Ever played Mosaic and thought this needs more content? Sometimes this happens to a game you love. You want more. But expansions don’t guarantee more is better. With Wars and Disasters expansion though, you get excellent additional content and depth.
Mosaic is a fine civilization themed game in its own right. It has no need of an expansion if you’re happy with the basics, but I’d suggest taking a look at what the Wars and Disasters expansion offers. Essentially you don’t just get simply more content which is nice enough, you get changes to the way the game can be played and therefore it changes the strategic aspects of the base game.
New content
You get a new leader, the Admiral, which works in tandem with the new fleet military units. These operate in a similar way to land units; they are more expensive but deliver greater influence.
There are new technology tiles which are a great addition. These seem more advanced, have more prerequisites but can deliver more icons. There are also three new wonders, a new form of government, a couple of new civilization achievements and two new types of towns, namely garrison and amphitheatre towns.
Garrison towns grant you a military unit and other towns can be built adjacent to the garrison, thus allowing you to expand your cities even further. Amphitheatre towns grant you ideas and victory points for adjacent cities and wonders.
In addition, there are National power cards, one for each empire such as the Gauls and Romans. For the most part these can take effect during empire scoring and offer an asymmetrical way of adding theme and bonuses such as extra military units or money. I like these but ultimately Mosaic isn’t an expansionist game as you are not based in a starting location and expanding from there. Ultimately the link with historical empires is still weak, but at least the additional content does fit.
Then there are War Tiles. These are military actions. The tiles represent additional military options you may take such as converting an enemy town or eliminating military units. Each of them comes with prerequisites and a cost in money to use them and they are used as part of a military action. Once used they are removed from the game.
Finally, there are disasters. A set of eight are drawn and displayed so each players knows what will come up. Then trigger cards are seeded ie placed in the four card decks in the same section as the empire scoring card. When revealed the left most disaster occurs and players check to see who is affected eg the player with the least red icons or the player with the most cities depending on the specific disaster. I like these although it could be quite brutal.
Basic game strategy
Under the basic rules, players usually build up their military. It makes sense and it can be a relatively easy and cheap way to gain influence. It doesn’t require population like a city does or the overall expense in resources like wonders, although ultimately cities, towns and wonders are better for giving victory points.
But you can win by not buying any military units at all. The base game focuses heavily on influence and empire scoring during the game and although the end game involves more scoring options and likely a better scoring opportunity, you cannot ignore building influence throughout the game in time for the next empire scoring phase.
Strategy changes
One of the key features to the expansion is the way the military aspect of the game has changed. There is a greater opportunity to influence regions and impose your dominance, bringing in potentially a lot more military actions and reducing the safer play of some players. Knowing that a strong military player could gain further strength through military tiles or even eliminate all your units in a region, means you might want to consider spreading out your units or beating an opponent to key tiles.
In addition, the disasters mean that players who neglect an area of play or fail to accumulate a particular icon will risk being penalised. Even better, disasters can peg back a player racing out with the most cities or hoarding population.
The Wars and Disasters expansion then doesn’t just add some very nice additional content, worth the purchase in its own right, but it changes the way the game is likely to be played. If you like more conflict and player interaction, then this will deliver. It represents a fundamental shift in options whilst keeping to the original concept.
Summary
Mosaic: Wars and Disasters expansion for me is a must if you enjoy the base game. It adds good content, a greater depth to the game and more varied play. You could dispense with elements of the expansion should you wish like ignoring the disasters and even just using the new technology cards and towns would be an improvement.
There are other civilization themed games that are a lot more complex, detailed and challenging. There are those that simulate expansion better and include a far greater reflection of character of varied empires throughout history.
Mosaic doesn’t do that and you don’t truly play an empire through the ages. What Mosaic does do well is offer a lighter civilization themed game, with nice mechanics, allowing you to feel a good sense of development with a large focus on regional influence. The Wars and Disasters expansion builds on that and whilst I say it is a lighter game, the game can still feel complex and epic at times especially at higher player counts which could make the game longer and a more contested affair.
