Full disclosure: I have been a WaW playtester and wrote two guest articles about the expansion for FFG (aptly named Wisdom and Warfare). This “gig” served as a stepping stone to further involvement with FFG, including testing other games and more volunteer writing assignments. Additionally, I am a fan of <PERSON> and his work on Android: Netrunner, one of FFG’s leading Living Card Games. Therefore, this review is as subjective as they get.
Wisdom and Warfare (WaW) is the second expansion for <PERSON> Civilization, Fantasy Flight Games’ (FFG) take on the turn-based computer strategy game Civilization V (which is, in turn, based on a board game). WaW marks Civilization’s departure from <PERSON>, the developer of the core game, and was instead developed by <PERSON>. Like many other FFG expansions, WaW is a bag of tricks of several components, each of which adds or changes an aspect of the game. I will start by describing and reviewing each of the new components, and then provide my opinion of the expansion as a whole.
Combat system
WaW replaces the base game’s unit cards with a new set of units. Units now have health in addition to strength; here’s what I wrote on the FFG article:
As in the base game, units have a Strength value: the amount of wounds the unit deals. In addition, units now also have a Health value: the amount of wounds a unit can take before dying. This subtle addition has tremendous implications.
First and foremost, players are no longer at the mercy of the deck. Low Strength units are balanced by having higher Health — they deal less damage but take more punishment. This allows skilled generals to “lock” a front by causing a situation where neither unit kills the other. Playing to survive combat (without outright winning) becomes a viable strategy, allowing your units to live in order to fight another day. Finally, battle-related technologies, such as Mathematics and Animal Husbandry, attain a greater role as dealing and healing wounds have much more influence on the fate of combat. 993
The new system maintains the elegance of the base game while adding Health as a new tactical element to consider.
I would say that this is the most significant addition WaW has to offer. I can no longer imagine playing Civilization with the base game battle mechanic. The new strength/health makes battle much more interesting, gives player more options in pursuing and opposing military confrontations, makes villages less dangerous (and hence less luck-based), and generally makes the game more fun.
New government cards
The eight government cards from the base game have been replaced with completely new bonuses and are stronger than their originals (with the exception of Republic, which is weaker). The new abilities are often equivalent to a city action and lead to a shift in the technology playing field. Irrigation becomes slightly weaker, as it provides "just" a city action, while a new government technology give both an action and an ability. More importantly, the technologies that unlock the governments are better thanks to the improvement; Monarchy and Theology are the most notable examples of unpopular research choices which are now much more attractive, leading to further implication on the game (such as weakening ancient wonders).
Social policies
Augmenting the new government cards are social policies, minor versions of governments. There are four double-sided social policy cards. A player can have a number of policies equal to their number of cities, acquiring a new one when a city is founded (and losing one if a city is destroyed). Social policies provide diverse abilities, such as a coin, additional movement, more trade, an opportunity to research during the start of turn, and others. These either plot a direction for your civilization or assist in your chosen strategy.
Building Program
The Building Program is a new city action. When "Starting a Building Program" the city’s owner places a building program marker on it. The next time that city takes a produce action, the marker is removed and the city receives double the amount of production in its outskirts. While a small addition, it is far from being minor, providing much-needed flexibility in producing the more expensive buildings in the game, with wonders being chief among them. As a result, WaW games usually have one or two wonders more than base/FaF games, and medieval and modern wonders are utilized more often.
City-states
City-states are special tiles that are hidden in huts and villages and provide a respectable number of icons (trade, production, etc.) to the civilization that has a figure on them. Occasionally they will lead to interesting military choices for the players though more often than not their position restricts the access to them for players other than the one who found. 792