Board Game Review: Altay - Dawn of Civilization
- Esmeralda Wolf
- Oct 9
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 11
BOARD GAME REVIEW: ALTAY – DAWN OF CIVILIZATION
WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST HUMAN COLONISTS, A NEW AGE BEGINS
Ares Games
Altay – Dawn of Civilization is a deck-building civilization game set in a mythical era. Take on the role of one of the four Ancient Peoples to develop settlements and technologies, conquer continents, and build thriving civilizations. Choose wisely from the people’s decks so you can claim victory points with style and strategy.
Click on the link above to download the full review in enriched PDF format
Overall: 9
Story: 9
Game System: 9
Design and Art: 9
Replayability: 9
Story
Altay – Dawn of Civilization takes place in a mythical age — a time before the Mothers of Humankind crossed the mountains. The peoples who lived there were the Elves, dancing in the forests; the Earthfolk, dwelling deep underground; the Littlefolk, dancing with the wild waves along the coasts; and, beyond the lands on the other side of the fire, raged the Firefolk.
Some legends say they were not like us — that they were spirits wrapped in flesh. We can’t be sure, for they have all vanished now.For countless ages, a fragile balance has existed within this mythical society, where each people developed its own culture. A new challenge arises: the arrival of human colonists with new crafts and weapons. In Altay – Dawn of Civilization, you take on the role of a leader of one of the Ancient Peoples and decide how to face this growing threat. Each people has a unique starting deck with a specific composition of basic and unique cards. Each turn, you can generate resources, build settlements, expand territory, develop technologies to add to your deck, and either attack or defend against opponents.
Game Rules
Each turn, draw five cards from your draw pile and take them into your hand. When your draw pile is empty, shuffle your discard pile to form a new one and draw five cards again. You may play all cards in any order you wish during your turn.
You can use your cards to:
● Produce Resources
You can produce resources using the effects on your cards marked with the keyword produce, or with cards that simply show a resource symbol. Resources are used to perform various actions during the game: buying new cards, building settlements, or developing technologies.
Note: Any resources you produce during your turn must be spent that same turn. If you cannot spend them, they return to the supply — unless you have a card in play that allows you to store resources.
● Trade with Remaining Resources (optional rule)
When you return unused resources to the supply, you gain one coin for each resource. Once you have five coins, you may exchange them at any time for one resource of your choice.
● Purchase New Action Cards
You may use your resources to buy new action cards from the market. These cards help you strategically build your deck. The cost of each card is shown in the upper right corner. You may buy multiple cards per turn, but not two copies of the same card in a single turn.
● Build Settlements
You may play a settlement card (village, town, or city) face-up on the table to start building it. The required resources are listed on the card. You can continue building it over subsequent turns, but you must place at least one resource immediately. Once you’ve provided all required resources, return them to the supply and place the completed settlement card in your discard pile.You may then place the settlement on the board in one of two ways:
On a territory where you already have a settlement (maximum of four per territory).
On an empty territory adjacent to one of your existing territories.
● Attack or Defend
You may launch an attack from one of your territories against an adjacent territory. You may attack multiple times per turn, but never from the same territory toward the same target.
Attacking Neutral Territory (marked with a conquest token):
The territory must border one of your own. Play a card with the attack icon. Each of your settlements in that territory counts as one attack point. The total must exceed the number on the conquest token. Once you conquer the territory, place the marker in front of you. If the marker includes a resource, take it from the supply.
Attacking Another Player’s Territory:
The same rules apply: the territory must border your own. Use your settlements and cards with attack icons. Your opponent has two options:
Surrender: They immediately lose their settlement, which goes to you. They may discard the same or fewer cards from their hand and then refill their hand to five cards.
Fight: They may play as many cards as they wish showing a shield symbol. This total is increased by the number of their settlements in the attacked territory.
If there’s a tie, nothing changes. If one player wins, the other loses their settlement, which goes to the victor (worth points at the end of the game). After the battle, the defender refills their hand to five cards.
● Develop Technologies and Gain Victory Points
Throughout the game, you’ll develop technologies starting from level 1. To begin developing a technology, take a card from the supply during your turn. You must immediately place one resource or one of your available settlements on it (only for level 1 and 2). If only two different technologies of that level remain face-up, draw a new one to replace it. (If you draw a duplicate, place it on the existing stack and draw another.) Once you’ve collected all required resources, return them to the supply. If you placed a settlement on the development card, move it to the board following the standard building rules.
Level 3 Cards
These follow the same rules as level 1 and 2 cards, except that a level 3 project must be completed — it cannot be discarded. You may only start one once you’ve developed at least one level 2 technology. These cards mainly grant victory points rather than in-game effects. The effect of a completed card applies immediately; place it face-up in front of you.
Restrictions on Technology Development
You may only work on one development card at a time.
You cannot take a development card from the supply unless you can immediately place one resource or settlement on it.
You may remove resources from an ongoing project to abandon it and start a new one.
You may never have more development cards (completed or in progress) at a higher level than the level below.
Example: You can never have more level 2 cards than level 1 cards.
You may not develop two identical technologies; all must be unique.
The game ends when one player places their final settlement on the board, or when a player has no settlements left in play.
Components and Design
With Altay, Ares Games once again delivers a beautiful title. The artwork is stunning, and the printing quality excellent. The box includes a well-designed strategic insert. The rulebook is clear and well-structured. If I had to mention one small point of criticism: this game didn’t include a QR code linking to an instructional video – something I had grown used to from Ares Games’ recent releases.
Box Contents
1 rulebook
1 game board
1 score pad
60 wooden settlement tokens (15 per player)
80 wooden resource tokens (16 food, 16 wood, 16 metal, 16 stone, 16 culture)
40 starting action decks (10 per player)
88 action cards (8 of each of the 11 different types)
50 victory cards (4 of each of the 10 level 1 and 2 victory cards, 1 of each of the 10 level 3 cards)
6 victory point markers
33 conquest markers (12 value 1, 12 value 2, 9 value 3)
1 starting player token
52 coins (optional expansion) (40 value 1, 12 value 5)
Conclusion
A fan of deck-building and strategy board games? Then Altay is a gem. It’s the perfect blend of deck-building, civilization development, and area control – three mechanics that combine to earn as many victory points as possible. Thanks to the wide variety of ways to customize your deck, Altay – Dawn of Civilization offers excellent replayability. After placing the final settlement, I immediately wanted to start again.
Text: Esmeralda Wolf
Comments