Through the Ages (TTA) was once the No.1 strategy game on BoardGameGeek. It is a heavy-weight masterpiece. This is not a leisure game where you can switch off your brain; it is a symphony of math, logic, and survival.
Table of contents
Open Table of contents
Why is it so good?
The brilliance of TTA lies in its Numerical Design. Unlike many games that feel arbitrary, TTA creates a perfectly balanced web of attributes. Every decision has a ripple effect. It demands full cognitive engagement to manage the constant tension between growth and collapse.
What is this game about?
To a newbie, the mechanics might feel mind-blowing: card drafting (political actions), resource management, science, religion, military formations, and colonization.
Let me break it down into a story:
At the dawn of civilization, your priority is survival. You farm to produce Food, which allows you to breed a Population. You then assign these people to mine Resources or research Science.
With Science, you build Labs and Libraries to unlock advanced technologies. But as you grow, you need more people, which requires more food.
Here is the catch: Corruption. If you hoard resources without spending them, they are wasted (representing corruption or inefficiency).
Meanwhile, you need Culture (Religion/Arts) to keep your people happy and Military to protect what you’ve built.
You have to balance all these dimensions while managing the order of operations. It is a massive system, but it feels incredibly fair and balanced.
The Civilization Engine: A Balancing Act
The beauty of TTA lies in its interconnected attributes. Most games struggle to balance multiple resources, but TTA masters it. You aren’t just collecting points; you are managing a fragile ecosystem of:
| Dimension | Key Mechanics | The Conflict |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | Farming (Food), Mining (Ore), Corruption | You must produce to grow, but hoarding resources leads to massive waste (inefficiency). |
| Social Engineering | Religion, Entertainment, Happiness | A growing population requires “smiles.” Without enough happiness, your people go on strike and paralyze the nation. |
| The Art of Power | Leaders, Political Cards, Military | Focus on Culture to win, but you must build armies for Colonization and to defend against War. |
How to play? (My Philosophy)
- Observation: Watch your enemies closely. Every move they make changes the global landscape.
- Sequence: The order of development matters more than the development itself.
- Bottlenecks: (This is the most important part) You must identify where your bottleneck is at any given moment. Is it food? Is it rocks? Is it actions?
Conclusion
I fucking love this type of game because life is like an endless game of TTA.
To live longer and survive the sufferings of reality, you must constantly identify and resolve your bottlenecks. Whether it’s your health, your finances, or your skills—fix the bottleneck, and you survive.