Frequently Asked Questions
About Mega Empires in General
MEGA EMPIRES is a strategy board game for 3-18 players, based on historical context. So this game can be played with as few as three people on a regular game night. But most likely it is played on a weekend day with a larger group from dusk till dawn.
In this massive game, each player leads their civilizations as they try to gain victory points by expanding their populations, trading and developing cultural advancements.
One of the major game play elements is interaction between players by both commodity trading and area control. Conflict may occur, but players will benefit most through the use of diplomacy, trading tactics and strategic alliances. You need your fellow players more than you can gain from fighting them. At least during the first few hours. But that might change during the day.
Who can you trust, and who will stab you in the back? The long term strategy will eventually create the most powerful civilizations.
You can find more information in our shop.
Pre-ordering can be done at the Ares Games Shop.
You can subscribe to the Mega Empires newsletter here.
There are various ways to find organized games or look for other players in your neighborhood:
• Join the Mega Empires Facebook group.
• Follow the Mega Empires Facebook information page.
• Post in a forum on Board Game Geek.
• Subscribe to the Mega Empires newsletter.
Yes, these games are fully compatible.
Yes, these games are fully compatible.
We are working on a details list with FAQ on the rules which can be downloaded here. These will be published soon. This goes as well for all rulebooks once they are available.
If you have any question at this point, please consult our pages at Board Game Geek, or send an email through our contact form.
We are working on a details list with FAQ on the rules which can be downloaded here. These will be published soon. This goes as well for all rulebooks once they are available.
If you have any question at this point, please consult our pages at Board Game Geek, or send an email through our contact form.
Many people enjoy online games, just as many enjoy tabletop games.
At Colossus Games, we believe in fostering connections by bringing people together around a table, rather than providing a semi-solo experience typical of online games. Our goal is to create an experience where players can look each other in the eye while trading cards, deciding whether to trust or betray one another, and enjoy each other’s company in the same room. It’s about witnessing the joy or disappointment when someone achieves their goal or faces betrayal from another player. This is the core of the game. This is the essence of board gaming in general. A game of Mega Empires is a full day of fun, playing, eating, drinking, and conversing together. Even though some might like to express the mechanics of Mega Empires in a digital version, automating most actions, we are convinced that this unique experience cannot be replicated in an online format. Some attempts were done by people, unsupported by us, using email-based turns. In our opinion this does not come close to the real experience, where we focus on simultaneous playing, taking actions at real time, all players at the same time, rather than following a turn-by-turn structure as many games do. We try and step away from a turn-by-turn approach as much as possible.
This is why we do not offer an online version of Mega Empires, nor do we plan to collaborate with anyone developing such a game. Please enjoy one of the thousands and thousands of other online games instead, if you prefer to play online games.
About previous editions
No, Western Empires is out of stock and has been superseded by Mega Empires: The West. This is a revised edition and is fully compatible with other editions.
Yes, these games are fully compatible.
No, Eastern Empires is out of stock and has been superseded by Mega Empires: The East. This is a revised edition and is fully compatible.
Yes, these games are fully compatible.
No, Mega Civilization is out of stock and has been superseded by Mega Empires: The West and Mega Empires: The East. These are standalone revised editions.
Mega Civilization was published as a limited and numbered edition in the first place and was sold out right away. You are lucky if you can find one online
This depends on the product.
Mega Civilization:
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Western Empires:
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Western Empires – THE SPECIAL BUILDINGS EXPANSION
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Eastern Empires:
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
Eastern Empires – THE SPECIAL BUILDINGS EXPANSION
This product was published by 999 Games. For customer service please contact customerservice@999games.nl.
MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST:
This product is published by Ares Games. For customer service please contact customercare@aresgames.eu
MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST:
This product is published by Ares Games. For customer service please contact customercare@aresgames.eu
After publishing Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021), 999 Games decided to shift focus to a different segment in the board game market ever since 2022, mainly focusing on the Netherlands and Belgium.
When the games sold out early 2023, the authors of Mega Civilization and 999 Games eventually have ended their partnership by mutual agreement and the team has founded Colossus Games in 2024.
Way before Mega Civilization, in the early 90s, there has been a dispute between the copyright owners of a computer game called Civilization and a board game called this way. This resulted in a settlement where the computer game became the now famous Sid Meier’s Civilization, and the board game was tied to strict rules to be able to call it this way. This meant that only the unchanged 1980 original could be called Civilization.
