Twilight Imperium (3rd Edition)

Customer Reviews

My favorite game, but know these three things before you buy Review by Craig

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Twilight Imperium is intense! The first time you play this game your head will hurt - not for negative reasons - but because there is so much depth to it. If you are thinking about buying Twilight you have to consider a few things:

First, this game requires three players at minimum, but is vastly more enjoyable to play if there are 6 players (or 7 or 8 with "Shattered Empire"). Having a deep pool of friends - who would all be willing to play a very long game (see my second point) - from which to dip into is something you will want. Alternatively if you live in a city you'll likely find a club to join.

Second, the game can be much longer then some reviews may imply. I've found that the more I play this game (about a dozen times now) the longer each game gets. On average my friends and I finish a game in about 12 hours (6-8 Players). Often we split a game up over a weekend for convenience. If you are like us and you want to get the most out of the game and not fill rushed, know that you will be in for a long haul.

The third thing you must consider is that Twilight is a much different and much improved game with the "shattered empire" expansion. My friends all agree that getting this expansion is a must. Personally I think that Twilight has merit on its own, but trust me - once you buy this game you will be counting the days until you get "shattered empire" (I am currently counting the days until "shards of the throne" arrives on my doorstep).

As for game play and so on, I won't cover that here. Look on board game geek dot com for some good reviews. A little note on cost: although it is an expensive game, especially including the expansions, you will not feel cheated of money. Of the embarrassingly many games that I own this is my favorite hands down. (Posted on 1/10/12)

Great game maybe a little too long. Review by Cedrick

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I've recently played with with 4 players.

It took us around 4-5hrs to complete a game.

The quality of the material is top notch, boardgames are solid cardboard, the tokens also. Some of the miniatures are difficult to remove from their holders, but are solid plastic.

Gameplay, it resembles Puerto Rico as you each choose a strategy tile which have primariy, secondary abilities (Politics, Technology, Trade, etc.)

The battle system is nice and easy to understand, resembles Risk, just roll a dice (no unit specific damage)

Haven't played many matches yet, but the strategies involved for winning are quite numerous. You aim to get maximum Victory points by either completing your secret mission, or global missions that are shown every time someone plays the emperium strategy card.

Many races with lots of different abilities. Lots of different units, nice randomized boardgame with tiles.

The technologies are great as they spill in 4 different categories of ability (battle, transportation, production, and one other).

All in all, its a great game, a little steep learning curve, but well worth it's money if you love a strategy boardgame.

It is building, ressource managing and political warfare. (Posted on 10/24/11)

Twilight Imperium is the classic, epic science fiction board game of empire building that is the standard all other science fiction empire building games are held to Review by TR

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Twilight Imperium is the classic, epic science fiction board game of empire building that is the standard all other science fiction empire building games are held to. FFG hit this reproduction out of the ballpark with incredible reproduction values and well laid out rules.

Gameplay time for TI3 runs an hour per player with mostly experienced players. Beginner players need slightly longer than this, extending the time played up to an hour and a half each.

In Twilight Imperium, players take on the role of one of the alien races (each of whom have their own technology decks and a special ability) in an attempt to take control of the Imperial Throne. You'll have to expand your empire, develop your resources and technological base, trade and produce your Fleet to win. If diplomacy doesn't work, you'll just have to rely on your Fleet.

With a combination of all the major game-play mechanics out there seamlessly integrated, TI 3 is one heck of a game. One of my favourite big box games out there. (Posted on 3/25/10)

Epic galactic domination Review by Jtech

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TI3 is probably my favorite game of all time. Players choose a unique alien race and use military, political and economic strategy to achieve galactic domination over all. TI3 has very 'reactive' gameplay, where each player is very interested and involved on other player's turns. There is little to no downtime, and the grand strategies involved can give Chess a run for it's money. Playable out of the box for up to 6 people, budget about one hour per participant. But it's worth every minute as the game ain't over until the last turn is played. (Posted on 1/15/09)