Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea: As Short or As Long a Game as You Wish to Make It

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Recommended Parameters for Short, Standard, Extended, and Campaign ACIS Games

As noted on page 55 of the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Playbook, players can choose the length of their game. Players need not play all four Epochs nor commence play with Epoch I (to enable experiencing Epoch IV’s “Imperial Rome”). Any game of any length is a “complete” game.

When determining how long you wish to play a game, either choose the number of Epochs to be completed, the number of hours to play, or the victory point level to be met at the end of any turn by the leader. Once the number of Epochs have been concluded, the amount of time has passed, or a victory point level has been reached by the leader, the game ends at the conclusion of that turn. Here are the recommended parameters – but players are encouraged to modify these to fit their desires.

End of Epoch Event Option

Unless using the Optional Rule for a “Final Epoch Event” (see back page of the Rule Book), the End of Epoch Event does not occur in the final Epoch of any game. Thus a Short game that ends on Epoch I will not have an End of Epoch Event. A Standard game that is set to end at the conclusion of Epoch II will have an End of Epoch Event at the conclusion of Epoch I, but not at the conclusion of Epoch II, and so on.

A game that is scheduled to end based on time played or victory points earned, however, may go several Epochs, depending on Sudden Death and card play. Thus, for example, a Standard game may go through three Epochs in two hours. In that case, there would be an End of Epoch Event at the End of Epochs I and II, but not at the end of Epoch III.

Counting Down the Clock

If playing to a certain time (and depending upon the type of players), it may be advisable to set a timer to limit how long each player spends on their acquisition and placement of disks. Limiting that to two or three or four minutes prevents players from intentionally dawdling to “run out the clock.” Such a limit, however, should be agreed upon by all players – and, in the spirit of honest play, sportsmanship, and good manners, be enforced gently and with the utmost decorum. 

Historical Wargame Scenarios

The historical wargame scenarios each set a specific turn or Epoch limit, but while recommended for play balance, even those may be curtailed as above if necessary.

Mark McLaughlin
Author: Mark McLaughlin

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One thought on “Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea: As Short or As Long a Game as You Wish to Make It”

  1. Love this game. Our preferred method of play is to start at Epoch Ii and remove the Event Card that forces players to discard and restock their hands (a waste of time and more shuffling of a deck that seems to get shuffled enough times anyway!) – it still takes a good 2-3 hours though!

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