Here I Stand - Antike

I recently played two different boardgames that make use of a map of Europe:

Here I Stand: Wars of the Reformation 1517-1555 covers the political and religious conflicts of early 16th Century Europe. While I have been generally reluctant to play some of the more "heavy duty" wargames that are published by GMT, I appreciated that this one is card driven, and not only about conquest. It integrates religion, politics, economics and diplomacy. In this game, I played France, and spent most of the game embroiled in conflict with The Pope over control of Northern Italy. My mistake was making peace with Great Britain. Without the French as a constant pain in their side, they were able to make the necessary political, military and religious advances that gave them the game.

This is one I will like to try again.

Also played Antike, one of my favorites. This civilization building game focuses on the ancient peoples surrounding the Mediterranean Sea (however, if you flip the game board, you get a whole new map focusing on the ancient Middle East!). To win, civilizations must not only gain territory on the map, but also develop new technologies such as road building and navigation as well as trade and monument building. Another unique feature of this game is the use of the "roundel" instead of rolling dice. See Antike on BoardGameGeek for more details of the game and its mechanic.

As Phoenicia, I probably should not have won this one. I made several poor choices but was still able to stay even or one step ahead of the Germanic horde. Greece, stuck in the middle of the board, built too many of his temples too close to me. I was able to destroy two of them for some quick end-of-game victory points. (Note the Ohio Quilt in the background...)