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“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter Three, Part One – Disasters Both Natural & Manmade

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We continue our sojourn through the cards of GMT’s upcoming, now P-500 listed, second game of the “Ancient Civilizations” series: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East [the first game of the series is Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS)].

ACME’s selection of “Regular” cards provides instruments which inflict benefits, sometimes at the expense of another Civilization; and then there are cards which singularly direct pain. These represent the Ancient World’s ways of damaging a Civilization, sometimes fatally when multiply applied, in the form of disk loss and/or the erosion of its wealth (mina).

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“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter Two, Part Three – Resource Cards

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We continue our sojourn through the cards of GMT’s upcoming, now P-500 listed, second game of the “Ancient Civilizations” series: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East [the first game of the series is Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS)]. 

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“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter Two, Part One – Competition Cards

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Chapter Two: Competition, Trade, & Resource Cards of ACME

Part 1: Competition Cards

Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East provides eleven (11!) regular Competition cards. For those unfamiliar or needing a refresher as to how an Ancient Civ game’s Competition is resolved for each Contested area, see the extended example of a Competition accessible through this link: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) Example of Play Part 3 of 3: Reckoning Phase with Additional Examples of Competition – Inside GMT blog. Several of Chapter One’s Great Person Competition cards, as well a couple of those encompassed within this article, are cited.
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“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter One, Part One – Great Person Investment Cards

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Chapter One: The Great Person Cards of ACME

Part 1: Great Person Investment Cards

Introduction by ACME Game Developer Fred Schachter: The February 2021 GMT Update contained a wonderful new development as the game proceeds towards production readiness: the first increment of professional graphics by the talented Mark Mahaffey! These cards fulfilled my and designers Chris & Mark’s hopes by creating a basic card layout including all play test card elements: each card’s classification, title (color coded by type to ease quick identification), description of what it does, and those captivating biblical quotes from Mark McLaughlin’s research, each appropriate to the card, which can lend such a fun element to play. During play testing, we’d occasionally read that card’s quote, in as “basso-profundo” voice possible, before inflicting it, for good or ill, upon the player receiving its effect(s). Ah the mirth or woe that could entail! This InsideGMT article series presents the cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East as a kind of Compendium. For more regarding this second of GMTâ’ Ancient Civs series, the first being Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS) go to GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) for a variety of associated material, including Mark Mahaffey’s beautiful rendition of ACME’s mapboard, replays, introductions to the game’s seventeen Civilizations, and other items of readers will hopefully find of interest.
During a turn of ACME, Cards are played in Civilization sequence after disks are deployed on the map, just as with ACIS. Each Civilization can have a maximum of six cards in its hand. These are divided into several different types of cards, their titles color-coded, which is how this article series’ chapters are structured: Great Person, Competition/Trade/Resource cards, various Regular cards (for benefit or to inflict grief, call it “the will of the gods” upon another Civilization: these comprise the bulk of the deck), Religion, Event, and, of course, Deity Cards. ACME, unlike ACIS, does not have Wonders for Civilizations to build. Religion and Deity cards, which add much to this game’s atmosphere, are unique to ACME. With that, let’s commence this review with its Chapter One The “Great Person” Cards of ACME, Part 1: Great Person Investment cards. Each increment of these articles include one or more general Design Notes from Mark & Chris!
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Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) Example of Play Part 2 of 3: Card Phase through Competition Phase

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Introduction: Part 1 of this article took readers through an Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) game’s setup through its Growth Phase; which includes deployment of each civilization’s disks upon the map.

Those familiar with ACME’s predecessor, Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea’s (ACIS) Playbook example of play may observe similarities between that piece and this exposition. However, although both games share the same basic system, there are differences. For details, and links to material which explain game term references (for this article’s limitations can only allude to rulebook details); see an associated InsideGMT article: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Design Background and Differences from Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea.

This ACME Example of Play Article Part 2 shows the tension and uncertainty of one of this game’s key system engines, its Card Phase, as well as the game’s dice-less Competition Phase (used to resolve conflict between civilizations when they vie for the same map area).

So let’s rejoin our protagonists: the Hittite and Egyptian civilizations of a two player game, as they experience ACME’s excitement and uncertain arena of chaos while competing against one another for advantage towards earning an Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East triumph.

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Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Design Background and Differences from Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Part 3: Differences Between ACME and ACIS

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Introduction by Fred Schachter: Part 1 of this series provided General Background regarding GMT’s upcoming Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME).  Part 2 covered a recommended player attitude when engaged in a game of ACME (to best get into the spirit of the game and have a grand fun time): Playing Your Role.

This Part 3 is intended to address the curiosity of folks who wonder how ACME differs from the first game of the series: Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS).  

To best appreciate this series of articles, some knowledge of ACIS is helpful.  GMT has a wealth of information regarding ACIS in its site for the game: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-624-ancient-civilizations-of-the-inner-sea.aspx .

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It’s All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 6 – Final)

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In this article we continue to explore the event cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS). To read the previous five articles in this series, follow the links here, here, here, here, and here. We hope you’ve enjoyed this InsideGMT series thus far. 

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It’s All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 5)

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In this article we continue to explore the event cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS). To read the previous four articles in this series, follow the links here, here, here, and here. We hope you’ve enjoyed this InsideGMT series thus far. 

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It’s All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 4)

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In this article we continue to explore the event cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS). To read the previous three articles in this series, follow the links here, here, and here. 

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It’s All in the Cards: The Cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (Part 3)

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In this article we continue to explore the event cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS). To read the previous two articles in this series, follow the links here and here.