Why write another review of Age of Conan? I think there are two good reasons: First, I had to notice that the "hottest" review is still largely based on a pre-release version. Second, I can only try to guess why Conan still did not make it to a better rank in the BGG ranking. Interest in this game seems to have considerably dropped after its well anticipated launch several months ago and some comments here on BGG reveal a certain degree of satisfaction with Conans fall -- almost as if some folks here see <PERSON>'s drop as a justified punishment for a mediocre game after an initial, unjustified hype.
I am not a <PERSON> fan. In fact, I've never read a single comic and always thought that the movies were rather entertaining for the camel scene only. I mention this because I hope that this gives my judgement at the end of the review more credibility.
How will I approach this my very first review? I will focus primarily on the structure of
the game and its mechanisms while paying less attention to the rules in detail. The rules can be downloaded on the FFG website.
1. The game in a nutshell
AoC is played with 2 to 4 players. Each player takes the role of a kingdom in the <PERSON> universe and competes for victory points primarily by conquering provinces with military power. Players can also create alliances with neutral provinces in order to collect gold from them. Gold is used to buy armies needed for conquest, emissaries needed for diplomatic actions and cards that improve combat skills in various ways.
<PERSON> himself is an independent force. He will always be controlled by one of the players but control will frequently change. While the kingdoms compete for power and fight their battles, <PERSON> pursues a set of 12 adventures which make him travel the board and thus affect the battles between and fortunes of the kingdoms. Whoever controls <PERSON> can try to use him for his own end by making him participate in battles or creating unrest in hostile
provinces. After <PERSON>'s adventures no 4 and 8 special "change of age" phases occur in which players significantly reinforce their armies, collect gold and improve their cards. After adventure 12 the game ends and the final scoring takes place. 118
<PERSON> himself thus functions as a game timer and as an additional strategic element in the players' planning.
2. The kingdoms
4 Kingdoms compete for power and can be controlled by the players. The differences between the single kingdoms stem from different home provinces on the board and from the individual set of "kingdom cards" each kingdom is equipped with. Kingdom cards provide special powers (in the form of action cards) grant additional resources like "sorcery tokens" that can again be used to activate special powers of other kingdom cards, and allow for the recruitment of special units and commanders who can have significant impacts on battle outcomes. See Aquilonia's elite units and commanders in the following picture:
(picture by avyssaleos)
The standard units placed on the board are different in shape and colour for each kingdom but have no different stats and values unless empowered by kingdom cards. Here's what they look like:
(picture by NexusPR)
The kingdom of Aquilonia (red) is the dominant power in central Hyboria (the world in which the game is set). It reminded me very of the Romans and can rely on a solid military strength. It has no affinity to sorcery, though, but seems to have some sort of special relation with <PERSON>.
Turan (yellow) is the kingdom of the desert. It has fast-moving forces and cunning emissaries.
Stygia (green) and Hyperborea (purple) are both less militarily potent but compensate for that by having magical powers. Stygia in particular is a cunning and treacherous bunch of serpent-lovers whereas Hyperborea seems to have a dark connection with the underworld.
(<PERSON> fans and experts will excuse my somewhat amateurish description of what I am sure are well elaborated kingdoms in the <PERSON> universe.)
The following picture shows the map. You can see the four kingdoms colored in different ways with the home region painted in a darker tone. The 4 colors are used to exclude parts of the board if playing with less than 4 players.
(picture by earache)
3. Game mechanisms
An auction mechanism determines who controls <PERSON> each of his adventures. Players have to manage resources to ensure they control <PERSON> whenever it is most helpful for them to do so. Since the same cards used in combat and in diplomatic actions are also part of the bidding process, careful decisions have to be made here.
Dice-rolling determines the actions available to players and each time a players chooses an action he has to remove a die with the corresponding action from the dice pool. 366