I wrote the Small World review first so I can write this review. Philippe Keyaerts designed both, and although I hate Small World I like Olympos.
The plot is that you command a tribe colonizing Greece, including Atlantis. Each territory contains 1 of 4 resources available, and those resources help research technologies which help you further your civilization. At end game you build monuments or “Wonders” to show off what a great civilization you have.
The core mechanic of this game is a time track. You have around 75-90 time units worth of moves in a game. Turn order is determined by the progression on the time track, whoever has spent the fewest time takes his turn. It is possible, and in fact likely a couple times a game that a player will take multiple turns in a row.
Several technologies reduce the time it takes to do various tasks, others give resources and some give victory points. Whenever a technology is bought, it also gives a bonus, like an increase in maximum population, a free time counter or something else beneficial.
~Maximum population is capped unless/until you unlock more doobers.
~Free time counters reduce the time spent on your next action and they must be spent on your very next action.
Battles will occur; resources are scarce enough that people will compete for them. The attacker always wins; military strength only determines how quick it takes. Losing doesn’t hamstring the defender. His counter stays on the board (but under the attackers) and he gets 1 free time counter for losing. So an attacker gains the resource but the defender gets 3 steps towards the door.
At regular and known times along the time track an event is triggered. It is always a 'most' or 'least' proposition. If the event calls for the 'most' something good happens to the winner, like wise something bad happens when an event calls for the 'least'. These events are relatively minor, it’s helpful but not critical to win, and it is an annoyance when you lose but not devastating. Tactical cards are also drawn at this point. These cards give a onetime bonus, like a resource or a way to earn victory points.
Wonders require 'temples' to build. Some spots on the map give you temples (and these tokens are exchanged when a territory is conquered just like resources). You also get temples from events, tactical cards and some technologies which give a generic temple. Wonders are arranged on the last row on the tech board. Any technology previously researched in the same column also counts as a temple for that wonder.
End game occurs after a player reaches the final straightaway on the time track. After passing that spot, a player may make 1 additional move. The spot on that final straightaway also gives you victory points, the more time left the more points it is worth.
So there are some neat things going on here. I’ve played other time track games (Thebes or Glen More), but this one is the best I’ve played yet. I love the mechanism of bonuses when buying technologies; it’s actually set up as a draft too. First one in on a tech gets his choice, leaving the other bonuses for those that follow. Capping the doobers until you buy a tech is a fantastic balancing device. It guarantees that everyone will research a couple techs. The individual technologies are arranged differently game to game too. The rows stay the same, but the columns vary. In other words, the same tech won’t give the same bonuses game after game and also won’t count towards the same wonder. That has Philippe Keyaerts fingerprints all over it, the mix and matching reminds me of the best parts of Small World. I also really like the endgame mechanic, getting more VP’s for spending less time.
I do have some concerns. It seems like Wonders are pretty powerful, and the guy who gets two of them built has a tremendous advantage. I haven’t played enough yet to be sure of that.
Darren’s rating: A tentative 8 out of 10. Stone Age was a blast the first half dozen times we played it too until we figured out the fatal flaw. Not sure there is a flaw in this game yet, but it will be fun hunting for it.
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