Age of Renaissance

Lore & Background

In Age of Renaissance, each player controls one of six commercial capitals of Europe: Venice, Genoa, Barcelona, London, Paris, and Hamburg. Players begin with a single city and expand their financial empire, gaining income from cities and commodities such as stone, wool, timber, grain, wine, cloth, metal, fur, silk, spice, gold, or ivory. Commodity cards, when played, provide income to all players with stakes in that commodity. Money is used to purchase counters for expansion and civilization advances that affect gameplay.

The game progresses through three epochs, each triggered by depleting a deck of cards. After the third depletion, the game ends and the player with the highest score wins. Score is calculated from advances and cash, minus a penalty for the 'misery' of their people. Shorter versions ending after one or two epochs are also suggested.

Notable mechanics include secret bidding for unit control, with the player having the fewest units going first and the most going last, though combat effectiveness favors earlier turns. All diplomacy must be conducted openly at the table, preventing secret deals. Strategically, players are advised to identify and hinder the leading player using cards that can target specific opponents.

Reader's Guide

Age of Renaissance holds significance as a commercial and strategic board game from the mid-1990s, recognized by the Origins Award for its historical theme and gameplay. It builds on the legacy of Civilization, offering a multiplayer experience focused on economic expansion, commodity trading, and civilization advances. The game's design includes distinctive rules such as open diplomacy and a bidding system that creates tension between turn order and combat effectiveness. Its three-epoch structure provides a variable-length game, and the scoring system incorporating a 'misery' penalty adds a balancing element. While the box claims a 2–6 hour playtime, the article notes that actual duration depends heavily on the players. The game remains referenced in board gaming communities, with an entry on BoardGameGeek and reviews in magazines such as Backstab Issue 02 and Casus Belli #101. Its legacy lies in its integration of economic and strategic depth within a historical setting, appealing to players of serious multiplayer strategy games.

Did You Know?

• The game is set in the European Renaissance and is considered a sequel to Civilization.
• Players can choose from six capitals: Venice, Genoa, Barcelona, London, Paris, and Hamburg.
• All diplomacy in the game must take place openly at the table, with no secret deals allowed.

Origins & Design Philosophy

Age of Renaissance emerged from the collaborative vision of designers Don Greenwood and Jared Scarborough, finding its way into players' hands through Avalon Hill's 1996 release. The game was conceived as a spiritual successor to the classic strategy title Civilization, transplanting that grand historical sweep into the specific world of the European Renaissance. Designed to accommodate a table of three to six participants, the box suggests a play session spanning two to six hours, though the actual duration naturally shifts with the group's pace and engagement. The Renaissance setting is not merely decorative; it frames an entire economic and political simulation where commercial power and territorial expansion define success. Greenwood and Scarborough crafted a game that positions players not as conquerors in the traditional military sense, but as merchant-princes building financial empires across the continent. The Avalon Hill publication gave the title a pedigree among serious strategy gamers, and its positioning as a follow-up to Civilization signaled an ambition to capture that same sense of civilizational progression within a more focused historical window.

Economic Engine & Epoch Structure

At the heart of Age of Renaissance lies a dual-income engine built on territorial control and commodity speculation. Each player assumes the identity of one of six European commercial capitals—Venice, Genoa, Barcelona, London, Paris, or Hamburg—beginning with a single city and gradually expanding their network. Every region on the board yields a distinct commodity from a roster of twelve: stone, wool, timber, grain, wine, cloth, metal, fur, silk, spice, gold, or ivory. Owning a commodity region alone generates no profit; the real payoff arrives when a commodity card is drawn and played, at which point every player holding stakes in that resource collects their share. City income and these commodity payouts together fund the purchase of expansion counters and civilization advances. The game's temporal structure is divided into three epochs, each triggered by the depletion of a card deck. When the third deck runs out, the game concludes, and victory is determined by a final tally combining the value of a player's advances and remaining cash, reduced by a penalty reflecting the misery of their populace. The rules also accommodate shorter sessions ending after one or two epochs.

Tactical Nuance & Player Interaction

Age of Renaissance distinguishes itself through several elegant mechanical choices that shape how players interact. Each turn, every participant secretly bids on the number of units they wish to command, creating a hidden-information layer before the action phase begins. The player committing the fewest units acts first, while the one committing the most acts last. Crucially, the combat rules grant a meaningful effectiveness bonus to those who strike early in the sequence, forcing a genuine dilemma: do you commit heavily and accept a late position, or go light and gain the initiative? This tension between force and timing adds a strategic texture that pure area-control games often lack. Equally notable is the rule mandating that all diplomatic negotiations occur openly at the table. No whispered side-deals, no secret pacts—every agreement is visible to all participants, which both accelerates the game's tempo and keeps the social dynamic transparent. Finally, the card system introduces a powerful meta-strategic consideration: numerous cards can be directed at a specific player to inflict damage. Recognizing who is currently in the lead and coordinating to apply pressure through those targeted cards becomes essential to preventing any single player from pulling decisively ahead.

Recognition & Place in the Hobby

Within a year of its 1996 release, Age of Renaissance earned one of the hobby's most respected honors: the Origins Award for Best Pre-20th Century Board Game of 1996, presented in 1997. This recognition validated Greenwood and Scarborough's design choices and cemented the title's standing among strategy game enthusiasts. The game also attracted coverage in specialist board gaming publications, with reviews appearing in Backstab (Issue 02) and Casus Belli (Issue 101), outlets that catered to players of serious multiplayer strategy titles. Its listing on the BoardGameGeek database provides a permanent reference point where players can look up rules, discuss strategies, and locate the title within the broader catalog of published games. As a work positioned as a sequel to Civilization yet focused specifically on the economic and political intrigue of the European Renaissance, Age of Renaissance occupies a distinctive niche in the hobby. It rewards patience, careful reading of opponents, and the willingness to coordinate with temporary allies against a perceived frontrunner—design qualities that the Origins Award committee clearly valued when selecting it as the year's top pre-20th-century board game.