The Inside Scoop on Gaming

"Imperium" is a classic. This is an early Marc Miller (of Traveller Fame) title. The game depicts a series of wars between the fledgling Terran Confederation and an old galactic empire. The action begins in the early 22nd century.

"Imperium" is a wargame. The board has hexes; the pieces are cardboard counters with numbers and letters on them. For old warhorses this is an easy game to learn. For those who have never played a wargame before, it might take a little conceptual leap.

Appearance The game map is made of printed carboard in four sections. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. This is is plus. Anyone who has ever played on a paper map has seen their counters slide around on the folds.

The map is of the stars near Earth. Each hex is roughly one parsec (3.2 light years.) Some of the star names are recognizable (Sol, Alpha Centauri, Barnard's star), and some are alien (Dingir, Gahidda, Nesku.) Some of the stars are connected by green lines. These are "jump lines." Jump lines are like wormholes- ships can travel quickly along them between stars. They also create choke points. Each star has one or two planet boxes. These boxes are white or red. If white, they can support world markers. If red, they can support only outposts. Worlds and outposts create wealth that is used to build ships and troops.

The rule book is short, 16 pages. There is a data card with all the necessary tables. There is also a "History of the Imperium" booklet.

The game counters are square .5" cardboard chits. They are Blue, Red, Green and Black. They are clearly printed with logos and numbers. It is fairly easy to tell what a counter represents from a distance.

The Rules "Imperium" is turn- based. One player does his turn, then the other player acts. Together, this is a 'game turn.' The turn consists of the Income/maintainance phase, the movement/combat phase, a reaction movement phase, and a second movement/combat phase.

During the income phase, the player collects Resource Units (RU). This is based on the number of worlds and outposts a player has. The Imperial player also gets a budget inadditon to the world income. Maintainance for ships is either paid for in RU or subject to a random die roll for each unit. Units that fail the die roll are penalized.

In the movement phase the player may move his starships and ground units around the map on the jump lines. Each turn lasts two years (not literally- its not that complex.) Movement is unlimited along jumplines unless blocked by an enemy force.

Combat is either between spaceships or ground forces. When movement is over, ships sharing a hex fight. The defender (the player who is not moving) puts forward a ship. The attacker then puts forth one of his own ships to attack it. This continues until the defender or attacker is out of ships. Any remaining ships can "gang up" on any of the smaller side's counters, or sit out the round. There are two types of attack- missile and beam. The players roll to see which range the combat is at. Combat resolution is done by comparing the attack and defense strengths on each ship, rolling a d6, and consulting a table. Combat is simultaneous (each side gets to shoot) except in 2 special circumstances. When the round is over, if both sides are still fighting, range is determined again and the same procedure is used. One side can call it quits and try to run, but the other side gets a free round of shots. Generally, a round lasts about a minute, with lots of dice rolling and screaming about bad rolls. It hurts to see your big ship go down when a little one rolls a '6.'

After the big fleet action, planets can be attacked. The only way to destroy enemy outposts or worlds is to send in the Marines. Ships in orbit can make their life easier by bombarding the planet, but at risk to themselves. The planet defenses get to shoot at the marines on the way down, if the big guns in orbit haven't neutralized them. Once on the ground, the same match- up procedure is used. Soldiers fight it out first, then ships on the ground, then outpost and world markers themselves. The resolution table uses a combat differential and a d6.

After all this fun, the other player gets to move one stack to react to your move or to counterattack. The procedure is the same as above.

On the second movement phase, the procedure is the same. This is a good time to bring the fleet home to safety, and to avoid the maintainance reaper next turn.

The Imperial player gets a few extra goodies. Every turn, he has to roll on the Imperial Intervention table. Maybe something good, maybe something bad. You don't know 'till you roll. Economic booms, depression, or even civil war. These results have an impact on the budget and can grant reinforcements or force withdrawls.

Victory in the game has two levels. The ultimate goal is to wipe the board clean of the enemy counters and bathe his worlds in blood... However, each war usually ends in an uneasy peace. The Imperial player has "Glory points." He gains glory for capturing or destroying Terran worlds or outposts. He loses them when the upstart Terrans take some of the Empire away. When the index reaches one or the other extreme, the war ends. Then there is a peace process, where new forces are built, some go away as a 'peace dividend,' and some new colonization can occur. There are usually many wars before one side or the other wins, because the glory points reach an extreme before one player can wipe out the other. The other use of Glory Points is to wheedle goodies from the emporer. The imperial player normally can't build the full range of ships without permission. He can spend glory and maybe get permission. Also, being a harried bureaucrat in the backwaters of the empire, he may ask for more money to fight the barbarians.

