Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Imperial Ambition (Imperial)

We played Imperial again this past week. It was good with three players, a little different, mostly because you end up controlling more countries, so you have more chances to interfere with your own plans if you buy too many bonds.

Somehow I managed to get shut out of country ownership again for a few turns (far fewer than last time). Stupid. I think I bought too many high value bonds too early in too few countries. It really is quite crippling to not control a country. Anyhow... I can't remember who won - I think it was Ouch, with Shemp being very close, and I wasn't too far behind. I actually thought I was close to winning, but I peaked a little early and Ouch(?) ended the game before I recovered.

We had an interesting situation in which Ouch pumped up the power of two nations quite quickly (Germany and Austria-Hungary), effectively killing interest in their bonds for a fair portion of the game, since the possibility of increasing their power without considerable expansion or investment was difficult. That didn't stop me and the others making a last minute bid for Austria-Hungary bonds when it made a end-game factory expansion.

I enjoyed it as much or more on the second play... and it's a faster game with three.

2 comments:

  1. I don't understand what you mean about "interfering with your own plans".

    Also, I've read that in many groups there is a lot of trading up the bonds... did we even do that in our game? Did it happen with you guys this week? Funny how groupthink can alter a game experience...

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  2. I mean that if you've invested in four or five nations and you control two or three of them, it's difficult at times to not end up being in a position where you may have to attack "yourself" as it were.

    There wasn't a lot of trading up of bonds because as soon as you trade up, the lower value bond becomes available, which can be then scooped up by opponents.

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