When we released Mega Civilization in the mid 2010s, an agreement was made with the licensor of that brand at that point, which granted us the right to use ‘Civilization’ within our name. In 2018 this license for using the trademark was traded, and new negotiations were made. The new owners of the trademark were planning to release a reissue of the 1980 game, and our game had proved to be rather more distinct than similar. To create an own identity and avoid confusion with several other board- and computer games that carry name Civilization, in consultation with the owners of the Civilization trademark and copyright to the original board game, it was decided in 2018 to rebrand the overall branch to Mega Empires in 2018. Ever since the name Civilization is no longer used. This paved the way to work onto the future of our branch and create the modular concept of Mega Empires.
Apart from naming the branch Mega Empires, we decided to publish the game formerly known as Mega Civilization as two stand alone editions being named Western Empires and Eastern Empires.
As mentioned in the previous topic, in 2018 Mega Civilization was rebranded to Mega Empires.
Western Empires and Eastern Empires were already part of the overarching brand Mega Empires. After the partnership with 999 Games ended, the authors planned to continue this line of games with a new publisher and to develop new products which are compatible with the existing ones.
It’s most logical to call each product the same as the main brand, followed by a sub-brand.
In coordination with Ares Games, the new publisher, it was decided to rename the reissued versions to Mega Empires: The West and Mega Empires: The East respectively to emphasize the new direction taken and prepare for new products under the Mega Empires brand.
Who is who?
Colossus Games is a Dutch company that designs and develops high-quality strategic board games, founded in 2024 by long time friends and cousins Flo de Haan and Gerart de Haan. Mega Empires is the key product offered by Colossus Games.
Colossus Game are the designers and developers of Mega Empires and are not the publishers.
To read more, please visit the Colossus Games website.
Flo de Haan is a board game designer from the Netherlands. In the mid 2000s he and Gerart de Haan joined the initiative of John Rodriguez for making an expanded and upgraded version of the Civilization Board game, which resulted in the release of Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021), expansions and upgrades.
Together with cousin and friend Gerart he took the lead in taking Mega Empires to a new level. In 2024, Flo and Gerart founded Colossus Games with the aim to reissue the Mega Empires products and to develop new products under this brand. After working together for over 15 years, John Rodriguez and the team parted ways in friendly way.
Flo de Haan is also the developer of many other games. Have a look at his portfolio on his website.
Gerart de Haan is a board game designer from the Netherlands. In the mid 2000s joined the initiative of John Rodriguez and Flo de Haan for making an expanded and upgraded version of the Civilization Board game, which resulted in the release of Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021), expansions and upgrades.
Together with cousin and friend Flo he took the lead in taking Mega Empires to a new level. In 2024, Flo and Gerart founded Colossus Games with the aim to reissue the Mega Empires products and to develop new products under this brand. After working together for over 15 years, John Rodriguez and the team parted ways in friendly way.
Photo: Henk Rolleman
John Rodriguez is a board game designer from Texas, USA. In the early 2000s he started an initiative for making an expanded and upgraded version of the Civilization Board game. John had great ideas that sparked the idea of making a game this big. John was later joined by Flo de Haan and Gerart de Haan, after which the project was taken to a next level expanding and improving the game even more. Eventually this cooperation resulted in the release of Mega Civilization (2015), Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021).
In 2024, the game 3 authors discussed the potential for a reissue of Mega Empires products and the development of new products. John then decided to step away from the new activities and focus on his private life instead, after which his cooperation with Flo and Gerart was ended by mutual agreement in a friendly way.
Ares Games is an Italian game publisher, known for producing high-quality strategic board games such as War of the Ring and Wings of Glory. In 2024, Colossus Games and Ares Games announced a new partnership with Colossus Games for the publication and distribution of Mega Empires products.
Have a look at the Ares Games website.
999 Games is a Dutch publisher of board games and card games, founded by Michael Bruinsma in 1990 and mainly active in the Dutch and Belgian market. In 2015 they published Mega Civilization, followed by Western Empires and The Special Buildings expansions (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021).
In 2024, the authors of Mega Empires and 999 Games ended their partnership for the publication and distribution of Mega Empires products by mutual agreement.
Michael was the founder and director of 999 Games, who supported the release of Mega Civilization in 2015 and follow-up products in the subsequent years. This made him a key person in the realization and success of Mega Empires.
We have honored him by mentioning his name on the numbered certificate included in each box of Mega Civilization. Sadly, Michael passed away in 2022. The authors of Mega Empires are very grateful to Michael for his involvement and passion for board games, and have much appreciated his enthusiasm, hospitality, and unconventional character.
