I have really enjoyed my plays of several solitaire games designed by R. Ben Madison. He has a knack for including elements of the history into the gameplay while placing the events into the framework of his chosen system, which is usually the States of Siege Series…but not necessarily always. His newest offering is called Gift of the Nile: The Rise & Fall of Ancient Egypt from White Dog Games and is a solitaire only game that uses the States of Siege Series System and delves into Ancient Egypt and the rule of the Pharaohs covering over 30 dynasties starting with the Old Kingdom in 2,600 BC to the Late Period starting in 700 BC and ending with the intervention of Rome. This is a long and involved game (ranging from 36 turns to something less based on certain conditions happening or a player loss) that really gives the player a good feel for the might and power of the Egyptians, as well as the various threats and enemies they had to deal with to survive for nearly 3,000 years.

In Action Point 1, we looked at the Game Map (board), which shows the various “Paths” used by the assaulting outside Khasti Kingdoms converging on the capital city of Men-Nefer. In Action Point 2, we investigated the purpose and makeup of the 3 different draw cups, which is where the game action starts including the Dynasty Cup, God Cup and Sepat Cup. In this Action Point, we will take a look at the Nile Phase and further discuss the economy of the game.

The Nile Phase

As the game is called Gift of the Nile, it is no surprise that the Nile River is prominently featured with its very own phase. The Nile Phase falls just after the Dynasty Phase and before the God Phase and it is the phase where the player has their income step. This Nile Phase is representative of approximately 75 years of any single dynasty and the income earned will write much of the story of that dynasty as income is needed to fuel actions. If you don’t get enough income, you will not be able to do much and your dynasty will struggle. And if you struggle too many turns in a row, you will most likely be overrun by the invading Khasti armies and your history will end. So to say that the Nile Phase is one of the keys to the game is no small statement. It is just as key to the game as the Nile River was to the Ancient Egyptians and the fate of their capital city of Men-Nefer. Let’s take a look inside this phase and give you a bit of an understanding of how it works. Keep in mind though that this phase, while terribly important, really consists of a single die roll, doing some simple math and then referencing a list found on The Book of the Dead.

In the end, this part of the game is very much abstracted. And the state of your income and economy is mostly left up to luck with a roll of 2D6 determining how many base Action Points the player will earn. This roll is somewhat balanced out at the beginning of the game as during the Old Kingdom the player will get to roll 3D6 and throw out the lowest result. While this is nice, and better than having no benefit, this removal of the lowest result on a D6 is actually not preferable. You see the income or number of Action Points that you receive are determined by taking the difference of the highest die result from the lowest die result. So, if you roll a 6 and a 1, this will earn you 5 Action Points (6-1=5). But during the Old Kingdom, when you are rolling 3D6, if you roll the same 6 and 1 but add in a 5 to those results, you will drop the lowest result, which is the 1, and then will be left with a 6 and a 5. This would earn you just 1 AP and really pretty much stinks! This is an unforgiving aspect of the game and you just have to roll with the punches. In the above picture, which we will use as a basis for our discussion, the results were a 6 and a 4 so 6-4=2 AP’s earned from the Nile Die Roll.

One more thing about this Nile Die Roll. If you happen to roll doubles, say a 4 and 4, this is bad and you will earn zero Action Points for this part of the Nile Phase. What? How can that be? Well, think of this as the stars didn’t align, or there was a very wet spring that caused a long lasting flood this year causing crops to be unable to be planted in time, disease to spread and water sources to be polluted. This is how the Nile gives and the Nile takes away! You are at it’s mercy and when the gods are angry, and your dice do not cooperate, your empire will pay the price. But there is hope as the Nile still provides through trade and you have to be concerned with building up your Trade Goods through the expansion of your kingdom.

The other way to supplement your income during the Nile Phase is the bonus Action Points that can be provided from the accumulation of Trade Goods. As the player expands and builds their kingdom during the Old Kingdom, they conquer or incorporate established Sepats (chiefdoms) into their fledgling empire. As the empire expands, if you happen to have 2 different Sepats with the same Trade Good, you can count that as having that Trade Good to build your economy during the Nile Phase as it will earn an Action Point from the Trade Goods List if the dice say you will. These Sepats each have a different type of Trade Good that they are good at procuring and once that Sepat has become a part of your empire the player can Temple it (spend Action Points to build a temple in the area) and it will be more valuable as it will create a Trade Good on its own without having to rely on having two different Sepats of that Trade Good to create an Action Point.

The player simply uses the same Nile Die Roll result described above (6 and 4) and adds those two numbers together. The Trade Goods List is then cross referenced with that total result to determine which Trade Goods create Action Points this turn. So in our previous example if the player has access to the following Trade Goods from their Sepats, either by being Templed or because they have 2 such Sepats in their kingdom, including Granite, Papyrus, Turquoise, Grain, Beer and Linen, the result of 10 will provide a total of 4 Action Point from Trade Goods for the player having Granite, Natron (which they don’t have in this example), Linen, Beer and Papyrus. They will add these 4 AP’s to their result from the Nile Die Roll above of 2 AP’s and will have a total of 6 AP’s for the turn. Not too shabby! It would have been better to have a few more but 6 is a pretty solid number and gives the player options. Although, maybe not to access the more costly Actions such as Building Megaprojects (3 AP), Invading a Country (3 AP) or even Templing larger Sepats of 3 to 4 Value. And that is one of the best parts of the game is having to make decisions about how best to spend your scarce resources. But wait, there is one more thing. A saving grace of sort, or maybe we should describe it as a mercy. Ben provided us with an out as every turn the player can earn 1 Emergency AP if the roll is doubles AND the player didn’t gain AP from any other sources including Trade Goods or even from the Dynastic Social Skill (remember that gives you an additional AP). This was very kind for sure.

One other source of income is Gold as the player can obtain Gold to use to build their economy by controlling 2 Land Boxes on the Ta Seti Path. These Land Boxes are Irtjet and Wawat located at the end of the Ta Seti Path adjacent to the Ta Seti Country Box. These boxes are located in Nubia and represent the vast gold deposits and mines in this country. If you notice on the Game Map, there is a note that these 2 Land Boxes cannot contain a Sepat but when the player has pushed the Khasti Army Tile here back to the Ta Seti Country Box, they are considered to control them. Control of these Land Boxes will provide the player with 1 Gold per Land Box so there is the potential to gain 2 Gold each round. Gold can be used to pay various costs for building Heroes such as the Nubian Archers or the Mera Fleet and also repairing special troops such as the Chariots. But these gold resources can also be used as an Action Point. So, if you have done your work and control these gold fields, you will also gain an extra Gold or 2 each turn that can supplement what you gain from the Nile Die Roll and Trade Goods.

And remember, if you didn’t get great Action Points this turn, there is always next turn!

I have already completed a fairly in-depth First Impressions style post that you can read at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/04/03/first-impressions-gift-of-the-nile-the-rise-fall-of-ancient-egypt-from-white-dog-games/

We also posted an interview with the designer and you can read that on the blog at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/03/11/interview-with-r-ben-madison-designer-of-gift-of-the-nile-the-rise-fall-of-ancient-egypt-from-white-dog-games/

In Action Point 4, we will dive into the 4 different Kingdoms that the player must traverse through safely to come out on top and some of their unique aspects.

-Grant