Anyone here have experience with Twilight Imperium? (not to be confused with Twilight Struggle)
Twilight Imperium Third Edition is an epic empire-building game of interstellar conflict, trade, and struggle for power. Players take the roles of ancient galactic civilizations, each seeking to seize the imperial throne via warfare, diplomacy, and technological progression. With geomorphic board tiles, exquisite plastic miniatures, hundreds of cards, and introducing a rich set of strategic dimensions that allows each player to refocus their game-plan, the original designer Christian T. Petersen has seamlessly incorporated the better qualities of other recently popular games to improve on the game-play of the original TI, making it at once perfectly well-rounded and pleasantly familiar to experienced gamers.
TI3 is played by at least three players who belong to ten possible alien races, each with their own advantages and quirks. The 'designer notes' in the rulebook candidly and humbly acknowledge the inspiration for some of the improvements to the original game. The strategic game-play borrows the governing element from 'Puerto Rico' to involve players in an iteratively complex and yet fast-paced game experience with very little downtime. The game map, basic player progress and overall victory are dynamically determined in almost exactly the same way as they are by imaginative players of 'Settlers of Catan', while the "Command" system cleverly improves on the 'oil' logistical mechanism of 'Attack' to both manage turn-based activity and limit the size of armies, uniquely enabling weakened players to bounce back if they play their cards right.
Epic is definitely the correct word to use when talking about Twilight Imperium. It is the mother of all 4x space boardgames. My gaming group usually only plays it about 3-4 times a year, because most games can easily take 6-8 hours, but EVERY time we play, it's always amazing. There's nothing like getting 8 players together and spending the whole day (or night) playing TI. It has research, it has trade, it has negotiations, it has colonization, it has ship building, and of course, it has space combat and exploration. Fantasy Flight just announced a new expansion for it, which looks AWESOME!
One thing you should know about Twilight Imperium: it is NOT a conquest game. If you go into TI trying to play it like Risk or other games like that, you will lose. Twilight Imperium is all about the slow build-up. It's about a galactic-wide cold war between various alien races and civilizations, each eying each other suspiciously and with distrust as everyone builds their fleets of death ships. Then, when one player seems to be close to winning, all hell breaks loose and huge fleets of warships bring fiery death to each other in the cold vacuum of space.
I would definitely recommend getting the first expansion to Twilight Imperium. It adds more races, more options, and it fixes some game imbalance issues as well as allows 8 players to play.
For those who wanted to buy 7 Wonders, most stores received their stock of the second printing today and should be updating online store inventory as we speak.
For those who wanted to buy 7 Wonders, most stores received their stock of the second printing today and should be updating online store inventory as we speak.
I do not know too much about this game, Pamplona, but I checked it out briefly during Toy Fair and it looks pretty interesting on first glance. There is a copy coming in the mail and I'll let you all know if its good or crap. It's a card-playing game where you have to get your runner to the end of the track. Has a heavy risk-reward mechanic where you'll get extra points for running close to the bulls (which will throw a serious wrench in your game if they catch up to you). 2-4 players, takes about 45 minutes.
Also, I decided to pitch in on this Kickstarter campaign for Rolling Freight. It's a train game but has dice rolling at its core which is usually something the train game people abhor, but buzz has been really positive. Apparently most of the kickstarter funds will go towards giving it better graphic design then printing it, as the game prototype has been set for a while now.
Well, since the card sleeving debate has ended in the Yomi thread, maybe we can all agree that this example of game protection is a bit over the top: covering your boards with clear wallpaper
So Jeremy, a friend, and I played Alhambra over the weekend for the first time. I won because I am awesome. :P
I just listened to the Geek Nights episode about it and was very amused because pretty much everything that ScRym recommended in regards to strategy was the opposite of what I did to win the game.
I vaguely listened to the rules as they were being given and just got the gist of how to play. In the first round from looking at the score card and seeing how Gardens and Towers were the high point value pieces, I went immediately for them. I also did a lot of purchasing as exact amounts so I could get an extra action. My opponents did the same but were purchasing lower value buildings and were concentrating more on having a good wall.
So the first round my score wasn't as good even though I had Gardens and Towers because my opponents had decent walls while my wall was broken into two sides.
I then changed my strategy to buy other properties and get my wall connected. I was still somewhat unsuccessful at it but still had the highest number of Gardens and Towers as well as getting other structures that my opponents didn't have.
Then finally during the final round I was able to rearrange my Alhambra to get my walls connected to give me 19 points on top of still having the most Gardens and Towers.
The score was Ro: 143 Jeremy: 135 John: 116, a very close game but I haphazardly won with pretty much doing things that ScRym said not to. I'm sure the games in the future will be different in regards to strategy and score seeing as now we know how to play., but the game is very easy to learn, and play. I'm happy I purchased it especially on sale.
