Era of Tribes Review: A Grand Strategy Game Forged Over almost a Decade of Design

Late Pledges for Era of Tribes are still open for a few more days here.

If you’ve ever wanted to guide a civilization from its tribal roots to a sprawling empire, Era of Tribes might just be the game you’ve been waiting for. Designed by Arne Lorenz and first released in 2019, this ambitious strategy game offers a rich blend of asymmetric gameplay, historical flavour, and sandbox-style world-building. With the imminent fulfilment of its 2nd edition and the Beliefs & Betrayals expansion, Era of Tribes has matured into a deep, complex experience that rewards patience and strategic thinking. But this game is not for everyone — and perhaps that’s by design.

Arne Lorenz’s inspiration for Era of Tribes came from a lifelong love of civilization games, particularly Francis Tresham’s original Civilization and Sid Meier’s unrelated (but related) PC series. Like many fans, Lorenz found himself experimenting with house rules and prototypes, chasing that elusive “Civ feeling” that no game quite captured. After a bit of trial and error — and some prototypes he admits were “an imposition on the players” — Lorenz received a pivotal piece of advice that you might have heard elsewhere: “less is more, strip the game down to what really matters.”

That process of refinement, balancing, and iteration led to the first Kickstarter in May 2019. Since then, the game has sold nearly 3,000 copies, mostly in Germany, and has continued to evolve through community feedback and Lorenz’s own relentless pursuit of improvement.

Asymmetric Tribes and Strategic Depth

One of the defining features of Era of Tribes is its asymmetric tribes. Each tribe starts in a different region (usually reflecting its real-world position, but not always when using the 2nd Edition) and comes with unique abilities and strategic advantages. The Romans are a favourite for their mechanical prowess and early-game dominance due to access to legionaries. The Egyptians offer cheap access to architecture and can found cities cheaper during the early game (reflecting how ancient their culture is.)

Not all tribes are created equal, and that’s part of the charm — and the challenge. The Britons, for example, have a less obviously impactful bonus (extra food from fishing and an enhanced way to boost morale) than the more refined tribes, yet only many playthroughs will reveal which skill is truly better. Lorenz acknowledges the difficulty of balancing such asymmetry, especially across different player counts and map configurations.

A number of adjustments were made in Era of Tribes 2nd edition based on surveys and feedback, and while no game with this level of complexity will ever be perfectly balanced, most players seem to agree that the tribes feel distinct and rewarding to master with abilities that feel powerful in isolation, but hard to compare directly with neighbours.

Combat: Strategic, Risky, and Often Decisive

Combat in Era of Tribes is a central mechanic — not just an optional feature — and to be frank, it’s fairly complex. It’s primarily deterministic, meaning that outcomes are based on factors like the location of the battle (cities, for example, contribute additional troops), the number of troops committed from your standing orders, and any technological advantages you may have. This structure makes combat feel deliberate and strategic. You won’t win by chance — you’ll win 90% by planning and just occasionally, that other 10% of the time, lady luck will swing it one way or another.

Initiating combat is a bold decision. You’ll need to carefully manage your military resources, as overextending — whether in troops or in key resources like horses, ore, or ivory — can leave you exposed. Era of Tribe’s combat rewards smart timing and positioning, and it becomes especially important in the mid-game, when borders tighten and expansion opportunities become scarce. A single failed attack at this pivotal moment can be game-changing.

With all of that said, dice do play a role in that 10% — but only after a series of calculated steps. First, each side’s total strength is determined. The player with the higher strength receives the “strength” token. The player with the superior Mechanics technology — either through the tech tree alone or enhanced by a resource like ore — gains the “mechanics” token. The “morale” token is awarded to the player highest on the morale track. Each of these tokens corresponds to one or more faces on the custom attack and defence dice. Additionally, the attacker gets a sword face, and the defender gets a shield face.

Once tokens are assigned, each side rolls their respective die. The tokens are placed to indicate which side controls which die faces. Players then take turns rolling, removing cubes (representing troops) based on the result. Interestingly, it’s possible for a player to eliminate their own troops — for example, if they roll the mechanics face but don’t control the mechanics token. The rulebook calls this a “strategic blunder,” and while it can feel punishing, it does make sense in the context of the game’s emphasis on preparation, control and the chaos of ancient battles.

