Chapter 1 - Getting Up To Speed

As we head towards our game day on Jan 19, I'm going to be periodically posting here with tidbits to help get everyone up to speed.

As I've stated before, I don't expect everyone to memorize every aspect of the rules, but that a little prep beforehand will go a long way.

I'll first reiterate the following video, as I frankly think it's one of the best learning tools for a complex board game that I've seen.  I really like Shea Parker's work on these (he does other games as well - I even help fund him through Patreon).

It's long, but I think it's about as concise an explanation as is possible.

That being said, this and future blog posts will be about very bite sized topics as we make our way towards Jan 19.

Today's topic:

The Phases

Despite being a complex game, the core of Twilight Imperium is very simple.

Each turn consists of a series of 3 or 4 phases (the 4th phase comes later in the game).

The game repeatedly cycles through the phases until a player scores 10 Victory Points to win.

- Strategy Phase

- Action Phase

- Status Phase

- Agenda Phase (once unlocked)

Strategy Phase

There is a pool of 8 "Strategy Cards"  Each card is different:

(PDS stands for "Planetary Defense System" - a type of unit).

Later posts will get into what they do, but for now it's enough to know that the Strategy Phase simply consists of each player (starting with the "Speaker" and moving clockwise) picking a Strategy Card.  That's it - everyone picks 1 card.  Phase: Over!

Action Phase

Shockingly, this is where the action happens.  90% of the game takes place in this phase.  

The Action Phase is where players move ships, play their cards, fight, trade, etc.  

There are a few different type of actions:

- Strategic Action (a player plays his/her Strategy Card).

- Tactical Action (move ships, battle, land on planets, build stuff)

- Component Action (use an action on a card or token that you own)

- Pass.

Players take turns performing 1 action each until all players pass.  Turn order is defined by the number on your chosen Strategy Card.

Once all players pass, this phase ends.  You cannot pass until you've performed your Strategic Action for the turn.

Status Phase

- Reset a bunch of stuff

- Score points

- See if anyone wins

Agenda Phase (once unlocked)

Once a player successfully lands on Mecatol Rex (the giant planet in the center of the galaxy), this unlocks the Agenda Phase.

Two "Agendas" will be introduced, which will alter the rules of the game.  Players will vote on the agendas, using whatever means they feel necessary to garner support from other players.

Afterwards, if no one has won the game, then the game resets to the Strategy Phase.  Simple.

The goal of these blog posts is to be short and sweet, so that's it for today!  Really looking forward to Jan 19!