Imperium: Legends

I play games weekly with my buddies - but if the game offers a well-designed solo experience, I'm also perfectly content to break it out and play by my lonesome when the family is out and about. My enthusiasm for Imperium started with Classic as an impulse buy. After playing several games, including campaign play, I couldn't wait to get my hands on Imperium Legends. In my humble opinion, solo play with this system wasn't just an afterthought, but is truly a fun, rewarding experience. Whether you play with friends or solo, I recommend Imperium Legends.

Imperium is a unique deck builder. You choose a civilization, which usually starts as a barbarian society and works toward empire status. Each civilization has a unique deck of starting cards, and you cycle through the deck to add nation, ascension, and advancement cards into your deck, all the while managing the contents of your deck by putting cards into your history and garrisoning them under regions in play. Each civilization works a bit differently, making for a decent variety. If you're looking for a step up in complexity from Dominion, this is an excellent purchase. Legends comes with more whimsical civilizations, like the Arthurians, Atlantis, and Utopia, and the civilizations are overall a bit more complex, though I don't think the simpler civilizations will be overwhelming to newcomers.

Imperium legends is a very fun, unique deck builder that takes a old and proven mechanism (deck building) and puts a very clever spin on it (4x civ building). A must try for anyone who enjoys either mechanism

Full disclosure, I play this solo only, so I have no experience with multiple players. However, this game is such a good civ simulator for a card game that can be played solo it's not even a contest. I will say, if you're just starting out, get Imperium: Classics first, as that set has far more straightforward nations and strategies. Imperium: Legends adds so much more depth to the game that if you like Classics, it's an auto-buy in my opinion.

Really interesting twist on deck building. Love how each civilization gives a unique experience. Even the solo mode opponent gives a unique feel to each session.

I love the art, the decks are different to each other and the game is really engaging. Too bad that the manual seems written by a rogue AI. Nice solo mode, when you play for a while the game becomes smooth, but it is rough start. You need to spend some time in forums and reading errata and faqs

This is a great thinky deck builder. The rule books are a bit lacking but that seems due to how much this game has for a card game. If you are into heavier deck builders and don't mind using BGG for rules and help, this game is a must.

Lots of little rules to remember, but the core is easily teachable. Expect this to be a longer playtime than many deck builders. I bounced off this game pretty hard, but it's a great design that's just not for me.

Imperium is a deck building and drafting card game where you take 1 of 16 nations (eight in each box) through their history from barbarian tribe to empire. Each nations deck is different, however not entirely. There are more than a few cards that are repeated in multiple decks, particularly in Classics. The main thing that differentiates nations is your power card. This is your identity as well as your path to victory through passive or exhaust abilities plus a few get you victory points. Using your nations deck and augmenting it throughout the game using the communal market you’ll gain new cards and ways to win. You take turns clockwise in one of three ways: 1) Taking Actions; using one of your three available starting actions to play cards and five exhaust actions to activate permanent cards that have already been played. 2) Breaking Through; taking any card revealed in the market without needing to take its negative unrest card. 3) Revolting; returning as many unrest cards in your hand as you have to the supply. All of these ways to take a turn vary in importance depending on your current hand as well as what you’ve got going in your draw deck, which will be constantly increasing in size. Every time you run out of cards to draw, you get to add an additional card specific to your nation while at the same time getting closer to becoming an empire and gaining the ability to play more powerful cards. Now I want to get to the unfortunate bits that I’ve found with the game.. 1) The rule book is really really bad. I’ve played a lot of games, and more than a few that have rulebooks I’d describe as arcane. This feels exactly that way. It’s hard to read and is organized in a way that challenges information discovery. I really wish they had a “Learn to Play” book as well because after about an hour of poring over the rules with my partner we finally felt able to start playing. After five minutes of playing the game felt easy and like the rules made it harder. 2) I’ve won every one of our six games with scores that almost always doubled second place. This was a game I loved and clicked with instantly. Not everyone was that way. It’s complicated. It’s wordy. It’s intricate strategy with lots of planning. HOWEVER.. even after a loss, my friends were insistent on playing again and trying to figure out the “puzzle.” 3) This is more of a small gripe.. the art is really same-y. Some nations cards aren’t distinct enough for me personally. Plus you don’t get to play as the cool characters on the box, just some random depiction of your civilization in action. Again this is more personal, but board games are as much about art and tactility as they are about gameplay. Overall I’d say I adore the game. The people who don’t love the game as much as me still really want to play it. They have a desire to win and learn and improve their gameplay which I think says a lot about the game. Once you wade through the fog of murky rules there’s a really cool game under there. Whether you start with Classics or Legends I think is irrelevant, other than the Utopians, nothing in Legends is insurmountable even for a new player. The learning curve will be steep for anyone new as a fair warning. If you stick with that hill climb though, I truly believe you can find a wonderful new game for your collection.

The Imperium series has breathed new life into deckbuilding; the asymmetry between civilizations is exciting both from a mechanical and thematic standpoint, and if the learning curve is steeper than a game like Dominion, it does flow decently well once you have a grasp on the rules. The AI created for the solo game is brilliant. The upkeep is slightly more than preferable, but it beautifully mimics a player playing whichever civilization you have chosen to face up against.