Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
City Builder: Ancient World is a tile-laying game for 1-4 players, which can be played competitively, cooperatively or solo. Players are magistrates sent to a newly conquered province to build cities and help spread Roman influence in the area.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Cooperative Game
Players coordinate their actions toward a shared objective and win or lose together.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
End Game Bonuses
Earn additional points for meeting conditions evaluated when the game ends.
Solo / Solitaire Game
Provide rules and objectives designed for a single player.
Tug of War
Competing actions pull a shared marker or advantage back and forth.
Read the full game description
City Builder: Ancient World is a tile-laying game for 1-4 players, which can be played competitively, cooperatively or solo. Players are magistrates sent to a newly conquered province to build cities and help spread Roman influence in the area. By employing clever planning, they must grow their cities to meet the demands of incoming settlers, as well as build imposing Monuments to please their emperor. Competitive Objective: To win, players must build impressive Monuments and fill their city with incoming settlers. Monuments have unique scoring bonus that will only apply to the city they are built in, while claiming settlers unlocks the point value they are covering. At the end of the game, players will add up their scores and the player with the most victory points is declared the winner. This player is awarded governorship of the province with their city being named its new capital. Cooperative Objective: The emperor wants to increase the efficiency and profit of each of his provinces. As a group of magistrates you must work together to ensure your province doesn’t displease him, which would result with you losing your position—and your possibly your head. Follow the emperor’s Edict, complete his preferred Monuments, and plan carefully to make sure you all stay off the chopping block! —description from the publisher