This year I’m having another resurgence in playing Origins: How We Became Human. I had gotten into it back in 2021 and wrote a couple of blog posts. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, I suggest reading this overview. For today’s session report, I took fewer notes. I was playing Hobbit and I thought I would do poorly given an unfavorable climate change causing me to be isolated with little room to expand or build. But I managed to turn things around and romp to victory. You can also read a more flavorful session report with a global view (where I came in second place as Hobbit). But on to the action!
Back maybe a hundred thousand years ago…
Turn 1: A diminutive tribe imitates group mating rituals from their taller northern neighbors. In addition, they learn to scrape hides and a new profession emerges: the leatherworker! Something opens up in the limbic system of their brains – technical knowledge!
Turn 2: Some astronomical event triggers climate change, and impassable and dangerous jungles expand all around. The ‘hobbits’ are hemmed in with nowhere to go. But their brains expand to acquire natural knowledge and the rudiments of language. Basket-weaving becomes a major activity.
Turn 3: A Milankovitch cycle triggers a tropical age with a rise in ocean levels. There is little land and the new species are hemmed in on a tiny tropical island. [Pictured: The green cube on the Hobbit starting spot is isolated because of the two climate changes. Can’t move. Can’t expand.]
Turn 4: Inexplicably, sudden global cooling occurs and an ice age returns! [This is very rare! It requires a six to be rolled the turn before due to a climate card being drawn, and another in this turn. There aren’t that many of these cards.] The hobbits quickly expand into Sulawesi and are able to domesticate the water buffalo, but they catch a zoonotic disease and develop child swaddling.
Turn 5: Land south beckons as the hobbits discover land in a large continent to the south. [Pictured below: Australia!]
Turn 6: Kayaks are developed and fishing becomes a huge industry. The hafted thrusting spear is invented and hobbits enter the Copper Age. Using a hammer and anvil to crack nuts brings more nutritional access.
Turn 7: The diprotodon wombat in the Australian desert is domesticated into a warbeast! Hobbits enter the Bronze Age [ahead of the other players].
Turn 8: [Neanderthals cultivate wheat and advance to Era II and the Bicameral Age first.] Hobbit women begin to practice sham menstruation to reduce the number of children. With kayaks and bronze tools, adventurous groups hack their way through the jungles to the north into China.
Turn 9: Millet is cultivated but at low protein value. However, Hobbit society is doing well and productive overall. [My innovation level is at 4 even while I’m still in Era I; I had never achieved this before.]
Turn 10: [Cro-Magnons advance to Era II, Peking Man who has been doing poorly enslaves themselves to the advanced Neanderthals so they can quickly increase their footprint.] Hobbits fail to cultivate soybeans (twice)!
Turn 11: [Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals advance to Era III, Peking Man freed and quickly acquires a metropolis.] Hobbits finally cultivate soybeans but it is also low protein. They begin to practice burials and expand their language finally moving into Era II. It’s the bicameral age and we are starting to develop more self-awareness.
Turn 12: Culturally, body paint and shell necklaces become a new status symbol. The climate becomes mild becoming more of a Parkland – the jungles disappear. We start to build ziggurats and can boast of a rich culture.
Turn 13: A group of adventurers makes it to the Maldives but then are infected by diphtheria from the Africans in the continent west of us. We learn new food storage techniques. We are able to cultivate coconuts [thereby getting to the important Footprint level 3]. Temple administrators become the governors in our society. We move into Era III, the Age of Faith.
Turn 14: We develop the iron ploughshare and become the first to reach the Iron Age. This superior metallurgy puts all other nations on notice. We develop public baths and the new professional class of architects is held in high esteem!
Turn 15: The outrigger canoe is invented and our adventurers discover a new world across the Bering Straits.
Turn 16: The Africans hit with a barbarian raid on the Maldives. A serious drying and desertification takes place all over the globe. Our spies practice espionage on our enemies. Islam becomes our dominant religion.
Turn 17: The volcano Kikai erupts. It is felt by our metropoli in the northeast but there is no severe damage or loss of life. Our spies help us to develop hieroglyphs. Our engineers build trireme galleys. We take mathematics seriously and build Aristotelian schools. A new settlement is founded in Hawaii.
[I stopped to take photos at this point. I’m Player Green with metropoli in Asia, Hawaii and the Maldives. Neanderthal is Player White and occupies western Europe and Africa. Peking Man is Player Red in Central Asia. Cro-Magnon is Player Black in East Africa.]
[I’m the only player in the New World. You can also see in the Development tree that I’m on par with Neanderthal in all areas. In some areas, Cro-Magnon and Peking Man are slightly behind.]
[Here’s my player board. My innovation is at 3 which is pretty good and I have three producers and one consumer. I need to increase this.]
Turn 18: Biofuel extraction in Hawaii is successful! [I’m the first to advance to Energy level 2, a sign that I’m now in the lead, which means the other players might start collaborating.] We quickly expand into Venezuela and establish a metropolis to prospect for oil.
Turn 19: Thera erupts in the Mediterranean. We develop terraced agriculture [moving to Footprint level 4]. Our society enters a golden age of feudalism. [We must be in the Middle Ages now?]
Turn 20: Yellowstone erupts. [That’s a lot of volcanoes in the last several turns! Not so common.] There is also significant climate change causing deserts to retreat and reestablishing a milder savanna climate. We domesticate the Camelops in North America and develop a battering ram tank for war. Attempts to extract for oil fail. [I need to roll a six on each attempt.]
Turn 21: Our society is struck by bubonic plague, we start to develop drugs and medicines. We’re the first to advance into Era IV, the Age of Reason. It’s a renaissance!
Turn 22: Many social changes come about: humor becomes popular, courtesans become active, marriage dowries are practiced, and monogamy becomes dominant. We strike oil in Venezuela! [This brings me to Energy level 3 and Metallurgy level 4, the Gunpowder Age. I can now easily siege and take over metropoli from other players.]
Turn 23: [Neanderthal makes it to Era IV] A court system is developed and lawyers abound throughout our society. We turn to world conquest, besieging other cities, and foreign workers fill our pool of laborers and artisans.
Turn 24: Our society undergoes a revolution from a social equity society to one that favors individual freedom. We enter a golden age of entrepreneurship.
Turn 25: [I reach Energy level 4] So many things are invented: steam engines, pharmaceuticals, aluminium smelting and plastics. [I also advance my Maritime and Metallurgy levels.] Broadcasting takes root and ‘couch potato’ becomes a new phrase in our vocabulary. We also invent the personal computer and software programmers are highly sought after. Videogames become popular. [These last few cards are ‘Utopia’ cards that help me trigger the Game End by modifying a die roll. I am successful and the game ends.]
[I rule most of the world and have hemmed in my opponents.]
[In advancements, I’m clearly ahead in Energy, Maritime and Metallurgy.]
[I have lots of producers with lots of foreign workers, the non-green cubes. My innovation and population are at their maximum.]
I win the game with a final score of 48 points. This is very high in my experience of 4-player games. The other players are far behind (Cro-Magnon 14, Peking Man 8, Neanderthal 13) so my victory was a rout. Some games are like that, others are much closer.
P.S. If you liked reading these session reports, here’s one on boardgamegeek.com where I came in second as Neanderthal.
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