Twilight Imperium 2024 edition

The collective headed down to Kernow for Snake-eyes annual Twilight Imperium championship game. There was some early controversy over the number of points which should play to - I said 10, everyone else said 14! But they really hadn’t considered the AP that some of the collective suffer from. As has become tradition the Devon contingent stopped off at Strawberry fields for a bit of brekie to prepare ourselves for the marathon game ahead. 

Snake-eyes had prepped the already extended table by expanding it again with a pack of laminate flooring for more space - but this cause few issues due to expanding waistlines. It does boggle my mind mind when board games are made which cannot reasonably fit onto a normal table. I can only assume that the designers game on a table tennis table or full size snooker table and don’t worry about the reality of the real world (although this is a first world issue to be honest). Snake-eyes had also invested in some rather nifty mdf player boards to help keep things together.

The races and players were:

The Emirates of Hacan - DK (historically DK has put sometime and research into this race, back in the early games). Yellow

The Empyrean - Sylon, the first time out from the prophecy of kings. Purple

The Naaz-Rokha Alliance - Tiger-King, as above. Green

The Argent Flight - Morts, as above. Orange

The Nomad - Steedo, as above. Blue

The Titans of Ul - Snake-eyes, as above. Pink

The start of the game - Snake-eyes had also got some worm hole minis too. And we all got along and expanded happily in to the galaxy … DK and I swapped support for the throne Sylon and DK got into some interesting alliance thing - which involved moving through each others space and stuff. But things just moved along. I scored a couple of public objectives, as did DK. Steedo felt a bit hemmed in, due to mine and Tiger-King’s expansion. There were a few moments or rule “debates”, but generally cordial. 

2 and a half hours later and the galaxy is much more populated - there had been some arrangements and reparations over “friendly” fire incidents (thanks Steedo), so that I could score a secret objective. Unfortunately I always seemed to be a point behind DK, on the road to 14 points. It was probably around this time that I asked around the table if people would like me to release a “plague” on one of their planets or pay me some trade goods - Sylon first paid not to release the plague on him, but then paid some more for me to release it on one of Tiger-King’s (who then refused to better Sylon offer). The “plague” was released to not effect - no harm done - Steedo felt that this was a good play … anyway the empire building continued. 

7:30pm - 5 hours later and things have started kicking off - first of all after some cunning on my part and a race trait, I won in an agenda phase (which I think took the best part of 45 minutes and possibly involved some finger wagging - although that could have been in the earlier “debates”), which would give me a free Tech upgrade. However Sylon the sneak used some card to steal it from me! Then just as Steedo had taken the Technology card, Sylon appeared through the mists and took that, so he ended up with TWO tech upgrades in a single turn - well played Sylon, but bloody annoying. 

However we then hit the first major rules error, allowing Tiger-King to repair ships in between combat rolls - this had a big impact on Sylon as it destroyed a number of ships and meant he lost the mythical planet Mirage, which also had the wormhole to Malice. This was a big error, but by the time the error was corrected in a later combat it was too late to go back - tough break on Sylon. 

10:30pm - 3hours on and things have got rather tense. Snake-eyes had made a run at Mecatol Rex and it had been fought over a couple of times. I had moved in and picked up the 8 card, hoping for a reasonably easy couple of points. However, Tiger-King had been festering a grudge over the inconsequential “plague” incident and out of nowhere attacked my holding force with his WarSun - the destroyers in situ above Mecatol did a sterling job of damaging the WarSun and accompanying ships, but were ultimately destroyed - it was in this combat we worked out what had gone wrong with Sylon’s combat earlier. So Tiger-King seemed pleased with himself, but for my counter attack which gave him a right good beating (some of my best dice rolling ever in a game helped) and sense and order replaced petty vindictiveness in the galaxy. I do think we need to check the rules on the fighter barrage for the Argent Flight before the next game - just to make sure we were playing them correctly. My reading was yes but when checking the internet I’m not so sure. The scores were fairly tight at this point with DK with a one point advantage over me. We had also decided to play to 10 points like I said in the beginning and people had things to do on Sunday other than recover from an early morning!

Steedo first allowed me to score a secret objective - win a space battle with someone you have a promissory note with. Only 2 points and I could win, but so could DK. Only 2 points and I could win, but so could DK.

So we headed into the final turns - the new 2 point objective was to have a flagship or WarSun (in fact there were a lot of WarSuns on the board at this time) in another player home system. DK picked Imperial - which was inevitable as he had Hacan tech which mean he could swap the order cards with anyone - basically a political bribery mechanic… damn capitalism! I thought the game was up. 

At this point things went a little wrong DK did his swap card move, but after Snake-eyes had moved on the App which was sorting the player order - DK should be going last. After (I think) Snakes-eyes and Tiger-King had had their turn. DK moved  his Flagship to what he thought was Sylon’s home world - only to be told that it wasn’t. As this was being reversed, I pointed out that Steedo and I should be moving before DK, whose plan was now revealed. To say this caused some dispute at the table is fair. Plenty of errors - 

DK did the card swap after Snake-eyes had done the confirmation ask on player order. 

Snake-eyes said it was DK’s turn - so he moved revealing his plan.

Should DK have been allowed to change his target system, after he attacked the the wrong one (which made me wake up)?

Anyway turn order was restored and Steedo attacked DK with two WarSuns - but would he have? If the above had not transpired) before DK had moved. This seriously weaken DK’s fleet but he prevailed. On his turn he moved to Sylon’s home world - victory could be his next round. In the meantime Steedo pointed out that if I could get ships to his home world I could have chance at victory. 

In the next round it was pointed out that I could move my fleet from Mectacol Rex to Sylon’s home world with a slingshot - this was duly done and DK’s flagship was destroyed! I also had ships in another players home system, but not the flagship or WarSun. This had also taken away a victory route for DK - for now. 

There was much debate around the table - Snake-eyes pointed out that with my hero’s special action I could get fleet to Sylon’s home system… could I snatch victory?

The final scoreboard before the last points were added. 

In short - no!

Tiger-King realised that he still had his support for the throne card - a victory point. He gave it to DK, 10 points and the game was over. There was some fiddling about to make sure this was done in the right order. After 12 hours the game was over DK emerged victorious, in what was a controversial game at certain times - for some the way it ended with here’s a point kingmaker didn’t seem right. 

But a point is a point and a win is a win. DK played his race well and wasn’t involved in any skulduggery - well done.

This game was probably one of the most fun TI games we have played, and has provided much conversation post game - should we have an award for “best move” etc - which would have gone to Sylon this time, for stitching up Steedo and myself.

Perhaps I’ll win one day.

A big thank to Snake-eyes for hosting and the food (pulled pork roll and a curry) and Sylon for driving into the wilderness of Kernow. 

Morts