History of the World by email

Avalon Hill's History of the World has been one of my favorite games since I first played it in 2001. The game traces the great empires of history from the Sumerians in 3000 BC to the Germans in 1914 AD. The game was first published by Ragnar Brothers in 1991. It was re-published by Gibsons Games in 1993 and then Avalon Hill in 1993. My version was published by Avalon Hill in 2001 after the company was purchased by Hasbro. Unlike the previous versions, that featured cardboard counters, my version has hundreds of colored plastic figures shaped like Egyptians, Romans and other historic soldiers.

The game lasts seven turns (epochs). Each turn, each player is dealt an empire that he or she manages during that epoch. The empires don't battle back-and-forth. Instead one empire completely finishes its turn before the next empire makes its moves. Each empire has a starting land, and then can attack into neighboring lands using a number of "armies" representing the strength of the empire during that time period -- ranging from five (such as the Khmers) to twenty (for the Romans). At the end of the empire's turn, the player receives points for lands controlled by the player (including the current empire and those of previous empires controlled by the player).

During the past month, I've been playing History of the World online at GamesByEmail. The first game was won by Tom Stafford with 193 points. Also playing were Steve Stafford, Mike, Andrew and Jeff. I came in fifth with 157 points. We've started a re-match, and I'm tied for first (but am likely to drop to second after Steve takes his turn). I also started a game with Al and four folks from BoardGameGeek. One of the players is in France and another is in Macedonia. I'm currently in fifth in that game. I'd heartily recommend the site to anyone interested in playing a game online. In addition to several traditional boardgames, such as chess, it hosts versions of Axis and Allies, Risk and Diplomacy.