Wouter & Ymke 
Big empires don’t just appear out of nowhere. They usually start small, make a few solid decisions, survive a couple of bad ones, and somehow keep going. Ancient Empires tries to capture how that actually plays out. You begin as a tribe, not much to your name, and over time you slowly shape something that actually feels like a civilization. Or at least you try. History is unforgiving.
The game plays out on a world map split into continents, where you expand, gather resources, fight, build, and develop ideas. It all happens across three ages, stone, bronze, and iron. By the end, someone gets crowned eternal ruler of the ancient empires, which sounds impressive until you realise it mostly means “I planned slightly better than the rest of you”.
Ancient Empires looks like a lot at first. There’s plenty on the table. But underneath all the pieces and tracks there’s a very clear structure. Once that clicks, the game becomes much easier to follow, even though there’s still a lot going on.
Ancient Empires goes to Gamefound on 10 February.
👥 1-4 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 60-120 minutes
📝 Designer: Milan Tasevski
🎨 Artwork: Daniel Cunha & Ana Gjorgjijoska
🏢 Publisher: Archona Games (preview copy provided)
Gameplay overview
The game is divided into three ages, and each age has two rounds. Every round follows the same flow: a planning phase and then a resolution phase. The core idea is action programming. Everyone places order tokens on the map, face down, and those tokens decide what you’ll do later.
Each order token is a specific action. Move, grow, produce, attack, build, statecraft, that kind of thing. Where you place it matters a lot, because the slot tells you in which continent the action will happen. You’re not just choosing what to do, you’re also choosing where you’re allowed to do it.
During the planning phase, players take turns placing their order tokens. When you place one, you immediately get a small neutral bonus tied to that slot. These bonuses aren’t huge, but they do influence decisions. Sometimes you place an order mostly because that little bonus fits what you need right now. Once everyone is done, you move to resolution.
In the resolution phase, all orders are revealed one by one, starting from the direction marker and following its arrow around the board. Each order fully resolves before the next one flips.
The second round of each age is where things start to feel different. New orders can be placed above old ones. When that happens, the new order resolves first, and then the old one underneath resolves again. So actions from round one can fire twice. This changes how you think about planning. If you don’t plan for that, you’re probably playing fine, but you’re leaving options on the table.
On the map, you expand by moving armies and building settlements. Armies and settlements both add power, and power determines control. At the end of each age, control is checked per continent and points are handed out.
Resources matter constantly. Food, materials, gold, ideas, and glory are all tracked separately. You only gain resources when you actually resolve produce actions, and only if you have armies in the right territories. Spreading out without support usually comes back to bite you. It did for us.
Technology comes in through statecraft. You can invent new technologies by spending ideas, and the more technologies you already have, the more expensive the next ones become. Each technology pushes you forward on the pillars of civilization: military, commerce, engineering, culture, and science. Those pillars unlock bonuses and matter a lot for final scoring.
At the end of the stone age, everyone finally becomes a civilization by choosing one of their civilization cards. These give immediate effects, ongoing effects, and end of age effects, and they quietly shape how you’ll play the rest of the game. Wonders show up later. They’re revealed early, but you can only build them in the iron age, and they’re expensive enough that you really need to commit.
After the iron age, final scoring happens. Wonders, settlements, city states, resources, pillars, influence, glory. It’s a long list, but by that point you usually have a sense of where you stand. The winner becomes the eternal ruler, and everyone else starts explaining how their plan would have worked if only one thing had gone differently.
Artwork, components, and visual design
Quick reminder that everything here is based on a prototype. Things can still change.
Visually, ancient empires goes for a classic ancient world look. Earthy colours, painterly textures, and a map that stays readable even once it fills up. Continents are colour coded, but not in a way that pulls you out of the theme. Sacred sites, resource areas, and sea zones are easy to spot without crowding the board.
The cards follow the same style. Civilizations, technologies, and wonders show architecture, armies, and cultural scenes that feel rooted in history rather than exaggerated. Icons are consistent and clear, which helps once the table starts getting busy.
On the table, the game takes up space. The map becomes the focus as armies and settlements spread out. Armies are simple wooden meeples, settlements look like small buildings, and it’s easy to see who controls what without having to double-check constantly.
Order tokens are small but clear, which is good because you handle them all the time. Player boards and shared boards use colour and symbols sensibly. Nothing feels decorative for the sake of it.
Our experience
Ancient Empires turned out to be a very interactive strategy game built around one main idea: actions that come back in the second round of each age. The fact that earlier orders can resolve again changes how you think about planning. It’s less about what you need right now, and more about what you’ll be okay repeating later.
At first, we didn’t fully play with that in mind. Once we did, the game opened up. Early rounds became about setting things up, and later rounds were about getting more out of those choices. That shift felt natural rather than forced.
A lot of the surrounding systems will feel familiar if you’ve played games in this space before. Ages, tech cards, wonders, area control, end of age scoring. What worked for us was how everything kept coming back to order placement. That decision always felt like the centre of the game.
Most of the hard choices come from how you use the order slots. One placement decides your action, your continent, and a small bonus. Even placements that look harmless can have consequences later. That kept everyone paying attention, even when it wasn’t their turn.
Interaction is always present. The map is shared, orders are public once revealed, and conflict is always possible. Combat itself is simple, but its impact isn’t. Attacking armies and undefended improvements gives glory, attacking barbarians gives points, and destroying improvements wastes earlier investment and gives a bonus to the attacker. Because improvements are safe if defended, positioning matters just as much as attacking.
City state scoring affected decisions more than we expected. Order tokens placed in a continent matter not just for actions, but for majority at the end of the age. We had several moments where someone placed an order mainly to win that majority, not because the action itself was great. That felt intentional rather than gamey.
The technology market slowed things down in a good way. Costs increase as you collect more tech, which made timing more important than simply grabbing everything available. Development felt paced rather than rushed.
Group behaviour mattered a lot. Tables that avoided conflict leaned toward planning and efficiency. Groups that attacked more often created messier, less predictable games. The system supports both, but the experience changes depending on who you play with.
Our thoughts
Ancient empires doesn’t really let you ignore the rest of the table. Even though the map is front and centre, civilization cards often shaped decisions more than territory alone. Their effects don’t draw attention to themselves, but they push you in certain directions over time.
The differences between civilizations feel meaningful without being overwhelming. Some encourage conflict, others lean toward influence or building up your space. Early choices can slowly lock you into certain paths without ever forcing you. That only really became clear after a few plays.
The game is tighter than it first appears. With only two rounds per age and a limited number of orders, you can’t cover everything. Trying to spread across all continents usually led to actions that resolved, but didn’t really improve a position.
One thing not everyone will enjoy is how important timing is. Action resolution follows a fixed direction, and players who track that closely gain an advantage. Especially in the second round, knowing when your actions will resolve can change outcomes quickly. That depth is there, but it does reward experience, and newer players might miss it at first.
Ancient empires isn’t a game where something big happens every turn. It’s about structure, committing to decisions, and then having to live with them. When it works, it feels right. When it doesn’t, at least you can say it was historically accurate.
If you want to keep an eye on it, Ancient Empires launches on Gamefound on 10 February.
📝 We received a prototype copy of the game from Archona Games.
