Designer:  Daniel Aronson (Capone, The Island of El Dorado, TACO FIGHT!), Nick Tompkins

Artist: Daniel Spice

Publisher:  El Dorado Games (Capone, The Island of El Dorado, Windward)

Genre/Mechanisms: area movement; city building; civilization; contracts; economic; political; tech trees/tech tracks; worker placement; worker placement with dice workers; worker placement, different worker types

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, The Age of Atlantis is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total more than 4x the initial funding goal with 4 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About: “A competitive, engine-building, civilization game. You are the leader of a noble house and must prove to Poseidon that your house deserves to rule the city. Grow your house’s population, discover new technologies and cultures, and defend the city: all while appeasing Poseidon and preventing his mighty flood.”

How It Works:  “The Age of Atlantis is played in rounds called years. Each year progresses through 10 phases that must be completed in order. During the first phase, players take turns, while the remaining phases are for upkeep and are performed by everyone. The end game occurs at the conclusion of the third Age.”

“During the Place Workers Phase, players take a worker off of their Myth board (making sure to keep the same face up) and place it onto a space of the map. Players cannot place a worker onto a space that already has a worker. If a player places their worker on the territory that Poseidon is pointing to, that worker is blessed by Poseidon and they can take 2 free actions instead of the normal 1. Players can only operate their own Myths that are out on the board. The free worker actions include: Gather Resources, Build a Building, Research Technology, Attack, Use Building Action, and Use Myth Action. Players may also choose to take an additional Action by lowering the worker’s morale by one.”

“During the Atlantean Charity Phase, players simultaneously move all of their in-play workers to their Myth board. All players take note of their position on the Political Power tracker. If they are not in first place on the Political Power tracker, they may immediately increase the morale of one of their workers by 1.”

“During the Morale Status Phase, players simultaneously check the morale levels of each of their workers. Each zero-morale worker reduces that player’s Favor level by 1.”

“During the Achievement Phase, players simultaneously check to see if anyone has completed one or more achievements of the current Age. All players that have completed the achievement during that year can place a cube on it. For each cube placed, the player gains VPs: 1 in Age 1, 3 in Age 2, and 5 in Age 3. After checking achievements and marking them as needed, see if the group has enough completed achievements to move onto the next Age. Two cubes on the same achievement only count as one achievement completed. If players have completed the number of achievements needed to move to the next Age (3 in a 1-2 player game, 4 in a 3 player game, and 5 in a 4 player game), move the Age Tracker token to the next Age. If they have moved beyond the Third Age, the end game has been initiated.”

“In the Rest Workers Phase, players simultaneously increase each worker’s morale by 1 (morale can not increase above the maximum of 2).”

“In the Military Advance Phase, players simultaneously move all cards inward one space within their columns. Cards do not move inward if a Myth is on or directly in front of them and cards cannot be placed on top of other cards. For the cards that have reached the inner city ring, discard all Special Cards and place all Enemy cards into one stack within their inner city space. If a Special tile moves onto a space with a building on one of the outer rings, it is discarded. If any Enemy cards are in the inner city ring, or on a space with a building, all players immediately lose 3 favor and that territory floods. All buildings, tax stations, and Myths on that territory are returned to the players’ boards and may be re-bought the following year. Researched technologies from buildings are not removed – they stay on players’ boards even if the building is removed. All cards (enemy or special) on the territory are discarded.”

“During the Poseidon’s Fury Phase, if there are any Favor tokens in the Poseidon’s Fury space, those players lose 10 VPs and take a Poseidon’s Fury token and reset their Favor token to 0. They hold this token until the next Poseidon’s Fury phase. If a player was holding a Poseidon’s Fury token at the beginning of this phase, but does not have their Favor token in the Poseidon’s Fury space, they place their Poseidon’s Fury token off to the side. Each player holding a Poseidon’s Fury token cannot enter a blessed territory.”

“During the Change Blessing Phase, players roll a directional die, and point Poseidon’s statue towards the resulting territory. If the roll results in the same territory that Poseidon is currently pointing towards, roll again.”

“During the Place New Cards Phase, in Age 1 players roll a directional die and place three Age 1 cards face-up onto each of the resulting territories’ (ring 4) spaces. If there is a Myth or tile already on a space, they do not place a new tile on that space. In Age 2, players roll two directional dice and place three Age 2 cards face-up onto each of the resulting territories’ (ring 4) spaces. If there is a Myth or tile already on a space, they do not place a new tile on that space. In Age 3, players roll three directional dice and place three Age 3 cards face-up onto each of the resulting territories’ (ring 4) spaces. If there is a Myth or tile already on a space, they do not place a new tile on that space.”

“Finally, during the Change First Player Phase, the First Player token is passed clockwise to the next player, and a new Year begins.”

“Once the end game has been initiated during the Achievement Phase, all players calculate and gain their End Game bonus. Players with a Favor Tracker on spaces 0-6 score their Achievement Bonus plus their House Bonus. Players with a Favor Tracker on spaces 7-14 score their Achievement Bonus, House Bonus, Research Cubes, and Defeated Enemies. Players with a Favor Tracker on spaces 15-20 score their Achievement Bonus, House Bonus, Research Cubes, and Defeated Enemies, and then double their total. After all players have added this bonus to their total, the player with the highest Political Power is the winner. If tied, the player with the most resources wins. If still tied, players share the victory.”

Comparisons: A few other civilization games that also feature tech trees/tech tracks, include Ascending Empires, Civilization, Clash of Cultures, and Tapestry (if one considers Tapestry a civilization game).

What Should I Pledge?:
$59 The Age of Atlantis: a copy of the game and all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives
“This is the KS edition of the game. With stretch goals, it will have more content and higher quality pieces than future printings do.”

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $59 for the The Age of Atlantis pledge plus $12 in shipping for a total of $71.

The Age of Atlantis completes its Kickstarter on Sunday, July 19th and tentatively ships in June 2021.