My wife and I are not experts at 7WD, but we have played enough to help out those just starting on this intriguing journey, so assuming I am talking to the 7WD curious or a recent adventurer, here is a very rough guide of what to expect, what to avoid or some things to ponder. I
will base this on the standard game with the Pantheon expansion, but most of the content is relevant without it. Italicised references are mine and my wife’s personal tactics or thoughts.
Building
First up, the game is about building.
Building leads to money, control and other benefits that, more often than not lead to victory points, and game victory or loss. Normally buildings are bought, but Wonders and the favour of the Gods are also important and while the paths of science and war are also relevant, they are reliant to some degree on the ability to build.
To build you need at least some of 3 brown card resources (stone/clay/wood) and or 2 grey card (papyrus/glass) resources. There is also the “reserve” or “trade” card option of the gold commerce cards for all of these resources which allows you to purchase them at a set 1 point each or for free.
Age I
In the first age, there are 2 of each base brown resource card on offer (1 free and one 1 coin) 1 of each gold “reserve” card and 1 of each grey. What does this mean? It means be quick and sure about your approach. Missing out on too many of these means you are not only going into the second age resource poor, but in all likelihood your opponent is not. It is possible to build some wonders with just these, so be mindful of your and your opponents options. If you are lucky enough to corner the market for your needs, then “burning” any others you come across is an option.
Meg tends to hoard the browns and greys, I have had a habit of chasing the reserve cards, but more recently I have been more mindful of the trap of relying on them (their ongoing cost and the reality that they have no effect on her purchasing costs make her life doubly easy). A middle road seems best. Buy the reserve card or cards for the builds that take 2 or 3 of a resource you missed out on, then actual resources for the builds that require 1 at a time at most.
Age II
The second age offers the three double brown core resources and one each of the grey cards. It also offers three commerce gold cards that fatten up the papyrus and glass options (2 of each) and the “wild” base resource card Caravansery, which is ideal for those mixed/complicated build headaches.
This is the Age of Wonders and Gods, a defining, but not terminal Age to lose. The Pantheon has vastly changed to role of this Age, adding in the Gods, which in turn opens up various other paths.
If by the end of the second age you are still resource poor you had better have a plan. A military victory is a possibility, but hard to pull off without the ability to build and a science victory even harder unless you grabbed what was on offer early. All things in 7WD are linked, which becomes more apparent the more you play.
Your only other source of resources now comes from building Wonders which is obviously a double edged sword. A lucky game might have you building a good source of money with a repeat turn (Hanging Gardens), or a Wonder that grants access to missing resources (Pireus, The Lighthouse) or even a look at the discards (Mausoleum), which gets more powerful the later you use it.
With the Pantheon available, there is also another lifeline. Baal stealing a card (no points for being nasty in 7WD, but some feeling of satisfaction), Astarte or Tanit gifting funds, Isis granting a free Wonder or Hades with a discard draw, but these can cost you.
The second Age tends to galvanise your tactics, so have something in mind, but also be flexible. It is not uncommon for a possible science or military victory to raise it’s head here with the variety of options coming into play, but it is also a time to ponder a strong points win.
By this time Meg usually has a well funded bank and plenty of resources. I have previously gone for the “bottomless well” of commerce cards, but then often lack the funds to use them.
Age III
Resources dry up in the third age. This is the age of progress and civil development, not base resource building. The resource poor better be well funded, on the war path or gunning for a science win because there is little hope otherwise. Progress tokens can offer a little help like reducing build costs or giving good returns like Urbanism, Engineering, Architecture or Masonry, but by this stage their benefit may be too little too late.
This Age has become more vibrant with the Pantheon for us. Several times, unlikely victories have been executed early in this Age and the feeling of pressure coming into the last stages is palpable. For example I have been sitting on a science win with 1 card needed and half the Age to play, but to no avail and once I kept Meg from winning a military victory with her in the end zone for most of the Age, but then still lost on points.
Age III previously had a feeling of pre-determination, but it has opened up a lot more with the Pantheon expansion, which has the ability to swing some elements of the game just enough to empower the cunning player. The Gods Zeus, Mars, Minerva, Ishtar, Nisaba and Anubis and the Law, Mathematics, and Mysticism progress tokens especially become quite powerful now, so I recommend you take a pause occasionally and look at your options.
Note; there are no “linked” resource cards, which means each has to be bought outright with no flow on effect.