Greetings fans of Age games!
I am Vincent, RTS & tactical bord games player & AoE early fan.
I started a side project to create an original board game for Age of Empires license, inspired by the historical mechanics of the games.
I got a few ideas already on the general game design but what I would like is to get inspiration from the greatest players & fans of the video games.
I plan to post here every month regular updates on the project, visuals and links to download, print and play test at home 
Disclaimer: it is a fan initiative and I do not intend to sell anything under the AoE brand by myself.
I played Age of Discoveries once but didnāt like it. I wish we could create something really close to the feeling of a Classic Random play in AoE, 2-4 players with resources, armies & constructions.
I think it would be easier to theme it around AoE 2&4 lores but open to all suggestions!
My first questions for you are:
- What are your favourite board & card games?
- Which video-games mechanics do you think could be translated in the board games easily and how?
- Can you think of other board games mechanics you like and would love to see adapted in an AoE game? (Eg. Catan, 7 wonders, Risk, etcā¦)
Thank you for your help!
Vincent
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This is a really cool thing.
Could you please reveal at least some of your ideas? Maybe this will encourage people to participate more in the discussion.
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I am really suprised Microsoft hasnāt started merchandising stuff like board games for their star RTS franchise.
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I would like to start with a counter question: what are you hoping to gain by designing an Age of Empires game rather than an unlicensed game of historic warfare? Like dinosaurs, Mozart music and Zorro, history is free to use after all. What is the advantage in your view? Are there any specific mechanics you think would be great to represent in some way? And Iām mostly speaking from a game mechanical perspective here. Yes, there might be a marketing benefit. But is there a benefit in making a good game?
This may sound harsh or like Iām not a fan of the games or something. Thatās not my intention. I just think more spin off projects should ask themselves this question: why is this project a spin off project? Is there a reason for that? If yes, great! Be a spin off project!
EDIT: Oh crap, Iām replying to a year old dead topic. Too bad, I was starting to get some ideasā¦
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Settlers of Catan, but with soldiers.
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Not sure what happened the the other guy, but Iāve just submitted a AOE boardgame concept to to Lego.
Itās called Age Of Empires: Brick Edition, and is a slim-lined turn based strategy game. If enough of the community take an interest in the idea, Lego will review it, and try and get permission for the IP to make it real.
Will love to hear peopleās thoughts on it, and any advice
Hereās the link to more info.
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Great question! Personally, I really like the AOE mechanics, and if slimmed down, I think those will work in a boardgame. Also, by giving it a AOE theme, the whole expirience becomes painte with all the good memories of AOE, which is always good Lastly, as you say, I think there is a huge comemrcial benefit.
But, Iām not the original guy who started this post, but the guy who is desgining a LEGO boardgame with AOE IP. Will love to hear the ideas you have though!!
Iām not sure what exactly was brewing up in my head when I wrote that, but I figure it was based ages and probably buildings. Those are the fundamental Aoe2 mechanics. Theyāre both like secondary objectives. You donāt need any of them to win, they donāt give you any victory point or such, but they give new options that make winning easier. So you start with a Town Center and some villagers, which are tied into the resource gathering mechanics. As you can create only one villager per round or some similar limitation(s) (maybe a maximum villager cap of 10 or so?) you will have to start doing something else with your resources by the third round or so. (Population is going to be lower throughout than in the original game, and I donāt think trying to get the perfect dark age build down is very exciting in a board game version.) So you either spend it on a barracks and one or two man at arms or on feudal age (I donāt think resource collection buildings would work too well, maybe a dock? Economy upgrades in the market could workā¦). Not sure how Iād handle recource income, map control or resources running out. Not sure which buildings Iād scrap, but I donāt think even the archery range is safe.
I think there is something in this idea that goes past āCatan but with soldiersā, the ages could be the interresting twist the game needs to find its place on the market, but as someone who likes the base version of Catan over any expanded setup I do wonder how to use them in such a way that the game allows for meaningful choices without becoming overly complex.
Super helpful! Totally agreed that the mechanics need slimming down.
Currently working with the population cap at 26 (5 vill, 5 inf, 5 arch, 5 Cav, 3 boats, 2 Siege, 1 King).
I also agree that the development of the civilisation is a big part of the game. Currently Iāve ditched the ages, but have reseach available mainly in the blacksmiths. You might suggest we need ages?
Also, Iāve made the limit of actions one can make in a round relational to the population count. And ditched resource collecting buildings!
If you have time, please do look at my idea page, and let me know your feedback!
Hereās the full rules that I am currently working with
I would love the idea of an aoe board game. I thought about having something like a reskin of the game āRiskā.
Any updates on this topic?