Author Topic: 7 Wonders (Read 21050 times)

meepleater · « **on:** November 12, 2015, 01:13:42 AM »

Quote from: Paul on November 11, 2015, 02:18:53 PM

Sweet. So 7 Wonders is a good game? I saw Dan mentioned it below as well. I've been seeing it in the store and was pondering if to buy or not. I got that promo expansion (for 7 Wonders), figure I make use of it to get the base game and have a go at it.

I've never played it before, although I've heard good things about it. I'm hoping to have had a few games by early next week so should be able to say more then...

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2179.0

danisthirty · « **Reply #1 on:** November 12, 2015, 02:03:00 AM »

There probably isn’t a lot I can say about 7 Wonders that you can’t find out from Board Game Geek or elsewhere, but in essence it’s a deck building game. It’s played over 3 rounds (“ages”) although each round is played in the same way and involves passing decks of cards around between players, buying/ building one card from the deck in your hand each time before passing what’s left on again to the next player.

It’s important to acquire resources early on (these are easiest to obtain in the first age) as these allow you to build more valuable/ useful buildings in the later rounds, and since your neighbours can use your resources too (at a cost) these can be good source of income too. The cards you build have a resource or coin based cost to them, and work in a variety of different ways to generate you victory points. Some buildings get you a fixed number of points, others depend on a variety of other factors such as the number of specifically coloured cards owned by your neighbours. Don’t even get me started on the “Science” (green) cards as they can get really complicated!

At the end of each round you have a war with your two closest neighbours too. The player with the biggest army wins the war, and a number of victory points that increases through the ages with each victory. Lose a war and it’s -1 victory point regardless of the age. And as you’d expect, the size of your army is developed during the game by buying/ building war cards.

I think you need at least 3 players to play it with the conventional rules although it can be adjusted to suit 2 players (not that I’ve tried this). It’s best in larger groups though; I’ve played it mostly as a group of five and this always feels like a good size.

Have fun!

Whaleyland · « **Reply #2 on:** November 12, 2015, 02:45:40 AM »

I've played 7 Wonders a lot as a 2-player game and I must say that it is ideal to play the game with 7 players. Period. While I enjoy the 2-player game well enough, it really needs more and it is perfectly designed with 7 players in mind. No more. No less. I also highly recommend the expansion Cities as it adds one more color of card and one more card per person per Age. Leaders is not quite as good but it does provide an excellent mechanism to help players strategise more (plus, if you like promos, almost all of them are Leader cards). Babel is probably the worst of the three expansions, but I've only been able to try it with 2 players, which is not in any way ideal. If I ever get a chance to play with more players, I'll be able to better judge that one. Generally, though Babel's Great Works module is more fun and rewarding than the Tower of Babel, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, I love the game and all its expansions – I only wish I had more people to play with in New Zealand. As a warning, the Technologies mechanism often confuses people and it turned off a number of my friends from enjoying the game. I've never had a problem understanding it, though. 7 points for all sets of three (that is, sets composed of one of each type of Technology) and exponential numbers for the number of each type of Technology (1, 4, 9, 16, etc). Pretty simple to me!

danisthirty · « **Reply #3 on:** November 12, 2015, 04:07:55 AM »

Quote from: whaleyland on November 12, 2015, 02:45:40 AM

...it is perfectly designed with 7 players in mind. No more. No less.

In that case, I think I'd rather play an inferior game of 7 Wonders than never play it at all as it's very rare I'd be able to play this with 6 others. 4 or 5 player games have always been a lot of fun imho.

Quote from: whaleyland on November 12, 2015, 02:45:40 AM

7 points for all sets of three (that is, sets composed of one of each type of Technology) and exponential numbers for the number of each type of Technology (1, 4, 9, 16, etc). Pretty simple to me!

Yeah. That's the bit I struggle with.

MrNumbers · « **Reply #4 on:** November 12, 2015, 05:08:56 AM »

I can only add, that this year in Essen debuted 7 Wonders special edition: 7 Wonders Duel, especially for two players. People say that it is very good, though I never played it by myself (I've only played once a standard edition).

Hounk · « **Reply #5 on:** November 13, 2015, 11:19:12 AM »

Have not played "Duel" myself, but according to everything I've seen and read, it is not a "special edition", but an entire new game.

