Chapter Two: Competition, Trade, & Resource Cards of ACME

Part 1: Competition Cards

Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East provides eleven (11!) regular Competition cards. For those unfamiliar or needing a refresher as to how an Ancient Civ game’s Competition is resolved for each Contested area, see the extended example of a Competition accessible through this link: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) Example of Play Part 3 of 3: Reckoning Phase with Additional Examples of Competition – Inside GMT blog. Several of Chapter One’s Great Person Competition cards, as well a couple of those encompassed within this article, are cited. Now to the details of ACME’s Competition cards: Remember, the Competition Phase occurs after completion of a turn’s Card Phase. There are no stacking limits during Competition and Competition cards may be played in combination which can result in some truly daunting effects upon their victim(s)! Armored Infantry: This is one of the most powerful Competition cards in the game since it provides one white Allied disk for every Competition, both Land and Sea, that the card playing Civilization is involved with. Therefore, this is an excellent card to have in hand if your Civilization is planning aggression against neighbors or defending itself from a massive attack on multiple areas. Obviously, it is a card to reveal with the first Competition being resolved to maximize its white disk effect. Playing Armored Infantry in combination with another Competition card, e.g. Warrior King, can be particularly potent. However, don’t despair if falling victim to such overwhelming power; history has a way of humbling the once seemingly mighty and invincible. In ACME, which reflects the often cruel times Civilizations had to endure, this is more often than not the case. It is the way of things in the world of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East. Siege Engines: In ACME, a City is defined as a stack of three or more Civilization disks. White Allied or black Barbarian disks are not considered a Civilization (an important distinction). When one Civilization is involved with another Civilization’s City and is victorious in eliminating all the other Civilization’s disks, it gains Loot consisting of one mina (which is placed in that Civilization Card’s Loot Box indicating it can’t be used during the current Competition Phase) and one Victory Point. So the power of the Siege Engines card in eliminating two opposing disks is one which can’t be minimized. Siege:& Blockade: These two Competition cards’ text should be self-explanatory and what an ability they bestow! By preventing a Civilization from expending a card or mina to avoid a disk loss; it eliminates a wealthy Civilization’s sometimes over-bearing ability to buy its way to Competition victory. Now alternate factors can come into play, such as other Competition cards. As can be seen, playing Siege or Blockade in combination with Siege Engines is a devastating combination since the victim can’t avoid losing two disks. Players familiar with ACME’s cards can devise other strong combinations the fates so permitting. Shield Bearers: This is a nice card to have since it circumvents the ability of cards such as Siege. Using a white Shield Bearers disk to absorb a Civilization disk loss is not akin to spending a mina or discarding a card. Note that this card can be held as a kind of reserve for more than one Competition during a turn. The Fab Four of Competition Cards – Improved Bow, Light Chariots, Heavy Chariots, and War Machines: These cards have minor variations in effect to one another; but share a common theme they can help generate a Civilization’s Competition victory. Note they’ll wreak their havoc on every opposing Civilization, as well as Barbarians, in an area making these cards potentially quite deadly under the right circumstances. Improved Bow and War Machines can be employed on Land or Sea with War Machines being extra effective against any Barbarian disks in an area. In the case of Light Chariots and Heavy Chariots, each adds a disk of the Civilization playing the card with the Heavy Chariots inflicting more damage. Eagles of the Sea: In situations where two disks confront each other in three different Sea areas and you don’t have cards or mina to offset even exchanges which result in leaving one disk stalemates behind; the Eagles of the Sea can result in the card player being the last person standing without losing a single colored Civilization disk of the player. Of course, less than three Sea Competitions could be at stake, but the more the better to achieve this card’s maximum effect. Mercenaries Desert: This is another last person standing Competition card, but in this case it would be better called last mina standing! Note this card can be applied to any disks engaged in a Land Competition, a colored Civilization disk opposing you, or one of its white Allied disks, both are fair game for being bribed and taken out of contention. The card player’s big advantage is that for every mina spent to replace an opposing Civilization’s disk with one of his own, the victim must expend DOUBLE the usual amount to prevent that disk’s replacement: two mina and/or cards for each disk! In ancient times being a mercenary could be quite profitable indeed! Closing Notes by ACME Game Developer Fred Schachter: The February 2021 GMT Update contained a wonderful new development as the game proceeds towards production readiness: the first increment of professional graphics by the talented Mark Mahaffey! As can be seen in this and the preceding articles, these cards fulfilled my and designers Chris & Mark’s hopes by creating a basic card layout including all play test card elements: each card’s classification, title (color coded by type to ease quick identification), description of what it does, and those captivating biblical quotes from Mark McLaughlin’s prodigious research, each appropriate to the card, which can lend such a fun element to play. During play testing, we’d occasionally read that card’s quote, in as basso-profund voice possible, before inflicting it for good or ill, upon the player receiving its effect(s). There were times when after reading a card’s quote, the victim would be asked “From what I just read oh evil one, care to guess what’s about to fall upon thine civilization?” Ah, the mirth or woe that could entail! This InsideGMT article series presents the cards of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East as a kind of Compendium. For more regarding this second of GMT’s Ancient Civs series, the first being Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS) go to GMT Games – Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East (ACME) for a variety of associated material including Mark Mahaffey’s beautiful rendition of ACME’s map board, replays, introductions to the game’s seventeen Civilizations, and other items readers will hopefully find of interest. As a reminder, during a turn of ACME, Cards are played in Civilization sequence after disks are deployed on the map, just as with ACIS. Each Civilization can have a maximum of six cards in its hand. These are divided into several different types of cards, their titles color-coded, which is how this article series’ chapters are structured: Great Person, Competition/Trade/Investment Resource cards, various Regular cards (for benefit or to inflict grief, call it “the will of the gods”upon another Civilization: these comprise the bulk of the deck), Religion, Event, and, of course, Deity Cards. ACME, unlike ACIS, does not have Wonders for Civilizations to build. Religion and Deity cards, which add much to this game’s œatmosphere, are unique to ACME. Coming up next we commence our exploration of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s good cards, for which Mark Mahaffey uses green colored titles to distinctly identify their type. Thanks for your continued interest and please use this article’s comments feature to convey any question for Mark and/or myself to respond to!

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Previous Articles:

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter One, Part One – Great Person Investment Cards

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter One, Part Two – Great Person Competition Cards

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter One, Part Three – Great Person “Spy” Cards

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter One, Part Four – Great Person “Power, Money (Mina) & VP” Cards

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter One, Part Five – Great Person “Negate” Cards

Next Articles:

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter Two, Part Two – Trade Cards

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter Two, Part Three – Resource Cards

“It’s All in the Cards”: A Compendium of Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East’s Cards: Chapter Three, Part One – Disasters Both Natural & Manmade