Twilight Imprium 3rd edition board game: opinions?

[Felon]

I got some great advice about Descent and Runebound in this forum, now I'm looking to hear if Twilight Imperium is any good. I'm told it's sort of like Settlers of Catan meets Axis & Allies. Reviews seem to be very much of the love-it-or-hate-it variety. Usually, the breaking point for reviewers is that there are some notable rules issues (such as how tiles are laid down), and that it seems excessively random.

I'd like to hear some informed reviews. I got some great insights on Descent and Runebound here recently, so I have high hopes. Is it more of a strategy game, or luck-of-the-draw? Deep gameplay, or beer-and-pretzels?

 

[SuStel]

It's very deep strategy. In fact, there are eight different strategies from which you must choose each turn; conquest is not the only way to win the game. In fact, there is a whole stack of goal cards that tell you what you need to do to win.

As for tile-laying, I don't see the problem. You lay the tiles down at the beginning of the game, and they remain as they are for the entire game.

It's much too complicated to be called a "beer & pretzels" game! But it's very fun.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Hands down the best strategy "board game" I have ever played; for awhile after it came out (before I moved), I had a weekly game going.

I will warn you: despite what it says on the box, a good game can easily drag out for 6-8 hours. Fans of fast games, as well as very well balanced Eurogames, probably won't think much of it. On the other hand, if yours is the sort of taste that runs towards a game that plays more like, say, limited-format Magic: The Gathering, combining a great deal of strategy and luck, and also relies on one's own strategic manipulation of other players... you'll absolutely love it.

For feel, it's fantastic. It's not a "conquer the board" game; it relies more on politics, subterfuge, and surgical strikes against your enemies; the game isn't balanced for one player (esp. in a 5-8 player game) to gain the upper hand against everybody. It's filled with strategic tradeoffs that have to be made, and opportunities for other players to hit you while you're not looking. It feels like you're immersed in a House-struggle over an Empire; it is essentially Dune: The Boardgame at times.

The expansion is also worthwhile, and adds some interesting elements (and fixes a few of the complaints some people have had about the game balance). Play with at least 5 (preferably 6) players; 7-8 can be fun if you can block off a whole day.

Oh, and one word for you: Fighters.

 

[Agamon]

Great, great game. Very, very long game (I do not disagree with 6-8 hours, especially your first game).

It has elements of Puerto Rico, A Game of Thrones and Axis & Allies (all good games in their own right). That, and it's basically MOO the board game. How cool is that?

 

[kiznit]

I -love- this game. I think it is ingenious.

Brilliant resource management fleet-building game that is sophisticated enough where there are multitude ways to win - conquer the universe by force, or just turtle up and win by passing obscure laws and taking a few key planets. The game almost -makes- you form alliances with other players, and gives you strategic opportunities to break them.

Of course, the drawback (if you want to call it that) is that this is easily an 8 to 12 hour game. Ouch.

That makes it a once or twice a year game for me. Is it worth 80-some bucks to play this twice a year? Personally, I feel the game is so good that it's an easy yes.

I started a thread over on Circvs when I first got the game last year. You can read it here. Be warned - like any thread over there - analysis of the gameplay is sprinkled liberally with comments about strip clubs and bad movies.

 

[ShadowX]

Where to start? For everything this game conceivably does well it does numerous other things wrong. First, it liberally borrows ideas from a bunch of recent German games, but the attempt always feels askew. Consider the absolutely broken role selection system that reeks of the developer playing Puerto Rico, deciding it was a great game and that he liked picking roles and then adding it to the game. Not necessarily a bad thing until you realize that one of the roles gives you 2 victory points, providing a large and easy source of points in the game and devolving the role selection because it is so strong. It doesn't make any sense to play 6 hours only for most of your points to come from simply selecting a card.

Speaking of the time, this really doesn't warrant 6 hours. Twilight Imperium doesn't seriously tackle any of the problems with the genre; things such as a tendency for players to turtle, rich-get-richer problems, unbalanced starting positions, etc. The designer, in his rush to pilfer from German games, forgot to research the far more relevant precursors to TI3, such as Civilization, to obviate many of these problems. 6 hours is too much of my time when I could just go play MOO2 and get a much better experience.

I could go on, but I suggest you take a look at www.boardgamegeek.com for more information on why people like or dislike the game.

 

[Zurai]

Twilight Imperium is an awesome game. I strongly recommend it if you have enough people to play it with (4 people is really the smallest number that works well).

BTW, I can't see how anyone can possibly claim TI is "excessively random". There's really not much randomness involved at all in the gameplay. The only dice rolling is in combat, and that's only a very small section of the game.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I think the game needs the expansion to really work well. Also, you need someone who knows the rules to play with you when you are starting out. I also find even 6-8 hours to be something of an understatement, even when playing with fewer players like I prefer.

Still, it is a very fun game. It is amazing how much strategy can go into a session...

 

[DragonLancer]

I've played it 3 or 4 times and for me it was just too long, too complicated and certain rules didn't make sense for me in either game sense or reali life sense. If yu like long drawn out board games with excessive rules, then you'll probably enjoy it.

 

[Felon]

OK, I snagged it at DragonCon. Thanks for the info. Haven't played it yet, but I did have folks stop to say how great it was and they mentioned the "2 victory point" role being overpowered.