Twilight Imperium Third Edition By Fantasy Flight Games 2005

Designer: Christian T. Petersen

Doing a board game review on a game that is 10 years old may seem pointless but given that this game is on my top 10 best games and I speak of in the blog a great deal it seems fitting I do a proper review on the game. I think it’s important as well to look at board games as largely timeless and given that Twilight Imperium 3rd edition is still in print and continues to get re-prints it’s even more relevant to look at it today as its completely feasible people are still looking into this one wondering if reviewers from 10 years ago would still score the game the same given alternatives available today.

First let’s get the important stuff out of the way. Twilight Imperium is an epic, time consuming and complex hobby in its own right. It’s far more than simply a “board game”. You can’t pull this out unplanned, introduce it to new players and expect to have a good experience. Twilight Imperium is an event in a box, you have to plan it, people need to read rules in advance and you have to be prepared in particular for your first time to have a 6+ hour gaming session. If that all sounds too complicated and too much work for you, than odds of you ever getting any enjoyment out of playing the game is pretty slim. It’s a game that demands commitment and makes no apologies for who it caters to, hard core, veteran gamers looking for a serious challenge. This is Twilight Imperium, there are no shortcuts.

It appears complex because it is complex, sorry, this is not the casual game you're looking for.
It appears complex because it is complex, sorry, this is not the casual game you’re looking for.

That said, I have found over the years despite its rather high learning curve and complexity, Twilight Imperium is a game that once you have one game under your belt becomes rather clear and by your 2nd and 3rd game its second nature. While there are many rules, the game has a sense of organization and logic to it, a structured sequence that registers with experienced gamers and while it certainly is busy with a lot of moving parts it’s not really as complicated as it appears. It’s nuances and strategy, its dynamic nature and it’s tactical play however have nearly infinite possibilities, so to master it is not an easy task. I have played Twilight Imperium hundreds of times that amount to hundreds of hours of playing the game and I can say without reservation that despite it all, each game is still very different and there are no reliable or repetitive tactics or strategies in this game. It’s a unique experience, every time.

One of the many races in the game, each is unique and plays very differently.
One of the many races in the game, each is unique and plays very differently.

Twilight Imperium is far too complex to get into any detail regarding defining the rules in a review without it becoming overwhelming. In simple terms, each player takes on the role of a unique alien race with special abilities and advantageous and guides them through exploration, conquest, technological advancement, military buildup and subsequent wars, diplomacy and trade all in a science-fiction space opera of epic proportions. You will build an alien space-faring civilization and compete with other space-faring civilizations for the ultimate prize, the seat for the galactic emperor.

Every faucet of the game is detailed out using cards, tokens and miniatures. You make both high level decisions like which technologies to peruse and low level decisions like what sort of ships to build to form your military fleets. Each choice you make has lasting impact and must be part of a long term strategy of dominance and you must leverage your racial advantages, creating a strategy that uses that racial advantage to the best of your ability.

If you have played Puerto Rico than you have a rough idea of the role selection mechanic in TI3, though its worth mentioning that the strategy cards go far deeper than Puerto Rico.
If you have played Puerto Rico than you have a rough idea of the role selection mechanic in TI3, though its worth mentioning that the strategy cards go far deeper than Puerto Rico.

The goal of the game is to score victory points but how you score victory points is dynamic as a special objective deck of cards randomized for each game is revealed to you as you play defining the goals. You don’t know what the victory objectives will be until they are revealed and as such you must prepare for every contingency. Each player also has a secret objective which can drive part of your strategy and of course you must always include your competition (the other players) in every element of your decisions. It’s impossible to cover all of your bases and no matter what you do, you will always have weak spots. As such, diplomacy, negotiation and the appearance of preparation is often as vital as an actual plan. You must prepare where you can, and feint preparation where you can’t.

Twilight Imperium may look like a war game, but all the machines of war are a facade and really at the heart of the game is a deep strategic and tactical game of intimidation, diplomacy and feinting threats. War is inevitable, but war is costly and not a particularly good route to victory, in fact, one could say if you are playing Twilight Imperium and are at war, you are losing.

At a glance TI3 appears to be a war game, but it very much is not.  A common saying around our table is, "If your at war, you are losing".
At a glance TI3 appears to be a war game, but it very much is not. A common saying around our table is, “If your at war, you are losing”.

Much of the games strategy revolves around the role selection mechanic (Strategy Cards) and the use of the very limited resource known as command tokens. These two mechanics work side by side to create the high level tactical and strategic play. It’s a game of decisions, pushes and pulls on resource levers trying to out-do your opponents.

There are two expansions for Twilight Imperium and to exclude them from the review at this point would be criminal, in particular given that in particular the first expansion “Shattered Empire” is absolutely vital. The original “Vanilla” version of the game was very close to the perfection TI3 has grown into, but it’s growth was in my personal opinion stunted without the much needed first expansion. It addressed a couple very glaring oversights in the gameplay and I have personally never played the original version again since getting the expansion. The second expansion is less necessary, but for a true fan of the game it brings the already epic play up even another notch in particular in the department of thematic additions. Suffice to say, both expansions are awesome and deserve praise for adding much sought after variants aimed largely at veteran players (as expansions always should).

The Shattered Empire expansion is vital to TI3, it fixes a lot of problems with the game, its a slam dunk in terms of TI3 purchases go, you must have it.
The Shattered Empire expansion is vital to TI3, it fixes a lot of problems with the game, its a slam dunk in terms of TI3 purchases go, you must have it.

You should by now be pretty excited about the prospect of Twilight Imperium as a gaming experience and in my personal experience, bar none, it’s one of the most complex and exciting board games you can ever play. It keeps you involved at all times, always at the edge of your seat, each decision you or your opponents make involves everyone and in that lays the magic of this treasure.

It does have a couple of drawbacks however and they must be mentioned. First, it’s a very long game. You can expect a typical game of TI3 to take about 6 hours, sometimes a little less, more often than not a little more. Its complexity and excitement also really depend highly on the players involved, if they aren’t excited, if this game doesn’t get peek their interest, those players can make it quite a miserable experience for everyone else. It’s a game everyone at the table has to love to play, for all of its fine nuances to shine through. It’s a tall order even for veteran gamers, it really does take a special kind of group to get the most out of TI3 and I often find myself going against my core instinct to recommend it for these two reasons alone.

In the end though a game can’t be judged on merits it does not intend to have, you can’t fault TI3 for being complex and long any more than you can fault Dominion for being simple and short. TI3 sets out to create a very specific type of gaming experience and it accomplishes that with flying colors, what it fails to accomplish it never had any intention to. It is in my humble experience, one of the finest examples of a designer board game in existence and deserves every inch of the praise I give it. Games simply don’t get better than this.