Francis Tresham (1936-2019) was one of the most brilliant board game designers ever existed. He was the inventor of the board game Civilization in 1980, and as well of many more great board games such as 1829, 1830 and Revolution. Sadly he passed away on the day of the release of Western Empires in 2019. The designers of Mega Empires pay great hommage to Francis Tresham as Mega Empires was inspired by Civilization.
FAQ - The New Products (2024)
Base Game THE WEST and THE EAST
You can find more information in our shop.
Pre-ordering can be done at the Ares Games Shop.
Mega Empires: The West (2024) is a reissue of Western Empires (2019). The components included in the game are similar but the rulebooks have been streamlined and partly rewritten to enhance consistency and readability.
The following style changes have been applied:
Pronouns
We like to accommodate everybody at the table and have stepped away from the style previously used by applying ‘they/their’ as pronouns as much as possible. This is not possible in every language but proves to be the best form in English.
Graphic Design
Some changes to the graphic design of the rulebooks have been applied.
Revised Cover – SFW
As much as we like to depict the historic Minoan Civilization as realistic as possible, we recognize the issues of having an illustration of bare breasts on the cover as the previous edition Western Empires had. Therefore we have asked Franz Vohwinkel to redraw that part. The new cover is suitable for work now. More on the Minoan Civilization can be read here.
Edition Symbols
We have integrated the WEST symbol (Star) more prominently to identify this edition and to be able to distinguish components from THE EAST. More components in THE EAST will have the EAST symbol (Sun) for the same reason.
For each future product we will add unique edition symbols for each distinct product.
Two rules were updated:
• Tax Revolts: If a Tax Revolt occurs and the beneficiary has insufficient cities in stock to replace all revolting cities with, the cities that cannot be replaced by the beneficiary are replaced with pirate cities instead (previous rules stated that in this situation a new beneficiary was selected and that, lacking any legal beneficiaries, the cities were destroyed).
• Market Board: When using the market board, included in THE EAST, or The Upgrade Pack, if at the start of any player’s trading turn the ‘0’-column contains 3 Water cards, that player may decide to remove all but 1 of these cards to the discard pile prior to carrying out their trading action.
The full rules can be downloaded at the download page.
No. Mega Empires: The West closely resembles Western Empires (2019), which did not have the market board either. The 3-4 players scenario is part of a 3-18 players scenario booklet that contain various setups to be used with the combination of The West and The East.
For owners of Mega Empires: The West, Western Empires, or Mega Civilization who do not own a copy of Mega Empires: The East or Eastern Empires and thus do not have access to the market board, the Mega Empires Upgrade Pack add-on is offered. This product contains all components that are included in The East for playing the game with 3-4 players. Among others, a standalone market board with setups and rules for games with 3-4 players on the Western and Eastern maps.
Mega Empires: The East (2024) is a reissue of Eastern Empires (2021).
The components included in the game are similar but the rulebooks have been streamlined and partly rewritten to enhance consistency and readability.
The following style changes have been applied:
Pronouns
We like to accommodate everybody at the table and have stepped away from the style previously used by applying ‘they/their’ as pronouns as much as possible. This is not possible in every language but proves to be the best form in English.
Graphic Design
Some changes to the graphic design of the rulebooks have been applied.
The symbol for The East (sun) has been incorporated more prominently on the game components to distinguish them from components from The West (star).
Two rules were updated:
• Tax Revolts: If a Tax Revolt occurs and the beneficiary has insufficient cities in stock to replace all revolting cities with, the cities that cannot be replaced by the beneficiary are replaced with pirate cities instead (previous rules stated that in this situation a new beneficiary was selected and that, lacking any legal beneficiaries, the cities were destroyed).
• Market Board: When using the market board, if at the start of any player’s trading turn the ‘0’-column contains 3 Water cards, that player may decide to remove all but 1 of these cards to the discard pile prior to carrying out their trading action.
The full rules can be downloaded at the download page.
The following changes are not applied or have been removed
Removed: A printed FAQ in a rulebook
We work on an online regularly updated list of Frequently Asked Questions on the game rules. This renders a printed version in the rulebook of the base game obsolete and is removed from the scenarios rulebook. As soon as the base games are published, the game rules FAQ can be found on the Mega Empires website instead.
