Twilight Imperium - a game I assumed I would never play. I mean - it takes all day and I'm no kid with endless summers to play games anymore, right?
Let's ask ~~ Is this giant space opera - starring Space Lions, Guys living on Space Rocks, Psychic Snakes, Ethereal Space Draug, and Humans - well worth the 4-6 hours (or more!) it takes to play it? After finally taking the opportunity, the answer for me is an easy, yes!
I really enjoyed the social/political aspects of the game. The military area control "dudes on a map" part was fine but better suited for my play preferences to a shorter point grabbing game. What makes Twilight Imperium epic is the weight given to your actions by a hours-long game length and the feeling that you and your fellow races are really "working it out" as the moods shift and goals change over time. Tensions come and go, and I really felt like I was dealing with the repercussions of actions taken in game. I really like the Strategic card selections, the Agenda phase, and the Promissory notes. Negotions are fun - and can include so many potential items, ideas, promises... Many game discussions and reviews come down to mechanics, and this game rises above that topic. Technology development is fine, but like the military action, serves (for me) only to support the more interesting political game play on top of it.
Turn 3 - The Emirates of Hacan (Yellow) take Mecotal Rex from the Clans of Saar (Red). Though it was threatened it was never taken, and the Hacan missed an opportunity to win by better exploiting that as a result.
I'd intended to take photos of the board each turn, but the game turns seemed to fly by! The game may have taken 5 hours, over the course of 6 turns, but it never dragged. I may have even blurred some events from turn 3 to turn 4 as my attention was soaked up by the action in the game. That action is not fast, but it very engaging.
I did maintain a written log of turns, strategy cards taken, and points scored each round as follows:
The first turn, the Hacan (me) traded as often as possible, and with the Ghosts taking Trade, that meant that everyone (except the Naalu) was very rich - and the Hacan were stinking rich. Not to mention, the Ghosts gave away free commodities to both the humans and the Saar.
The second turn the Saar took Mecatol Rex and defended against a 3rd ring incursion by the Federation. Most others just built up. A planet belonging to the Saar was gifted to the downtrodden Ghosts.
Turn 3 saw much change, as the humans successfully invaded Saar space, the Hacan took Mecatol Rex and scored it and both an Industrial world public and secret goal, and the Saar, Naalu, and Sol scored for having thier fleets spread far and wide.
By Turn 4 my attention drifted and all this historian recorded was that though the Hacan fleet in the center was decimated and a rich Industrial world Tar-Maan was taken, Mecatol Rex was still held by her marines.
Turn 5 was dominated by the Federation of Sol, as she swept into the Saar wedge and center of the map, holding 11-12 planets, scoring and 2 point public goal (3 points total) with Imperial despite not having Rex and setting up for a final run.
Turn 6 was an the final turn - and an interesting one. Hacan would have scored 4 points total - 2 during the turn and another 2 at the end, but the Federation had initiative, scoring first on public goals and ending the game.
The politics and military maneuvers in the final turn were frequent, as the humans invaded the Saar homeworld to secure victory, and the Naalu locked down the main Hacan fleet. The Naalu invaded the Hacan home system with 9 deep space fighters and her flagship the Matriarch, but were repelled by a backup fleet containing the Hacan flagship Wrath of Kenera, and dreadnought, a destroyer, a carrier, and two fighters. The carrier captain earned a medal, hitting 2 or 3 times, and the Matriarch was destroyed.
The victory went to Mike and the Federation of Sol, his first TI victory in over 5 tries - congratulations Mike! The Naalu were behind from the start economically and never really recovered. The Saarwen Clans were bold and clever but never established a foothold on victory after losing a battle for Meer-Arinam and retreating from Rex in turn 3. The Ghosts were inexperienced and struggled to carry out a cohesive plan to take the galaxy. The Hacan made some great moves and some blunders, building a strong fleet on the back of trade, while having a great time! No doubt, in the new Empire ruled from Sol and Mecatol Rex, trade will flow and the Hacan will remain golden.
Thanks to everyone who played - I will not rule out playing again some day, which surprises me, and this sense of discover is the reason I play board games in the first place. So go out, spend ~$120 on a copy and 4-5 friends and determine the fate of a galaxy!
Let's ask ~~ Is this giant space opera - starring Space Lions, Guys living on Space Rocks, Psychic Snakes, Ethereal Space Draug, and Humans - well worth the 4-6 hours (or more!) it takes to play it? After finally taking the opportunity, the answer for me is an easy, yes!
