the topic speaks for itself. It is real. I played a marathon 2 games in a row yesterday and they are suprsingly short games. About 2-4 hours of exactly what you would expect from Civ: the board game. One of it's greatnesses is by having so many ways to win, plus the map is small and competitive, so the games finish faster then other strategy board games. Each player is a unique nation with their own special abilities that the other do not possess. And yes, there are even abandoned tribes to be looted/barbarian villages to be conquered along the way.

It's so good that it's even fun when you lose.