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Games night 16th October 2008 – ‘Imperial’ by Mac Gerdts.
We are gathered at the home of Peter for our game tonight – ‘Imperial’. Peter shows the fortitude of a Ragnar tonight as he is only 3 days into recovery from his fourth hip replacement operation and greets us with crutches and open arms, which is risky to say the least as he should keep a hold on those crutches.
Peter is propped up at the table on a high stool while Phil prepares the board (initially German side up) only to be prompted by Kendall to reverse the board so that he can read the text in his native language. Not that this is particularly necessary as the wording on the rondel (yes, it’s one of those games) is pretty obvious as to meaning.
Dicken and Kendall have played two other rondel games (Antike and Hamburgem) and preferred Hamburgem of the two, so are keen to experience what they have been led to believe is the best of the lot.
The quality of the components is high. Lots of wooden pieces and thick card for Share markers and also curiously for the money – the money is so thick that it feels odd. I know it sounds like carping but the money in a game should feel like money not like stiff slips of card.
The board is very pretty to look at and bears an uncanny resemblance to a ‘Diplomacy’ map board. The start country cards are shuffled and dealt with Phil getting Italy as the extra country. He assures us that this is not an advantage but the other three look askance, as an extra country to begin with seems unlikely not to be a good thing. Players move the country markers round the rondel to choose an action and Phil is able to move Germany and Italy whereas Dicken can only move Russia, Peter moves France and Kendall moves Austria. Does that sound like an advantage to you?
Anyway, the game progresses and sure enough Phil is able to ravage the Italian coffers whilst militarizing Germany. The others struggle to see a strategy with only fledging command of the rules and Kendall opts for militarizing Austria (or tooling up as he likes to put it), Peter looks to emulate Napoleon (Bonaparte not Solo) by tooling up France and Dicken follows suit with the Russian Bear.
It’s all a bit predictable for the next few rounds because without ‘production’ you can’t ‘manoeuvre’ which allows the annexation of new countries and increases taxation potential. So all the chaps blaze a similar trail across the board.
Dicken bemoans his experience with Antike where it got very predictable indeed. Phil gives a pep talk about how to win the game by investing in various countries to gain end game victory points and eschewing all to see themselves not as the individual countries but as Investors who are looking to bolster the economic fortunes of countries and then plunder them to buy ‘shares’ in the next up and coming country. It all sounds a bit amoral but then that’s never stopped people with lots of money making even more at the expense of the innocent, so on we go.
Kendall is invested big time in Austria as is Phil. Peter starts with France but also quickly takes a controlling stake in Austria. The Austrian government’s treasury is massive but Kendall exclaims that he has discovered a flaw in the game. He hasn’t got control of Austria and has spent all his personal fortune and so is completely at the mercy of whoever controls Austria’s movement on the rondel. If that person doesn’t choose the ‘Investment’ option then Austria’s money will remain in its coffers and Kendall will not see a single Schilling. Kendall predicts this scenario and by the magic of a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy this is exactly what occurs.
Kendall sits and mutters into his beer, merely tinkering with the military potential of Germany for quite a long time, his only pleasure coming from deriding Dicken’s mismanagement of Russia. Peter misses a chance to hamper Phil’s sole control of Italy with his fleets and eventually Dicken takes pity on Kendall by taking control of Austria and allowing dividends to be taken – Kendall is back in the game but too late to make much of an impact.
Peter seizes a lull in the game to take a loo break and eases his way gingerly out of the room. Sounds filter back that indicate either that a small animal is being tormented or that Peter is in considerable pain. Peter returns bravely if grimacing and knuckles down to wresting control of Britain from Dicken. Dicken observes that it must be the pain that makes him so mean and Peter grins appreciatively.
Control of various countries switches back and forth between players and Britannia briefly rules the waves establishing a toe hold in Norway at the expense of the German navy. Russia makes a late foray into Austrian holdings in North Africa. The game has settled into a routine of players trying to ‘nick’ an advantage to enable them to buy more shares, whatever the value in order to increase their final points score. Peter and Phil pay huge sums to buy out the Austrian government and Dicken muses whether they would have been better to save the money as this also counts for victory points at the end.
Dicken, who was not really paying attention at the start when rules were explained, belatedly realises his need to expand his portfolio and takes a controlling share in Italy. He decides to end the game by taking the Italian credit rating to 25 which is the cut off point for the game.
When scores are tallied it is Phil on 107 who wins (told you having Italy as an extra was an advantage), Dicken has 87, Peter 84 and the beleaguered Kendall has a creditable 82.
Over cheese and wine the game is briefly dissected and the consensus is that we would all play it again now that we know the rules properly, but if Notre Dame or Tinner’s Trail were options we would pick one of them. The game seems to fall between two stools (no pathologist jokes please) and is neither a ‘war game’ nor a ‘stocks and shares’ game. It is a hybrid and undoubtedly works as a game and people say that the advanced rules plus playing without the ‘Investor card’ make for a much better game, so we will have to give it another go.
All in all a good night the only downside being that Peter will have to miss out on Essen because of his hip. Dicken promises to raise a glass for him in the back room of the Handleshof and we depart into the wee hours of the morning.
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