Combat in Era of Tribes can be unforgiving. While there’s room for randomness and the occasional pyrrhic victory, the system generally favours the side with superior strength and planning. A poorly timed attack can cost you valuable territory and resources, and military-focused tribes — particularly those with strong mechanics like Rome — can dominate if not kept in check early on. Still, for players who enjoy tactical warfare and territorial control, combat is one of the game’s most rewarding features. That said, the way it’s explained in the rulebook has drawn some justified criticism, and it can be daunting for new players to grasp at first.

Morale and Expansion: Balancing Growth with Stability

Morale in Era of Tribes is a central mechanic that influences how well your civilization functions as it grows. It’s not just a thematic flourish — it has real mechanical consequences. At the start of each round, morale drops based on the number of cities a player controls. This creates a natural tension between expansion and stability: the more you grow, the harder it becomes to maintain order – even so, expansion is mandatory each round. Players must actively manage morale through cultural advancements, religious investment (with the Beliefs & Betrayals expansion), and strategic decisions about city placement and development.

Expansion, meanwhile, is the lifeblood of your civilization. It’s how you claim territory, access resources, and position yourself for future growth. But it’s not without risk. Expanding too quickly can stretch your resources thin and trigger morale penalties, while expanding too slowly can leave you boxed in by more aggressive opponents. Era of Tribes rewards thoughtful expansion — players who balance territorial ambition with internal stability tend to fare better in the long run. The modular map and customizable setup options allow for varied expansion strategies, and the fog of war mode adds an extra layer of uncertainty and discovery.

Together, morale and expansion form a dynamic push-pull system. You’re constantly weighing the benefits of growth against the cost of unrest, and that tension is one of the game’s most compelling strategic challenges.

The Technology Tree: Progress with Purpose

The technology tree in Era of Tribes is another pillar of its strategic depth. It’s not just a linear path of upgrades — it’s a branching system that allows players to specialize, adapt, and respond to the evolving game state. Technologies unlock new actions, improve existing ones, and provide bonuses that can tip the balance in combat, economy, or diplomacy.

Players can invest in areas like Mechanics and Culture, each offering distinct advantages. For example, advancing in Mechanics can give you the edge in combat, especially when paired with resources like ore. Cultural advancements help mitigate morale penalties and improve internal stability – with morale (as I’ve mentioned elsewhere) being perhaps the most critical “resource” for players to manage.

Beliefs & Betrayals: A Game-Changer

The Beliefs & Betrayals expansion introduces religion and intelligence (which is essentially espionage) — two systems that fundamentally change how the game is played. Religion adds belief tracks that influence diplomacy, internal stability, and even victory conditions by allowing access to Influence Points. Intelligence brings tension and unpredictability, allowing players to infiltrate, sabotage, and manipulate, but only once the Bronze Age is reached.

I will be honest here and say that I haven’t used them, but having read through the manual, the mechanics are well-integrated and offer new strategic layers, but look best suited for experienced players. When I asked him about it, Lorenz noted that religion can mitigate morale drops — a mechanic some players found frustrating in the original game — and that high religiosity can come at the cost of scientific progress. It’s a trade-off that adds depth and thematic flavour, but my guess is that it will add quite a bit more time to the overall experience.

Intellignece, on the other hand, looks as though it will make every decision feel a little more dangerous. You’ll no long just be watching your own borders — you’ll also be watching your own people for insurrection. Intelligence looks like it will enhance player interaction to an already interaction game, and could open up new paths to victory, or ways to claw back a runaway leader who is distant on the board.

World-Building and Map Modes

One of the more unique aspects of Era of Tribes is how it lets players build the world (or not.) The game offers many pre-determined setups for faster play, which are great for new players or those who want a balanced start. Additionally, there’s also a modular “fog of war” mode, where the map is revealed gradually as players explore and hexagonal tiles are flipped over to reveal resources, barbarians and such.

Fog of war adds a sense of discovery and tension that many players love, although when played as a map of the real world, it can be memorised. It makes the early game more dynamic and forces players to adapt on the fly. However, it also increases downtime and can slow the game down significantly, especially with more players. I also asked Lorenz how he felt about the fixed starting locations of different tribes in Era of Tribes first edition, to which he has responded by introducing modular tribe boards with removable coats of arms, allowing for randomized starting locations — a feature that adds replayability and variety.