Playtest results This is a good little game in many ways. The rules are simple enough that you don't have to be an A3R grognard to get by. The rulebook is only 16 pages, and most of the needed information is on a handy reference card. Once you play, a turn only takes about 10- 15 minutes even if there are a lot of fleet battles raging in the skies. The combat resolution is quick. There are a lot of die rolls within a battle so luck is less of a factor.

The Terrans get a lot more resource points for world counters than the Imperials. In fact, if they manage to get only one, they begin to out- produce the Empire.

However, the Terran strategic position is terrible. The Imperial player can usually box them in and raid their colonies at will. The map geography constrains the Terrans at only two choke points. If the Imperials can hold these, they will usually win.

One very oddd thing: the rules penalize the winner of a war. The side that wins gets onlt half a turn's resources to spend during the peace, while the loser gets a full turn's RU's. This "Germany syndrome" means that it is hard to kick an opponent while he is down. The game goes on longer because of this.

A really crafty Imperial player will realize that he can control the flow of events by spending Glory Points. Since the war ends when the points reach one end of the scale, he can spend points to end a war that is going badly, or spend points to prolong a war that is going well. The result of this is that a Terran usually has to stop right as he has made a breakthrough, while the Imperials can keep taking worlds and outposts while spending Glory to keep the war on. Ironically, the Imperial player can kick ass, lose the war, and then get more RU's during the peace! Usually this spiral results in the total destruction of the Terrans in about 4 or 5 wars.

One more thing. There is an 8 page supplement about the history of the Imperium. It really confused me for many years. Recently, I had a flash of recognition. The story is from Traveller, the RPG. Once I found that out, I realized that the Imperials were humans, too (part of the Traveller story line has humans transplanted into space thousands of years ago.) This destroyed my image of the empire as a bunch of green scaly things. I wish the history had made that more clear.

I really liked this game and have played it many times. I liked the starmap. The real star names are a nice touch. The counters are nice and big. Gameplay is simple. But the game has a crippling Achilles heel. The Imperial player almost always wins. The Imperial player's ability to manipulate the glory level allows him to control the pace of events. I talked to Robert Prior (a frequent poster to GURPS Traveller playtest boards) and he said that the Terrans usually win. So maybe it is just me. I gave the substance as only average because of this perceived failure.