On a side note, the podcast was aired back in 2006 and comparing it to more recent episodes you can definitely notice a different sort of energy with ScRym. They seem to have more vigor and enthusiasm while this one sounds like they were very laid back and possibly tired.
Dammit, John! Why couldn't you have gotten just ONE MORE POINT.
Well, since the card sleeving debate has ended in the Yomi thread, maybe we can all agree that this example of game protection is a bit over the top: covering your boards with clear wallpaper
I actually think this is a fantastic idea! Nothing bothers me more than game boards with their cardboard edges getting a littel frayed and fuzzy.
Very exciting news soon for fans of Small World. Very exciting. Unfortunately I am under embargo until Thursday but you can find the info if you search.
Very exciting news soon for fans of Small World. Very exciting. Unfortunately I am under embargo until Thursday but you can find the info if you search.
I've been reading your Tweets and can venture a few guesses to new races. That's about it. I'm sure it will be cool
Dominion: Cornucopia shipping in May. Do people still want more Dominion or do you feel that the existing sets are enough? Also, how does this play into Scott's love of the cornucopia?
I have played Cornucopia a bit online and I am not a fan. It seems like the set is fighting the core essence of what makes for good strategy in the game. It is aptly named, however. >_<
Dominion: Cornucopia shipping in May. Do people still want more Dominion or do you feel that the existing sets are enough? Also, how does this play into Scott's love of the cornucopia?
I like cornucopias, but I haven't bought prosperity, and don't plan to buy cornucopia. I still haven't played enough Seaside to have played it out. If I ever get to the point where I'm bored with Seaside, and I've really figured out all the cards, maybe I'll get another set. Really, the game doesn't get enough use anymore around here.
Dominion: Cornucopia shipping in May. Do people still want more Dominion or do you feel that the existing sets are enough? Also, how does this play into Scott's love of the cornucopia?
I'm honestly fine with the expansions we have, but Jeremy will more than likely get it because he really enjoys the game.
The game will be played more than enough by our sets of friends to make the purchase worth it.
Very exciting news soon for fans of Small World. Very exciting. Unfortunately I am under embargo until Thursday but you can find the info if you search.
I've been reading your Tweets and can venture a few guesses to new races. That's about it. I'm sure it will be cool
I'm kind of a Small World nut so this news was super exciting for me. 15 new races, 21 special powers, new maps. Best of all, it's done by the original designer who has said this game will step up the complexity from the original Small World (which is a fantastic intro game).
So far they have named the following races: - Gnomes - Shadow Mimes - Cultists - Mummies - Spiderines - Mud Men - Shrooms - Flames - Lizardmen - Iron Dwarves
The last 5 will be revealed one per day as DoW has been doing. You can see all 15 in the box art although we don't know what the names are. Looks to me like a bat man hidden in the upper right, big rock dude in the middle, squid girl, and a lava rock that she is holding. Maybe some jellyfish in the back left? Maybe those flashes of light are some sort of fairy? Also, the dude in the back left doesn't seem to match the cultist art. Maybe a necromancer?
I am really loving have a regular Wednesday night game group. Last night was a warmup of 7 Wonders and Zooloretto, with the meat being a game of Alien Frontiers.
I'm establishing a game night this summer. Night one is going to be Puerto Rico, Small World (with as many expansions as I can get), and Bananagrams. Night two will probably be Twilight Imperium and Neuroshima Hex.
Rio Grande is looking into doing a limited edition deluxe version of Puerto Rico with pimped out components to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year.
Played Alien Frontiers last night, and the game is brilliant. It's worker placement (think Agricola), except that your workers are dice. You roll your dice to start the turn, and each possible place to put the dice have different requirements such as matching, sequential sets, adding up to a high sum, being higher than your opponent's die already played there, etc. That's the core mechanic in a nutshell, and there's a bit of fluff around the edges with ability cards, stealing resources, etc., but everything ties together for a really tight gaming experience.
If you want this game and see it available somewhere, buy it now or wait a while. This is the game that made Kickstarter popular for board game designers. It's second printing (following the Kickstarter run) sold out at the distribution level so what is on store shelves is all that's left until the fall when 3rd printing hits.
I've never actually sold a boardgame before, but I haven't played A Game of Thrones in years, and with the popularity of the IP exploding, due to the HBO show, I've bit the bullet and put my copy up on ebay. Even though I haven't played the game in forever, it still feels like I'm abandoning one of my children.
I've never actually sold a boardgame before, but I haven't played A Game of Thrones in years, and with the popularity of the IP exploding, due to the HBO show, I've bit the bullet and put my copy up on ebay. Even though I haven't played the game in forever, it still feels like I'm abandoning one of my children.
