This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
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Summary
Game Type - Card Game (Expansion)
Play Time: 25-45 minutes
Number of Players: 2 – 8 (Best 3+)
Mechanics - Card Drafting, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers, Simultaneous Action Selection
Difficulty - Pick-up & Play (Can be learned in 10 minutes and only takes 2-3 plays to get a handle on the thinking required)
Components - Very Good
Release - 2012
Designer - <PERSON>( Ghost Stories, Hanabi, Mystery Express, Takenoko)
What’s the New Take with ‘Cities’?
Thematically, 'Cities' introduces those less tangible, less visible elements of a city from antiquity. They might be less savory on the surface but they are no less important to the workings of any city. Slave Markets, Gambling Dens, Black Markets and Hideouts are all to be found in 'Cities'.
But then there are those other elements too, those necessities that have a more subtle influence over how the cogs of power turn. These include organisations like Secret Societies and Spy Rings, whilst bureaucracy is represented with Embassies and Consulates.
‘Cities’ also offers up 2 new City States in the form of Byzantium and Petra, both of which have new Wonders to construct.
Of course to ensure that this new expansion fits the needs and basic play of the base game and the 'Leaders' expansion, it also provides a selection of new Guild Cards and Leaders, which make use of new abilities offered up by Cities.
I will not be covering the basic play of 7 Wonders in this review. If you would like to know more about the base game I suggest that you check out my review here –
7 Wonders - A Detailed Review
A link to the first expansion can be found at the end of this review.
The Components
'Cities' comes in the same style of box used for the 'Leaders' expansion. Being a cad game, the extra additions are largely cards but there are a few more new bits here than in the last expansion.
City Cards – In all there are 27 new 'Cities' cards that are distinctive due to their black background colour. The 27 cards are nicely divided into 9 new cards for each of the 3 Ages, and in terms of design, art quality and design features, everything is up to past standards so the cards fit seamlessly into what has come before. I have seen some complaints that the backs of these cards differ slightly from past 7 Wonders products but that is not the case with my copy.
Of course new icons are present to help implement the new mechanics introduced with the expansion, but I'll cover those in a moment.
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New Guild Cards – In all 3 new Guild Cards are provided. 299
I will discuss each of these in turn later in the review.
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New Leader Cards –6 new Leaders are offered up by 'Cities'. Some feature new icons from this expansion, others tie in with powers first seen in 'Leaders' and then there is a scoring based Leader that completes the set of VP scoring cards seen before now.
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Byzantium and Petra City States – 'Cities' offers up not one but two new City States in the forms of Byzantium and Petra. Both are interesting inclusions with one offering big VPs and the other incorporating the new Diplomacy mechanic.
What remains the same is the lovely artwork that depicts the scene in both City States.
Byzantium is the stand out as it features a gorgeous dusk skyline and the splendour of domed buildings. The city curves its way around the harbour and a real sense of scope is created. It's really a lovely vista.
Images Courtesy of a_traveler
Diplomacy Tokens – 3 Diplomacy Tokens are included, which are represented by large stand up tokens featuring a dove in flight. They need minimal construction - the insertion of 2 stands in the base. Think of the Stone Age 'go first' token and you pretty much have it.
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Debt Tokens – A new form of token is also introduced in 'Cities' called the Debt Token. These come in -1 and -5 increments and they are square and rectangular in shape. They represent the potential for a City State to be bankrupted and those minus scores are obviously a hit to your end of game VPs. Nasty! 872