Writing reviews is hard work—the hours upon hours meticulously learning the ins and outs of a game’s design, the countless “test” playthroughs just to see which strategic interactions might be broken, the abundance of paper cuts suffered while punching out a plethora of uniquely shaped cardboard chits. Sometimes the task takes longer than anyone—particulary Board Game Quest’s fearless leader Tony Mastrangeli—would like. You might even say that reviewing anything is a task so encompassing, so overwhelming even, that it could be called Monumental.
Today’s review is for African Empires, an expansion for the game Monumental. The box contains three new factions and a new module or two that can be mixed with the stuff from the base game and/or the first expansion. Monumental plays 1-4 players (up to 5 with The Lost Kingdoms expansion) and takes about 90 minutes to play (maybe a smidge faster using the new Continuous Play rules that are included here, but are backwards compatible with the base game).
Expansion Overview:
If you want an in-depth overview of how the game plays, head over to Tony’s action-packed review of both Monumental and its first expansion. In very basic terms, Monumental combines elements of deck building and area control. Players also have a tableau that refreshes every turn. The tableau activation is the game’s most unique element; players trigger one intersecting combination of a row and a column each turn to determine their actions. All of these things get players resources, which can be used to get them more cards and take actions, all of that leads to MONUMENTAL point scoring, which—obviously—leads to victory. (Again: a better rules breakdown is over in the other article. Let’s just keep this thing moving.)
The New Factions
Malians
The Malians deck features a lot of cards that generate gold. They also interact with the new Trade Track a lot (including via their Warlord power).
Zulu
The Zulu’s main mechanism is that they can expand their troops across the provinces incredibly fast. This obviously gives them a leg up on controlling territory, but can spread the troops out fairly thin and even leave their starting location too vulnerable.
Aksumites
This faction is able to manipulate their reserved cards to trigger mechanisms, which also ties into their Warlord’s power of getting to reserve a card when first conquering provinces each turn.
The New Modules
Continuous Gameplay Mode
While technically part of the African Empires expansion, the rules for this “mode” are available online and can be used with the base game and any expansion. Essentially, it alters the original rules for the players turns where a player takes all of their actions at once. Now, players will trigger their tableaus at the same time and then take turns performing a single action each. This is meant to speed up gameplay (which was one of the complaints about the base game), and while it doesn’t quite achieve that, it does help to keep the game from stagnating for individual players from turn to turn. I found the game slightly more engaging when using this mode, particularly at higher player counts.
Quests
This is a welcome add-on to the game that allows players to target specific, individual goals throughout the game in order to earn additional points.
Trades
This action is a little convoluted, but if players trigger the trading post action (which involves having multiple explorers in the same province), they can move along a new track and place a trading post, which lets other players trade with them and gives that player a benefit as well.
Game Experience with the Expansion:
Monumental is a really fun game that is something of an oddity. It’s got a unique and nifty central mechanic (the card activation mechanism) that is combined with a slew of other stuff that may or may not always be successful (like the only partly successful area control of the central board).
It’s also had its share of release demons; a limited first Kickstarter run and then a disastrous second attempt that still has backers reeling. And now, years later, the entire system has been somewhat shelved in favor of the new Monumental Duel system, which is essentially a pared-down version of the game that has most of the same rules and omits the troop deployment in the area control section.
What does that mean for this expansion? It means it’s essential if your predilection leans toward the original game because it adds three new factions, which ramps up the replay value a ton. None of the three factions are doing anything surprising in the way they play, mind you, but they are different enough that it does mix up the game quite a bit with them involved. (It also obviously adds to the solo replay value, which is good because the game has a fun, if fiddly, solo mode.)
The African Empires expansion is also likely the conclusion of the standard Monumental line. That might not be a deciding factor for most, but if you’ve already got the other two things, you can complete the set with just one more expansion box.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, however, those interested in the game might be better served to test out and see if they prefer the main version of the game or the new Duel system before diving fully into either collection. On its own, the base game has enough replay value to decide if the whole shebang is worthwhile, especially since the improved (and maybe essential) continuous play rules are available online as an add-on that can be applied to the core set.
Hits:
• Adds replay value
• New trade track is interesting
• Easy to integrate with the base game
• New factions each feel different
• Great artwork, but…
Misses:
• …iffy graphic design can make some gameplay elements more confusing than they need to be
• The overall gameplay system is starting to feel a bit dated
Source: Board Game Quest
