Century: Eastern Wonders
Plan B Games proudly announces Century Eastern Wonders, the second title in the Century trilogy! Rigaud, Canada (December 22, 2018) - Plan B Games is proud to announce Century Eastern Wonders, the second title in the Century trilogy.
Designed by Emerson Matsuuchi, Century Eastern Wonders invites fans to return to the exciting world of spice trading as players take to the high seas taking the roles of merchants seeking to prosper in the exotic Indonesian islands. Century Eastern Wonders offers new, satisfying game mechanisms that will provide infinite replayability and countless strategies to explore. Fans that already own Century Spice Road will be able to combine both titles to experience the mixable game From Sand To Sea – An exciting ruleset that provides a new, unique Century experience!
Century Eastern Wonders releases on June 13, 2018 at Origins 2018 and will be available at retailers shortly after. Century Eastern Wonders is suited for 2 – 4 merchants, ages 8+. Establishing an spice trading network in the Indonesian islands could take years, but we expect a game of Century Eastern Wonders to take about 30 to 45 minutes. Pre-orders will open in the near future on PlanBGames.com with an exclusive pre-order promotion.
Centuries ago, the lucrative spice trade compelled the prosperous nations of the world to explore alternate routes to the sources of these precious goods. These nations took to the seas to seek out exotic lands. This led to the discovery of the famed Spice Islands where the most valuable spices of the world were found. This discovery also led to further exploration, competition....and later, war! During this time of prosperity and opportunity, you find yourself traveling on the high seas in search of these exotic wonders. As a merchant and privateer representing your nation, you seek to control this region for glory and profit. Your journey continues in the Far East.
User Reviews (1)
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The first pick up and deliver games I played I hated. I just couldn’t get in to adding cubes to a boat, and moving the boat to a drop off location.
But I loved Century Spice Road. And games like Istanbul and Oracle of Delphi landed well with me. So I was willing to give Eastern Wonders a chance. But a hesitant one.
Components
CUBES!!! Look, while I like the bright colours of the player bits, this game is a cube pusher. So the bits are not going to blow you away.
But everything here is really nice. The tiles are nice and thick. The outposts are big enough to tell who all ready has one on a tile, but not so much that the tiles become unreadable.
Everything is small (I’d love a deluxe version) but wood always feel great.
Set-Up
Give everyone a player mat, and coloured pieces of their choice. Boring, typical stuff.
Setting up the board? Ok…now comes the fun part.
While there are specific setups in the user guide, and certain rules about the number of market tiles used, other than that you really have a lot of options. This means that each game is going to feel different.
I do recommend using the basic setup when teaching the game, but once everybody knows how to play? Go nuts.
Game Play – Basics
On a player’s turn they will choose to move, and then do one of the following:
* a Market action on a market tile (placing an Outpost plus take, convert, or upgrade cubes)
* a Port action on a port tile (trade in cubes for a point tile)
* a Harvest action on any tile (gain a yellow cube)
The last round is triggered once a player claims their 4th point tile.
The player with the most points wins.
Game Play – Advanced Tactics
Adding to the complexity of the game, whenever you place an outpost you may uncover victory points. But, if you empty a vertical column you get to choose one bonus tile from the supply and place it next to your player board.
These give you special powers to break rules, or straight up bonus points.
Theme
Look, the Century games have alt Golem versions that are the same game with different components. If you are looking for a theme heavy game, you are not going to find it here.
Replay Value
One of the reasons I love Century Spice Road is that turns are fast. And Eastern Wonders keeps that going here. Very often you’ll be trying to figure out your next turn and be reminded that it’s now your turn. Not as often as spice road, but frequently enough that the games plays in a short amount of time.
And the variable setup just adds to the replay-ability of this one.
Over All Impression.
So is this just another bland pick up and deliver game? Yes and no. It, like the other Century games, takes a mechanic at it’s most basic and figures out the way to make a streamlined game with that core element.
What Spice Road is to hand management, Eastern Wonders is to pick up and deliver.
And surprisingly, that works wonderfully for a game that is still quick and has few rules, but also has some depth to it. This one will gladly stay on my shelf.
One caution I will say…unlike Spice Road that works great from 2 to 5 players, you’ll want to stick with 2 or 3 for Eastern Wonders. Playing with the full four players is a little bit chaotic, and can introduce some minor AP. I haven’t really felt that in the games at the lower player numbers though.