History of the World (board game)

History of the World (often abbreviated HotW) is a board game designed by Ragnar Bothers and originally published in 1991. It is played by up to six different players in seven different epochs; each player playing a different empire in each epoch.

Brief history

The first edition of History of the World by Ragnar Brothers was released in 1991 (with a tea-towel board).^[2] Following English, Dutch and German versions by various publishers, it was published by Avalon Hill in 1993. In 1994, History of the World won the Origins Award for "Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1993". After Avalon Hill was purchased by Hasbro in the early 2000s, History of the World was re released as a big box game.^[1] Ragnar Brothers released a revised version of the game, A Brief History of the World, in 2009.^[3]

Game play

The game is played in seven rounds known as epochs, which correspond to different historical periods. At the beginning of each epoch, each player receives an empire card and assumes the role of that empire for the round. Each empire has advantages and disadvantages based on the order in which it appears in an epoch, starting location on the world map, its number of armies, navigation abilities (access to certain lands by sea), and whether or not it possesses a capital.

During each empire's turn, its allocated units are placed on the board beginning from its capital (or starting space) and proceeding through contiguous areas and controlled seas or oceans. Occupation of empty territory is automatic, while dice-based combat rules are applied if a unit is placed in an area already occupied by another player's forces.

At the end of each player's turn, they are given a score based on how much control they have of different regions of the board (known as "Areas") and how many capital, cities, and monuments they possess. The remains of players' empires never move again, but remain on the board for the rest of the game until they are conquered or destroyed by other players. Players are also given "Greater Events" and "Lesser Events" cards at the beginning of the game, which can be used throughout the game to gain certain advantages.^[4]

The following is list of all the empires in the game grouped by epoch and organized by their order of play in each epoch. Each empire is listed with its name, the number of armies it gets, its capital or starting location in parentheses, and the seas it can navigate in parentheses. Each epoch there is a minor empire and a kingdom that can be played as event cards, and these are listed at the bottom of the epoch.

Significant differences in the 1991 edition

^[5]

• There are minor differences in the board layout.
• The Saf Avids and Japan are Empires, instead of the Timurid Emirates and Netherlands respectively.
• Most Empires differ in numerical strength from the values given above.
• Events are drawn epoch by epoch rather than allocated at game start and are not divided into "Greater" and "Lesser".
• There is no "Minor Empire" event.
• Kingdoms (and Migrants, from another event) are placed by reference to a table of random locations rather than in a fixed place according to the epoch.
• There are no "Coins".
• There are four different counter designs rather than seven, and they are not specific to an epoch. An Empire must use counters not presently on the board if possible, and Kingdoms/Migrants use the same counter design as the Empire.
• Ships and Forts are purchased out of an Empire's total allowance at the start of the Empire's turn.
• An Empire's Sea travel capability is not stated on its card, but Naval Expansion begins immediately after Initial Placement so an Empire can only begin Naval Expansion through seas adjacent to its starting space.
• Ships, once placed, persist for the remainder of the game unless destroyed. Any one sea may contain ships of only one colour, resulting in sea battles if an Empire places a ship in a sea occupied by another player's forces. Once placed, ships may be used by the same player in later epochs. Oceans never have ships placed in them for any reason; the ability to traverse oceans is inherent in the Empire.
• The defender rolls only two dice, not three, when the attack comes over the sea.
• A tie result in combat causes the removal of no units, rather than one from each side.
• A Land may contain up to three units and a fort.
• A fort is removed automatically on the defeat of the last friendly army in its space, not separately as the result of the first defeat.
• Dominance of an Area is achieved by occupying three Lands (and holding a simple majority over each other player) rather than two. Control requires occupation of all Lands in the Area.
• There are no Pre-Eminence markers in the game.
• During allocation of Empires, if two players have the same Victory Point total, the tie is resolved by rolling dice, not by reference to the previous Epoch.
• Victory is achieved by attaining the highest Victory Point total; there is no tiebreak procedure.

References

External links

• Play Online (renamed Empires)