7 Wonders: Babel + A Less Expensive Way to Get the Promo Cards

Before we get to the meat of this post, I need to acknowledge that the ONLY reason I know any of this stuff is because of W. Eric Martin and the amazing work he does for BGN (Board Game News) over on BoardGameGeek.

If you need to know more about one of my favorite games, you can read about it on the #21 entry of my Top 100 Games list.

So, here's what we know about 7 Wonders: Babel (the new bigger box expansion) coming from Repos Productions:

• it should be available this summer (hopefully sooner rather than later)
• it contains two separate expansions that can be used separately or together...
• ...and those expansions can be combined with any combination of the base game + either or both of the previous expansions
• the first expansion module is about adding "laws" to the game...
• after drafting 3 laws at the start of the game (similar, I think, to the Leaders draft), play continues as normal.
• If a player chooses to discard a card (rather than playing it or adding it to his wonder), then he can choose to either take 3 coins or put one of his laws into play.
• Laws modify the game rules for all players in some way: taxes, penalties, bonuses, etc.
• the second expansion module is about building together...
• each age, a "great work" is revealed (there are five possible for each age) that can be "worked on" when you play a matching type of card and pay the extra cost.
• If the "great work" is built (if it is "worked on" enough times in that age), every player who did work on it gets a bonus for each time they did this.
• If it isn't built, all the players who didn't participate take a penalty.
• remember, this information is from a preview of a prototype of an unpublished (yet!) game... things may (and probably will!) change
• it looks AWESOME...
• the only decent pictures I can find of the expansion are on this video from (you guessed) BGN

 

 

And, as an added bonus, you can now order the 7 Wonders promo items direct from Repos Productions:

• the new leaders: Stevie Wonder, Louis Armstrong, & baby Esteban
• the Catan wonder board

At this point, the site just charges in Euros... but it will accept PayPal. I haven't tried it yet - but I do want Stevie & Esteban (I have the others). I did notice you have to spend 10 Euros to place an order - which may mean a few of us need to "come together" (50th Beatles anniversary reference) on this.