Game 69: Seven Wonders Duel


 Seven Wonders Duel is a game Jacob gave me and David just prior to one of our "empty-nesting" stints.  We haven't been empty nesting lately, so this has stayed on the shelf as we have chosen games that include more people.  Anthony and David played this yesterday, though, and Anthony and I were free this morning so we challenged each other to a duel. (Christmas break is awesome - just sayin'.) I have often found that variations such as this don't work well, but this one is very satisfying. I would even say satisfying to the level of the original Seven Wonders, which is one of our very favorite games.
 Above is the original set up - the first age.  Before beginning to take or buy cards from the pyramid above, players choose "wonders" to build.  Below is a picture of the wonders I chose.  There is a cost to each, and each provides various benefits - victory points or an extra turn or military advancement or coins or various other things.
 Below is a picture of the set up for the third age (center tableau of cards).  Some cards are upside down, as was the case in the original pyramid.  Once the cards are uncovered, they are turned face up.  This means that during play there remains some mystery about what upcoming options there will be.
 There are multiple win conditions, one of which is gaining the highest total number of victory points, another of which is military victory, which is won by getting enough military cards to move the red sword and shield marker all the way across the track toward the other person.  In this game, we didn't even need to count our victory points, as Anthony beat me militarily halfway through the third age.  (There's also a way to use sciences - green cards/tokens - to win.)
 Anthony's cards are shown below.  You can see that he got so many military cards that they are hanging precariously off the edge of the table!
 Bonus photos below of Jacob and Pooh Bear peaking over the table at this exciting match-up!!


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