Not added: Optional House Rules
Some people prefer house rules or might dislike specific rules. Over the years, through playing, collecting feedback, and addressing questions both at the table and through our various online platforms, we have observed that one person’s house rule preference often contradicts another’s. After spending years thoroughly examining every rule, and even after the publication of Western and Eastern Empires, we have decided not to include any house rules or optional rules in the rulebooks. Instead, we offer official rules to adhere to. However, we do encourage the use of house rules.
Not added: Variations
We have seen demands for variations in map board setups and A.S.T. details. During the development of this reissue we have decided to not include these here, but we will work on ‘Variation Rules’ for the future. This might be a downloadable or even physical version, which is not included in the base game.
Yes, All updated versions of the rules (2024) for the various products can be downloaded on the download page.
The updated rules may apply to any previous version of Mega Empires.
For now the games are only published in English.
Possibly in the future other languages are available.
Add-on products
This is an expansion to Mega Empires The West & The East, consisting of 18 miniatures of historical buildings belonging to the 18 civilizations in the game, a board for storing the buildings and a set of rules. During the game, players can purchase a building and place it in their empire on the map board. The buildings grant various benefits to their constructor but can be lost to envious opponents, and so bring an additional flavor to the game.
In addition, the battle for control of specific buildings brings new interaction.
The expansion is compatible with either The West, The East, or the combination, and previous editions.
The reissue of the Special Buildings is a combination of the previous editions and differs in the following topics from the products released in 2019:
• The product contains all 18 buildings in a single package.
• A 2 mm board is included that can be used for placing the available buildings during the game.
• The rules have been thoroughly revised and rewritten with the aim to increase readability and playability.
The following changes were made to the rules:
• By default, all buildings are available, regardless of the number of players (previously only the buildings historically associated with the civilizations in play were used).
• A new procedure for selecting a building when constructing one (reducing complexity, time, and timing, compared to the previous version).
• During the Tax Collection phase, a building generates tax, just like a city (previously not applicable).
• Calamity reduction effects can be applied to a number of calamities (previously only to Regression).
• Buildings that have been sacrificed are set aside and are not available for construction until the next turn (previously these were available in the same turn).
The full rules can be downloaded here.
The new rules can be applied to any previous version of The Special Buildings Expansion, using the miniature Special Buildings as available.
Is The Special Buildings expansion compatible with Western Empires and Eastern Empires?
Yes, these products are fully compatible with:
– Either The West or The East and the combination.
– Either Western Empires or Eastern Empires and the combination.
– Mega Civilization
This product is aimed for owners of Mega Civilization, Western Empires or MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST who do not own Eastern Empires or MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST. It contains the components that were included in Eastern Empires and are included in THE EAST but only partially in Western Empires* and not at all in Mega Civilization*. In addition is includes components and rules to play Mega Empires or Mega Civilization* with 3-4 players.
Contents:
• Market board for 3-4 players.
• Rulebook with setups and rules for games with 3-4 player on the Western and Eastern maps.
• 2 City Count boards / adjusted A.S.T. boards for playing The Eastern setups with 3-4 players.
• Upgraded player mats (full color, unique for each civilization and extended with spaces for cities and ships).
• Dedicated Player Aids for 3-4 player games.
This product consists of a set of 18 large identifiers cards, one for each Civilization in Mega Empires: The West and Mega Empires: The East, and a 5 Victory Points bonus card for a single player who first enters the Late Iron Age.
The identifier cards can be used for randomly distributing a civilization to the players at the start of the game or for separating Civilization Advances purchased from those not yet purchased during the game. Players can use them to identify their own stack of owned Civilization Advances.
This product offers neoprene game mat(s) at a scale of 125% compared to the cardboard map board included in the games. This creates more comfort during play by providing more space due to the larger scale, soft touch and reduced reflection of light.
The two game mats fit together seamlessly, just like the cardboard editions.
Currently, nor Colossus Games, nor Ares Games offer sleeves for sale. This is a typical generic product that can be found online and is not something we plan to sell or produce.
For example, sleeves the large cards can be found on Amazon, as well as several other websites.
The small cards use the most used standard size small trade cards. You can find the perfect sleeves online or at your local game store.
As mentioned in the previous comment, sleeves is not a product that Colossus Games offers.
We’re sorry that sleeved card don’t fit in the card trays that are included in the game, however, these trays were meant to hold unsleeved cards in the first place.
Since we don’t offer sleeves, we also don’t offer trays that fit sleeved cards. Both products are upgrades that can be found online, offered by several companies that deal in these kind of accessories.