Systems Saturday - Stone Age (2008) Incl Tabletop w/ Wil Wheaton

This week on Systems Saturday, where I often look at a game I've played like Stone Age (2008), I'm going to let the blog do double duty and include the week's TableTop with Wil Wheaton where he was recently joined by Nika Harper, Jesse Cox, and Jordan Maron.  That comes at the end but first let me discuss the game from my experience after a BGG description of it.

From the Description on Board Game Geek:

The "Stone Age" times were hard indeed. In their roles as hunters, collectors, farmers, and tool makers, our ancestors worked with their legs and backs straining against wooden plows in the stony earth. Of course, progress did not stop with the wooden plow. People always searched for better tools and more productive plants to make their work more effective.

In Stone Age, the players live in this time, just as our ancestors did. They collect wood, break stone and wash their gold from the river. They trade freely, expand their village and so achieve new levels of civilization. With a balance of luck and planning, the players compete for food in this pre-historic time.

Players use up to ten tribe members each in three phases. In the first phase, players place their men in regions of the board that they think will benefit them, including the hunt, the trading center, or the quarry. In the second phase, the starting player activates each of his staffed areas in whatever sequence he chooses, followed in turn by the other players. In the third phase, players must have enough food available to feed their populations, or they face losing resources or points.

From my handful of games, I see this as a challenging game that can also be very good for new boardgamers.  While it features Dice Rolling, Set Collection, and Worker Placement all in one game, they are simplified enough for novices to pick things up quickly.  The iconic nature of the various playing areas of the board, buildings, and cards should also suggest strategies and options that even newer players should grasp.  Veteran players should enjoy the replayability that comes from the randomness the building and card decks provide.

All that said, you can now watch it played by Wil and the gang on TableTop . . .

Systems Saturday on MFWARS.com 

A look under the hood of various Games, Rules and Systems.

Please Like, Share, Plus, Tweet, Follow, and Comment!