7 Wonders: Leaders Expansion

by Gary Walts

(Montreal Board Game Meetup)

7 Wonders: Leaders Expansion
Board game manufacturer:
Asmodee
Number of players:
2-7
Ages:
11+
Time:
60 mins

Quick verdict

You’ll “wonder” how you played without Leaders once you’ve given this fun expansion a couple of plays.

The game and gameplay

This expansion adds 36 “Leader” cards to the original 7 Wonders board game, consisting of history’s most influential people. From the military might of Caeser to the genius of Plato, it’s a who’s who of the ancient world.

Also added to the game are gold tokens worth 6, a new scoring pad, 4 new guilds, and a new wonder, Roma, that interacts strongly with leader cards. Everyone now starts with 6 Gold instead of 3.

The Leader cards all have a gold cost, but no resource cost. 4 leaders are dealt out to each player and are drafted one by one.

Before each era, there is a new Leader phase where players can bring a Leader into play by paying the gold cost.

Players also have the option to discard a Leader for three gold, or to use a Leader card to build up a stage of their Wonder (costs to build the wonder stage must still be paid).

The Leaders come with different abilities that drastically alter the game. Some provide bonus points for collecting set of cards, or improve trading, or provide military force, etc.

However, their presence can lock you into a fixed game plan that other players may try to foil. For example, Ramses allows his player to build Guild cards for free, but is useless to you if the Guilds are taken before you can draft them yourself.

Roma is the new Wonder introduced by this release. Side A lets you play Leaders for free and scores points for each Wonder stage built up. Side B make your and your neighbor’s Leaders cheaper, and the Wonder stages let you draw and play additional Leader cards.

Pros and Cons

7 Wonders: Leaders expansion has simple rules that don’t disrupt the natural flow of the game

New strategies without complicating the game

Adds only a few minutes to the length of the game play

Some cards are hard to read at first, but are well explained in the rule booklet

Pricy for an expansion

The verdict

Get this expansion. Anyone who’s played 7 Wonders has played the game to death, and this expansion provides the game a much needed refresh without taking anything away from the base game… except the will to play 7 Wonders without Leaders… 5 Historical All-stars out of 5.

If you’ve played 7 Wonders: Leaders Expansion, please leave a rating and comments using the link below.