What is it?
You have a map, colonists, trade houses, resources (brick, food, tools, wine, cloth) and personality cards. You play one personality card each turn, performing its allowed actions (spreading colonists, building trade houses, collecting resources, buying new personality cards, etc). That's it. That's the elegant brilliance of this game. You play a card, do its actions, done, next player!
At the end of the game you score points for each personality card you have based on what stuff you have. Some cards give you bonuses for certain kinds of resource cities, others for having colonists, etc. So your strategy is determined, in part, by what cards you've purchased. Again, elegent.
The look and theme.
Well, it's pretty darn themeless. I mean, resource collecting in the Mediterranean, sure, but it could be anything. The cards are labelled "Tribune" and "Senator" and "Diplomat" but they could be anything too.
Still, I don't mind (and I generally like more theme in my games). The look of the game helps. The box art is bland/awful but the game itself is quite attractive. Clean pretty maps, nice shaped wooden pieces for resources, basic people/ship shapes for the colonists. The cards, even though generic in behavior, have a Roman feel to them.
Conclusion
It's just a darn fun game. From the start you're busy mapping out your strategy, where to colonize, what resources to collect, what cards to shoot for. Is it time to play my Tribune card, and so regain all my played cards, or not? (The Tribune card recycling mechanic is very clever, I've only seen it before in Mission: Red Planet (Second Edition).) The game mechanics all take some brain work to do properly so the game is a challenge, but it's not so mathy that you're left with a fried brain at the end. It also doesn't wear out its welcome. 237
The game ends when either a player buys his/her last house or the last personality card is bought. Either event happens at a reasonable moment (after maybe an hour with 2 players) and you can see it coming, no sudden shocks (well, once I bought 4 trading houses in one turn, shocking my wife a bit, but she still beat me by 2 points).
There's also enough interaction to keep you on your toes. When another player builds a trading house in a city, you aren't blocked, but you'll have to pay more for your trading house. That kind of thing means you keep an eye on where they're going. Or if there's a particular card you want, you keep an eye on what resources your opponents have, can they buy it first? There's also the "Diplomat" personality card, which allows you to piggyback on others' actions.
There's no "take that" in this game, however, especially in a two player game, you can do things deliberately to mess up a player's plans. They want that Cloth personality card? You buy it to block their point gain! It's a far cry from open war but it's also no "I do my own thing on my own board" type of game. Other players matter.
All in all, a nice intellectual challenge on a pretty map with a reasonable amount of player interaction. It is an Epicurean exercise in restraint, an Emersonian embodiment of moderation.
Postscriptum
I'd recommend getting your hands on the expansions, especially . The game is lovely without Salsa but Salsa adds salt, which is a cute wild card resource, and, more sexily, Tribune cards, which give players small special abilities. Like its name, Salsa adds just a bit more flavor.
(RECENSERE/EDIT) Ultima nota (Final Note)
I've given this game a bit of rave, however I do want to warn certain players away. If you're addicted to lots of action in your games. If you live for those big moments where you clinch the deal, buy the bank, nail down that triple chained card play, this doesn't happen in Concordia. Instead, each turn is rather like the other than not. For me, and my wife, this seemed like a delightful stroll through a lovely park, some trees over here, a pond over there; a turn might get you a smile of quiet satisfaction, but no giant thrills, no explosions. We found it pleasantly challenging. Others, however, might call this boring. Keep in mind if you think you might be that kind of player. 629