However regular "7 Wonders" I do like a lot, and also the couple, with whom I play on most occasion board games. We've played quite a lot of 3P and 4P games, and had fun with it. I actually think, "7 Wonders" is preety good with any number of players. Because of the drafting mechanism and simultaneous turns, there is hardly any downtime with more players, so it might be the top choice for big groups, versus other games, which do not shine as bright with more players. But it is still solid fun with 3 players, and the couple, I wrote about, even enjoyed it as a 2P game. (But that might change. They will get "Duel" from me as a Christmas present.)

Halfling · « **Reply #6 on:** November 13, 2015, 01:04:52 PM »

I've only played 7 Wonders with 7 players. I love it, but have never won despite trying many strategies.

SRBO · « **Reply #7 on:** November 13, 2015, 02:00:27 PM »

I've played it with 3, 4 and 5 players.. and everytime it is fun.

Install a score app to make scoring faster though..

danisthirty · « **Reply #8 on:** November 13, 2015, 03:58:34 PM »

Quote from: SRBO on November 13, 2015, 02:00:27 PM

I've played it with 3, 4 and 5 players.. and everytime it is fun.

Install a score app to make scoring faster though..

One of the people I played with actually had an app not just to work out what your final score was, but it also gave him all the various scores he could have won depending on how his Science/ Technology (green) cards were arranged. I've always left this to someone else as I don't actually own the game...

meepleater · « **Reply #9 on:** November 15, 2015, 01:09:37 AM »

Over the course of the weekend I managed to play my first 2 games, the first with 5 players and the second with 7 (I came third the first game and won the second). Hugely enjoyed both games! The rules were really daunting when I read them online before buying but once we started playing they actually felt quite intuitive and we all picked it up a lot quicker than expected, and now I can't wait for another match (probably the best indication that this is a good game)!

danisthirty · « **Reply #10 on:** November 15, 2015, 02:29:09 AM »

Awesome!

It's definitely one of those games that's easier to play than it is to explain.

SRBO · « **Reply #11 on:** November 15, 2015, 02:40:11 AM »

Quote from: danisthirty on November 15, 2015, 02:29:09 AM

Awesome! It's definitely one of those games that's easier to play than it is to explain.

Hahaha sooo true. Once you know how to play its very easy. Also when you know what most symbols mean its easier to know ehat the function of every card is!

jungleboy · « **Reply #12 on:** November 15, 2015, 03:03:24 AM »

You guys made me curious about 7 Wonders (which I have never played), so I just watched a review of it and ... I dunno. This Catan-like idea of cards and resources and trading just seems so unintuitive and contrived to me and completely the opposite of the simple mechanics of Carcassonne (claim features, score points). But yet these other games are so popular so it must just be me. Soon enough (when I have a bigger place to live!) I would like to expand my game collection but I hope I can find interestingly-themed games that are also intuitive the way Carcassonne is.

Edit a LONG time later: when I first started looking at other games and when I made this post, I had an aversion to games with resources because it seemed so contrived (i.e. you need one wood and two bricks to build some building). Fortunately for everyone, I have since overcome this aversion

Hounk · « **Reply #13 on:** November 15, 2015, 03:37:08 AM »

I see no similarity to Catan, whatever, although, I do like Catan (with expansions) as well. Especially the trading is a completely different cup of tea. There is no negotiation at all. Your neighbour has the resource you want, you have enough money for it (normally two gold coins, with special card one), you pay him/her and get it. (While the neighbour still has the same resource available for his/her own building.)

I agree, that the icons look a little irritating on first sight, but get intuitive within a game or two, and then you hardly ever have to ask or get reference in the manual for them. I did not have to study the manual, but was toughed by the couple, I mentioned earlier.

danisthirty · « **Reply #14 on:** November 16, 2015, 07:35:35 AM »

I agree. Apart from the concept of "resources" there are no similarities between Catan and 7 Wonders. Indeed, one of the things I especially like about 7 Wonders is that resources are never depleted so once you've got a resource it's yours (and your neighbours') to spend on every subsequent round if you want. In Catan, your resources are taken away from you every time you spend them.

Also, with regard to player numbers, I noticed that the UK 7 Wonders championships were played via 8 tables of 5. They could have sold 2 extra tickets and made it 6 tables of 7 but perhaps it was felt that 5 players was as good as 7 somewhere along the line?

Anyway, 7 Wonders Duel is now on my Christmas list!