I played that game once, knowing nothing about Game of Thrones. It was ok-ish.
I've never actually sold a boardgame before...it still feels like I'm abandoning one of my children.
You gotta cull the herd man, it's cathartic. If you haven't played it in years, you're probably better off with the cash. I've heard a lot of people echo the same opinion as Scott on the game, but I wonder if I would enjoy it a bit more since I am a huge GoT geek.
I've never actually sold a boardgame before, but I haven't played A Game of Thrones in years, and with the popularity of the IP exploding, due to the HBO show, I've bit the bullet and put my copy up on ebay. Even though I haven't played the game in forever, it still feels like I'm abandoning one of my children.
I played that game once, knowing nothing about Game of Thrones. It was ok-ish.
AGoT is one of the few games that is MUCH better with the expansion that adds a 6th player. It just balances out the map better and evens out the numbers of players so you can have more alliances and whatnot. The first expansion also added new cards, and ports (which should have been in the base game).
Gotta stop talking about it! If I keep on like this, I won't want to sell it anymore.
Just looking at some pictures of the base game's map it was clearly designed to need the first expansion in order to play the "true" game. Not a huge surprise since Fantasy Flight is up there on the money grubbing scale of game companies.
It's got to be hard to maintain player balance when you develop a complete wargame map, saw off 1/3 of it, and have to build a game around it.
Comments
One thing you should know about Twilight Imperium: it is NOT a conquest game. If you go into TI trying to play it like Risk or other games like that, you will lose. Twilight Imperium is all about the slow build-up. It's about a galactic-wide cold war between various alien races and civilizations, each eying each other suspiciously and with distrust as everyone builds their fleets of death ships. Then, when one player seems to be close to winning, all hell breaks loose and huge fleets of warships bring fiery death to each other in the cold vacuum of space.
I would definitely recommend getting the first expansion to Twilight Imperium. It adds more races, more options, and it fixes some game imbalance issues as well as allows 8 players to play.
Also, I decided to pitch in on this Kickstarter campaign for Rolling Freight. It's a train game but has dice rolling at its core which is usually something the train game people abhor, but buzz has been really positive. Apparently most of the kickstarter funds will go towards giving it better graphic design then printing it, as the game prototype has been set for a while now.
I just listened to the Geek Nights episode about it and was very amused because pretty much everything that ScRym recommended in regards to strategy was the opposite of what I did to win the game.
I vaguely listened to the rules as they were being given and just got the gist of how to play. In the first round from looking at the score card and seeing how Gardens and Towers were the high point value pieces, I went immediately for them. I also did a lot of purchasing as exact amounts so I could get an extra action. My opponents did the same but were purchasing lower value buildings and were concentrating more on having a good wall.
So the first round my score wasn't as good even though I had Gardens and Towers because my opponents had decent walls while my wall was broken into two sides.
I then changed my strategy to buy other properties and get my wall connected. I was still somewhat unsuccessful at it but still had the highest number of Gardens and Towers as well as getting other structures that my opponents didn't have.
Then finally during the final round I was able to rearrange my Alhambra to get my walls connected to give me 19 points on top of still having the most Gardens and Towers.
The score was Ro: 143 Jeremy: 135 John: 116, a very close game but I haphazardly won with pretty much doing things that ScRym said not to. I'm sure the games in the future will be different in regards to strategy and score seeing as now we know how to play., but the game is very easy to learn, and play. I'm happy I purchased it especially on sale.
On a side note, the podcast was aired back in 2006 and comparing it to more recent episodes you can definitely notice a different sort of energy with ScRym. They seem to have more vigor and enthusiasm while this one sounds like they were very laid back and possibly tired.
The game will be played more than enough by our sets of friends to make the purchase worth it.
So far they have named the following races:
- Gnomes
- Shadow Mimes
- Cultists
- Mummies
- Spiderines
- Mud Men
- Shrooms
- Flames
- Lizardmen
- Iron Dwarves
The last 5 will be revealed one per day as DoW has been doing. You can see all 15 in the box art although we don't know what the names are. Looks to me like a bat man hidden in the upper right, big rock dude in the middle, squid girl, and a lava rock that she is holding. Maybe some jellyfish in the back left? Maybe those flashes of light are some sort of fairy? Also, the dude in the back left doesn't seem to match the cultist art. Maybe a necromancer?
If you want this game and see it available somewhere, buy it now or wait a while. This is the game that made Kickstarter popular for board game designers. It's second printing (following the Kickstarter run) sold out at the distribution level so what is on store shelves is all that's left until the fall when 3rd printing hits.
Gotta stop talking about it! If I keep on like this, I won't want to sell it anymore.
It's got to be hard to maintain player balance when you develop a complete wargame map, saw off 1/3 of it, and have to build a game around it.
Rym, which version did you guys play?