Strategically planning each tactical move in a world that makes Chess look like Checkers, perfectly managing my resources and empire, and carefully skirting the subtle art of diplomacy to tip in my favor are all staples of the genre that Age of Wonders III excels at.

I’ve found I enjoy a myriad of genres and types, but something about the turn-based, 4X strategy game gets me excited in all the right places. Part advertisement, part philosophical statement, 'The Artist in His Museum' stands as a triumphant artistic and historical accomplishment.While many of us claim to be gamers, there are such a wide variety of genres and tastes that it often comes down to just what kind of games and mechanics you enjoy: 2D platformers, first person shooters, sports simulations. Significantly, the visitors are in family groups, echoing Peale's commitment to education. Cages in the background display natural history specimens, while above them portraits of American worthies celebrate the heroes of the new country. Peale's museum offered a cabinet of curiosities to instruct and entertain the spectators, from the wild turkey at the lower left, to the skeleton of the mastodon he had exhumed and brought to Philadelphia at the right.

With more than a touch of the showman, Peale literally raises the curtain to reveal the wonders of his collection, then located in the long gallery of Independence Hall. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the remarkable self-portrait he executed at the age of eighty-one. Peale thus disseminated culture both within the family sphere and in the wider world.

Besides founding two art academies - including the Pennsylvania Academy - and the nation's first museum, he was the patriarch of an artistic dynasty that carried out his ideals. Throughout his long life, Charles Willson Peale continually strove to improve the civic and artistic life both of his adopted city and the young republic.

Age of wonders 3 triumphant heroes