Imperial, 1 September 2010

Everyone bar Andy round at Stu’s for another outing of Imperial. This time we opted to go for the random start option - which allowed us to opt in to buying bonds in the countries in turn. This meant that we didn’t all start owning governments - James sat back for a couple of rounds aiming to anticipate which country would be worth buying in to; Deej picked up Germany as a bargain because no one was keen to particularly to own it. If I remember correctly Orhan went for Italy, Adrian for Austria, Kieron for Britain (which caused him no end of trouble with its red pieces) and Stu for Russia (or was it Deej?). The game started along fairly predictable lines - Russia and Austria having a stand-off in the Balkans, Italy and France tussling in the Med and Britain and Germany scrapping in the North Sea and Low Countries. Mid-way through the game everyone ganged up on Germany (as per usual). Stu managed to twice pull off the manoeuvre of buying out another player’s country just before they were going to tax it for the first time thereby making him substantial amounts of money. Adrian did the same to Kieron (but slightly belatedly). Countries changed hands quite a bit and the game felt much more fluid with the random start positions. As the game progressed Russia went into a commanding position and her bonds were bought out soon after. Adrian and Kieron swapped Britain and Austria and Kieron re-acquired Britain later, not before both of them had bought the majority of its bonds. As the final turns approached the game reverted to the well understood ‘Investor’ then ‘Tax’ then ‘Investor’ then ‘Tax’ approach. This meant that Kieron was able to pull off a racing through of Great Britain to finish the game. The final scores were reasonably spread out: Kieron first on 128; Adrian second on 116; Orhan third on 106; James fourth on 87; Deej fifth on 81 and Stu last on 73. There was a consensus for including the Imperial 2030 rule of adding some kind of multiplier or additional cost for racing round the roundel for countries which are higher up the power track to try to stop the accelerating spiral before the finish. One for next time.

Imperial, 26 May 2010

A full house (with Stu but no Andy) round here again for one of our 6-player favourites - Imperial. Starting countries were (I think) Orhan with Germany, Kieron with Russia, James with Austria, Adrian with France, Stu with Britain and Deej with Italy. The game rocketed off as per usual with mass build ups of military forces and expansionism all round. It wasn’t long before there were clashes in the Balkans, North Africa, and the Low Countries. We tried a new house rule in this game - providing anyone without a country with 1 million each time an Investor phase came round to ensure that no one would be kept completely out of the game. As it turned out, Deej, Stu and Kieron found themselves the victims (or possibly beneficiaries) of being taken out and buying back in. Those who retained their original countries ended up with fewer bonds and generally less money. We couldn’t quite work out whether this was a flaw to the game. At any rate it was a fun evening with lots of involvement and a timely finish. The final scores were: Deej 126; Stu 106; Kieron 96; James 85; Orhan 75 and Adrian 60.

Imperial, 31 March 2010

Nearly a full house for games this week. We didn’t expect Stu and had just got Ra out on the table when Orhan arrived which precipitated a ‘what shall we play with 6 players?’ conundrum. The answer was Imperial, and, as it turned out, this was a top choice. We had all played before except for Andy, who took to the game not so much like a duck to water as a cold-hearted international investor to the Great Power politics of the early 20th century.

The starting draw saw James with Great Britain, Orhan with Austria, Adrian with France, Kieron with Italy, Andy with Germany and Deej with Russia (I think - things did change around quite a bit…). Orhan’s Austria expanded early into the Balkans, tussling with Russia throughout the game. Britain and Germany vied for control of the low countries and Scandinavia. Italy and France jostled for position in the Med and North Africa. In terms of investing strategies, David ended up with multiple cards, having had Russia taken off him a few times. Kieron and Adrian more or less stuck to their original countries but with Kieron managing to acquire a wider portfolio than Adrian. James had a small number of high value cards. Orhan and Andy (if I remember correctly) a mid-level spread in 3 or so countries. By the end game Italy and France were out ahead with the rest of the countries a small number of power points behind and so it all hinged on the last couple of turns. In a text-book finish, Kieron managed to acquire funds and invest, and then finish the game on his next turn by taxing Italy.

The final scores were amazingly close - Andy on 94, Adrian, James and Orhan all amazingly on 105, Deej on 110 and Kieron the winner on 125. A very good game with clever mechanisms and enough interaction and lack of down time to make it a good game for six. It also finished in under 3 hours. Good stuff.

Imperial, 3 February 2010

The second outing for Imperial, this time with 5 players - which meant that for pretty much all of the game one player controlled two of the Great Powers. The players' strategies varied: Stu lost no opportunity to bankrupt whichever countries he could, casting Germany into a deep depression from which it didn't recover; James played Britain and France at various times but didn't branch out further East; Adrian built up Austria-Hungary into the pre-eminent power but didn't get much of a stake in anywhere else; Kieron and Deej were more balanced taking stakes in a couple of nations each which put them on top at the end.

The game saw a good mix of conflict and financial dealings with war in Germany and the Low Countries, Scandinavia and in various sea zones.

We think that we probably made a couple of mistakes in terms of providing extra cash to players who had no nations in the bidding stage - plus we weren't sure whether the bidding could bounce back and forth for players who then found themselves with no nation. This meant that it was a positive advantage for someone to have their nation taken off them since they accrued more money. Will have to look that up.

At any rate a good game. The final scores: Deej 142; Kieron 125; Adrian 111; James 75; Stu 70.

Imperial, 6 January 2010

The first official games night of the year was cold and snowy. Defying a traffic directive from James not to drive :-) Orhan and Kieron made it (quite straightforwardly they said...) to Adrian's for a highly entertaining game of Imperial. A Christmas present from Deej, this game uses the rondel mechanism that we know from Antike but the feel of the game is very different. Players take the role of investors and speculators trying to manipulate the Great Powers and although the Board has a feel of Diplomacy, this is manisfestly not that sort of game at all. A key early learning point was that players should feel little loyalty to the countries they control; it matters little whether they are attacked and/or lose battles provided that they make the player money. In fact, having a few military units wiped out can be beneficial in that it means that country has to pay out less money on military salaries! By the end of the game all three of us ended up controlling countries different to those with which we started.

In terms of game play, we felt that there were two distinct stages to the game. The first was the build up of territorial power - each country expanding and jostling for position. Britain and France had a war. So did Russia and Germany. Austria and Russia tussled in the Balkans; Italy and France in North Africa; Britain and Germany in the Low Countries; Russia and Germany around Ukraine. Orhan managed to build up a large stockholding in Austria-Hungary and forged it into the premier power with Kieron's Italy in close second. the second phase was a run to the endgame, where there wasn't so much conflict and expansion but a few rounds of milking the countries for as much money was we could and pushing them up the victory chart as they taxed their own people (and the higher up the victory chart they were, the more money investors in them would make at game's end). We wondered whether some asymmetric play in this phase might have delivered a different outcome. As it was, Orhan's early lead was solidified as he held onto control of the two countries that finished highest - Austria and Russia. Adrian and Kieron had closely balanced portfolios in the lower ranking nations. But the final scores hinged on the last couple of rounds where Orhan timed his closure of the game to perfection: Orhan first on 257; Adrian next on 233; Kieron third on 221.

All in all a very good game and it can play with up to six. One to try again. Once people are brave enough to take to the streets once more...
:-)