Latest update: 9 Aug 2024

Australian Design Group is delighted to announce the upcoming release of the latest edition of our acclaimed history of the world game 7 Ages: the Collector's edition.

7 Ages: the Collector's edition includes 67 new civilisation cards, 165 in total. There are counters for 6 new empires, 21 in total, allowing up to 7 players to control 3 empires each, as you vie for a peaceful prosperous planet (under your benign control naturalich).

The maps have been graphically updated, new areas included and they will be hard-mounted on our beautiful linen boards.

To increase the scientific and artistic aspects of the game, artefacts have been dramatically expanded and improved. There are 17 new artefact types you can build and 155 artefacts in total, more than double the 70 in the original game.

Leadership has also been dramatically enhanced, with 130 named leaders and 43 unnamed leaders (up from 72 and 22 respectively) throughout history (but only one current serving, sorry boys you just don't cut the mustard anymore).

We have also doubled the number of options from 6 to 12 including 3 that are part of the 7 Ages Expansion sets, Secret Victory, Neutral Kingdoms and Deus Vult!.

Secret Victory is an easy way to keep everyone's glory secret so no one knows who is really winning.

Neutral Kingdoms means provinces are no longer denuded when an empire is discarded. Even if you have given up on them, the people still live there and don't take kindly to strangers (not to mention former overlords).

Deus Vult! is a religious expansion that allows empires to explore a variety of religions and the building of temples to their God or Gods. Not cheap, but what price Glory?

All this and much much more is coming soon. And all this in 10 pages of rules and 2 pages of optional rules. Never, in the annals of human history, has so much been provided to so many in one glorious game with so few rules to fret on.

To prove it, the draft (PDF) 7 Ages Collector's edition Rules & Players' Guide (18 Sep 2022) is now available for your perusal. These rules are fully compatible with the original version of the game. The changes are red, the Designer's notes blue, and the cross-references, cyan.

Please note that the most recent version of the 7 Ages Rules & Players' Guide will be uploaded to the downloads section of our site as they are updated.

If you have some comments, please post them on our 7 Ages CE blog. If you would like to playtest the latest version of 7 Ages: the Collector's edition to iron out the final wrinkles, please contact me at ausdesigngroup@bigpond.com.

Thank you for your support for our games.

regards
Harry Rowland

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Update: 6 Jan 2022: The remaining original 7 Ages games we have left are on special until sold out. All owners of the original 7 Ages game will receive an Australian$20 discount (in addition to all other special prices) when you purchase a 7 Ages Collector's edition game.

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Update: 18 Sep 2022: Thanks everyone for your input on 7 Ages: the collector's edition development, the latest version of the rules is now available for free download on the downloads section of our site. The game will be going to the printer's around March 2023 so we still have a few months to implement further enhancements prior to release. If you have any further comments please post them on the 7 Ages: the collector's edition development blog.

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Update: 17 March 2023: We are pleased to announce that development of the game is now finished. You can download the latest version of the rules free from the downloads section of our site.

We are still working on the graphics for the game but expect the game to be ready for printing by May. We will be launching a 30 day crowd funding campaign  in June or July with the game scheduled to be released at Spiel 2023 in October this year.

Thank you everyone for all your input, it has immeasurably improved 7 Ages and I am looking forward to its release.

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Update: 30 Sep 2023: Unfortunately the release of 7 Ages the collector's edition has been delayed. It has taken longer than we had planned to do up all the new graphics but hopefully the effort is worth it.

The good news is we have almost finalised all the graphics and now look to printing the game in the 2nd quarter of 2024. We still have to finalise the crowd funding video for the game and expect to run the campaign in the first quarter of 2024.

We do have a prototype available for perusal at Spiel 2024 starting at Essen next week (Oct 5-8) and will have the game available for advance order purchase (both the Classic and Deluxe versions). Come along to Hall 3 Booth U104 and chat to Heiko, our superb European manager, and check out the game.

I apologise for the delay, we had no idea that the development would take 5 years but the game has been dramatically upgraded, streamlined and improved such that every empire, artefact, event and action is vital to your lasting triumph. We hope you enjoy it.

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Update 6 Jan 2024

Happy new year everyone and I hope you are having a great holiday season.

Just a quick note to say that we are still on track for a Q2 2024 release of the game. Currently we are finalising the typesetting of the rules and the creation of the 5 expansion covers. The maps, counters and cards are all done but there may be some pre-prep required prior to submitting for print (printer's tend to have very specific specifications for the submission of each component so that the printing and die-cutting of such an intricate game is possible). We will give you more info about the crowdfunding campaign when we are close to launch.

Thank you for your great support for our games and there is still time if you have some suggestions to the game to comment on our 7 Ages Collector's edition development page. Some of our senior developers has also started a new page for 7 Ages the Collector's edition on BoardgameGeek.com where comments are also welcome.

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Update 10 June 2024

7 Ages the Collector's edition is finished development and ready for printing. We are currently working on the video for the crowd funding campaign and hope to have that rolling out by August 2024 (and ideas on crowdfunding videos please comment below) with the game released by Spiel 2024 in October.

Really sorry for the delay. After phenomenal support we have sold out of World in Flames the Collector's edition and I had to get this game ready for reprinting too. Thank you for your great support for our games.

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Update 9 August 2024

We have made some progress, after extensive edits to  World in Flames the Collector's edition we have finally finished proofing and this monster game is now being printed and is expected to be released at Spiel 2024. Unfortunately this process delayed 7 Ages which hasn't reached the printers in time for the convention. As the printers close for Christmas, the game is now expected to be released April 2025.

I apologise for this long delay which is partially caused because I also have to handle the business aspects of ADG which obviously takes time away from the design, development and printing of the games. It delayed World in Flames: the collector's edition release by 4 years and 7 Ages: the Collector's edition by a further 2 years (ie World in Flames would have been released in 2014 and 7 Ages in 2019 if that's all I had to work on, and we would have had another couple of games out by now).

I am exploring business partnerships that may minimise this in future so you can get our games in a far more timely manner.

Thank you for your enormous patience and great support for our games.

regards

Harry Rowland