Do the mechanics "make sense" when you play the game? Or is it pretty gamey? Am I making sense?
You're not making sense but the game is super straight forward. You have the following actions:
Move (and attack if entering enemy controlled territory)
Recruit (Pay prayer points - the game's currency) to put more dudes in your city
Buy a powerup (there's three actions corresponding to the three colored power tiles)
Pray (gain 2 prayer points)
Upgrade your Pyramids (you have three colored pyramids. Highest level on a particular color is the highest level of powers you can buy from that color.
There's copies of some of those powers on your player mat and you take 1 action at a time around the board till everyone's had 5. Reward points based on positioning. Do the "refresh" phase. Repeat.
That's like 80% of the rules right there.