Age of Empires III Age of Discovery

I was invited to a neighbor's house for a night of board games. By chance, I got the opportunity to play Age of Empires III with the creator, Glen Dover, watching and giving advice. (major cool guy) The players were 30-50 years old and it was a rousing 2 hours of game play. Based on that experience, I purchased the game. My kids, 6, 8 and 11, begged me to play the game but I figured it was too complex for them to enjoy. Shame on me. Two months later, I agreed to try to walk them through it. They loved it.....every part of it. Each child chose a fundamental different strategy. One child loves discovery, one child loves declaring wars and the third child is trying to win with economic might. We've played it several times and the game is never the same twice. I like the fact that the game has a fuse; it's 8 rounds so it doesn't go on forever. It's a complicated game, so it is not for the fidgety. It takes time to explain, but my children really like the different pieces, roles and strategy. It's pretty funny watching them try to form alliances or think through ways to win.Being the OCD dad, we carefully count each piece before we put the game away, but my kids are troopers. At the end of the game, we have a quick 10 minute discussion about which strategies worked and what they would do different. It seems like a good game to teach strategy, planning and forward thinking. Mainly, it's nice to tear everyone away from their screens and play a game for two hours as a family.

Very fun game. My family plays a lot of board games together; my little brother got this one and the interaction during game-play is awesome and funny. There are a static number of slots for you to line your villagers (and other units) up in so that they can accomplish a specific task. As these slots run out the conversation ensues: "You don't want to do that... it's a bad move." "Don't Take My Spot!" "If you let me do that, I will help you out. You wanna be a team?" etc. Hilarious. The game is fun and flows very well. It isn't my favorite board game, I would recommend Dominion or Catan more often, but it is very fun! Great game for younger children as well, maybe 8 and up if you help them out.

I bought this board game for our game loving family based on the reviews above, however we all found it to be a complicated game, in fact the first time we played it took almost an hour just to distribute the pieces and set-up the board as described. I'm sure it's better if you are playing with someone who has played it many times before, but trying to decipher the instructions for the first game is tricky and left everyone at our table frustrated.

My husband and I like playing board games, so we bought this game in hopes that it would be a nice addition to our collection. As it turns out the instructions are very confusing, it takes forever to set up, and we didn't even bother trying to actually play it. If you aren't willing to figure out how to play a very complicated game that I wouldn't recommend buying this game.

I liked the designe of the game, very colorful and great artwork. The instructions are not very clear and seems a little complicated. I gave to my nephew who is 9 years old and it took us maybe an hour and a half to figure it out. But fun once you get the hang of it.

One of my favorite games. It has many mechanics that would seem to make it difficult to play but everything works so fluidly together that it is a joy. On your turn you place one figure and that is it in turn until all players figures are played. Then, those figures are resolved. There is worker placement set collection, area control, economic engine, variable turn order and more mechanics in this but so much fun to play.

The directions are horrible. The game is very fun. Just be prepared to have to define some of the rules or the way cards/buildings are used for yourself.

My brother and I have played Age of Empires for years, and we agree that this "adaptation" may be even more fun, especially with groups. Games take on average about 2-3 hours, but it will feel like much less.

Tolles Spiel, kann ich nur empfehlen! Dauert nich endlos, es ist ziemlich unvorhersehbar wer gewinnt, find ich spannend. Die ersten paar Spiele dauern ein wenig laenger, bis man sich an die Regeln gewoehnt, und es ist leichter zu lernen wenn jemand mitspielt der schon mit den Regeln vertraut ist. Wenn man nach den ersten paar Runden nicht aufgibt und alles wieder in die Schachtel packt, dann kann man viel Spass haben mit Freunden :)

I just bought this a few days ago after seeing the high ratings it had on boardgamegeek [...]Put simply this game is just brilliant. Pretty simple to pick up, tons of depth and replayability, and scales down to 2 players really well.I'd reccomend playing through a few turns on your own to pick it up, and then trying a 2 player game, The rules are clear and easy to understand, although theres are a few steps to remember (these are clearly pointed out on the back of the manual though)I'd recommend following the above link for a full reviewDefinitely worth £35, all the compenents are durable and well made. Believe me you'll be reaching for this each time while monopoly and cluedo are gathering dust

Only four stars and for one reason only: the box. You get 300 toy soldiers. plus over 100 cards. plus lots of coins. plus huge board. and that all in a box with no single pocket. if you don't have some kind of bags to keep the order, you will be tired of playing the game before you actually start it. it will take ages to get it sorted, and no more than 90-120 minutes to play it.so - before you buy it - make sure that you are equipped with a lot of bags in different sizes. without it there will be no fun - just mess.apart from that - the game itself is great. gives a lot of opportunities to win, there are different ways to achieve a goal - and it doesn't get repetitive after few rounds. actually it gets better and better the more you play.but without additional bags to keep that whole stuff organized - keep away from it!