Civilization: A New Dawn (FFG Games) Review by Man Vs Meeple

Civilization: A New Dawn Review by Man Vs Meeple

2-4 Players
90-120 Minutes
12+ Years of Age

Man Vs Meeple

Hosted by Jeremy Salinas (Drakkenstrike) and David Waybright

[Aragasio]

Man your production quality on this show is great! Enjoyed this vid and subbed to you guys!

[joebeet]

Definitely seems like a much more abstracted and simpler experience. Certainly not what you'd like to see from Civilization game. I think it probably is enjoyable enough, but not enough to warrant getting a copy myself. The previous FFG Civ game should be the first port of call for anyone looking to get a Civ board game (or even if you are deciding which of the two to get)

[nikosanagnopoulos]

Might be good but they should make it something else, this is not a civ game. Especially Sid Meier's style

[jbradt]

@ManVsMeeple - Have you guy ever played Clash of Cultures? Even without the expansion I think it makes for a great "Civ-like" experience. The tech tree keeps you in the bronze age, but the mechanics they use for cities, tech, and combat are solid. Adding the expansion makes it so much better with variable player powers, specialized tech, and even some specialized combat units. I'd highly recommend checking it out if you've never had the chance to play it!

[freddieyu]

This streamlined version has suddenly become very attractive to me precisely because it has become way more accessible. The focus bar mechanic is really cool and while I LOVED the computer games boardgames are a different beast altogether and this one works way better as a boardgame for today's time strapped era than a straight up port of the video game.

[GirlyGamer-BoardGameGran]

Loved this on the computer... think I'll keep it as a fond video game memory.

[BardicLiving]

This is the civilization game I've been waiting for! I was so excited when I first read about the focus bar mechanism; it's so simple and clever, just the kind of thing this genre needed.

[clumsydad]

This looks quite interesting and quite attractive. I guess because of my limited experience with it as a computer game it kind of sits it outside what I'd like to pursue in the tabletop format, or that I've already had this type of experience. Thanks for taking the time to explain the basics.

[nebsenne]

Assault Of The Giants from Wiz Kidz has a similar action selection mechanic and is a pretty sweet game as well! I ordered Civ today, can't wait to give it a try!

[Pluiz]

Seeing the Fallout board game in the background... can't wait for that review!

[JesseDBlack]

@ManVSMeeple thanks for the review! That's certainly helpful to get an understanding of the game. However, could you go more in depth of how it compares to the initial Civilization offering from FFG? I know it's in the top 10 for Jeremy, it's just a largely under-reviewed and under-talked about board game. I guess I'd enjoy a full fledged review of it and the expansions to help me make a decision on which to get as they both look great :)

[albertbergquist]

The raising of power by the focus bar is similar to how Tzol'kin works, though they use 5(!) cog wheels instead.

[martinba]

Seems this one quite deviates from some perceived core mechanics of Civ, i.e. explore plus tactical unit movement plus tech tree.

But while that feels less Civ-Like to me (played all Video Games a lot), this game looks intriguing Boardgame wise, with a well known franchise beautifully layed out. The original board game I played only once and felt it captured the spirit of the Video Game really well, so more of the same doesn't really seem to be called for here, and a mechanically different board game seems to add more to the table.

Good thing board games don't age as video games do: Now we have two Civ games that would possibly make sense to own/play both without anyone superseding the other.

[IamTHoiA]

@David, have you played the Conan board game? I have not but if memory serves from watching them play the game the action cards in that game worked similar to this.

@Jeremy, Seems like you are a fan of civ development games, have you played Nations? What are your thoughts on that one?

[ThePantheons]

Cannot wait for Fallout coverage from you guys!!

[Lagzlot]

That action card mechanic, uh, thing reminds me a lot of a similar system used in Runewars, only nowhere near as messy.

[asphaltOnline]

Thanks for the great video! Very informative - Can I ask how long your first playthrough was, how many people played, and if it included rules explanation, please? Like Jeremy, I'm a huge fan of the previous Civ game, but that beast can take many hours with my group. Is this considerably shorter?

[FedeGomez]

Great review! BTW could you please tell us how to get that awesome eclipse poster on the back? Thanks!

[kevinkingmaker]

The focus mechanic in this game reminds me of the action mechanic for the overlord player in Conan. Have not played Conan but have seen a review of it.

[vryc]

Good to know about the comparison, Jeremy. No 'exploration is a fairly heavy negative against this game for me though.

Also, is the printed time of 60-120min reasonably accurate?