Here are two items from my contemporary collection that are both concerned with pre-historic man.
Stone Age board and components
Stone Age board
The first is Stone Age (2008), designed by Michael Tummelhofer. The artist is the prolific Michael Menzel, who is responsible (alone or in collaboration) for the artwork in nearly 120 games and expansions. Although a large proportion of these are single-illustration pieces (like individual cards), Menzel’s output is extraordinary. A glance over the quality of his work across his collection serves as acknowledgement that he is one of the greatest board game artists of our time. Other game artwork highlights of Menzel (for me!) include In the Year of the Dragon, Maori, and the marvelous Vikings (all with Harald Lieske), Batavia, Shogun, Thurn and Taxis, and the astonishing Pillars of the Earth, which I hope to feature here in its own right some time soon.
Stone Age board close up
Sample of game cards from Stone Age
Stone Age is a marvelous game of pre-historic resource competition, management and set collecting, and fully deserves its high rating in boardgamegeek. The board is beautiful, depicting a small village population and surrounding areas from which the game resources (wood, clay, stone and gold) are collected. The separate player boards, hut tiles and game cards are all done in a consistent style and are just great to admire. And the game includes, for gimmick value only (although one of the best gimmicks you’ll find in any hobby board game!) a genuine stitched bovine hide (that’s real leather, folks!) dice cup.
Stone Age is truly worthy of any game collector’s shelf.
Lascaux box cover
Lascaux game cards and components
The second title I wanted to mention was Lascaux (2007), artwork by Harald Lieske – coincidentally the occasional co-artist with Menzel on some of those other games I mentioned above. Anyone familiar with the ancient cave art of Lascaux ought to agree that should make for a fantastic theme for a board or card game. The subject matter just cries out for that treatment and exploration!
This game works, but only in the light family games category that you might play once a year at most. The results seem to be just too “random” for players to be vested in any decision-making going on in the game. But the card art is nice and reminiscent of the actual cave paintings of animals. Together with the (real) stones that are used as bidding chips, one gets a bit of a sense of earthy pre-history.
Sample Lascaux cards showing the six animal graphics
Lascaux game components close up
However, it’s all a little disappointing in the end, because the theme of the original Lascaux cave art is so inspiring and full of promise. The game is nice to look at, but I can’t help thinking that the title deserved to be so much more. Not necessary for your average gamer, although fans of pre-historic art could keep this as a curiosity on their bookshelf, next to their tomes on (the actual) Lascaux and other prehistoric art.
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