The Eighth Epoch
by Bruce McFarlane
from The Canadian Wargamers Journal, #43, pp 22-23 (1995).

     Avalon Hill's The History of the World is a most popular game. Since its release I have not been to a gaming convention where it has not been played avidly. The reasons are obvious - the rules are quick to learn, easy to play, there is plenty of interaction between players and the cards and the dice give the game enough twists and turns to keep it interesting to the last. I always feel disappointed by the ending of the game, however. Why end the game in 1914? After tracing the course of history since the dawn of time, why end it just when we get to the familiar bits. How much more satisfying the game would be if it concluded with the end of the twentieth century and the players could see how we fit into the flow of time and events.

EIGHTH EPOCH VARIANT

     Play continues for one more turn after the VII epoch. Players will have to make their own VIII Epoch cards listing the pertinent information. Players can use the counters from a previous epoch or photocopy the counters included with this article and make their own VIII epoch counters. The VIII epoch powers are as follows in the order in which they play.

Power	Counters	Seas	Capital
1. Fascist	10	North Sea West Med East Med	Lower Rhine
2. Imperial Japan	12	Pacific +	Honshu
3. Communists	20	none	N. Europe Plain.
4. Banana Republics	6	none	South Andes
5. African Self-rule	8	none	East Africa
6. NATO/NORAD	20	Pacific + Atlantic + Indian+	Great Plains
7. OPEC	10	none	Lower Tigris

SPECIAL RULES
EVENT CARDS

All event cards must be played by the VII epoch, as listed on the cards. Instead of events cards each player rolls on the following event chart at the beginning of his turn, and follows the instructions. Roll twice and pick your poison from the following:

1d6

1     Fanaticism -- player wins all ties in combat.
2     Elite Troops -- player rolls three dice in combat until defeated.
3     Leader -- player rolls three dice in combat until triples are rolled.
4     Guerrilla Attacks -- place one combat unit in any two barren lands. They attack all adjacent lands until defeated.
5     Air Assault -- player may ignore any terrain, fort or fortress counters in any five lands he attacks.
6     Nuclear Attack -- player may remove all combat, fort, fortress, city, capital and monument counters from any one land.

CAPITALS

Whenever an VIII epoch capital appears where a city or capital from a previous epoch is already in place, the older city or capital is removed and the VIII epoch capital is set in its place.

MADAGASCAR

Madagascar should be connected to East Africa by way of a "crossing arrow"

VICTORY POINTS

The following are the base victory points for the VIII Epoch:

Middle East	................................	4
North Africa	................................	1
China	................................	3
India	................................	2
South Europe	................................	2
North Europe	................................	4
Eurasia	................................	2
Southeast Asia	................................	2
North America	................................	3
South America	................................	2
Sub-Africa	................................	2
Nippon	................................	2
Australia	................................	1

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