History of the World (board game)
Encyclopedia
This article is about the board game
. For a description of the world's history, see History of the world
. For the Mel Brooks
movie of similar name see History of the World, Part I
.
History of the World (often abbreviated "HotW") is a board game
designed by Gary Dicken and Steve Kendall, originally published in 1991 by Ragnar Brothers. It is played by up to six different players in seven different epochs; each player playing a different empire in each epoch.
. In 1994, History of the World won the Origins Award
for Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1993. After Avalon Hill
was purchased by Hasbro
in the early 2000s, History of the World was rereleased as a big box game with hundreds of plastic
pieces. Ragnar Brothers released a revised version of the game, "A Brief History of the World", in 2009.
; at the end of the epoch, the empires stop expansion and players score points. New empires then rise for the next epoch, although the remains of the previous empires stay on the board and score points for as long as they remain unconquered. The majority of points come from presence and/or dominance of various regions (generically called "areas") of the world, which fluctuate in worth throughout the game. For example, the area of Northern Europe is worth more in modern times than in ancient times, while the area of the Middle East is worth more in ancient times, based on historical importance. Other points come from capitols of empires, cities in general, monuments, and fleets or navigation.
Inevitably, a limited selection of historical empires had to be chosen for inclusion in the game. In the newest version of the game, there are seven empires in each of the seven epochs. The order of play and strength of each (in parentheses) is given below. The starting territory of each is also given, followed by a note of fleet locations (if any), and a note for those lacking a capital.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
. For a description of the world's history, see History of the world
History of the world
The history of the world or human history is the history of humanity from the earliest times to the present, in all places on Earth, beginning with the Paleolithic Era. It excludes non-human natural history and geological history, except insofar as the natural world substantially affects human lives...
. For the Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
movie of similar name see History of the World, Part I
History of the World, Part I
History of the World, Part I is a 1981 comedy film written, produced, and directed by Mel Brooks. Brooks also stars in the film, playing five roles: Moses, Comicus the stand-up philosopher, Tomás de Torquemada, King Louis XVI, and Jacques, le garçon de pisse...
.
History of the World (often abbreviated "HotW") is a board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
designed by Gary Dicken and Steve Kendall, originally published in 1991 by Ragnar Brothers. It is played by up to six different players in seven different epochs; each player playing a different empire in each epoch.
Brief history
The first edition of History of the World by Ragnar Brothers was a small-press edition (with a tea-towel board). It was then republished by Gibsons Games and Avalon HillAvalon Hill
Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
. In 1994, History of the World won the Origins Award
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
for Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1993. After Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. Its logo contained its initials "AH", and it was often referred to by this abbreviation. It also published the occasional miniature wargaming rules, role-playing game, and had a popular line of sports simulations...
was purchased by Hasbro
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
in the early 2000s, History of the World was rereleased as a big box game with hundreds of plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
pieces. Ragnar Brothers released a revised version of the game, "A Brief History of the World", in 2009.
Game play
The game is played in seven rounds known as epochs. In each epoch, each player plays a different empireEmpire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
; at the end of the epoch, the empires stop expansion and players score points. New empires then rise for the next epoch, although the remains of the previous empires stay on the board and score points for as long as they remain unconquered. The majority of points come from presence and/or dominance of various regions (generically called "areas") of the world, which fluctuate in worth throughout the game. For example, the area of Northern Europe is worth more in modern times than in ancient times, while the area of the Middle East is worth more in ancient times, based on historical importance. Other points come from capitols of empires, cities in general, monuments, and fleets or navigation.
Inevitably, a limited selection of historical empires had to be chosen for inclusion in the game. In the newest version of the game, there are seven empires in each of the seven epochs. The order of play and strength of each (in parentheses) is given below. The starting territory of each is also given, followed by a note of fleet locations (if any), and a note for those lacking a capital.
Epoch I (3000 - 1400 BC)
- (4) SumeriaSumeriaSumeria may refer to:*A common name for the region of city-states known in ancient Mesopotamia as Sumer....
(Lower Tigris) - (5) EgyptAncient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
(Nile Delta) Fleets: Red Sea; E Med. - (3) MinoansMinoan civilizationThe Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...
(Crete) Fleets: E Med. - (4) Indus (India)Indus Valley CivilizationThe Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
(Lower Indus) - (4) BabyloniaBabyloniaBabylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
(Middle Tigris) - (3) Shang ChinaShang DynastyThe Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...
