History of the World

I have always enjoyed the board game Risk but it's flaws make it a difficult game to find participants for. Flaw 1: after everyone else has been beaten off the board the remaining two players could be playing for ... ever. Flaw 2: Its one of the most popular board games in North America and just like Monopoly no one plays it and very few people actually play it.

History of the World is almost like a hybrid Risk game. Like Risk you conquer countries and territories across the world and earn victory points based on how much of each territory you control at the end of your turn.

Each player plays a different colour as they progress through the seven epochs of the game. In each epoch the players randomly draw a civilization card which tells them where they start, how many armies the receive, if they have a capital city, and whether they start with sea travel or not. The player then proceeds to fight other players and claim countries across the map. 

The picture to the left depicts the cards of the game. The top cards are the front and back of the civilization/empire cards. It shows that the player starts in the Indus Valley with 4 armies and on the other side the order of play  The bottom cards are used as special abilities for a single epoch.

The scoring is 1x for presence in a coloured group of countries (ex. North America, the Middle East, Southern Europe etc), 2x for dominance (two countries more than any other player in that area), and 3x for control (at least three countries in the area and no other players with presence). As the game progresses through the epochs different areas on the map are worth more points than others; accurate to history the first epoch revolves around the Middle East with empires like Macedonia, Babylonia, and Assyria. Then the majority of the empire cards shift to India and China before moving to Europe and then eventually North America. 

What is unique to History of the World is that players score their points as soon as they end their turn; so unlike risk where it is very important to reinforce choke points and build up your armies in History of the World it's best to spread your empire as far as you possibly can to score the highest number of points possible. You score both the countries you took this turn and those you conquered in older epochs as long as they are still in play so it is best to try and conquer new territories and not cannibalize the territories you already control from a past empire. 

The game is very strategic and is ideally played by three people (four seems like there is too much waiting between each turn). The game does take approximately 3 to 4 hours to complete but you could end it after any epoch if you wish. If you enjoy Risk, this game will be a new favourite.

Enjoy conquering the world

M.