Overall- a good game mechainic, good presentation, bad game balance.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Imperium
Author: Marc Miller Category: Board Wargame Company/Publisher: GDW (soon to be republished by Avalanche) Line: Traveller Page count: 16 SKU: GDW0205 Playtest Review by John Lynch on 03/16/00. Genre tags: Science_fiction Space	"Imperium" is a classic. This is an early Marc Miller (of Traveller Fame) title. The game depicts a series of wars between the fledgling Terran Confederation and an old galactic empire. The action begins in the early 22nd century. "Imperium" is a wargame. The board has hexes; the pieces are cardboard counters with numbers and letters on them. For old warhorses this is an easy game to learn. For those who have never played a wargame before, it might take a little conceptual leap. Appearance The game map is made of printed carboard in four sections. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. This is is plus. Anyone who has ever played on a paper map has seen their counters slide around on the folds. The map is of the stars near Earth. Each hex is roughly one parsec (3.2 light years.) Some of the star names are recognizable (Sol, Alpha Centauri, Barnard's star), and some are alien (Dingir, Gahidda, Nesku.) Some of the stars are connected by green lines. These are "jump lines." Jump lines are like wormholes- ships can travel quickly along them between stars. They also create choke points. Each star has one or two planet boxes. These boxes are white or red. If white, they can support world markers. If red, they can support only outposts. Worlds and outposts create wealth that is used to build ships and troops. The rule book is short, 16 pages. There is a data card with all the necessary tables. There is also a "History of the Imperium" booklet. The game counters are square .5" cardboard chits. They are Blue, Red, Green and Black. They are clearly printed with logos and numbers. It is fairly easy to tell what a counter represents from a distance. The Rules "Imperium" is turn- based. One player does his turn, then the other player acts. Together, this is a 'game turn.' The turn consists of the Income/maintainance phase, the movement/combat phase, a reaction movement phase, and a second movement/combat phase. During the income phase, the player collects Resource Units (RU). This is based on the number of worlds and outposts a player has. The Imperial player also gets a budget inadditon to the world income. Maintainance for ships is either paid for in RU or subject to a random die roll for each unit. Units that fail the die roll are penalized. In the movement phase the player may move his starships and ground units around the map on the jump lines. Each turn lasts two years (not literally- its not that complex.) Movement is unlimited along jumplines unless blocked by an enemy force. Combat is either between spaceships or ground forces. When movement is over, ships sharing a hex fight. The defender (the player who is not moving) puts forward a ship. The attacker then puts forth one of his own ships to attack it. This continues until the defender or attacker is out of ships. Any remaining ships can "gang up" on any of the smaller side's counters, or sit out the round. There are two types of attack- missile and beam. The players roll to see which range the combat is at. Combat resolution is done by comparing the attack and defense strengths on each ship, rolling a d6, and consulting a table. Combat is simultaneous (each side gets to shoot) except in 2 special circumstances. When the round is over, if both sides are still fighting, range is determined again and the same procedure is used. One side can call it quits and try to run, but the other side gets a free round of shots. Generally, a round lasts about a minute, with lots of dice rolling and screaming about bad rolls. It hurts to see your big ship go down when a little one rolls a '6.' After the big fleet action, planets can be attacked. The only way to destroy enemy outposts or worlds is to send in the Marines. Ships in orbit can make their life easier by bombarding the planet, but at risk to themselves. The planet defenses get to shoot at the marines on the way down, if the big guns in orbit haven't neutralized them. Once on the ground, the same match- up procedure is used. Soldiers fight it out first, then ships on the ground, then outpost and world markers themselves. The resolution table uses a combat differential and a d6. After all this fun, the other player gets to move one stack to react to your move or to counterattack. The procedure is the same as above. On the second movement phase, the procedure is the same. This is a good time to bring the fleet home to safety, and to avoid the maintainance reaper next turn. The Imperial player gets a few extra goodies. Every turn, he has to roll on the Imperial Intervention table. Maybe something good, maybe something bad. You don't know 'till you roll. Economic booms, depression, or even civil war. These results have an impact on the budget and can grant reinforcements or force withdrawls. Victory in the game has two levels. The ultimate goal is to wipe the board clean of the enemy counters and bathe his worlds in blood... However, each war usually ends in an uneasy peace. The Imperial player has "Glory points." He gains glory for capturing or destroying Terran worlds or outposts. He loses them when the upstart Terrans take some of the Empire away. When the index reaches one or the other extreme, the war ends. Then there is a peace process, where new forces are built, some go away as a 'peace dividend,' and some new colonization can occur. There are usually many wars before one side or the other wins, because the glory points reach an extreme before one player can wipe out the other. The other use of Glory Points is to wheedle goodies from the emporer. The imperial player normally can't build the full range of ships without permission. He can spend glory and maybe get permission. Also, being a harried bureaucrat in the backwaters of the empire, he may ask for more money to fight the barbarians. Playtest results This is a good little game in many ways. The rules are simple enough that you don't have to be an A3R grognard to get by. The rulebook is only 16 pages, and most of the needed information is on a handy reference card. Once you play, a turn only takes about 10- 15 minutes even if there are a lot of fleet battles raging in the skies. The combat resolution is quick. There are a lot of die rolls within a battle so luck is less of a factor. The Terrans get a lot more resource points for world counters than the Imperials. In fact, if they manage to get only one, they begin to out- produce the Empire. However, the Terran strategic position is terrible. The Imperial player can usually box them in and raid their colonies at will. The map geography constrains the Terrans at only two choke points. If the Imperials can hold these, they will usually win. One very oddd thing: the rules penalize the winner of a war. The side that wins gets onlt half a turn's resources to spend during the peace, while the loser gets a full turn's RU's. This "Germany syndrome" means that it is hard to kick an opponent while he is down. The game goes on longer because of this. A really crafty Imperial player will realize that he can control the flow of events by spending Glory Points. Since the war ends when the points reach one end of the scale, he can spend points to end a war that is going badly, or spend points to prolong a war that is going well. The result of this is that a Terran usually has to stop right as he has made a breakthrough, while the Imperials can keep taking worlds and outposts while spending Glory to keep the war on. Ironically, the Imperial player can kick ass, lose the war, and then get more RU's during the peace! Usually this spiral results in the total destruction of the Terrans in about 4 or 5 wars. One more thing. There is an 8 page supplement about the history of the Imperium. It really confused me for many years. Recently, I had a flash of recognition. The story is from Traveller, the RPG. Once I found that out, I realized that the Imperials were humans, too (part of the Traveller story line has humans transplanted into space thousands of years ago.) This destroyed my image of the empire as a bunch of green scaly things. I wish the history had made that more clear. I really liked this game and have played it many times. I liked the starmap. The real star names are a nice touch. The counters are nice and big. Gameplay is simple. But the game has a crippling Achilles heel. The Imperial player almost always wins. The Imperial player's ability to manipulate the glory level allows him to control the pace of events. I talked to Robert Prior (a frequent poster to GURPS Traveller playtest boards) and he said that the Terrans usually win. So maybe it is just me. I gave the substance as only average because of this perceived failure. Overall- a good game mechainic, good presentation, bad game balance. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)