The collective gathered again for the 2022 Twilight Imperium 4 Championship in at Snake-eyes in Kernow. COVID 19 being the winner of the 2021 game by default.
The image has been altered to protect the innocent - the wives and offspring of those pictured.
There was an early start to the day with the obligatory stop for a full English breakfast (which in retrospect is a little bit unnecessary has Snake-eyes also provided a cheesy dip and crackers, chicken nuggets, chips and a pulled pork (which wasn’t eaten - except by DK at midnight??) along with the usual beige snacks).
The races chosen for this game were:
Snake-eyes - Universities of Jol-Nar - Purple
DK - Federation of Sol - Blue
Steedo - Yssaril Tribes - Green
Sylon - Yin Brotherhood - Red
Tiger King - Emirates of Hacan - Yellow
Me - Xxcha Kingdom - Black
Snake-eyes had set up sections of the galaxy (apparently on computer so they were balanced), so we didn’t go through the process of building it. We rolled a dice and then picked in order either a race or a section or a seat (in Catan style so last pick on first round gor first pick second). I had insisted on having timers so we could speed up play - these were used well for the first few rounds, but then we forgot to press the start button - but they did help focus peoples minds (so overall they seemed to improve the speed of play … such as you can in Twilight Imperium).
The initial set up at 12:14 - the games afoot, to victory.
14:16 - the start of turn 2. The game started amicably with much trading with the Hacan as everyone was trying to get resources to explore the sectors and build stuff. I got a bit a grief for arranging a deal with Snake-eyes giving him the first victory point …. It would be a long game. However DK had made an early run at Mecatol Rex and with Sol’s special ability reinforcing it with ground troops.
15:56 - the end of turn 2 or the start of turn three (could have been turn 4 …. I can’t quite remember). DK was getting quite a lead, however Snake-eyes was worrying about DK’s position on Mecatol Rex, so researched War-suns ….. which because of a research agreement meant the Tiger King’s Hacan also got access to War-suns, with lots of cash … Fighting had started over the capital. 17:47 - DK had forced off Snake-eyes attack on his forces and things were looking like a fairly quick win for DK. Steedo was encouraging everyone to do something, while building up a fleet and not really doing anything. Sylon was looking pressured by the Tiger King’s yellow peril on one side and DK’s build up on the other. I was looking for where I could get any points ….. The agenda phase put a transferable victory points on Snake-eyes planet and possibly Snake-eyes fleet - so if you captured the planet or defeated him in a space battle you took the points.
19:57 - The Hacan had 2 War-suns floating around and the university one of three own …. Everyone else was getting worried - DK was hanging onto Mecatol Rex with a ridiculous number of ground forces but was not in a position to get rid of the War-sun in orbit. A plan was hatched to prevent DK scoring public victory points by taking Earth … was there any one up for the challenge? I had spotted a way to get a secret victory point by controlling 4 industrial planets (those with Green icons), I just had to wait for those War-suns to go away. The agenda phase here caused some upset as we could force a player to discard all of their action cards … Steedo’s faction had an unlimited hand size (the rest of us could only have 7 max.), and had built up a hand of over 20 cards … so when we came to vote … he lost them, and his appetite for the game. He had gained a lot of rage and claimed that he would now work for DK’s victory, as the rest of the us were backstabbing scumbags … although the only reason DK didn’t vote for him to lose his action cards, was because Steedo had played an assassination action card on DK on the voting session … the game was getting a bit tense.
Although Steedo had managed to capture Mecatol Rex and wipe out DK’s ground forces with bio-weapons and his fleet had grown … he had returned to the fray.
I had also attacked one of Snake-eye’s red planets in error as well (I am not even colour blind).
22:44 Some consolidation of forces in the penultimate turn - DK is on 9 points (and has been for a while) but can’t find the elusive one he needs. Snake-eyes and Steedo are on 8, myself and Tiger-King are on 7, with Sylon on 4 …. There has been a fair bit of building going on - a number of flagships are in play …
23:42 - the final dispositions of the game there was a bit of repositioning, but DK finally won it with a secret victory point by winning a combat with his flagship - which was scored in game, not in the scoring phase. Game over man … game over.
The final scores on the doors ….
A good win for DK - In the post game chat everyone was poised to get ten points in the scoring phase if the game had got that far - well I would have been if I had attacked the right colour planets 3 hours early … and I would have scored first … a very close game, a bit emotional for some as well - with some almost plucking victory from the jaws of defeat. It is DK’s first win (official anyway) of Twilight Imperium after many second places ….
Just another year to go ….
