Imperial

Imperial – Review

Imperial was published in 2006 and is designed by Mac Gerdts and is part of the “Rondel Series” of games. This game is widely available and is published by Rio Grande Games.

Imperial:

Designed by: Mac Gerdts
Published by: Rio Grande Games
Number of players: 2-6
Playing time: 120 min
Player ages: 12+

A Quick Overview

Players take on the role of investors in the Age of Imperialism in Europe. Their goals are to invest their monies wisely in the imperial nations of Great Britain, German Reich, Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Italy and the Republic of France.

The winner is the one who is able to carefully manipulate the industries of the imperial nations and get the greatest returns on investment.

Though the title may suggest otherwise, Imperial is a stock-manipulation and economic game.

Game Play

In Imperial, players don’t have actions; rather the six nations that take turns in a fixed sequence. Players who have a majority stake in any nation act as the nation’s decision maker to manipulate the “Rondel”.

The positions on the rondel are:

  • Investor
  • Import
  • Production (x2)
  • Manuver (x2)
  • Taxation
  • Factory

The actions provided on the rondel are at the heart of the game. The nations occupy a particular action on the rondel and on each turn will advance (clockwise only) to strategically viable positions on the rondel.

Nations advance on the point track when “Taxation” is chosen; once a nation reaches 25 points, the game ends and the winner is the player with the most amount of personal money.

Observations

The “Rondel Series” of games was, I believe, introduced by Mac Gerdts with the game, Antike, published in 2005. Imperial was published a year later in 2006 and is an excellent and tense game.

I enjoy playing Imperial very much! It is a luck-less game and there are many decisions to be made.

The box says that it plays between 2-6 players but the Board Game Geek community suggests it is best played with 4 players.

This game is different from a lot of other games. It requires some time to get a feel for the nuances of the game which ebb and flow as a gentle stream or as a mighty river!

Would I recommend this game? Most certainly! I believe it has its place in the collections of gamers who want a heavy-weight, economic game.

Happy gaming.