Whatever map layout you choose, Lorenz points out that Era Of Tribe’s flexibility — in choosing map size, game length, and tribe combinations — allows players to tailor the experience to their preferences. I have to say that I agree, and it’s abundantly clear to me that if you pick a large map with few players and diverse starting locations, you’ll get a different experience to when you choose a tight map with lots of closely packed tribes – for example the Britons, the Germannics and the Romans with a map that cuts out Eastern Europe and North Africa.

Setup and Downtime: The Price of Depth

Unfortunately for Era of Tribes, there is an elephant in the room: setup time. Era of Tribes is not a game you can just pull off the shelf and start playing. My first game (which was very experimental and marred by own blunder since I used an old edition of the rulebook) took well over an hour to set up. I would estimate that for an experienced froup, setup can take 30–45 minutes easily, especially if you’re using the Beliefs and Betrayals or Modular Board expansions or playing with a full table. There are a lot of components, and each tribe has its own setup requirements.

Teardown isn’t much faster, and the game’s length — often 3–4 hours — means it’s not something you’ll play twice in one night. For some players, this is a dealbreaker. For others, it’s just part of the experience and to be honest, that’s not actually out of kilter for similarly sized civilization building games. Downtime is another concern, particularly at higher player counts. Turns can be long, especially if players are prone to analysis paralysis, and there is a lot to process – especially during conflicts and when resolving the largest and most complex action (expansion.)

Solo Mode: Surprisingly Solid

The 2nd edition introduces a solo mode, and whilst I haven’t tried a full game myself, I did use it to help me understand the game during a number of sample turns prior to playing the game with my family. The AI is challenging and behaves in a way that feels intentional rather than scripted. In short, the player takes actions as normal whilst the game uses an ever-expanding army (or armies) of barbarian tokens to spread across the board.

The player’s objective is simply to race towards the normal end game conditions before becoming completely overwhelmed, and whilst I didn’t see a game through to its conclusion, it’s clear that this would be easier said than done – at least for a relative novice like me. Nonetheless, this is a great way to learn the game without having to control multiple “proper” tribes, and it offers a rewarding experience for players who enjoy solo strategy games that seem quite tough.

A Game for the Patient and the Passionate

Era of Tribes is not a casual game and casual players will find the rulebook intimidating, the setup overwhelming, and the pacing too slow. That’s not to say they can’t enjoy it, but it’s a game that demands patience and investment. I think Lorenz himself inferred this through my conversation with him (and through some of the manual) but Era of Tribes is a game that works best when at least one person knows it well and can help everyone else around them through at least one or two games.

With that said, experienced players of grand civilization games – like me – are likely to love it. There’s a lot of depth, asymmetry and strategic variety to be enjoyed here, with interesting takes on expansion, conflict and technology advancement all thrown into a realistic and compelling setting. Experienced gamers, I suspect, will be more willing to overlook some of the slightly rough edges because the core experience is so rewarding.

Lorenz’s advice to new players is simple: “Just start and play the first game to learn the game, not to win. Don’t be discouraged when playing against experienced EoT players. Next time, victory will be yours. Maybe…” I agree with him on this, and Era of Tribes is the kind of game that I wish I could play a lot, lot more of. The kind of game that I’d play two or three times in a week if I could, just to see what the limits of possibility are.

Final Thoughts

Era of Tribes is a game that knows what it wants to be — and it doesn’t compromise. It’s big, bold, and unapologetically layered – perhaps even complex. It’s not for everyone, and it doesn’t try to be. But for the right group, it offers a civilization-building experience that’s hard to match.

The 2nd edition and Beliefs & Betrayals expansion have done a lot to polish the experience. The components are better, the rules are clearer (though still dense), and the new mechanics add meaningful depth. The solo mode is a welcome addition, and the asymmetric tribes offer endless replay ability alongside the modular board.

Yes, the setup is long. Yes, the downtime can be frustrating. And yes, the rulebook could use another pass (sorry Arne!) But if you’re willing to put in the time, Era of Tribes will reward you with a rich, strategic experience that few games can match. For those who love grand strategy, asymmetric powers, and the slow, satisfying arc of building a civilization from scratch — Era of Tribes is well worth the journey.

Late Pledges for Era of Tribes are still open for a few more days here.