egypt, Sumeria and Babylonia; jump ahead to the seventh epoch, which spans 1550 – 1914, and you’ll find Britain, the United States and Russia (amongst others).
It’s a very competitive game, where each player’s goal is to make their empire as large and powerful as possible. This means that as your empire expands across the map, you’ll inevitably run into the empires of your fellow players and conflict will ensue. Each of you will have worked hard to build your empire up to that point and you’ll want to keep going, while protecting all that you’ve built so far.
It’s not particularly hard to grasp the rules of History of the World, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that it’s a simple game. There’s a great deal of nuance and strategy involved; maybe you’ll focus more on capturing oceans that will give you a tactical advantage, or maybe you’d prefer to advance by battling your opponents?
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Considering the fact that there are so many empires involved and each of them will affect the way that you start the game, you’ll find that things will feel very different each time you play.
If it sounds like your kind of thing, make sure you buy it while the game is still on offer. We don’t know exactly how long Amazon are going to keep this discount going for. Check out our guides on the best strategy board games and the best historical board games for more gaming recommendations.