I really enjoyed the social/political aspects of the game. The military area control "dudes on a map" part was fine but better suited for my play preferences to a shorter point grabbing game. What makes Twilight Imperium epic is the weight given to your actions by a hours-long game length and the feeling that you and your fellow races are really "working it out" as the moods shift and goals change over time. Tensions come and go, and I really felt like I was dealing with the repercussions of actions taken in game. I really like the Strategic card selections, the Agenda phase, and the Promissory notes. Negotions are fun - and can include so many potential items, ideas, promises... Many game discussions and reviews come down to mechanics, and this game rises above that topic. Technology development is fine, but like the military action, serves (for me) only to support the more interesting political game play on top of it.
We played a five player game last weekend 2/1/2020
Chris - Naalu Collective - Green
Aaron - Clans of Saar - Red
Ben - Emirates of Hacan - Yellow
Mike - Federation of Sol - Blue
Manda - Ghosts of Cruess - Purple
I'd intended to take photos of the board each turn, but the game turns seemed to fly by! The game may have taken 5 hours, over the course of 6 turns, but it never dragged. I may have even blurred some events from turn 3 to turn 4 as my attention was soaked up by the action in the game. That action is not fast, but it very engaging.
I did maintain a written log of turns, strategy cards taken, and points scored each round as follows:
The first turn, the Hacan (me) traded as often as possible, and with the Ghosts taking Trade, that meant that everyone (except the Naalu) was very rich - and the Hacan were stinking rich. Not to mention, the Ghosts gave away free commodities to both the humans and the Saar.
The second turn the Saar took Mecatol Rex and defended against a 3rd ring incursion by the Federation. Most others just built up. A planet belonging to the Saar was gifted to the downtrodden Ghosts.
Turn 3 saw much change, as the humans successfully invaded Saar space, the Hacan took Mecatol Rex and scored it and both an Industrial world public and secret goal, and the Saar, Naalu, and Sol scored for having thier fleets spread far and wide.
By Turn 4 my attention drifted and all this historian recorded was that though the Hacan fleet in the center was decimated and a rich Industrial world Tar-Maan was taken, Mecatol Rex was still held by her marines.
Turn 5 was dominated by the Federation of Sol, as she swept into the Saar wedge and center of the map, holding 11-12 planets, scoring and 2 point public goal (3 points total) with Imperial despite not having Rex and setting up for a final run.
Turn 6 was an the final turn - and an interesting one. Hacan would have scored 4 points total - 2 during the turn and another 2 at the end, but the Federation had initiative, scoring first on public goals and ending the game.
The politics and military maneuvers in the final turn were frequent, as the humans invaded the Saar homeworld to secure victory, and the Naalu locked down the main Hacan fleet. The Naalu invaded the Hacan home system with 9 deep space fighters and her flagship the Matriarch, but were repelled by a backup fleet containing the Hacan flagship Wrath of Kenera, and dreadnought, a destroyer, a carrier, and two fighters. The carrier captain earned a medal, hitting 2 or 3 times, and the Matriarch was destroyed.
The victory went to Mike and the Federation of Sol, his first TI victory in over 5 tries - congratulations Mike! The Naalu were behind from the start economically and never really recovered. The Saarwen Clans were bold and clever but never established a foothold on victory after losing a battle for Meer-Arinam and retreating from Rex in turn 3. The Ghosts were inexperienced and struggled to carry out a cohesive plan to take the galaxy. The Hacan made some great moves and some blunders, building a strong fleet on the back of trade, while having a great time! No doubt, in the new Empire ruled from Sol and Mecatol Rex, trade will flow and the Hacan will remain golden.
Thanks to everyone who played - I will not rule out playing again some day, which surprises me, and this sense of discover is the reason I play board games in the first place. So go out, spend ~$120 on a copy and 4-5 friends and determine the fate of a galaxy!
Glad you enjoyed! Definitely one of my favorite board games (one of my 10's on BGG).
ReplyDeleteThe Naalu were crippled by their player for sure. I didn't realize how slow starting with only one carrier and three commodities would be, my board position guaranteed I would not get warfare, and had no dual planets within 1 range of my homeworld, as well as being the only player to miss out on the turn one trade glut. In spite of all that they still managed to make it to third I think, and in striking distance of first if I had planned the assault on the hacan homeworld a little better.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting wrinkle this game was when we changed it to single representative voting instead of influence from planets. Because of that and some action cards, I had the ability to choose the outcome of the last two votes of the game both of which, unfortunately, didn't provide anything that could help to elevate my score.