(Yellow River) - (5) AryansIndo-IraniansIndo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family....
(Turanian Plain) No Capital
Epoch II (1400 - 450 BC)
- (6) Vedic India (Upper Indus)
- (6) Zhou ChinaZhou DynastyThe Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...
- (8) AssyriaAssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
(Upper Tigris) - (7) Greek City StatesAncient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
(Morea) Fleets: Black Sea; E Med; W Med. - (7) Scythians (Caucasus) No Capital
- (7) CarthaginiaCarthageCarthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
(Shatts Plateau) Fleets: E Med; W Med. - (12) Achaemenid Persia (Persian Plateau) Fleets: Red Sea; Black Sea; E Med.
Epoch III (450 BC - 300 AD)
- (8) Celts (Central Europe)
- (14) Macedonia (Pindus) Fleets: Red Sea, Black Sea, E Med.
- (9) Mauryan India (Ganges Delta)
- (11) Han China (Great Plain of China) Fleets: S China Sea
- (5) Xiongnu (Mongolia)
- (20) RomansRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
(S. Italia) Fleets: E Med., W Med - (9) Sassanid Persia (Zagros)
Epoch IV (300 - 740 AD)
- (8) Gupta IndiaGupta EmpireThe Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a classical civilization. The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the...
(E Deccan) Fleets: Bay of Bengal - (10) GothsGothsThe Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
(Danubia) Fleets: W Med - (14) HunsHunsThe Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
(W Steppe) - (11) ByzantinesByzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(Balkans) Fleets: Black Sea, E Med., W Med - (10) Tang ChinaTang DynastyThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(Yangtze Kiang) Fleets: S China Sea - (15) Arabs (Arabian Peninsula) Fleets: Red Sea
- (5) KhmersKhmer EmpireThe Khmer Empire was one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Malaysia. Its greatest legacy is Angkor, the site of the capital city...
(Mekong) Fleets: S China Sea
Epoch V (750 - 1300 AD)
- (9) FranksFranksThe Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
(N Gaul) Fleets: W Med - (7) Vikings (Scandinavia) Fleets: N Atlantic
- (8) Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
(Central Europe) - (7) Chola India (E Ghats) Fleets: Bay of Bengal
- (9) Song ChinaSong DynastyThe Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
(Szechaun) Fleets: S China Sea - (12) Seljuk Turks (Turanian Plain)
- (18) MongolsMongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
(Mongolia)
Epoch VI (1300 - 1550 AD)
- (9) Ming ChinaMing DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
(Chekiang) Fleets: S China Sea - (8) Timurid EmiratesTimurid DynastyThe Timurids , self-designated Gurkānī , were a Persianate, Central Asian Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turko-Mongol descent whose empire included the whole of Iran, modern Afghanistan, and modern Uzbekistan, as well as large parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the...
(Turanian Plain) - (4 - 2 each) IncasInca EmpireThe Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...
/Aztecs (Mexican Valley) - (14) Ottoman TurksOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(W Anatolia) Fleets: Red Sea, Black Sea, E Med - (8) PortugalPortuguese EmpireThe Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
(W Iberia) Fleets: Atlantic, Indian Ocean, W Pacific - (12) SpainSpanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
(Pyrenees) Fleets: Atlantic, Indian Ocean, W Pacific - (10) Mughal IndiaMughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
(Ganges Valley) Fleets: Bay of Bengal
Epoch VII (1550 - 1914 AD)
- (10) RussiaRussian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(N European Plain) Fleets: Black Sea, Sea of - (11) Qing ChinaQing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
(Manchurian Plain) Fleets: Sea of Japan, S. China - (6) NetherlandsDutch EmpireThe Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...
(L Rhine) Fleets: Atlantic, Indian Ocean - (11) FranceFirst French EmpireThe First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
(W Gaul) Fleets: N Atlantic, Atlantic, Indian - (16) BritainBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
/British IndiaBritish RajBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
(Albion) Fleets: N Atlantic, Atlantic, Indian - (9) United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(Appalachia) Fleets: Caribbean Sea, E Pacific, W - (10) GermanyGerman EmpireThe German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
(Baltic Seaboard) Fleets: Atlantic, Indian Ocean
External links
- "A Brief History of the World" at Ragnar Brothers
- Play Online (renamed Empires)