Twilight Imperium's Shocking Conclusion

[WMDogma]

Twilight Imperium's Shocking Conclusion

A vulnerable home system is exploited by one of the players, and results in an unexpected victory.

Read Full Article

 

[Mikeybb]

Mikey the conquered:

All hail the high priestess!
May her empire reign eternal!

Mikey the reader:
...until the next game.

I loved how you presented this lets play.
It's been an enjoyable series about a game that deserves a lot more attention.

One day, I hope you do return to vie over the ruins of Mercatol Rex.

Can I ask, did you play with any of the expansion rules active?
Some of them change the game significantly.

Never liked mercenaries personally, but I do like some of the alternate strategy section cards they offer and the racial technologies they introduce.
Of course, some of the new races are wonderfully different to what you get in the basic set too.

 

[trippingpossum]

I really want to say that I loved following this series.

Thank you all for your great write-up & perspectives. I hope you can do other long-form games in a similar style.

BTW does anyone here have any experience with Hegemonic? I love TI:3 and am curious about this new game.

Thanks!

 

[discrider]

Uhhh you have the wrong winner.

With the strategy cards you were playing with comes the recommendation you play to 9.

According to the photos, Janelle had the #4 strategy card whilst Justin had the #1 card.

Status phase starts, Justin claims whatever the objective was, goes to 9 points and beats Janelle to the punch.

Janelle does not get to claim "I win the game" as the game is already over.

 

[Slycne]

Uhhh you have the wrong winner.

With the strategy cards you were playing with comes the recommendation you play to 9.

According to the photos, Janelle had the #4 strategy card whilst Justin had the #1 card.

Status phase starts, Justin claims whatever the objective was, goes to 9 points and beats Janelle to the punch.

Janelle does not get to claim "I win the game" as the game is already over.

We were playing the Long War variation which is to 14 victory points.

 

[WMDogma]

Can I ask, did you play with any of the expansion rules active?
Some of them change the game significantly.

Yep, we played with a large amount of the extra optional rules - Here they are! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.859706-Lets-Play-Twilight-Imperium-1-New-Orders-Rise-To-Power#21347567]

Uhhh you have the wrong winner.

With the strategy cards you were playing with comes the recommendation you play to 9.

The Core Rulebook actually lists the regular number of victory points needed to win as ten, though as Justin said, we were using the Long War option and playing to 14.

 

[Jburton9]

Thank you for doing this, good fun : ) I also appreciate the write ups as it gives great flavor and color to the game.

The board game theme is great and gets me excited for all its table top goodness heh.


Maybe in the future Arkham Horror is next on the plate? It is the correct month for scary stuff : )

 

[discrider]

Ah. That would explain the 11 turns, but I couldn't see where you had picked the Long Wars option.

And whilst the Core Rulebook states that the number of victory points needed to win is ten, the Shattered Empire rules say that when playing with the variant strategy cards, as the Bureaucracy card doesn't give out free victory points, it is advised that you play to one fewer victory point.

 

[WMDogma]

Maybe in the future Arkham Horror is next on the plate? It is the correct month for scary stuff : )

I would love to try Arkham Horror! Only played it once, and sadly it was an underwhelming experience, so I'd definitely would like to give it another shot.

And whilst the Core Rulebook states that the number of victory points needed to win is ten, the Shattered Empire rules say that when playing with the variant strategy cards, as the Bureaucracy card doesn't give out free victory points, it is advised that you play to one fewer victory point.

That is correct! We'll probably go with this plan the next time we play, if we use the variant strategy cards. This game definitely felt like it was going to go on too long, at least to the Xxcha

 

[The_Darkness]

Very much enjoyed this write up - enough that I now want to track Twilight Imperium for myself at some point! I'm the type to definitely get into character while playing...

If you're taking suggestions for future games though - might I propose a round of the BattleStar Galactica Boardgame? I think it could be fun to read each person's perspectives on the game as the unknown Cylons work against everyone else...

 

[Mikeybb]

Can I ask, did you play with any of the expansion rules active?
Some of them change the game significantly.

Yep, we played with a large amount of the extra optional rules - Here they are! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.859706-Lets-Play-Twilight-Imperium-1-New-Orders-Rise-To-Power#21347567]

Uhhh you have the wrong winner.

With the strategy cards you were playing with comes the recommendation you play to 9.

The Core Rulebook actually lists the regular number of victory points needed to win as ten, though as Justin said, we were using the Long War option and playing to 14.

thanks for the link.

Very similar set up to what we use.
The flagships are probably my favorite addition along side the racial technologies.

Very much enjoyed this write up - enough that I now want to track Twilight Imperium for myself at some point! I'm the type to definitely get into character while playing...

If you're taking suggestions for future games though - might I propose a round of the BattleStar Galactica Boardgame? I think it could be fun to read each person's perspectives on the game as the unknown Cylons work against everyone else...

I can fully support this excellent suggestion.

BattleStar Galactica is a remarkably fun game.
I've only played the unexpanded version of it a few times, but it was consistently entertaining and full of trickiness and betrayal.

The mechanic of a sleeper toaster learning their true allegiance half way through the game makes for a tense situation.
You don't know who to trust and you don't know if you can even trust yourself.

If you do play Arkham horror, the cards can be quite capricious.
I remember one game where we spent longer setting up the board than playing the game.
A rumor landed, we had no weapons in a small player number game and it led to a cascade effect that sent the terror rating up through the roof.
By six or seven turns, the great old one awoke, the titular C'thulu, and was faced down by two brave souls with a kitchen knife, a molotov cocktail and a collection of mental instabilities.
Needless to say, it didn't end well.

I'd suggest a single expansion board and whichever expansion adds the injury rules, which can alleviate the problem of investigators dying due to one unlucky break.

Mansions of madness is good too, but a bit more adversarial as someone has to play the villain.

I think it's worth stating here, I don't work for FFG.
I just seem to give them all my money.

 

[Jburton9]

Good points about choosing carefully which expansion for Arkham Horror. I have read the same on Board Game Geek how each expansion mixes with the others. I also recall having read at some site about how some brave adventurers tried playing it with *Everything* included yikes! Supposedly it was epic but the adventurers I think got wiped out pretty fast.


Hmm well there is also Eldritch Horror - I have been tempted to pick that one up as it is FFG's new table top of that thematic. I do like the globe trotting aspect, being such a wide playscape I think could lead to some interesting ideas.