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Epoch: Early Inventors

57.00€

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Board Game Geek Reviews


  1. 5 out of 10

    SOLD IT! ($30) I was immediately drawn to the concept of this game; mixing resource upgrading (ala Le Havre) with the excitement of discovering terrain on a map. Gameplay was however quite flat. During the game, I was mainly just going through the motions by reacting to whatever game state is opportunistic, so for example, rather than plan for a specific technology to research, it becomes more practical to research whichever one is simply convenient to your current location. The board is a cluster of pictograms and and messy to deal with. The technology tokens do a great job of adding flavor to the theme and is the best part of the game. In the end, the game works, just not as elegantly as similar counterparts.

  2. 2 out of 10

    I am not a fan of this game, which seems more focused on the simulation aspect of early civilization than on providing an exciting experience. I found it slow, repetitive and tedious. I also found the luck factor of which techs you'd find a bit swingy, and the tech tiles, while gorgeous, I found big and unwieldy, especially once you start having a few.

  3. 7 out of 10

    A good, complex engine-building resource-conversion puzzle: on our first play, I called it "Splendor on crack." There are a dizzying number of decisions available, but the game isn't long (we've found it to be much shorter than the 90-150 minutes printed on the box) that it's hard to know what to go for: quick, easy points for exploring, or slower, harder points on development tiles that give you special abilities. Unfortunately, the game has some production issues: certain tile colors make it hard to determine terrain type (especially with the yellow starting tiles). The game is also so needlessly fiddly that it actively works against my enjoyment. The individual, differently-sized-and-shaped tech tiles are not only impossible to find and keep track of, but also take up too much space both on the table and in the box. I wish the techs had just been listed on a single board and marked with cubes: it would have sped up the gameplay a bit, and also made the game far less expensive to produce. I get that the designer was going for "theme," but this just failed.

Be the first to review “Epoch: Early Inventors”

Award winning game author Martyn F takes you back to the start of civilization. You take on the role of a clan leader and explore the landscape, discover new tools and offer to holy places. All this to gather as much status as possible.

Epoch: Early Inventors is very thematic and tries to stay as close to reality as possible.

Before starting the game you build a landscape of hexagonal playing cards and holy places.

In your turn you can carry out 1 action and/or develop 1 card and/or offer to 1 holy place.

You can choose between the following actions: gather food, fish (for food), hunt for deer, butcher deer, explore adjacent cards or work to get raw material.

You need food to move around the game board and develop cards. Gathering food and fishing are basically the same actions, but depending on the tools you have, the one action might give you more food than the other.

You need raw materials to develop cards and offer to the holy places. Sometimes raw materials can help you to heighten the proceeds of actions. The action "Work" can get you raw materials. The type of landscape you are currently standing on determines how much work it is to get hold of a certain raw material. Raw materials used in the game are: wood, flax, stone, flint, clay and iron ore.

Butchering animals can not only get you food, but also skins, bones and tendons.

Exploring cards adds to your status. It also opens up more cards to be developed.

To develop a card, you need to "pay" the food and materials depicted on the card.

Once you have developed a card, you can use the tool, equipment or knowledge of this card to your advantage. E.g. Rope Making allows you to turn 2 flax into 3 ropes. Sowing gives you 2-4 extra food, when gathering food. An axe makes it easier to chop wood.

By cleverly using your own cards and those of your opponents, you try to offer materials to as many holy places as you can, thereby increasing your status even more.

After 14-20 rounds the game is over. The player that has collected the most status has won.

Ages

12+
Players

Solo, 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players
Play Time

90m – 150m
Designer

Martyn F
Mechanics

Area Movement, Modular Board, Simulation
Theme

Civilization, Exploration, Prehistoric
Publisher

Rio Grande Games
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