Genesis: Empires and Kingdoms of the Ancient Middle East

About this board game

Genesis: Empires and Kingdoms of the Ancient Middle East is a historical strategy game for 1–5 players, with a listed play time of 600 minutes. Set during the turbulent Late Bronze Age, it invites players to forge their own empires across the ancient Middle East.

Genesis is not a simulation of historical events. Instead, it provides the era’s historical dramatis personae and lets players shape their own paths to power as kingdoms rise, fall, and come into conflict.

Players represent one of five major Mesopotamian Bronze Age empires:

• Egypt
• The Hittites
• The Mitanni
• Assyria
• Babylonia

Each empire seeks to expand its economic reach, building influence while confronting rival powers. Control of important trade routes and commercial centers is central to the struggle, with luxury items arriving from lands as distant as what is now Afghanistan.

The game also highlights the spectacular monuments these civilizations left behind. Gods play a major role, while peasants and slaves can sometimes prove useful and advances in chariotry provide important technological advantages.

Event Cards bring several minor kingdoms into play, including the kingdoms of Arzawa, Canaan, and Elam. Their appearance adds further possibilities to a contest already shaped by commerce, expansion, religion, and rivalry.

With its broad historical cast and emphasis on empire-building, Genesis gives players the opportunity to create an alternate story of the ancient Middle East rather than simply reenact the past.